Feeling Small

Day 21. 98.9 miles. 7145 feet elevation. Weather perfect until the last 5 km is at which point I started swimming.

There really isn’t anything other than being there that allows one to fully appreciate the incredible Grandeur of this place. I was listening to Cosmos and sitting next to my bike eating lunch while looking at this incredible view. Between the billions and billions of worlds described by Carl Sagan and the immensity of these mountains, I was feeling pretty small. Yet, at the same time, I felt incredibly blessed and important to be in the middle of such a spectacular work of art.

Today was momentous,  not just because of the mileage and elevation gain, but because I crossed from BC into Alberta. This is the archway at the top of the pass that marks not border. I now have only nine more provinces and three US states to cover:-). BC has been incredibly beautiful, but a bit rough with very steep climbs and rocky roads.

You can just make out two people on bikes on the left hand side of this picture. That’s Jody and Darren. They saved me about three times today. First they help me get on a trail that was near the road making for easier passage. Then when I pedal past a turn Darren actually chased me on his bike and made sure I was coming back to the proper turn. Only in canada.

The G7 Summit is being held nearby, and so there were rcmps up and down the last 30 km or so of Road. The first one I ran into, I stopped and then realized they’re not expecting anybody to stop they’re just keeping them from hiking certain trails. The RCMP asked me if I was doing anything nefarious. Which was hilarious, and he thought so, too. He then sent me on my way. Later, when I was passing another group of RCMPs, they yelled for me to stop. I thought I was in trouble, but instead, they said, “Do you want dinner? He invited me over to his SUV and gave me sandwiches, an orange, protein bars, and a drink. They said they had extra. Again, it is only in Canada.

The last 5 km of my day were downhill in the Canmore which you can see below. You might also be able to tell that that’s fuzziness is rain. The downhill was nice but the rain got worse as I got further down the hill. By the time I got to my hotel that felt like I completed a triathlon with a 5 km swim. Thankfully, the shower was hot and I was able to get warmed up before grabbing some dinner at the end of a relatively long but wonderful day.