Sunday, January 9 At Calgary

We stayed on the grounds of Calgary Christian School.  A Christian Reformed Church is right next door to the school.   Members from two Christian Reformed Churches treated us to Saturday evening dinner, Sunday morning breakfast, and Sunday lunch.  

Another highlight of the trip was the worship times we had together.  

This is most of my small group that met each night for devotions. They were also our work group. We were in charge of dinner preparation for the first week and serving dinner during the second week.  It was a great group to work with and to get to know.

Day 12: Canmore to Calgary - July 8

 We left Canmore on Saturday morning, July 8 and headed for Calgary. We were now entering the prairie.   It didn't take long for the mountains to be left in the distance behind us.   We rode on some quiet roads.

A church provided a lunch for us along the route.  We arrived early (10:30 am) but they scrambled and had everything ready for us soon after we arrived.  We came into Calgary along a route that had many very large, new homes up on the hills from our bike path.  We arrived at Calgary Christian School at about 2:30 pm.  This is my final stop on the tour.  It went very fast and I am grateful for the opportunity I had to participate in this incredible ride.  The map below show our route from Vancouver to Calgary with a pin marking the spot where we spent the night.  It was a challenge to bike up the mountains but the views made it all worthwhile.   To God be the Glory!

Day 11: Lake Louise to Canmore - Friday, July 7

We finally left the Transcontinental Highway and took a very quiet and scenic road, the Bow Valley Parkway,  from Lake Louise into Banff.

We stopped for lunch in Banff and did some site seeing.  We walked through some beautiful gardens and toured a cave that had a hot mineral spring.

We had a BEAUTIFUL ride from Banff to Canmore.  The entire route was on a bike path with spectacular views of the mountains.  Plus it was downhill for most of the ride.  I was going about 25 mph and singing the entire way.

We stayed in a  large school building at Canmore.  We ate outside but slept in various rooms and hallways in the school.  We were told that a grizzly bear was seen in the area recently and they did not want us in our tents outside.

I found a spot in the hallway. Although when I picked this spot I didn't realize the light above me was going to stay on all night.

Day 10: Golden to Lake Louise- July 6.

After the big day yesterday, we were able to get back to our normal routine of eating breakfast at 6:30 am and departure from the camp at 7:00 am.   We were back on Highway 1 and had several more climbs out of Golden but the day was much easier than the previous two days.  

The bridge in the background spans a canyon and is 300 ft above the river at the bottom of the canyon.  It is amazing that a crew can engineer and build a bridge like this.  I'll admit that I was nervous biking over this and only glanced down a couple of times.  It was a long way to the bottom.

The views continue to be spectacular.

 The picture to the left shows another construction zone approaching.

We made it into Lake Louise by about 1:30 pm.  We were staying at the Lake Louise Campground.  After we settle into our our campsite we started to bike up to the chalet at Lake Louise.   When we started we had no idea the chalet was about 3 miles uphill.  Fortunately, Ed, our tour director came by with a fan with a bike carrier on the back.  Jerry, Rod, and I put our bikes on the rack and Ed drove us the rest of the way up the hill to the chalet.  It was very crowded but we enjoyed walking around this famous tourist site.

Because of so many bears coming to the campground, the entire campground is now surrounded with an electric fence.  We had to go through this gate to enter and exit the campground.  A few of the Sea to Sea riders saw a grizzly bear swim acrossed the river located near the campsite.  

  

Day 9: Revelstoke to Golden - 92 miles - July 5

We left the campground at Revelstoke at 6:00 am today.   They wanted everyone out early because it is a long day (92 miles) with a big elevation climb.    We were on the transcontinental highway soon after leaving the campground.

We came across several construction sites along our ride.  The road crews were very friendly to us and gave us the "right away" at times when they didn't need to.  In fact, one lead car led about 30 bikers through the construction zone while the trucks and cars had to wait.  This area is called "Kicking Horse Pass" and I'm sure years ago that is the only way they were able to get their horse up these mountains.






We biked through 8 of these snow sheds that covered the highway.  These are built so that the road does not get covered during a snow avalanche.

We reached the summit of Roger's Pass and I thought I was doing pretty well.  I didn't realize that after the downhill from the pass there was another l o n g uphill climb.     We also passed the Continental Divide today.  Coming down from Roger's Pass I was going about 30 mph when I hit a pothole on the rode.  It stunned me and I thought I was going to go over the handle bars but by God's grace I was able to control the bike and stayed upright.  I thought for sure I was going to have a flat or a bent rim but the bike took it well.  I was very fortunate as there was a tanker truck speeding down the hill right next to me when I hit the pot hole.  

There is a place where trains go into a tunnel and spiral around inside the mountains.  They go into the mountain at one level and come out of the mountain at a much higher (or lower) level from when they went in.  

I finally made it into Golden at about 3:30 pm.  We biked for 9.5 hours.  My butt is not used to sitting on the bicycle seat that long.   We stayed at a campground in Golden.  I got up in the middle of the night to use the washroom and couldn't find my tent back on my return.  I wandered around a bit until I was able to locate the washroom once again and then was able to find my way to my tent.  The adventures on this trip continue.

Day 8: July 4, Salmon Arm to Revelstoke

Happy Independence Day!  We sang the National Anthem as part of our 7:00 am meeting. That was the only reference to the American holiday that I experienced today here in Canada.   We always meet at 7:00 am for prayer and we alway end by saying the Lord's Prayer in unison.  We started the day on a quiet road but soon we were on the Transcontinental Highway (Highway 1) which is very busy with trucks, cars, and many campers.

We had an Amtrak train riding along side us for short time.

More scenes from our ride today:

We camped next to a lake in a campground.  Many of us went in the water to cool off.  I went in up to my waist which was all the cold I could take. Some were jumping off rocks into the water.  I'm not sure my body to could the shock.   I'm continually amazed at the beauty that continually surrounds us.  We all went to bed early tonight because of the big day of riding we are going to tackle tomorrow.

Day 7: Vernon to Salmon Arm - July 3

It was a fairly easy ride through a valley of farms (goats, horses, and cows. )

We stopped at a dairy farm (Grass Roots Dairy) that is owned by the father of Sara and Jennifer Wikkerink.  Their mother also has an extensive garden and many flowers on the farm.  The Wikkerinks gave all the Sea to Sea riders free cheese cubes and gellato.  They  make the cheese and gelato on the dairy.  

 

We stayed on the grounds of the King's Christian School in Salmon Arm.   The Cornerstone CRC provided a big dinner for us with a variety of delicious deserts.  The pastor of Cornerstone CRC is Clarence Witten who I remember being at Dordt at the same time I was there.