day 21

6/12/09: Segment 16; Lake Louise, Alberta to Wilcox Creek Campground, Jasper National Park, Alberta; 82 miles

         Now before I eat humble pie, and describe the day’s ride. I’d like to give a shout out to some friends who have taken the time to fire us emails via the contact form on the website. Hi Caveman Kenny (I tried to email you but that address on the form would not go through). Tell the all the fellers I said hi. Thanks Joe very much for you pretty in depth discussion on spokes. That was really great for you to take the time to fire us that info. And thanks to Mr & Mrs. Delamater for all your emails and support.

         Ok, I opened my big mouth yesterday about KOM and all that junk. Yea, it felt good, and my shoulder is still a bit tender from patting myself on the back, but that was yesterday. Today, well……..I knew from the first 5-10 min going up the on ramp to the Icefields Parkway, Rt 93, that the old legs just didn’t have the gas like yesterday. With that said, I just tried to settle in at a comfortable pace up the ramp and onto the parkway.

         To digress just a minute, I did not sleep very well last night, due to the really cold temps that set in. Had to go down to 30-degrees, and instead of pulling out the fleece, I just got lazy and curled up in a ball for the night. Wrong move there. Second thing - and I think both of these factors feed into the fact that both Ryan and I were not on our game today – was that we did not eat immediately after we finished the ride yesterday. Instead we went straight to the mall area, paid for a wifi code, and did our businesses, and contacted family and friends. That took nearly 3 hrs when all was said and done. So with bad sleep, and not re carbing right after the ride, I think we both had leg hangovers.

         So anyway, we get on the parkway, and it’s another fantastic day, albeit a bit on the cold side. Heck, I began the day with two top layers, tights, gloves and a earwarmer. Very brisk indeed. We went through the toll booth for the parkway and all of a sudden this amazing panorama of scenery just opened up. It was totally off the charts. Really, this parkway is a kind of corridor between the mountain ranges. These ranges are on both sides, so it’s like you’re riding down this ally-way between massive, snow and glacier covered high mountains. Streams and rivers are cascading out of the mountains on the left and right sides, and just crazy scenery opens up around every corner.

         Now that is the awesome part of the day. The not so awesome other part of the day was very tired legs, for both of us. So we had to just put that in the closet and enjoy what is probably the most incredible ride I’ve ever done. Period! I mean these mountains just don’t stop, as it’s a never-ending panorama, mile after mile.

         So we decide to be ambitious today and shoot for an 80-mile ride, cutting this 140-150-mile long parkway in half. We were facing two passes in one day. One, Bow Pass, is not supposed to be too bad, just a bit on the longish side – 20K+, and the other, Sunwapta Pass, is supposed to be a real killer. The second is situated just before the end of the day, somewhere around the 70-75-mile mark in the ride. So we were feeling all in love with ourselves for cranking out yesterday’s ride, and figured, ah what the what, we can do two big passes in one day.

         Yup, we could alright, with massive amounts of suffering on the second climb! So we start into the first pass, and it’s a long series of stair steps up, with little descents, and then big ups again, taking us higher and higher up this massive valley that’s the parkway. Now I already know that it’s going to be a Loooooooooong day, so I use the little cookie way more than I normally do, just to make sure I have something for the notorious second pass. I’m stopping almost every 10 min to take pictures, some with my low res camera, some with my high res camera. And the sights are just everywhere. You look ahead, you look behind, you look to the left and right, and it’s one picture after another. You can be a total knucklehead for a photographer and still manage to get some crazy nice pics here.

         So I ride and shoot and gawk and climb. With the legs just feeling heavy and restless. Never a rhythm. After a gonzo mega-mile descent, loosing every inch of gain I worked so hard to get, and after about 4 hrs I arrived at the Saskatchewan River Crossing, a service center just north of the Saskatchewan River. I went in and got a Dr. Pepper (no coke) 2 mars bars and a small bag of chips – 10 bucks! They go you by the you know what at this pace. It’s the only gas station, grocery store, gift shop on the whole parkway. It reminded me of buying food at an airport – gouging of massive proportions. So I waited there for Ryan. He rolled in about 40 min later, looking pretty beat.

         We talked briefly about how cocky we were yesterday, and how beat on we were today. He said that he stopped at the top of the first pass and had to make some lunch. At that point we were at 51 miles, and what I though was the hardest part behind us. NOT. Ryan went in to get filled up, while I motored on to our camping area. I had all the literature buried in my gear bag at the bottom of the yak, so I couldn’t get the exact name of the camping area straight. Ryan though it was Columbia River. Good with me. All I know is that it’s at the 80-mile mark and after the descent of the second pass. So I rode on while Ryan took his break.

         And I’m riding and all of a sudden notice that the wind is really picking up, turning into a very nasty headwind, actually bending the branches of trees, and pushing the plants over on their sides. So now, with about 30 mile to go, I’m doing 8 mph on the flats – with a massive pass to do at the end. Just had to laugh out loud at the situation. So I put it in the middle ring, easy cog and just do my best to plug away at the mileage and take in the great scenery. Again, I stop numerous times for pic opps. And I’m thinking to myself, damn, if I’m beat here, and I ride pretty good for the last half to quarter of these stages, Ryan is going to really feel beat to hell because he usually tends to wear down during the latter stages of a day.

         So I keep riding into the headwind, and every time I start to do a climb I’m hoping is the big Motha. But 2-3 false climbs lead right back to descents along the river. And I hit this really wide open, flat section, and it seems like the wind is just howling through this area, knocking me down to 7 mph. But off in the distance to the north I see cars going up, up, up. And then I know it’s just about time for the big Motha – Sunwapta Pass. Little ring, shift down, get out of the saddle and start climbing, and again, no rhythm. In the saddle, out of the saddle, no rhythm. So I just try to keep a good head and get er done.

         And after about 25 min the gradient begins to settle down, and I think that this thing was another big pipedream of a climb. Then I look up and I see these cars going up the edge of the mountain, about a mile away. And the gradient looks……..SICK. I’m thinking, “that has to be some vista area or something. It can’t be the parkway. And so the parkway begins to descend and make this long sweeping turn. And I think, “yup, that’s a vista area, but how the hell do they get up there?” And then I see it, the parkway does a complete 180 in this long sweeping loop, and head straight up the mountain, onto that SICK gradient. Again, I laugh out loud, this time at my stupidity.

         So I hit the little cookie and work into the second easiest cog I have. And I’m out of the saddle. The drivers in the cars are looking at me like I’m a circus freak for God’s sake, climbing this crazy gradient with a damned trailer. I keep plugging away, in and out of the saddle, and finally shift into the easiest gear I have, the pie plate in the back, the wall climber, the emergency gear. I was there! So I climbed another 1K to this vista point, the one I saw way, way down on the minor part of this climb. Slammed two Hammergels, took some pics to show everyone just how insane this climb really is, and then got it going again.

         Hell, just getting out of the parking area was a killer. Like I’m out of the saddle in the easiest gear, and I’m thinking, “damn, I could very easily fall right off of my bike here in the exit of the parking area, in front of all these people. Now that would ge a real hoot wouldn’t it?” I make it out, and back onto the road, out of the saddle, easiest gear, and just grind, up and up and up and up. Sit, stand, sit, stand, it just kept going. With no relief. Up and around the corner it went, and then it settled out a bit, enough for me to drop a cog and make myself feel good. But it was a false flat, and just kept climbing. I tried the middle cookie here, but forget about it, I was straining like it was the top of Oak Hill and I was in my big ring.

         I had looked at my watch at the bottom of the climb and it read 5:56 hrs of ride time. Now I look down again, still climbing, well past the vista, and it reads 6:50 hrs of ride time. And I know that it’s still going, and has to bend around the nose of a mountain another 2 miles away. You can tell by the V cut in the pass. “So this baby is going to go for well over an hr, and I’m still in my little cookie,” I’m thinking. Finally, at 7:08 hrs of ride time, I actually hit the summit. There are snow patches everywhere, and ice melt streams anastomosing from every which direction. I’m there!

         Crank the middle ring, jump out of the saddle and let’s descend. NOPE. I go down about a half mile and then hit another false flat. Then finally, after another 1 in the little cookie, the real descent comes. So I big ring it down. And this camping area appears out of nowhere, and I’m now 7:35 into the ride time, and 82 miles into the day. “This has to be it,” I thought, though it wasn’t named the Columbia River Campground. It was called the Wilcox Creek Campground. With another campground just down about another 2k.

         So I sit there for a minute. I mean I’m done, completely done, but I have to go down the road to see what the name of the campground is. And off I go. Get to the place and there’s no name, just a tent sign pointing into the forest. So my dilemma begins: Go back to the well marked campground that I first came to, or go to this unnamed campground. Back to Wilcox. I’m figuring that Ryan will want to go NO further. And that any campground is good at this point.

         Go into the place, and there’s a freaking climb to get up into the camping area. I mean this thing is little cookie in the gravel! Now I’m cussing out loud. My legs are completely torched, and I’m bloody climbing again to get a campsite. So I climb, and climb and climb, and find a nice site in the sun. Unload my gear and I slam 2 Campbell’s Soups – a seafood chowder and a corn chowder…….cold! Ryan has all the food and cooking stuff. No matter, I needed food and right then and there. So I pulled the pull tab, bent the mouths of the cans into a V, and just chugged the soups, one right after another.

         I unloaded gear and went back down to make a sign for Ryan to tell him I’m in the first of the two campgrounds. Well, there was not only a pencil in the sing-in kiosk, but no cards, no nothing. I was hoping to write a message and put it on the berm for him to run into. So I go to the turn-in for the campground and scratch arrows into the dirt next to the berm. Three big arrows pointing into the camping entrance. And I put the piece of torn magazine paper under two rocks by the arrows.

         Ride back up the crazy climbs, and even with no gear on the bike they’re bloody well hard! Now I have a third can of soup, but this one need a can opener for it. So I go downhill to my neighbor campers and bum a can opener from them. Again, I V the mouth of the can and guzzle down a can of cold clam chowder. Now this time I at least have some food in my post ride!

         Set up camp by rocking my Hille in, even using my yak with a big rock in it as a tie-off point. Get all my gear in the tent, and then I do this blog. Now it’s currently 8:38 MST, and I’ve been here exactly 2 hrs. And still no Ryan. My big hope is that he just took a couple of breaks on the Motha climb, and he’ll be here soon. Worst case……….bonked and may limp in before dark. OR………he missed my arrows and went to the second campground.

         Well, that’s the story today. No internet, no cell, no radio reception on FM or AM with my short wave. No nothing out here, so this post will sit for another day. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Ryan will make it in here before dark…………Pete

Postscript: Ryan found. Details in the next blog……and it’s a winner!

Ryan Adds: 

So here is my story from yesterday. Yesterday was nuts. 

It was the most beautiful ride I have ever done hands down and it was also the hardest hands down. You go though so many feelings on a ride like this. One minute your picking your jaw up off the floor because you just can;t believe the images that are unfolding before you as you ride. Pete was right about the climbs, the false flats, and the 2 humungous climbs we did. When I approached the 2nd and final climb of the day I told myself that I had 1 hour left and I was through the toughest part of this whole trip. I have never been in a bike race but when I got to the second lookout there were about 20 people who had parked their cars and they saw me come up and started clapping. It was nuts. I got pumped and realized it had taken me 3 weeks to get to the highest point on our journey.  The only problem was that there was about a half mile to the top. I was just pumped so I rode out of the parking lot feeling good and started to think about dinner. I was cruising real slow and just had my head down trying to finish the hardest ride of my life. I could tell that the top was not far off because you can see the cars disappear. I was super stoked and all of a sudden my legs were spinning and I had no traction. I barely unclipped long enough to keep me from slamming into the pavement with my 75 pound trailer. I looked under my bike to see what had happened and my heart just sank. I went from feeling about as good as a human can to disbelief. My derailer hanger had snapped off, broke one of my spokes and destroyed my chain. Just like that it was game over. Pete was ahead of me and I just hoping I was close to the campground. On a trip like this you never know. I decided to stick my thumb out to see if I could get a ride. A huge RV passed me then pulled over about 100 meters up the road. Here I was trying to run up the last part of this hill with my bike and yak. This really cool Irish guy jumps out and I explained to him my plight and he offered me a ride.  I couldn't believe it. Right when I started walking my stuff I prayed for God to send me and angel and 1 minute later I was in an air conditioned RV with 4 of the happiest people I have ever met. They were just ear to ear smiles. I found the whole thing hilarious. I mean let me be honest. I just had 8 hours of ride time. I smelt worse than a public bathroom and it was obvious because my own smell was making me gag and I couldn't imagine what they were experiencing. My smell was the elephant in the room and I was just wiped. I joked about smelling their car up and they said no prob. It turns out that Michael is a triathlete and his wife is a fitness instructor. She offered me some water and I was so unbelievably hungry but their was no way I was gonna ask for any food. I smelt like the devil and looked like hell and I was just glad to have a ride.

Now it gets silly. We spend the better part of 2 hours looking for Pete. Every campground. Back and forth. It turns out we went to every one except the one he was in. After we looked for Pete I had ridden 8 hours and had no food. Then the super cool Irish family told me they would take me to Jasper with them so I could get my bike fixed. I said okay. They said the wanted to see the Columbian Ice Fields before we left. when we got to the Ice Fields I was hungry, cold, but thankful I was not abandoned. I got changed real quick, then they asked me if I wanted to go on a hike to the top of the Ice Fields. Okay I said. Bad Idea. It turned into a full on hike. I was so wiped but it was made easy by the fact that they were so nice.

We finally got back in the car and I have never tried so hard in my life to stay awake. It was harder than a boring sermon at church. We got to Jasper and I got a site and they asked me over for dinner. We ate and I had my first beer in my life. Listen. When a guy from Dublin Ireland gives you a ride in Canada and then offers you a beer you drink it. It tasted like shit. I must be an alien. Or I have the wrong genes or something. I drank half of it and then crashed. Very crazy day.