After yesterday, it wasn't a real good morning. We both woke up feeling just as tired if not more tired than when we went to bed and both had headaches. The only thing that got me out of bed was knowing that I would get a nice hot shower. It was definitely a struggle to get out of our sleeping bags this morning! While I was in the shower (I took a really long shower; it was really wonderful!),Joe packed up the tent so we were all ready to go. We rode to the little town center to possibly get cereal and milk for breakfast. Joe's bike was ready for a new chain, so he replaced that (luckily he didn't need to change the cassette too!). I went to the little grocery store and got us some cereal. They were selling some slightly bruised bananas for 19c each so I bought a bunch of those too. While we were eating, we learned that there was a 5 day bike race going on in the area; today's race was in Lake Louise. By the time we got on the road it was after 11. The weather was nice and sunny which was much appreciated. When we got to the gate at the entrance to Banff National Park, the girl was really nice and we got into another park without having to pay an entrance fee (although there was a chance we would be charged it if we went to a campground). For the majority of the day, the ride was uphill. As we were riding, we passed a couple beautiful lakes that were an unbelievable color and absolutely gorgeous. It looked like it was water in the Caribbean. I guess because it is glacier melt water that gives it it's amazing turquoise green color. We rode about 30 miles or so before stopping for lunch. There was a picnic area next to one of the lakes where we made the rest of our rice, which was about half the amount we normally make. We seasoned it with some of the Italian Dressing mix that we had bought so that it wasn't plain. Since we were still hungry, we made some Oatmeal so that we would be full. After enjoying the sunshine and breathtaking view of Bow Lake with the mountains and glacier in the background we got back on the road. Shortly after, we made it to the top of Bow pass (6,785 ft). Luckily the climb up to the pass was very gradual (we had been climbing pretty much since we entered the park), so it didn't seem as hard. Just as we began to go down, there was a large bunch of cars along the side of the road. More bears! Another mother and her cubs, this time they were grizzles. For some reason, the bears we have seen haven't been as big as we pictured them to be. A little while later as we were going downhill at 35mph, there was a huge bump that was one of those that you couldn't see until it was too late and you had to hit it. Shortly after that, Joe got a broken spoke on the new back wheel, probably because of that bump. We were so frustrated because it is a brand new wheel and things just keep going wrong with the bike. Luckily it wasn't too bad out of true despite the broken spoke. The remainder of the day we felt really tired. We decided to stop at a rest area that overlooked a river valley to make some dinner. We made a couple things of ramen noodles real quick and then set out down the road to find the campground that we were planning to go to. After climbing for a bit longer, we made it to the campground and set up our tent as quick as we could. Although we were planning on hanging our food, we thought it was pretty funny that there was a sing that said "leave all food and food related items in a vehicle, trailer or RV; this is bear area." Apparently no one ever comes to the campgrounds without a vehicle. Since it is bear area, we were a little surprised that they didn't have bear boxes. Once we got our food hung, we went right to bed right away because we were still super tired. We rode 60.03 miles today.
|
|