Our first full day in Alberta has been fantastic. This morning as we were packing up camp in Lake Louise we met a few more kindred cyclist souls. Mike, Joel, and Emmanuel came over to introduce themselves and talk about our planned rides. Emmanuel is riding to Montreal and will be following a lot of the same route as us so we may cross paths a few more times. Mike and Joel have an even more ambitious ride planned. They'll be covering over 11,000km to St. John's in their 100 day bike tour to raise money for ALS (check them out here: als100daybiketour.blogspot.com). We're loving the small community building around the tour and hope to see these guys again down the road.
Once we broke camp we treated ourselves to a bakery breakfast to avoid cooking in the wet cold. This luxury meant a late start to our ride but it didn't matter now that we're finished with extreme mountain climbs. Even the heavy rain and headwinds of the morning couldn't put a damper on the day as we enjoyed the flat and rolling ride to Banff where we stopped for a long pannier lunch. Alex had never been to Banff before so he remarked it would be nice to stay there 'if we had tons of money' -we don't.
Instead we carried on to camp in Canmore and wow, did we ever have a great ride here from Banff! There is a smooth, bike path that parallels the highway all the way between the two towns. It is remarkable! The only traffic on it was bicycles, with a good mix of competitive athletes and recreational users. By the time we were finished in Banff the weather had cleared so we were able to speed between 30-40 kph along the slight downgrade. It felt so rewarding to ride unencumbered by traffic and shoulder debris. Actually, while I'm thinking of debris, we have seen some strange things on the side of the road. While we're accustomed to dodging metal bits, glass, and car parts we've been taken aback by the number of soiled diapers on the side of the road. Is drive-by baby-changing a common practice out west?
Back from that tangent, I am now sitting at a campsite in Canmore where we have both had the chance to shower and do laundry (!) on account of our early arrival despite the late start this morning. I think we could get used to riding flats!
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