- Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 -

Today's Trip:  139km
Total Trip:  919km

How much pain can one human body endure?  I had to climb 1900 ft today to reach Banff, AB, which is "Canada's Highest Town".  I'm not sure if I enjoyed this, but I am glad the climb is over.  We are officially in Alberta, finally through one province.  I am glad to have a rest day in Calgary, AB tomorrow as my body surely needs to repair itself.  I guess the only way I get through these climbs and the pain in my legs is that I think of the homeless animals freezing and starving on the streets of Winnipeg; my pain is nothing compared to theirs.  As I ride this tour, I am often thinking, 'What else can I do?'

I want to thank Ken at the (Selkirk) Park Inn, who generously donated a room to us last night.  I left Golden, BC at 7:45AM and started climbing at 7:48AM.  I climbed, and climbed, and climbed some more.  Shortly after my departure, I saw my first big horned sheep.  As he stopped and looked at me, it reminded me of a dream I had a few weeks before I set out on this tour.  You can ask me about the dream when I get home.  This sheep looked at me, and unlike my dream, he looked mad.  A few kilometres down the road, I saw a second big horned sheep.  He did not seem to care about my presence.  

- Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 -

Today's Trip:  148km
Total Trip:  780km

Left Revelstoke, BC at 8AM and all I did was climb, climb, climb!  This is by far the most difficult leg of the tour, physically.  Every corner I came around today, there was another bloody hill to climb!  I had planned on doing this trip in 5 hours, however, I did not account for the tremendous elevation change.

It took me almost 6 hours to get to the half way point, Roger's Pass.  We arrived in Golden, BC 13 hours after we left - this includes my lunch break and several water breaks.  I saw a black bear today!  When I passed it, all I could think about was Jurassic Park!  I am glad I was on a downhill, because I did not stick around long enough to chat with the bear.

 

- Monday, June 8th, 2009 -

Today's Trip:  104km
Total Trip:  632km

Today was cooler.  I had to sport a long sleeve jersey under my neon green t-shirt, and I had to wear gloves for part of the way.  I'd like to take the opportunity to thank Best Western for donating one night out of our stay.  I left the hotel at 8AM and climbed the Shuswap Valley out of Salmon Arm, BC for 25 minutes and I cried. 

 

Today I think I saw a Sasquatch.  Urban legend has it that they roam the mountains between Salmon Arm and Banff.  Although it could have been a brown bear, I was not close enough to identify it or take a picture.  I climbed a large hill and a butterfly passed me, laughing.

- Sunday, June 7th, 2009 -

Today's Trip:  --
Total Trip:  528km

Today was my first scheduled rest day, in Salmon Arm, BC.  Slept in until 10AM this morning and we got up, had lunch at Wendy's, washed the car, did some shopping, and I managed to visit a couple of friends whom I worked with in 1991.

- Saturday, June 6th, 2009 -

Today's Trip:  111km
Total Trip:  528km

I left Kamloops, BC at 8:05AM and got off to a good start.  Dan and Jenn were still incoherent.  I ate a granola bar, drank a bottle of water, and a bottle of juice, and took off down Columbia Drive to catch the Trans Canada Highway.  

The highway was busy with lots of traffic today but I did see a squished squirrel on the highway.  By the time Dan and Jenn caught up to me, I had already clocked 35km!  Cars continued to pass with honks and waves of encouragement and a lot of thumbs up from the bikers.  It makes me feel good that they are noticing what we are doing; too bad they weren't throwing $20 bills at me!