Rick's Bicycling Adventures

 Today we rode 46 miles with 390 ft of elevation gain. We rode paved roads all day. We needed a little break from the massive climbs, roots, and rocks. Traffic was heavy, but most drivers were courteous. We had big headwinds all day. Doug's wife Jaymie  established a campsite at Baynes Lake, Bc. We got a shower and did laundry.  Jaymie  cooked a wonderful  dinner for us. We are crossing the border tomorrow.

Day 4. Today we rode 28 miles and had 2300 ft of elevation gain. We had planned to do the Canmore cut off but it was closed do to a rock slide. We drove to Banff and continued our adventure  there. We got a late start, 10:40, but our hopes were high to get in some miles. The trail started out as a nice double track but soon turned  into a tuff single  track. We made it back to gravel and made it to Buller campground. We were warned there were Grizzly bear in the area but we did not see any. Day 5. We rode 43 miles and had 2400 ft of elevation gain. We woke up to frost on the table, but the sun soon warmed  us up. We started out on a gravel  road that turned into pavement, then into a paved bike path. There was bear scat everywhere  on the trail. No bears in site. We got to the end of the trail and started the climb to Elk Pass. We had three 25% climbs to get over the pass. We were able to finish  the day on a gravel  road to Weary creek campground...

 We woke up this morning with rain in the forcast. Our host made us over easy eggs on toast and sausage  links. He is also the grader driver for the road we were to ride today. He told us the road conditions today would be worse then yesterday. So there would  be 70 miles of sticky mud. I had to have a picture  of me and Kevin in his bar. Doug's wife Jaymie is shadowing our ride to the border in their van. She drove the road yesterday  and said she barely was able to make it on some parts in 4wd low. My bicycle  developed some shifting problems  from all the mud, so I needed a mechanic. We loaded the bikes in the van and drove to Canmore, Alberta to get my bike repaired. A couple of quick twists of a Allen bolt by a knowledgeable  mechanic  and the bike is good to go. He shared his knowledge  with me in case of future problems. We are back on the trail tomorrow  leaving from Banff. I made peanut butter and strawberry  jam on a ...

 The ride today  was a sufferfest. We road 30 miles and had 2400 ft of elevation gain.  We thought  we were in great shape, riding a gravel  road all day. This was not your Iowa gravel  road, this was a Alberta  gravel road. It rained off and on all day. The road was like a mud slurry. We had a thunder storm pass over us that put us in the ditch for a while.The climbs were endless. We got to Robb hoping to score some water. We stopped at the Coal Branch Hotel. Kevin, the owner took one look at our rain soaked muddy clothes and told us we were staying there tonight. He let us wash our bikes then fed us this wonderful pork roast dinner. We have more of the same conditions  tomorrow. Not many  pictures  today,  we were to cold and wet . 

Day one  is done. We rode 50 miles today with 1600 ft of elevation  gain. The first 14 miles was on the "Overlander Trail. It was a backpacking trail, it was really gnarly. We ended up pushing our bikes three miles. The rest if the day was spent on pavement. The ride was a beautiful. It was nice to get to the Hinton  campground.