Banff to Crossfield
175 km, sunny, hot, and good winds
I am hung over today. Oh well, part of the job, right?
I am 40 km or so North of Calgary, visiting Roch and his family. Pops will join me on Saturday so we can do the touristy thing in Calgary.
Last night, as I am having my 4th beer in the bathroom typing the previous day's entry (and charging up the batteries on the computer and mp3 player), Jason starts a conversation with me. He invited me to join them at their campfire when I was done. I thought “what a good opportunity to give away my last 2 beers”. So I went. I had another Grasshopper, gave the other one away. Well, another beer followed, and another, and another, and I lost track of the number after that. The walk to the campsite near 4 am was challenging. Good folks. Talking federal politics and the environment was slightly sketchy, but good nonetheless. Different views.
The morning, well, it was tough to get up. More of a lack of sleep situation. I left the campsite late (noon), then headed to Canmore to visit the town a bit. I focused on the Canmore Nordic Centre, where some of the '88 Olympics were there. Very quiet place, not much happening there in the lull season (maybe another week and things will be busier with biking season). There was a neat row of flags there – I got to see some country flags such as Czech, Sweden, Jamaica (remember their bobsled team?), but there were a few that weren't there.
Beer and food - When I passed through town at first (to get to the Centre), something caught my eye: “Grizzley Paw Brewing Company”. Ohhhhh. Just an hour after eating breakfast, should I stop in and have a pint? On the way back into town, I made an executive decision – lunchtime, with a beer. I am very glad I did. Atta boy. It was tough to chose which beer to have, so I had the sampler – 7 beers. Excellent. Big Rock, move over a bit, Grizzly Paw just took the number one spot on the list. The joint also does it's own colas using the same glacier waters it uses for it's beers. I didn't get a chance to try them. Neat thing too, all the waiters/waitresses are hardcore: tatooed arms, lip/nose rings, shaved head (and that's only the girls). The men looked like bouncers – shaved head plus a beard. The meal, California club on pesto focaccia bread (with guacamole, cheese and onions), was quite nice. It came with fries, and a caesar salad with vegetarian dressing (tasted good, and light).
Also, Canmore seems to be the best spot now – followed by Banff, then Golden. I think I like this region. A super sweet girl wrote to me the other day and stated that I probably enjoy the mountains as I'm a capricorne. Good theory.
The ride to Crossfield was fairly good. The route was nice (1a, parallel to xCanada), with nice tail winds, and lots of Rocky Mountain sheeps. The scenery changed also – no hills per say, but just open fields, with the occasional water here and there.
In retrospect, I was surprised at how things were “easy” (for lack of a better word) in the Rockies. I think I envisioned somethings similar to in the Tour de France, where there's cliff-edges at times on the side of the road, switch-backs everywhere. But, two things – a) I enjoyed them tremendously (challenge, views, the idea itself), b) I shall visit the South of BC for a different and (apparently) more challenging route, and c) I think I hear the Alps and/or Pyrenees calling me.
Wildlife was fairly abundant in the past week – various types of sheep, lamas, cows, horses, wapitie, prairie-dogs, ducks, various game, but no bears, cougars, wolves or moose. Although I didn't see any, there were plenty of stepped-on ducks, and African barking spiders all over the place.
In Cochrane, AB, that's when this hangover stuff started to affect me more. What didn't help were the crosswinds, and the nice long continuous climbs out of town heading North. At one point, one of the roads was just gravel for 2 km. Fun. No mechanical problems yet of any kind – knock on wood. I wonder if I should of wrote that line as I dont want to jinx anything.
Well, rest day awaits me tomorrow.
Pictures for the past few days to follow.
A la prochaine chicane,
p2
Introduction
Allo, hello, tere,
Some old lines/puns: Pierre qui roule, rock and roll, the rolling stone (gathers no dust).
Who: Pierre, Ottawa (ON)
What: Cross Canada travel.
When: After a few days rest in Tofino, British Columbia at the beginning of May, 2008, hit the road around the 4th. The 1st time-based goal is to arrive in Ottawa in mid June, race in a 24-hour mountain bike competition, and head back on the road a few days later. Finish the trip in St. John's, Newfoundland, at the end of July, 2008, before returning home to Ottawa to start being an adult again.
Where: Canada, West to East, via Toronto, Ontario. Detours: Val Gagné and Manitoulin Island (ON), Gaspé region (QC), and Cape Breton (NS).
Why: Visit this beautiful (and fairly big) nation of ours. See family and friends. Taste the cuisine of different parts of the country and enjoy the various beers and wine along the way. Experience anything the villages and cities along the way have to showcase. Lose 50 pounds and be buff.
How: By bicycle (her nickname: Dzie, pronounced D-Zie).
Extras: According to mapquest, a drive from tip to tip (via Toronto) would be 7710 km (85 hours of driving, 2 ferries). A flight would only be 5400 km (9 hours flight time, with switching planes 2 times).
* I do occasionally feel I am following the footsteps of a few great ones (whom I've also had the honour of riding with), who have done this trip in the past - Al, and especially Tanya. I do hope that I can bring in some new pics, new stories, and not rehash stuff that those amazing folks have done before me.
** I imagine I'll be a bit lonely at times throughout the trip, where I highly request and encourage comments from you guys. It'll be my way of having some conversations with you. I'll try to update the blog every few days.
Disclaimer: Most of you guys know me. In my posts, there will probably be a mixture of bizarre stories, silly jokes (like the weight-losing bit a few instances before), some references to music lyrics and movie lines. I will do my best to entertain, but sometimes, I might miss the mark on being funny or entertaining (hopefully not though).
Posting messages: Readers with a gmail/blogger account - you know what to do. Readers who do not: post a comment as anonymous (but put your name at the bottom of the comment please). The occasional personal messages can be sent to pierre.l.perron@gmail.com
Ciao,
p2
Some old lines/puns: Pierre qui roule, rock and roll, the rolling stone (gathers no dust).
Who: Pierre, Ottawa (ON)
What: Cross Canada travel.
When: After a few days rest in Tofino, British Columbia at the beginning of May, 2008, hit the road around the 4th. The 1st time-based goal is to arrive in Ottawa in mid June, race in a 24-hour mountain bike competition, and head back on the road a few days later. Finish the trip in St. John's, Newfoundland, at the end of July, 2008, before returning home to Ottawa to start being an adult again.
Where: Canada, West to East, via Toronto, Ontario. Detours: Val Gagné and Manitoulin Island (ON), Gaspé region (QC), and Cape Breton (NS).
Why: Visit this beautiful (and fairly big) nation of ours. See family and friends. Taste the cuisine of different parts of the country and enjoy the various beers and wine along the way. Experience anything the villages and cities along the way have to showcase. Lose 50 pounds and be buff.
How: By bicycle (her nickname: Dzie, pronounced D-Zie).
Extras: According to mapquest, a drive from tip to tip (via Toronto) would be 7710 km (85 hours of driving, 2 ferries). A flight would only be 5400 km (9 hours flight time, with switching planes 2 times).
* I do occasionally feel I am following the footsteps of a few great ones (whom I've also had the honour of riding with), who have done this trip in the past - Al, and especially Tanya. I do hope that I can bring in some new pics, new stories, and not rehash stuff that those amazing folks have done before me.
** I imagine I'll be a bit lonely at times throughout the trip, where I highly request and encourage comments from you guys. It'll be my way of having some conversations with you. I'll try to update the blog every few days.
Disclaimer: Most of you guys know me. In my posts, there will probably be a mixture of bizarre stories, silly jokes (like the weight-losing bit a few instances before), some references to music lyrics and movie lines. I will do my best to entertain, but sometimes, I might miss the mark on being funny or entertaining (hopefully not though).
Posting messages: Readers with a gmail/blogger account - you know what to do. Readers who do not: post a comment as anonymous (but put your name at the bottom of the comment please). The occasional personal messages can be sent to pierre.l.perron@gmail.com
Ciao,
p2
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