Good Omens

Stats for the day:
Total Distance: 99.67km
Average Speed: 17.1km/h
Start: Calgary, AB
End: Canmore, AB (Wapiti Campground)

I haven't posted anything in a while because I was scrambling to move out and grab last minute stuff for the trip.  I was in a mad panic all weekend to get things sold on Facebook/Kijiji - which by the way is infuriating, I would put things up for free and people would still try to negotiate - and move out of my apartment.  At some point I realized that my Monday departure was completely arbitrary and made up by me and so decided to leave Tuesday.

My apartment was on the 34th floor of my building.  It was my nest up in the sky, and located next to the Calgary Tower.  Some mornings I would look out my balcony windows and only see the tops of other buildings and think "...just like The Jetsons!".  It was higher than I've ever expected to live, and I especially enjoyed the view at night when the city was lit up and the Calgary Tower would glow and dance in different shades.  My scramble to get out lasted well into Monday night, but I took one last photo up there to remember the view.

I noticed that there was a mist/fog over the city that night.  When I woke up I found out why.  On Tuesday morning the Sun was an angry red ball on the horizon.  The city was encased in smoke.  For those from further away, the province of Alberta is currently under a state of emergency due to unseasonably early forest fires which have been caused by unusually hot weather and winds.  The smoke blew into Calgary yesterday, and as the morning went on it only got worse.  By the time I'd done my key handover with my landlord the smoke had blocked the sun so much that street lights turned on.  And the winds were blowing so hard that they howled around the skyscrapers of downtown.  If I believed in omens I'd have sold the bike and taken up the sacraments right there and then.

I wish I could tell you that I'm exaggerating for dramatic effect, but it was disturbing how quickly the day turned into - what felt like - a biblical event, near apocalyptic.

So naturally I decided this was the time to leave Calgary.  I went to the post office to ship the last parcels and immediately lost my cycling glasses.  So....false start.  I'd had to wait till 9am for the post office to open, and now I'd have to wait until 10am for the sports stores to open.  Once I'd picked out a new pair - exactly the same as the ones I'd lost - I was ready to go.  Unfortunately, it was now 10:30am and I wanted to get to Canmore which is ~120km (75 miles) from Calgary.  So I started the journey by cheating.  I jumped on the C-Train (local light rail) and took the train to the edge of town cutting about 20km off the trip.  At 11am I was ready to leave!

Unfortunately, the weather was only getting worse.  By 11am the winds were blowing so hard that my bike was getting pushed and the surging winds were whistling through my bike frame.  But like Calgary's motto: Onward!

I jumped on Highway 1A toward Cochrane and it was immediately slow going.  The smoke meant I couldn't see very much, and it burned my throat.  The winds didn't seem to come from any particular direction, they came from everywhere.  By the time I made it to Cochrane - a mere 20/100 kilometers I needed to go - I was averaging 13.1km/h.  It was brutal.  It felt like everything was trying to tell me to turn around.  I received messages from three friends saying they hoped I'd at least delayed my departure.  Not this stubborn idiot!

Once I reached Cochrane I treated myself to an ice cream to buoy my spirits.  It worked.  About 10km out of Cochrane and the winds died down.  I entered the foothills where the Rocky Mountains create gently pulsating landscapes, and my speed picked up.  At some point I reached Ghost Lake and - true to it's name - it was an apparition.  I never saw it.  The smoke was such that I could only see my immediate surroundings.  Another 10km later the traffic died down, and I could finally hear the birds chirping; heralding spring, some nut on a bike, or just singing for their own pleasure...I'll never know.  Things got more pleasant.  The smoke meant that I didn't need to wear sunscreen as the sun couldn't penetrated the shroud.  I stopped for lunch at a picnic site at Ghost Lake, but still never saw the water.

I kept up a decent pace and pushed up and down the hills.  Top speed on one particularly long downhill: 60km/h (37mph).  I stopped at every plaque and marker along the road because - as Roman Mars teaches us - always read the plaque.  I came across one WWII memorial to two airmen who had died on the prairie in a plane crash, and another to a church which had been the centre of an early pioneer community.  Some of the plaques on the later were placed in 1927 and were appropriately...of their time.  Let's just say they were "dated" in more ways than one!‌‌

The last 20km into Canmore were tougher.  I was definitely getting tired, and on one long climb had to stop to catch my breath.  I saw the sign for Mount Yamnuska...but couldn't see it.  I realized I was now IN the mountains but there was no evidence of it.  When I reached Canmore I looked around and couldn't see anything: The Three Sisters, Ha Ling, Rundle....all of them lost in the smoke.  Canmore is my favourite mountain town...but this wasn't it.  Those peaks are spectacular, and they were gone.

I signed in at a campground, made camp, stretched, had dinner, and walked to the grocery store.  Because I'm used to hiking, I'm packing almost 3 days worth of food and 4 litres of water.  It's too much.  I'm going to experiment with 1 day of food and maybe 2 litres of water.  I should be able to replenish along the road.

I slept very well, 9 hours, and am feeling good for the upcoming day.  I started out with breakfast at my favourite spot in Canmore: The Rocky Mountain Bagel Company.  I got to pound out this blog post, and now I'll go tear down my camp and start the day.  Today will be the Legacy Trail - a bike path from Canmore to Banff - followed by the old highway to Lake Louise, and then I finally jump onto the Trans-Canada to cross the border into British Columbia and stop just outside of Field, BC!

As a small bonus, I can see the outline of the mountains.  The smoke is dissipating and I might get to see something today!

I'll likely be out of cell range for the next day or two, but I've scheduled a blog post for tomorrow.  And it's a real treat!  Stay tuned and talk to you soon - likely from Revelstoke in about 2 days time!