Category Archives: MTB

around home, bikes, Canada, friends, MTB

Elbow

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After only two night shifts making bagels last week, on Thursday Alex & I were back riding up to Jewell Pass & then down the other side to climb up Barrier. This time we were riding with James & visiting Australian friends of Megan & Alex – Rich & Kylie. They had just been riding at Whistler for a couple of weeks & had hired XC bikes from the Nordic Center for this ride as their DH bikes weren’t really suitable for all the pedalling. Being mid-week there were very few people on the trail – I don’t think we saw any until we were more than half-way around. Even with Alex flatting (for once it wasn’t me) shortly after the Jewell Pass descent we were making reasonable time. The middle-ring grind up Prairie View was a bit more difficult this time as we had also climbed up Jewell Pass, but I made it well in front of the rest of the group. Stopping briefly to refuel & look at the view (it’s never been quite as good as the first clear day that we went up there), we headed up the last push/hike-a-bike to the lookout & then hit the nice rooty downhill section. With lots of stops we made it around in three hours & forty minutes – a good twenty minutes faster than the first & only other time Alex & I have down the same loop.

I’m settling in to my baking role now. While I haven’t had any absolute disasters, I’m yet to have a perfect shift – so there is still room for improvement. Because I only had two shifts baking last week, there were a few nights to try something else new – temping serving banquets. One was two nights at the rather cheesy dinner show – ‘Oh, Canada eh?’ and the other a large banquet at the Radisson. On Saturday morning the TransRockies rolled in to town to finish a week & 600 km-long event. It’s quite the multi-day epic event & from some of the trails that I was familiar with it must have been a hard, but rewarding week – the mud may have had something to do with that. Alex, Megan & I watched some of the riders finish at the line, then wandered up the street a bit to sip a chocolate chai on the Bagel Co patio. Alex & I managed to fit in a G8 loop – I was feeling decidedly slow & worn out from all the recent activity. The gig at the Radisson that night turned out to be the ceremony & prize-giving banquet for the TransRockies – it was pretty neat to be in the same rooom as 500-odd mountainbikers & supporters. One of my tables had the only two Kiwis in the event & their wives (to do the whole event you have to ride in pairs – that is my understanding anyway), so it kind of fun to hear some strong South Island Kiwi accents.

It was just Alex & I riding on Sunday, so we decided to do a loop in K-Country (as that doesn’t require a big car shuttle or a long ride on gravel roads). We headed to the Elbow River parking lot to do the Little Elbow – Big Elbow loop. I see now that this is where the TransRockies stayed on the second to last night. We had a 45 km loop planned, mostly fire road – the two guide books we had recommended riding it in opposite directions. We opted for anti-clockwise as that made the climbs more gentle, the descent steeper & the singletrack down (mostly). The start of the route was a little ambiguous in my mind, so we crossed the river on the bridge & then after a little confusion headed upstream on a muddy & boggy in patches (damn horses) path. We then had to ford the (cold, but not too chilly) river & then found ourselves on a fire road with a lot more traffic on it. It was a gorgeous morning & it seemed a fair chunk of Calgary was out here – there was a wide range of bikes & riding levels on display. The riding was pretty easy up the hill, so there was ample opportunity to look at the views.

I was glad for the little detour we took at the start, as it was a lot more interesting than the twenty kilometres of fireroad. Eventually, we passed everyone there was to pass on the trail & reached the top of Elbow Pass, looking out towards Mt Tombstone (which doesn’t look like one – but there may be one up there or maybe a change of perspective brings the tombstone-ness in to view).

Sick of the mosquitoes, we hit the really steep downhill on the fire road – the road condition deteriorated here & it was a lot of funny blasting down dodging the rocks. Making a left turn we got close to the Big Elbow River & finally hit some singletrack – which was a lot of fun. Mostly it was fast, but every so often there would be a big dip or a sudden appearance of rocks & loose gravel. Also, the vistas were starting to get nice & scenic.

That last one is Mt Forgetmenot, & by this stage the trail had flattened out & we were blasting down in the big ring. In a different twist to a familiar story – I flatted near the end. However, it was my front wheel this time & that is unusual; I wasn’t going particularly fast & then all of a sudden had no steering & rode through a big puddle & got splashed well before stopping. As we were so close to the car & I knew that it’s very difficult to get the Nevegal off the front rim, I decided to walk/carry my bike out. This did mean that I would either have to walk up stream a bit to the bridge or ford the river – I got wet again carrying my bike across. A rush back to town to meet some mates I met working in Banff – they were coming to Canmore for me to show them the DH trails around.

While I was rushing around eating lunch & trying to replace my tube (it took twenty minutes to get the damn tyre off), I found that a small leak around the base of the valve stem (it was an old tube) – that explains why I pinch flatted, I’d lost just enough air pressure to increase the risk of a puncture. Dale & Adam had somehow managed to cram two big rigs in the back of a three-door Laser, so realising that that wasn’t really viable as a shuttling option I quickly arranged the kind loan of the Outback. Adam & Dale loved both Riders of Rohan & the Reclaimer (not the coal or PC type); I was tempted to ride, but was a little tired from the early forty-six kilometres & they were having so much fun I didn’t have the heart to get in there. Plus, I didn’t want to have a big stack in my tired state. With a bit of luck, I’ll be able to get over to Banff soon & go for a ride with them on their local trails (seems a bit funny saying that, as Banff is only twenty minutes’ drive away – but I just don’t go there that much now that I’m not working there).

bikes, Canada, friends, MTB, travel

Kelowna & old friends

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It must have been a couple of weeks since my last musings, & that has mostly been a blur of (strangely) mostly work. Although, checking the Riding Diary worksheet there have been enough entries in those two weeks to keep the legs ticking over nicely. Rather surprisingly (& to my amusement & I’m sure the amusement of others) I managed to land a part time job baking bagels at the Bagel Company a two-minute walk from home (super convenient). I had a applied on a bit of a whim a few weeks previously & had forgotten about that application – along with plenty of others; the advertised full-time position somewhere along the line had changed in to part-time. So it looks like I’ll be doing two or three evening shifts mid-week of about eight to ten hours each (depending on how good I get). It’s nice to have a job where I have to think a little more than labouring or housekeeping & be pretty organised. I’ve had a few training shifts & am now solo baking some pretty scrummy muffins & fifty-odd dozen bagels a shift. Another advantage is the evening shifts – so far I’ve finished my solo stints at two in the morning, but I’m sure I can get that back to before one, at least with a bit more experience. So that frees up the day for activities – not crucial now, but come the middle of winter & eight hours of daylight, it’ll be nice to be able to get out & about skiing & such forth on the clear winter days. While I was starting training for baking, I was also working a bit at a construction site – so with a couple of double shifts & a day marshaling traffic at the Calgary Half-Ironman I pulled my first 60+ hour week of work in ages – it didn’t happen much at the steel mill as there wasn’t much overtime for supervisors, but I do remember doing six twelve-hour shifts back to back, this wasn’t quite as brutal (a word that I’ve heard a lot over the last few days – more of that later).

Unfortunately, with the change in work schedule & Alex & Megan escaping to the Bugaboos (a provincial park in east BC) I’ve had to get used to a few more solo rides recently. Those have been pretty quiet & close to home – quiet mostly because I finally got around to replacing the bent brake rotors on my bike with nice shiny flat ones. Also I took my cluster off & gave the freewheel a good clean & grease – so with that & the Rock n Roll lube that came in the package from the UK my bike has a lot fewer sounds going on. That does mean that I’m starting to notice other ones that were previously masked. Early last week I started trading emails with a high school friend, Krysta, who seems to have been in Canada pretty much since university & is back in Kelowna, BC, after a year traveling through the Americas (drive through the North, backing through Central & South) with her (recently) fiancee, Steve. It worked out for all of us that the proceeding weekend was the best for me to visit – so with a couple of night shifts under my belt – & the (once again) kind loan of Megan & Alex’s second car I was off to spend my second weekend in BC. After packing up all my stuff (with a bike, I never travel lightly) I first had to ride in to Banff to pick up the car – of course, just as I was about to leave a huge thunderstorm storm rolled in & soaked town. Not overly keen to get struck by a bit of rogue electricity, I held off a bit before hitting the not-quite-complete Legacy Trail between Canmore & Banff (five rather crucial bridges are missing still from this bike path that runs alongside the TransCanada Highway). The trail took just under an hour & I was quite warm most of the way – over dressed in jacket & leggings for the rain that stayed away.

What started out to be a rumoured four-hour drive to Kelowna turned in to a bit of an epic. Up past Lake Louise the TransCanada goes back to single carriage way for most of the time. I stopped briefly at the Spiral Tunnels lookout to see where the Canadian Pacific Railway used two large spirals to turn what was once a 4.5% gradient (& incredibly dangerous) in to a much more manageable slope. Just as I got out of the car it started pissing down & I got pretty wet. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see two ends of the same train poking out different ends of the lower spiral. Shortly after my jeans got a good chance to dry out as I sat in the same queue for construction for about an hour and a half. Traffic management at roadworks on Canada’s main highway is poor to say the least – of course, when we actually drove past the bridge there was no work to be seen. By now I was in BC & driving through new (to me) national parks – Yoho, Glacier & Mt Revelstoke. Oddly, the speed limit for most of this rather wide highway was only 90 km/hr – but as in about one-thousand kilometres (the return trip) of driving I only saw one police car it was no surprise the heavy traffic sat quite comfortable about twenty percent higher than that. Turning off the TransCanada & on to the south bound part of the annoyingly circuitous (damn mountains) route I was back in to the land of strip malls & numerous billboards – also there must have been nice lakes close by as there were plenty of boat yards (& all to many houseboats on the lakes – Sicamous claiming to be the houseboat capital of Canada). Eventually I found Steve & Krysta’s house in SE Kelowna at a reasonable hour – this only really being achieved by gaining an hour from going from Mountain TIme to Pacific Time. Quite exhausted, it was nice catching up, sharing travelling stories, eating & looking around & enjoying the increase in temperature from being in the Rockies – not to mention being made cups of tea (not quite up to Trish’s five+-a-day!).

After a much needed sleep-in due to the evening shifts, long drive & time zone change it was up for a breakfast of bagels (I wonder where they came from) & planning for the day. Various ideas were floated – eventually we decided the weather wasn’t quite hot enough to go tubing down at Penticton (the weather was warmer than I was used to but overcast & a lot cooler than Kelowna has had for most of the summer). So, Krysta took me downtown for a brief look there & a small hike up Knox Mountain to help me get a better understanding of where Kelowna sits in the Okanagan valley.

After a quick bite to eat at home, the bikes were organised & loaded on the trailer & Steve shuttled us (another mate, Tyler, joined us) up to the Kettle Valley Rail Trail. The trailhead near the Myra Canyon Trestles was packed with cars & as we road along the wide gentle trail we passed many groups of all ages on bike & foot.

It sure is a popular place. There eighteen trestles where it got a bit steep for the railway to stick just to the canyonside. We managed to get over these without knocking anyone over the side (they could get a bit congested with large groups on the bridges). One could still easily see the damage done in the large wildfire in Okanagan Mountain Park in seven years ago.

After about half of the twelve kilometre section with the trestles, the crowds began to thin significantly & our speed picked up. As we didn’t have to ride back to the trailhead, we dived off the side on to the Myra Bailout singletrack. It was great to be riding down (mostly) gentle dirt track that just flowed. It reminds me of home a bit – smooth trail, no rocks & few roots. Of course, I flew off a little lip & landed on the only pile of rocks – knowing straight after landing that I would get a flat. A minute or so later here I was:

I am at least getting a lot quicker at changing tubes & we quickly back enjoying the trail. Somehow, this part of the park had escaped the fire (it’s odd how there can be localised sections that are unharmed while everything around them has been seriously burnt) & it nice riding through the greenery. Reaching the FSR (Forestry Service Road seems to be a common TLA on maps around here) where we were supposed to head back in town, we decided after some consultation with the family group we kept seeing on the trail to carry on down the signposted singletrack hiding at the edge of the parking lot. None of us were too impressed with the odd pinch climb, but soon we were shooting down more singletrack.

I swapped cameras with Tyler so we could actually have some riding photos of ourselves. It wasn’t entirely successful, the first time I was just about to come in to shot I ended up riding through a wild rose bush & I think this is where I ripped the lockout dial off my forks – grrrr (although it’s mostly cosmetic). Here are a couple of the best of Krysta & I ripping down the last little bit – I didn’t realise that this went straight on to the road, just as well there were no cars coming for me to T-bone in to.

We didn’t come out of the trails as far round as we feared we might, so we had a pretty cruisy ride home through some of the Okanagan Valley’s famed orchards.

It’s never a good sign when you turn up to a barbecue & there is no one home. After confirming that the BBQ was actually half an hour or more up the other side of Lake Okanagan, we hit a local pub for dinner before arriving at the house of Steve & Krysta’s friend – Clint – to watch some UFC. My first time watching UFC was quite cold as Clint had lined his basement & decked out almost entirely in Edmonton Oilers hockey memorabilia & started the themed painting of the room & one of the massive TVs were down there – along with the beer fridge. UFC was funny in parts, but after one guy dominated the big fight of the night & then lost in the last minute I was left feeling rather cheated. Once again, trying to find the equivalent Canadian word for ‘bogan’ came up – Clint’s younger half-brother being a case in point. Still no success. Either way he drives an RX7 batmobile & was quite pleased with it & its acceleration (140 in third on suburban streets was enough for Steve – & I can’t say I blame him) – that’s just a little odd after growing up in the Bay & studying in Palmy – rotaries engines are just so annoying & have so many bad associations in my mind. Steve didn’t really get the English humour of Top Gear’s South American episode – but I thought he & Krysta might enjoy seeing a different adventure in that part of the world. Not quite as amusing the second time seeing it, but still good television all the same.

Up a bit earlier on Sunday – Krysta & I were off to do the done thing around here take a look at some of the many wineries. It was a bit like being around the southern lakes in NZ – mountains surrounding lakes & vineyards perched on the side. The first one, Mission Hill Family Estate, had clearly had a lot of capital sunk in to it – the architecture was pretty impressive, as were the views. We did an hour tour & tasting session – there was a very cheesy video at the start & Krysta & I were cringing every time the ex-Montana Wine Chief Winemaker opened his mouth, it was pretty bad Kiwi accent. Obviously, it was rather cool in the cellar & all the arches & darkness made it feel like I was back under a big old cathedral in Europe somewhere.

After popping in to Quail’s Gate & doing a bit more tasting & trying not to spend too many dollars we headed out for another little hike.

This time it was about half an hour up Boucherie to get a view from the west side of the lake back to the city. It was quite warm in patches, we were surprised at how few boats were out on the lake – obviously these people are spoilt by good summer weather, it wasn’t that bad. This hill had also taken a hit from a fire & as it was so rocky hadn’t really recovered too well. Over the weekend I was learning a lot about trees & forests from Krysta who works in the industry. As I was in BC, this continually reminded me of not wanting to do this, but rather wanting to be a lumberjack. Leaping from tree to tree as they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia! The giant redwood, the larch, the fir, the mighty scots pine, the smell of fresh cut timber, the crash of mighty trees, with my best girlie by my side, we’d sing, sing, sing… A bit more relaxing at home introducing Krysta to slightly newer Brit comedy in the form of The IT Crowd before heading out to their weekly dinner at Steve’s parents. Great food, nice homegrown raspberries & good company. A few episodes of TBBT when we got home – the early ones with great lines such as: “as much chance… as the Hubble telescope does of discovering that at the centre of every black hole is a little man with a flashlight searching for a circuit breaker” and “Our babies will be smart & beautiful” “Not to mention, imaginary.” and “What if she ends up with a toddler who doesn’t know if he should use an integral or a differential to solve for the area under a curve?” “I’m sure she’ll still love him.” “I wouldn’t.”.

It turned out that Krysta had to start back at work on Monday with a ten-day field trip. This worked out well as I could meet up with Quintin – a friend we used to car pool with to primary school in the Mount back in the eighties & one I have not really seen since. Quintin seems to have been chasing the ski season around the globe for the last few years driving snow cats (the groomers) & is finally enjoying a summer in BC while he does a firefighting course (more learning about bushfires for me). He’s recently bought a full noise DH bike & with its Fox 40s it stands in loud contrast to my tame little 4″ softtail. We had to find something suitable for both of us. Popping in to a bikeshop, we soon had a map & some local advice. We ended up back near where we had ended up on Saturday’s ride – just a little further west. It was mostly climbing up a hill for an hour in overcast conditions – I obviously had the advantage there with a bike that was probably fifty percent lighter & legs that are now well used to climbing. At the top we met a guy from Nelson (NZ, not BC) who had only been in town for a month – the only other biker we saw. We rode together for a while until he went off exploring further up the hill & we hit the Vapour Trail. It was great fun & a little pedally to start with so I was able to keep up. The middle section got a lot more technical & rocky & dusty – I was doing pretty well trying to chase Quintin. But I should’ve been a bit more wary, I completely stuffed up the last little technical drop at speed & landed quite heavily on a whole heap of flat, loose rocks on back of my left shoulder & my left hip. No damage to the bike & hopefully just bruises & scratches that will heal up in a week or so – but my shoulder is pretty sore, but usable. I was noticeably slower over the last of the descent – but all in all, it was another great ride & the trail was really neat. It’s just a while since I’ve had to chase someone who is a lot faster than me downhill. After more catching up over a beer & pizza, it was back to Steve & Krysta’s to clean up & hit the rode. Thankfully the trip was only five & three-quarter hours this time; it’s a long time that I’ve driven five hundred kilometres straight through, but in Canada it doesn’t seem to be a long way. Fog in places made the road works & general lack of reflectors (that’s not just in the construction zones) even worse than usual – but I made it home safely. I must also note that Canadian drivers have an annoying tendency to drive behind you with their lights on beam – it’s dazzling, even with the mirror dipped, & makes looking forward even more difficult.

So a great weekend excursion & I must get around to getting my own vehicle soon so I can continue to explore this great area – wheels are in motion, my Albertan driving licence is on the way.

around home, bikes, Canada, event, friends, MTB

Riding, riding & a bit more

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Well, looking back at my riding diary, it is apparent I deserve a night chilling at home – eight rides in the previous twelve days & the small matter of four hours of sleep on Saturday night & riding at two in the morning. Most of that time the weather has been pretty average – but the luxury of living so close to trails is that you can choose when you want to go out, knowing that if the weather is not great it will improve soon. The Sunday before last Alex & I headed back up Barrier Mountain from the lakeside, as we didn’t have all that much time. Not quite as glorious view as the previous time – but at least the poor forecast had discouraged all the hikers – we only saw a few other bikers. True to form, I got another puncture – but that didn’t really discourage me from having a blast down Jewell Pass again.

As I had worked that Saturday, I took Monday off & went exploring around Moose Mountain with James – he was keen to go somewhere he hadn’t been riding before. I of course am just plain keen to go riding anywhere in this great area. We had about a ninety minute drive through K-Country (incidentally, that big snow scene in Inception was filmed further up the Kananaskis Valley somewhere – if you haven’t seen that film yet, I encourage you to do so) before we eventually found a trail head. We are not sure we found the correct one, but we got a nice short ride (sixty to ninety minutes) on the Sulphur Spring trail – it was a pleasant change to riding on a trail that was mostly dirt & had noticeably less roots & rocks. The clouds did exactly make for great views & we got quite confused trying to work out which peak & valley was which. There are few more rides in the area I would like to do in the next couple of months.

After a couple days’ break (due to weather), on Thursday night Alex was keen to brave the showers (it had been raining in Canmore most of the afternoon) & head up to the Nordic Center to scope out the course for the 24 Hours of Adrenaline – an extremely popular 24 hr solo/relay event. Alex was lucky to get in riding for Megan’s work’s corporate team, as the entries tend to fill up within a day. We found the first half of the course & got stuck in the big climb above the Day Lodge. Quite a bit of this part of the loop was on freshly cut trails & with all the rain they were very slick & the roots were particularly slippery. It was an awful climb & I was glad that I was not racing – also, the laps were 17 km long – that’s over twice as long the Moonride laps & there were some brutal climbs in there too.

Friday was an absolutely stunning day & even though Alex was back up at the 24 hr course I couldn’t help but go for a ride by myself – the first one in over two months. I headed out to the Montane Traverse on the other side of the valley – this is one of the first trails I did when I arrived. The first hill was still absolutely punishing – but I must be a bit fitter & stronger now as it was more manageable this time. What I remember as a two and a half to three hour ride only turned out to be ninety minutes (riding my oneself has so many less stops) & I was back in time for the weekly dose of the IT Crowd. I thought too soon, as later that night Alex volunteered me to ride in a team from Cochrane & Calgary that had lost one of their riders to unfitness. I was extra pleased for the day’s sunshine after that – there was a chance the course may be in better condition.

Unlike the Moonride, this event started at noon in the blazing sun – but I was at work for that. Knocking off work early, I rushed home & organised my riding gear & rocked on up to find my team. I was promptly told that I was riding next & once we were at the RV I busied myself getting ready & fueling up. Once I had got the briefing from Peter (team captain it would seem) on the archaic timing system – lots of people in a tent with big sheets of paper writing down the time of each team’s baton change, I couldn’t believe it was so bad – I waited around for Rowan to come in. And waited, and waited – it turned out he had got a flat (usually my domain) & had to beg & borrow a tube – before heading out at 1815. I was lucky as it was starting to cool down. I had a great first lap & was pleased to do the 17 km in 64 minutes & only got passed by two other riders. I was even more pleased to be stomping on the big chain ring on most of the fire road & doing the rest of the lap in the middle ring – all that stubborn refusal to drop down in the previous two months was paying off. There was a nice long climb near the end on which I passed countless people & then it got brutally steep for a hundred metres or so – then I realised why everyone was looking so beat on finishing their laps.

There were some interesting comparisons with the Moonride. Firstly, it was summer (you couldn’t run a bike race in winter here) & that meant only about seven hours of darkness – a bit short changed on the night riding front. But it was dry & warm; it wasn’t quite the same as being covered in mud, waiting around at the team’s tent site wrapped in blankets – I missed the adventurous feeling. As I said before this lap was twice as long as the Moonride – which was good & bad. It meant we only got to go out three times each, good for recovery – but you get a lot of time sitting around waiting & doing nothing. It was a much more technical lap than the Moonride, but entirely rideable – this goes some to explaining the band of rider level, which was much narrower than similar events I have ridden in in NZ. It was much more just mountain bikers – there were no really really fast roadies burning around the track & there were far fewer novices & no kids riding. The lack of fast riders could be seen that I only got passed nine times in three & a half hours of riding – I’m not nearly fast enough to warrant that. The lack of children may have also been due to there not being a 12 event running at the same time; I like to see the kids out having a go & or being pulled/carried around by their parents. But the biggest difference was the lack of atmosphere – the Moonride is definitely a much more fun event. I think this was mostly because the lap didn’t go through where all the tents were set up – you just weren’t as close to the action – & the loudspeakers didn’t reach to most of the team sites.

Being so close to home, I was able to pop home for dinner – I forced the third burrito down, thinking I needed the fuel – then went back up to see my team & doze in the RV (Peter works for an RV company, so had the lend of a really nicely finished medium sized RV – but what would be massive back in NZ). My next lap was due to start at one in the morning, so there I was waiting & waiting for Rowan again. This time he broke his chain twice & pulled out of the lap. That third burrito came back to haunt me with a niggling stitch for most of lap, but I made it around in the dark without crashing & only eight minutes slower – I was quite pleased with that. Being nearly three I headed home to sleep in my own bed (luxury) for four hours before heading back for my last lap at nine – I was surprised I was only a minute slower than my other daylight lap (for which I was fresh) & it was still mercifully cool as well. After depositing my gear in the car, I was lucky enough to see a great big bald eagle circling over the road. We got one more lap in after my last one – we finished up with fifteen altogether – it was a pretty casual team that I was lucky enough to help out. A good event, but I was missing the Moonride & Team Santa Cruzin’ by the end of it. However, you don’t get views like this at the Moonride:

I sure don’t get tired of looking out my window, or walking back from the grocery store, or riding around town or on the trails & seeing those mountains around (not the best photos of them, but they’re always just right there). Have I mentioned I love this place?

around home, bikes, Canada, friends, MTB

Canada’s Birthday & all the way to the end of Minnewanka

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Last Thursday (1 July) was Canada’s one-hundred & forty-third birthday & a public holiday – Canada Day (I was surprised to find that Canada, in that respect, is younger than NZ). I opted not to work, unfortunately Megan had to – so it was just Alex & I (from our house) that wandered a block or two down to the Rotarian’s Pancake Breakfast. There was a surprisingly large crowd down at Centennial Park at nine in the morning – as well as the pancakes, there were some fun-runs (an oxymoron if I ever saw one) going on & a few clowns wandering around. The Rotary Club must be well organised as they were pumping out the pancakes & had nifty little implements to dispense the batter on the grills.

I was surprised to see that they were serving beef patties with the pancakes & syrup – I’m used to pancakes & bacon & all sorts of other things, but meat patties? It turned out to be a pretty good combination & after seconds (not sure that four patties that early in the morning is a great idea, but the ride in the afternoon burned them off), we headed out to go & pick up a bed from the other side of town.

(I moved house last weekend, not far – it was great living with Megan & Alex since my arrival here, but it makes perfect sense for me to move out before the baby arrives & keeps me awake all night!) Dropping the bed back at Steve’s (my new flatmate) with the use of his rather shiny & rather large Dodge pick-up, we all headed back to Alex’s to watch the Canada Day Parade. For a small town, Canmore apparently has a pretty good parade. It must be, because wandering down the main street early in the morning the street was lined with chairs that people had put out to reserve a good spot!

Our street was on the parade route (being one back from main street has many advantages), so we manoeuvred the couch on to the balcony, cracked open some beers & sat in the sun amused by the antics of bogans across the road – we still haven’t worked out the equivalent Canadian word for ‘bogan’. The parade ended up being ninety minutes long & there were so many horses & Scottish pipe bands. Unlike the float parades I’m used to seeing, there weren’t any big flat deck trucks (due to the tight corners on the route, we imagine) – just pick-ups, vans & cars.

There were plenty of older guys hooning around in little planes & cars – an Imperial Stormtrooper even made an appearance. Here is also a nice big red shiny ladder unit from the local fire department.

The bogans’ water-bombing acts were still amusing us, especially when the bush fire brigade fought back a little & the youths at the next house but one started lobbing water bombs over the house (more of a cabin really) in between them.

Not feeling particularly motivated to struggle against the holiday traffic or go for an epic ride, we eventually settled on riding to Banff on the Rundle Riverside Trail & then getting a ride back with Megan after she finished work. This ride started off by heading up to the Nordic Center & riding down the main thoroughfare (Banff Avenue) to the end of the park & then continuing on the rather rough trail before hitting the golf course & Banff eventually. Leaving the Nordic Center the trail deteriorated rapidly & was ridiculously rooty & therefore bumpy. The long downhill was great fun & then we were mostly beside the Bow River battling the roots.

Somewhere along here Alex managed to drop his chain & then wrap it around the cranks a bit & then jam it between the rings & the suspension pivots. It was proving difficult to extricate, until I found a fork in my Camelbak that worked a treat – the fork must have been in there for a couple of days, & proved more useful than just a lunch eating utensil. Avoiding stray golf balls we were soon at the falls below Banff Springs – not nearly as impressive as the Huka Falls – but with just as many Asian tourists.

Riding through Banff, Alex & I managed to get separated in the madness – we met again near the start of their parade. It turned out the times for the parades must have been staggered for good reason as we saw a lot of the same people doing the same thing.

One difference that we saw was the inclusion of a Brewster Icefield (Glacier) Bus that had difficultly getting around the corner on to Banff Avenue.

I got my token Canada flag & we were off to meet Megan & go home. The last part of Canada Day festivities for me was the small fireworks display – not nearly as grand as the July 4 displays I saw in San Diego last year, but the setting of the mountains & the sound echoing off them was pretty neat. As it is just past the longest day, the display didn’t start until almost 10.40.

As I mentioned, I moved house over the weekend – not too onerous a task considering I don’t have a lot of possessions with me. The weekend’s big ride was to go back to Minnewanka (Alex & I rode & got quite wet there four weeks ago) & get to the end of the lake. It was quite a cloudy start to Saturday & by the time I watched the Germans thrash the Argentinians & Alex bled his rear brakes again it was 11 o’clock when we left the car park. The big (& only real) climb was much easier in the dry & we met very few walkers at the start of the trail. It was supposed to be thirty-five kilometres to the end (& thirty-five back obviously), but we made good time & the turnaround point ended up being ten kilometres less than we expected. We had lunch at the turnaround point – after climbing over a lot of driftwood. The last part of the trail before lunch was a lot of clambering & carrying of bikes over some rocks; but also around here the summer flowers had started to proliferate the undergrowth (Alex put a bit off effort in to identifying some of those that we saw).

The sun even graced with its presence on the way back, which was nice. Once we got back to the Warden’s Hut (where we turned around last time) we started to see a lot more riders – our fitness must be improving as we weren’t passed all day & did get to pass quite a few others.