Winnipeg!

Since the last post I've left Regina and made it to my fourth province! Right now I'm spending the weekend in Winnipeg enjoying the sights.

Regina has an awesome park in the middle of the city. Here is the view across the lake to the parliament buildings.

Tommy Douglas ... one of the most influential Canadians!

In the hostel in Regina I ran into Yvon (we had rode together for two days between Hope and Keremeos at the start of the trip). We spent time catching up in Regina and decided to ride to Winnipeg together. It was a quick ride since there wasn't much between cities, most of the hills turned out to be just overpasses, and the wind was blowing somewhat in the right direction. We ended up riding the 590km in four days.

Cyclists love these signs!

This sign sums up the riding conditions on Hwy #1 in Manitoba.

Happy at the end of a long day! Since the prairies are coming to an end, this will probably be my longest day of the trip.

In Winnipeg I'm staying with Navin's uncle Dalip and his family, who are treating me wonderfully. Since I've been here the weather has been horrible ... at one point I was actually blown off my bike! Later I found out that where it happened, Portage and Main, has a reputation of being the windiest intersection in Canada. But the locals don't seem phased. Yesterday I was hiding from the wind and rain over a hot chocolate in a coffee shop and there were people sitting in t-shirts at the tables outside having their drinks! (When I was riding I was wearing all my raingear.) If I make any comments about the weather people just laugh.

Winnipeg is full of history. Today I visited the Forks, where the Assiniboine River joins the Red River. These two rivers were the highways of prairies, so they made an excellent meeting place for Natives and later Europeans. Later I took in Saint Boniface, the French portion of Winnipeg, and visited the Manitoba Museum.

The Red River and downtown Winnipeg

A fisherman at The Forks

I really liked this statue of Louis Riel. Apparently lots don't, so it was moved from in front of the legislature to here in Saint Boniface.

I was able to get some signs for my bike and business cards printed at Staples advertising the MS Society of Canada. It's official now! People can donate a lump sum or pledge a per km amount (1 cent / km would work out to about $70 total) payable when I finish the trip. Stay tuned to be harassed for donations via email!

My fancy new business cards ... ooo la la.

Cheers,
Dave

A New Direction!

Hi Everyone,

Just before this trip started, my family was touched by MS. Seeing the symptoms of this disease greatly effected me, and as a result I have decided to start raising money for the MS Society of BC. This money will go towards finding ways to mitigate symptoms, and hopefully finding a cure for MS.

I've set a reasonable goal of $2500 for the remainder of the trip, but with your help I hope to surpass this.

Please help me by donating to the MS Society of BC here.

Many thanks!
Dave

As always, this trip still gives me a large amount of personal satisfaction. Right now I'm in Regina ... where you only have to look across the street for cars on a four lane road to stop in both directions. During a rest day today I explored the parks and downtown, and took a tour of the legislature.

The ride from Moose Jaw was quite a difficult 70km, with a headwind, hail, and lots of rain. There was enough rain to somehow get into my cycling computer and cause it to reset! Thankfully I was riding with Pierre-Paul and Rachel, and we were able to help each other through it.

Pierre-Paul and Rachel on the way to Regina.

When Pierre-Paul got a flat there just happened to be a farmhouse right beside us ... the only one for miles! It was convenient timing since it gave us an excuse to take shelter from a thunderstorm!

Cheers,
Dave

Into the Prairies

Since my last post I've been having a wonderful time. The prairies are really beautiful. The grass on the rolling hills flows when the wind blows ... it's actually quite majestic! And the skies are absolutely wild. All sorts of different clouds zoom across in every direction, and nothing puts the fear of god in you like the big black storm clouds. But don't believe what you hear ... Saskatchewan isn't flat! So far it has been endless rolling hills.

I don't think these were intended for cyclists, but they sure are effective advertising!

Medicine Hat claims to have the worlds largest tee-pee ... I wasn't too impressed with this big, welded, uncovered metal structure.

My first time seeing Buffalo. They sure do look fierce!

Woohoo!

Lake Chaplin. Apparently the second largest salt lake in North America. Lakes like these are the reason there are so many salt water birds in the prairies.

Unfortunately I've had another mechanical problem ... a broken bike pump in combination with a flat tire. This pump hasn't had a problem for the last 6 years, but it decided to start leaking on the side of the road approximately 18km from Swift Current. Once again, hitchhiking was a cinch with a bike ... I was picked up in less than 5 minutes and driven right into Swift Current. A big thanks to Big Sky Cycles who fixed the flat, got me a new pump, cleaned the bike, checked it over, and gave it a tune up for $30! They are also going to see about the warranty on the other pump.

Kevin's Gramma Schriock was generous enough to put me up for the night in Swift Current. She and her friend Willard were both farmers in their day and put up with my endless questions while we stuffed ourselves at a greasy Chinese food buffet.

Yesterday was my biggest day so far, riding 182km from Swift Current to Moose Jaw. I got an early start at 7 to beat the wind, and finished just after 4:15. Most of the day I was riding with a sidewind, but I had a perfect tailwind for the last few km. As a result I flew the last 20km into Moose Jaw at over 35km/hr!

Tailwinds are a wonderful thing ... although I may have pedaled a bit harder for the picture ;)

Now that I'm back on the #1 I am running into other cyclists again. It's wonderful to have company on the road and in the campsite. Since my last post I've ridden with two other cyclists. From Bassano to Brooks I rode with Rachel from Vancouver, who is doing this for a good cause. You can read about her cause and her adventures here. Also, I rode from Brooks to Medicine Hat and shared a campsite for two nights with Pierre-Paul from Quebec City. In both cases we parted ways due to different destinations and schedules, but I will most likely see both of them along the road or in the campsites. Last night I ran into two cyclists from Ontario who I met in Revelstoke two weeks ago!

Pierre-Paul at our campsite in Medicine Hat.

Moose Jaw is a pretty interesting city. Today I went on a tour of the tunnels under the city. During prohibition, Al Capone operated his bootlegging business here. Also, many Chinese immigrants lived and worked in the tunnels in appalling conditions to pay for their passage to Canada and to avoid the harsh racism which faced them in the cities.


Moose Jaw also has one of the nicest city welcome signs so far.

Tomorrow it's a short day to Regina followed by a day of sightseeing. Then I'll head out along Hwy 1 to my next stop in Winnipeg.

Cheers,
Dave

Drumheller

This weekend I've been relaxing in Drumheller with Jenn and my parents. My dad rode the last 100km to Drumheller from Crossfield with me. He must have been practicing, as his pace was faster than I would normally ride!

Drumheller is really interesting. As you are heading through flat plains, a big valley comes into view. The road drops down into "The Badlands", a canyon of sedimentary rock formed when the Red Deer River broke an ice dam at the end of the last ice age. This exposed all sorts of fossils and dinosaur remains which are excavated today!

Riding through the Bow Valley near Canmore

The Royal Tyrell Museum was spectacular. It is very much an active research facility and as a result has a very interesting vibe. The exhibits were fascinating, with fossils and reconstructions galore.

A couple of T-Rexes in the Royal Tyrell Museum

People in the praries are incredibly nice. Immediately after my last post in Cochrane I was offered a place to stay for the night by Bruce and Debra. Bruce had cycled through Europe before so we talked for hours about cycling over a few beers and a hot meal. Since then I've had two free nights camping and some food on the house!

The Badlands near Drumheller

Hoodoos in the Badlands. We thought they would be bigger.

Fortunately I had time to ride North through Olds to Sylvan Lake to visit my cousin Cheri, her husband Steve, and their two sons Tyler and Zach. I had a wonderful time ... but may have left them with empty cupboards due to the enormous appetite I've developed.

Next stop was Red Deer to visit Steve, a good friend from highschool. The network of bike trails and recreation paths in Red Deer was quite impressive. Unfortunately they are quite confusing to someone who is new in town.

The roads are quite straight here!

Prarie scenery. Apparently the farmer is paid a lease on the surface used for the pump, but does not own the oil or minerals below.

Riding in the praries sure is an experience. So far I'm enjoying it ... but that might change after a few weeks. After 3 days of snow (not kidding) I'm enjoying the warm weather.

Hope all is well!
Dave

Alberta Bound

Well right now I'm drying out in a coffee shop in Canmore (actually I'm in Cochrane now, but this was written in Canmore). It snowed a bunch in the Rockies last night, causing me to flee from Lake Louise to lower elevations in Banff. Unfortunately I won't get to see any of Banff National Park :(

The rest of the ride to Revelstoke was very beautiful. And the ferry crossing to Shelter Bay was quite cool.

View of the Galena Bay - Shelter Bay ferry across Arrow Lake from my campsite that night

A couple day ago I had my first mechanical problem. I was putting some more air in my tire, and the presta valve broke. When I went to change the tire, I discovered that I hadn't brought any tire levers! (I later found out from Jenn that I had left them on the living room floor) Turns out BCAA does not in fact do bicycle repairs outside of Vancouver, but they did drive me back to the bike shop in Revelstoke with my wheel. There I got some tire levers and the mechanic replaced and inflated the tire for me. It was time to hitchike back to the rest of my bike, so I started walking down the main Revelstoke street to the intersection which leads up to the highway. Someone stopped before I was even had my thumb out and offered to drive me the 12km out of town to my bike! He wasn't even going that direction; what a generous guy! That night I stayed in Canyon Hot Springs outside of Revelstoke and soaked myself for far longer than recommended!

Rogers Pass was not nearly as hard of a climb as I expected. The summit elevation is only 1300m, compared to 1700m in Lake Louise or 1300m from just above sea level in Allison Pass. Among others, I met some cyclists who were travelling with their parents meeting them each day in an RV. I can't imagine this being very fun for the parents, but what a way to travel for the cyclists!

Rogers Pass Summit. Another cyclist named Oliver just barely visible as well.

Saw these Rocky Mountain Sheep on the side of the road outside of Golden.

Yoho National Park was beautiful. Unfortunately it started hailing and I had to skip any sightseeing in the second half.

Wapta Falls in Yoho National Park

Impressive windloading in Yoho National Park

Alberta looks ominous!

This is all I could see (during a break in the weather) of Banff National Park

Since Slocan I've been riding into a headwind (I must have been a sleazeball lawyer in a past life). Last night it was so bad that I was struggling to keep 15km/hr and it took 4 hours to travel slightly downhill 55km! My normal speed is 22 - 25 if it's flat. But on the positive side, I'm in no rush ... and it's not a big deal if I arrive an hour or two later at my destination.

Headwinds at the Alberta border. Seconds later my bike was blown off the sign and I had to run down the road after my pannier cover!

From here it's up to Sylvan Lake and Red Deer to visit friends and family, then to Drumheller to meet Jenn and my parents for the weekend. I'm quite excited!

I'm getting more and more in shape now and am off Advil and TigerBalm. This is good news! I'm also developing quite the farmers tan ... it's absolutely hillarious.

Cheers,
Dave

Hello from Nakusp

Thanks for your comments everyone, and especially to Jenn for correctly coming to my defense on the underwear debate!

Since the last entry I've been climbing in Valhalla Provincial Park with Dave. We had an excellent time climbing the SE Ridge of Gimli. Gimli is a prominent peak with several very asthetic climbs on it. The rock was incredible, and the climbing was steep and exposed ... right up to a crux roof near the summit. We hiked in the first day (it took an unpleasant 6 hours due to postholing though the snow), climbed the second, and hiked out the third. Neither of us expected it to be quite as high or remote as it turned out to be, so we had a few setbacks to overcome. I accidentally clicked my camera into some weird mode which overexposes everything, but here are a couple pictures which almost turned out: (edit: I've replaced the pictures with better ones from Dave's camera)

Creek crossing on the hike into Gimli with improvised snowshoes.

Almost to the base ... 5 hours later! We climbed the steep ridgeline directly facing the camera along the edge of the shadow.

Me following the second pitch.

Happy to be through the crux ... and the beginnings of lots of rope drag!

Near the summit. Once again, we were surprised to find snow.

Yesterday we got back to Slocan at about 12pm and went to campground to drop off my stuff and eat lunch. We got back to Bruce and Suzanne's at about 3pm for a quick visit before heading out.

It was wonderful riding back 50km to the campsite in Slocan without bags on the bike. The Slocan Valley has lots of character. It seems quite rugged compared to a lot of the terrain I've been coming through, and doesn't seem to see a lot of tourists.

The Northern Part of Slocan Lake

I rushed the first part of the trip in order to make it to the Valhallas for a weekend. I think I will get more enjoyment from shorter riding days with lots of stops in the towns along the way. To accomplish this, I'm going to skip all or part of the Icefield Parkway and Edmonton in order to make it to my next deadline of Friday June 12th in Calgary. Today is a bit of a relaxing day, which started out with banana pancakes ... mmm! I'm in Nakusp now, and I think I will make my way to Halcyon Hot Springs before heading to the Galena Bay Ferry.

I've sent the saw, trowel, and some food home with Dave in an attempt to save some weight and space on the bike. I'd also like to get a light and small pair of flip flops instead of the big bulky sandals I've been carrying around.

Cheers,
Dave