Tour Day 9 The First Tail Wind July 3 2010

It is official I love Alberta. The whole attitude of the people is giving me a really good first impression. Yesterday when it was raining at the top of the kicking horse pass this guy pulls a u-turn in the middle of the number 1 almost gets t-boned all to ask us how we were doing and if we needed any help. Today as well we show up to our campsite after a long day of riding and set up our stuff. Little did we know that they double booked us with another family. This family were no small fry’s either. They show up in 4 big trucks and roll down the wind “you guys have the wrong site”. If I am honest I pooped a little. I then continued to explain what happened and they were completely understanding. So much so that they complained for us to get our money back, not there own money back which is a real stand up thing to do.

The scenery as well through the Rockies is nothing short of spectacular. Bamif and Canmoore are two place that after visiting I would love to stay or live in. One because of the country you get to view, two because the tax’s are less because its Alberta, and three because u have access to the best cycling I have ever ridden. When we left lake Louise this morning we hit the 1A, which was AMAZING. For minutes there would be no traffic on these up and down twisty roads so you could shave the corners and really lean that 140lbs bike into them. The coolest thing was that the road at points splits off in two completely different directions. As well the roads divider in parts was made up of old growth trees. Olivier and I had our own little mini tour de France stage vs. a guy on an old mountain bike that was amazingly quick. So much so that I had to cut it out knowing that we had over 100k left.

Once we got to bamif we stopped for lunch where I had a very embarrassing moment. I will give you the back-story first. Before I left my mom bought me some condoms just to be on the safe side (even though smelly bikers that do nothing but ride, eat, and sleep have zero chance). I resisted like no other to bring them because its wasting precious space, but I eventually caved. I tell you that to tell you this. We were at the café and I pull out my wallet, which was closely fallowed by a stream of condoms on the sidewalk. The people passing must have though I was some sort of sort of bike touring pervert. One lady even stopped and watched me clean it up which made it even worse.

The last part of the day was spent in the flatter part of Alberta. We had a tail wind that was pushing us up hills and saving our legs while we were doing 40km/h. We did not want to stop for fear it would die down so we kept riding. Once we got to the campsite we quickly found our necks and backs of legs burn to a nice crisp. Remember if life is worth living it is worth recording.
Trip Distance: 170.82km
Ride Time: 7:10hr
Avg. Speed: 23.78km/h
Total Distance: 1119km
Total Ride Time: 61:03hr
Destination: Just west of Calgary, Alberta

As a side not yesterday I hit terminal velocity on the bike at 84.77km/h, which was thrilling.