Post obligatory bike check and food acquisition, I sling my leg over my bike to the sound of ripping tendons, and slowly inch out of the parking lot. It's a minimum 86km day today with rolling roads and some notable hills - hmmm! Less slowly, a bunch of us assault the steepish downhill - the juices are starting to flow once more!
We ride along the major Hwy 1 for a short distance (thankfully it has a wide shoulder) until we hit Hwy 93 turning off to our tour's ultimate end destination of Jasper. My technique of forgoing route notes is vindicated - see, the road is straight thru' to Jasper! Just into the Hwy there apparently (according to my route notes I kept) is a Park check station. I must have checked it was there (yep - tick!) and then it's onward and upward (well, upward and downward and repeat many times).
I am riding with David and as the ride goes by, it becomes apparent this is a good pairing: we chat, we have a great pace, and best of all he tows me up rises and I graciously let him follow me down declines! In all honesty, we are pretty well matched cycling wise: we have about the same endurance, speed, and the roads we travel on aren't inclined enough that his better climbing ability completely breaks our paceline. On the several hills that do get me pushing into the red, I simply shut up and keep grinding it out as David kindly slows up to keep pace, and then take a breather downhill. My superior weight and higher gearing on my bike means I can still pace him well down hills so that he gets a tow and I get a rest :) - perfect. Seriously, David, if you get to read this, thanks for this and the next day's rides - they were a joy and what riding hard but precisely is all about.
The Parkway is a rolling, scenic, generally smooth road, although with slightly annoying tram-lined shoulders at times - we miss this by riding on the road itself and keeping an eye out for cars coming up on us from behind. It travels thru' picturesque mountainous areas. David and I are pretty much into the groove, humming along at a near 35km/h average, heads down with the occasional peak up to admire the scenery, so we can't say we absorb all the views. Why fly half way around the world to ride a road and miss the scenery? Because: 1. there is so much scenery here that you'll always miss some of it: 2. it's a cycling holiday, and sometimes the joy of cycling like this is the goal in itself.
The Bicycle Adventures Glacier, Banff, Jasper is one you should do twice: once head down, bum up at speed for the sheer joy of cycling hard along great roads thru momentarily caught magnificent scenery; and once heads up, camera in hand, stopping at every opportunity and drinking it all in. In all honesty, even if I did this holiday again (which is very likely) I'd still take the opportunity to charge along with like minded riders at times during the tour: cycling is its own reward at such times.
Just to prove David and I did poke the heads up once in a while, below are some photos of attractions along the road to our lunch stop of Num-Ti-Jah Lodge on Bow Lake.
The first pic is of Crowfoot Glacier - so called because, well guess! The lower talon has melted right back (a sad theme for all Glaciers we visited) but the basic shape is still evident. There's a pullout by the side of the road which has an info board (including a cute little hand-powered announcer box: whiz the handle and you get info about the Glacier played back in English, German and Japanese!) detailing aspects of the glacier and its gradual shrinking. The pullout was well populated with cars and tour buses including one filled with Japanese tourists. Their group discipline was admirably evident - several of them attempted to throw themselves in front of my bike on both my arrival and my departure from the site! Maybe tour by bus was as shit-boring as it looked?
In what seemed like no time flat, David and I had zoomed past Bow Lake and arrived at the far entrance to Num-Ti-Jah Lodge parking area site for lunch. A great morning's ride! It seemed as if others were zooming as well, as in short order all of our group arrived in time to demand feeding.
Some of us wandered down to the lake and sat down on its shores across from Bow Glacier - pic below:
The lake was cold but nice, and I plopped my feet into the shallow water at the edge. Unlike most other glacier fed lakes we'd seen, Bow was crystal clear and I soon had a view of little fishes gathering around my toes pecking at them: they hunt big game these little fish! Stephen and Jabe attempted to explain the US voting system to me after my enquiry, but I'm afraid their pupil was a bit thick to comprehend!
Our pecking of our own food became a priority and as usual, lunch here didn't disappoint, a fact not lost on me as I was ravenous after the early morning dash of 43km with David.
Post lunch, a Brandon-led route update was continuously sabotaged by a bird that persisted in parking in a tree above his head and shrieking at him. Ominous signs dude!
Post lunch and more of the same: great road, beautiful scenery and fantastic riding - man, this was getting boring!
David and I continued on our merry way steamrolling along, although we did the tourist bit and stopped at beautiful Lake Peyto Lookout. The lookout gives an awe inspiring view down to gorgeous milky-torquoise-blue Lake Peyto below - see the pic. Jabe and Julie rolled in for a look as well whilst we were there - one of them (apologies for not recalling) took the pic below of myself and David at the lookout.
More road, more storming along, and Mistaya Canyon Pullout soon rolled into view. The canyon is narrowly carved by the river into the rock - how narrowly is shown below:
The falls at its head are nice viewing and, whilst not high, large volumes of water go over. As the group arrived, they migrated to the waters ahead of the falls: Polar Bear 'Weenie' Doug had indicated that swimming was possible there. Waiting for everyone, people including myself, Bonnie and Jabe resorted to the time-honoured task of Inukshuk building. Mine was overly grandiose, Jabe's was design impressive and Bonnie's was a case of over-reaching: it plunged to water mid-build. The lady aimed high!
After that it was another typical time passer: stone skipping. Given the fast flowing and rather lumpy surface wasn't conducive to either skipping or directional control, many stones sank whilst others whistled out in all curious directions.
'Weenie' Doug (his Polar Bear mystique well and truly shattered for me by his girly-like 'count-to-20' plea at Lake Louise) arrived and the group gathered to watch him dive into the bearably cold but fairly turbulent (and heading rapidly towards the Falls) water. Finding a re-circulating pool he dove in to impressed cheers (bah - I know better but OK, points there). Soon, it was all hands on deck, or rather overboard, as we all went in. Somewhere out there, ppl have photos of the group dunk at the end - I'd really love one of these please! Someone had to take this photo, so we didn't all go in, but the person shall remain nameless: just look for someone who has a brain in their head (obviously this rules me out - I went in and stayed in: it was lovely).
Out and dried by the warming sun in blue skies (I flopped on the warm rocks like a fat seal to dry my cycling shorts) we gradually made our way back to our bikes for the short blat into The Crossing Resort. David and I decided to do the extra ride - a right turn just before the Resort and an out-and-back along a nice road as far as you wished. We went out for about 16 kms, keeping up the pace of the day and just enjoying it: just after we passed Mark and Stuart on their way back (most likely returning from the next province - they cycled in their sleep) we wished to turn back.
And so it was, after an approximately 120km day, David and I rolled into the Resort, rolled around for another 5 minutes trying to see where the hell we were meant to go and then, having located the van, went off for our keys/room mates with keys. A fantastic days ride with a great partner over - thanks David!
Arrived at my room to find Jacob ensconced and - watching TV! Wow - what was this invention? Engrossed, we sat watching a re-run of Law and Order I'd seen about a decade ago in Oz, and then showered ready for the late afternoon drinks and nibbles in a Gazebo out the back of the place.
In the Gazebo with a drink in hand, I relaxed and, lying back, stretched out on a railing with my feet resting against an upright. I fell into a bit of a trance: the conversation in the background, the warm sun, the drink, the feeling of camaraderie, and the thoughts about the great day's happenings and the superlative ride filled my mind. I was in my own head but not apart from the group: I was at peace - I'd discovered on this tour the pure joy of cycling with others ready to push it and run with it, and that realisation caught me now .
After dinner at the Resort, Jacob and I headed back and continued to stare at the TV. The movie 'Copycat' came on, with the yummy Sigourney Weaver and the also yummmy Holly Hunter. As time passed, Jacob's fascination waned: sorry "little dude" but I'm hanging in until the end!
The morning will bring Day 7, with more great riding, the steepest longer climb (14 km) of the tour, walking on a glacier and the sobering evidence of their shrinking, a long, long fast descent where 80km/h is tantalizingly close but not broken, a visit to more falls, and a lovely barbeque and after dinner talk from a Park Warden.
2 comments:
I didn't realize that you spelled your name Len. I am flattered by your comments on my family and me. I enjoyed riding with you as well. Those miles/km's just flew by.
David
No probs David. It was so great to have met yourself and your family. Those kms did fly by we could have done double I think! :) Cheers.
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