Category: Western Provinces

British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba

May 31, 2014

Day 20: Blown East (Tompkins – Chaplin)

May 29, 2014

In British Columbia I wrote about the unreliability of the mountains. It turns out that in the prairies, the wind plays as cruel a trick as any mountain. Yes, I’m talking about wind again. For a cyclists, winds alone defines a good or bad day. Today was a good day…no a great day! Getting onto the road this morning it felt as though someone secretly installed a motor on my bike. I flew along with so little effort, so quietly. Stopping sharply reminded me again the gusts that were in fact there all along. I came across a guy going across the country, or at least to Ottowa, on a unicycle. The wind didn’t help his stability. So if you thought me crazy for biking across the country, at least I’m not doing to on a unicycle! Or if you need other comparisons, I ran across Ben from Newfoundland for the second time today and he’s on his fourth trip across the country. As he put it, he swore never to do that again after the first time but every spring he feels the itch to do it once more. I can appreciate that as I’ve been thinking about doing the Erie Canal trip when I only have a short time off in the future. Anyway, to returned to the wind again as I likely will until I leave the prairies, one day it curses you and the next blesses for no apparent reason. However, when you’re trying to setup or breakdown camp, there is no good wind. A tent tarp blows in remarkably many ways but the one you want. When you end up in a campsite without any protection, you begin to feel particularly exposed. I can’t imagine what the early settlers thought.

You just never know what you'll come across. Tompkins SK is the proud home of the pig spleen weather predictor, website included :) — You just never know what you’ll come across. Tompkins SK is the proud home of the pig spleen weather predictor, website included 🙂

May 29, 2014

Day 19: Building Character (Medicine Hat – Tompkins, SK)

May 28, 2014

The sun rising in the east over the cliffs of Medicine Hat and dark ominous clouds approaching in the west forecast the rest of my day. It began to rain as I packed to leave camp and then got hit by momentary downpour as I left the city. The same thing happened in the evening. Just as I set up camp the wind gusts, lightening, and rain began. I did wonder whether my lightweight tent would survive a thunderstorm but it made it through wonderfully and I remained dry. The real story of the day though was the wind. I know another rant about wind but it’s a force to be dealt with. I battled head on most of the day and learnt again the importance of proper pedaling technique. When the going is so tough, the temptation is to just put your weight into the push down and then alternate to the foot. It is in fact a very wasteful technique. Wearing clipless shoes, there are in fact four motions to every rotation. Push forward, push down, pull back, and pull up with one foot while the other is two steps ahead. It seems difficult but you know you’re doing it correctly when you feel yourself getting heavy in the seat and light on the pedals. The real kicker is that with less effort you feel yourself picking up speed. Nevertheless, it’s rather counterintuitive when the cycling gets hard but it is when technique makes the difference.

Largest Teepee in the World. I had to sprint to make the 10sec delay

May 27, 2014

Day 18: Ranching, Wheat, and Gas (Brooks – Medicine Hat)

May 27, 2014

The hills gently roll on and on. Nothing changes too quickly for a good chance of taking in the view. In fact, the panorama doesn’t change for miles but that is not to say it is boring. The skies are especially captivating on a clear day like today. At times the cumulus clouds looks like cities in the heavens. They seem full of life and ever so inviting. On the ground the wheats fields and especially the ranch lands seem without end. Different things catch your eye like the cattle roaming or lying by a watering whole, the frolicking deer, or the perky little prairie dogs. Each pays me only momentary attention before returning to the matter at hand. The freight trains also run fairly frequently around here. They make an interesting dissection of the land as they approach from afar. Miles of open lands await me but as long as the winds cooperate, it is a pleasure traversing these prairie roads.

May 27, 2014

Day 17: What’s in a Name? (Vulcan – Brooks)

May 26, 2014

Apparently, Shakespeare got it wrong and everything is in a name or that is what Vulcan, Alberta is banking on. At its founding, the town was the highest point on the CP rail which the rail surveyor thought destined to become a great city. He called the place Vulcan after the Roman god of fire, a name fitting for the city he envisioned. Grain production in the area grew and Vulcan came to posess nine towering grain elevators but the assured destinity of a city named after the god of fire failed to arrive. That is until Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek became a cultural institution and the destiny of this little rural town arrived though in unexpected form; a rather illogical fate if you ask me. For ten reasons why the association is logical, check out their tourism site. Various actors in the series visit during the annual Spock Days though the costs of inviting the stars are beyond the means of this little town. Leonard Nimoy showed up on his own so the town honoured him with a bronze bust! Anyway, a precious place particularly if you consider yourself a Trekkie but anyone with a taste for the bizarre or cultural institutions that arise from films and books will enjoy themselves. It is pretty much another planet.

May 26, 2014

Day 16: Winds of Change (Calgary – Vulcan)

May 25, 2014

Into the prairies we go! Heading into southern Alberta allows for a very quick transition from the mountains and foothills to the rolling prairies. In no sense is this region flat but the hills are stretched out horizontally so that it takes quite a time to ascend and descend a hill. Cycling along an equally feeling for the vastness of this place persists but now horizontally instead of the vertical heights of the Rockies. With the endless open comes the possibility for uninterrupted winds. I had a very rude introduction to what it means to cycling into the winds. Without a doubt I will experience stronger winds but it taught me a useful strategy for coping; because you can see so far, which makes your movement feel particularly slow, you pick an object on the horizon and cycle towards it and then the next and so on. Seems trite to mention WO Mitchell but cycling into the wind kind of made me want to read Who Had a Seen the Wind. Probably something I should do before I finish the prairies.

The prairies present many beautiful lines like this harvested wheat fields

May 26, 2014

Day 15: Resting in Calgary

May 24, 2014

Some comfy sheets can do a lot to improve your perspective on a city. Wanting to give Calgary a second chance, I explored Calgary a little more today. I’m still not a fan of getting into the city centre. The main roads are multilane, fast traveling and the bike routes tend to wind around side streets without direct routes or at least not obvious ones for outsiders. Having said that once downtown, the riverfront and pathways are top notch. The railway ran along the river at one time so when that was moved there was space for parks and people use it. Surprisingly, some of the plaques chronicling the history of the area were very frank about damages done in the past to the local environment and history while also acknowledging that best practices for the future are ongoing developments. Calgary continues to grow so who knows what it will look like in the future.

The beautiful waterfront has a variety of pedestrian bridges like this caterpillar-esque bridge

May 24, 2014

Day 14: Suburgatory (Canmore – Calgary)

May 23, 2014

Spending day in day out on the road, invariably one of them refuses to cooperate. It develops an obstructionist mind of its own. Today was such a day but I’m stubborn enough to overcome. The trouble started because of the flexibility with which I’m traveling. I don’t typically choose or book a place to spend the night; while I have a general sense of how far I would like to bike, I try to let the day unfold as it does. Sometimes that opens up unexpected opportunities, other times a lot of dead ends. Turns out Calgary’s hostels, where I plan to spend a rest day, are either full or under renovation. Slightly fazed, I pushed on hoping something would present itself.

Into the foothills of Alberta we go. It's nice to have the Rockies in your rear view — Into the foothills of Alberta we go. It’s nice to have the Rockies in your rear view

May 24, 2014

Day 13: Parks and Rail (Lake Louise – Canmore)

May 22, 2014

Grandiose vistas, strenuous climbing, and precipitous road conditions for cycling at times sum up my trek through the Rocky Mountains fairly well. As if to reward me for my effort, the stretch from Lake Louise through Banff and on to Canmore removes the challenges with wide shoulders and little climbing allowing you to luxuriate in the views. No end of perfect shots presented themselves. Not needing to put all my energies into climbing another hill also allowed for time to reflect on the places and people I encountered the last little while.

Frozen Lake Louise so you can't see the typically emerald blue — Frozen Lake Louise so you can’t see the typically emerald blue

May 22, 2014

Day 12: Accomplishments (Golden – Lake Louise, AB)

May 21, 2014

Ice and snow covered lake atop Kicking Horse Pass

I crossed the British Columbia/Alberta line today. That means one province down and only nine more to go. I also crossed over the Kicking Horse Pass which is another 300m above yesterday’s summit. At 1627m (5338ft), this is as high as I’m going to climb on this trip. While I’m not fully out of the mountains for a couple of days, crossing the provincial border and summiting the highest pass feels like an accomplishment. It’s starting to look like I may just be able to do the trip. To give you some sense of how high I climbed, snow and ice still covered the lake at the top. Sadly, no sign announced the pass and the welcome to Alberta sign was not yet up. Newly under construction, crews were only putting the posts in as I passed. I felt a little cheated at being prevented from taking a celebratory picture.

May 21, 2014

Day 11: Higher and Further (Revelstoke – Golden)

I really enjoyed the bounce in my seat today as I climbed towards Rogers Pass. The soft buoyancy was new but rather pleasant. I chalked it up to further wearing in the Brooks leather seat. Long distance cyclists put great value in Brooks seats because with proper care they only get better with time as the leather conforms to your backside. When I looked down at my tire another reason presented itself for my soft ride. My tire was going flat. Now any cyclists expects to deal with flats but I have extra heavy duty tires that are almost impenetrable by road debris, which also makes them difficult to get off and on the rim. Being in the middle of nowhere I was filled with dread at the possibility of struggle for a few hours if succeeding at all. I pumped the tire up instead hoping it deflated over time and not because of a hole. Sadly my optimism was misplaced. I struggled at first and noticed there was a good prospect of breaking my tire irons. Luckily the videos I watched on working with these tires helped and I managed the task in about 30 minutes. Not that I want anymore flats but bring them on. I will overcome.