What a wonderful day.
"Oh shit. What if she comes after me? How long did the bear attack Mike Dunn before playing dead worked? How fast can I pedal this bike? How long can a bear sustain 30 mph?" All of these thoughts simultaneously raced through my mind as I carefully passed by on the side of a road as a black bear stood guard on the other. Moments later I realised she had 3 cubs with her, playing in the trees, who couldn't have been more than a week or so old. I stood and watched for a while as the bear cubs played and then ran up to mom to begin feeding. It is refreshing to be so close to nature. (Video on facebook). As I began my descent down from Mt. Norquay ski area I thought I was in the clear from animal attacks. Only around the next bend were a herd of Bighorn Sheep ramming their horns into each other as a show of power and dominance. "That's not a competition I want to be apart of," I thought. So I waited a couple of minutes for the next vehicle to pass, pushing the rams to one side of the road so I could pass quietly on the other.
Highway 1A between Banff and Lake Louise, in the Banff National Park is beautiful. Pine trees cover the mountain sides similar to the way sagebrush covers the road up above our cabin at Bear Lake. It is everywhere. Riding through this forest has got me thinking about the book, Into The Wild. The idea of leaving behind all that is bothersome about modern society and escaping into the wilderness is quite appealing.
The ride today was nice. Climbed up to a ski resort in the morning (where the bear encounter occurred) and it was nice to really feel my legs burn and lungs work at full capacity. Oxygen in carbon dioxide out. Inhaled oxygen is necessary to accept electrons and hydrogen ions at the end of the electron transport chain, which occurs on the inner mitochondrial membrane. This is the final step in turning ADP into ATP, which will be delivered by the blood to muscles where the ATP will allow for myosin-actin binding and releasing which is the basic function of muscular contraction. The carbon dioxide that is exhaled most likely comes from the pasta that the German couple cooked for me last night. It"s not the oxygen I just inhaled. The pasta was broken down into monosaccharides in my stomach and then absorbed in the duodenum of the small intestine. Since I ate so much pasta, the excess carbohydrates were stored as glycogen in my body, primarily in the liver and some in the muscles. The body stores enough glycogen to be able to ride at a high intensity for about 2-3 hours. Then I have to eat again. However, I am riding at a nice slow pace, in order to enjoy the views and splendor of this trip. At a lower intensity the body uses more fat and less glycogen as an energy source, which means that I can ride longer without feeling exhausted, and I lose a couple pounds from my midsection. But you have to burn 3500 calories to lose a pound, and I only burn about 40 calories per mile I ride (well about 33 according to my heart rate monitor, but carrying around all this extra weight has to up the ante a little). So I would have to ride about 80 or so miles to lose a pound. I'm riding 2500 miles, and only going to lose 5 pounds or so. That should give you a little idea on how much I plan to eat. Back to the carbon dioxide. As my body exercises these fuels (fat and glycogen) basically serve the same purpose. They are oxidised and release electrons to NAD, a B vitiamin, which carries these electrons to the electron transport chain where the ATP is made, as mentioned earlier. (As an aside, you know those 5 hour energy things at stores they always sell right where you check out. They have zero calories right. So how do they give you energy? They have these B vitamins which are necessary for your body to create energy, but don't necessarily contain energy themselves). So the carbon in the food you eat (hence the word carbohydrate) is exhaled as carbon dioxide and the oxygen you breathe in combines with electrons and hydrogen ions to form water, which is lost as sweat or urine. These are the types of things I think about as I traverse these Canadian Rockies. In fact, I run through this in my mind every time I go on a bike ride to keep my mind fresh. I am going to medical school, right?
I got to Lake Louise around 4pm. My first night not staying with someone. Argh. I have to pay for a room AND cook my own meal. Check into the local hostel, quickly get changed and hitchhike up to the lake. It's beautiful, but mostly covered in ice. Too cold for a swim at present, but I'll have to see about it in the morning. Back down to the village to buy dinner. I'm trying to be frugal so I get 3 bananas, a loaf of bread and a jar of PB. Yum. And I splurge on a chicken pot pie for $2 which brings the total to $9, spaced across 3 or 4 meals and we are talking $2.50 a meal. Then I get to the kitchen in the basement of the hostel to start up dinner. I see they have 2 fridges with other folks food, but I decide not to do the old Alta trick and eat all the other cousins food out of their "private" boxes in the basement. After I dive into my chicken pot pie I see the words Free Food Shelf, on the back of the second fridge. No way, this is too good to be true, I think, as I hop up in the middle of a bite to see what free food I might score. Nothing. Only leftover salad dressing and a slab of butter. I'm disheartened, I slowly return to my meal when out of the corner of my eye I see the words, Leftover Pasta Pomodoro, Please Eat written on a large pot in the back of the fridge. The plastic bag covering the pot has been dated 5/16, well within the still good to eat zone. I tear it open and am immediately filled with a bittersweet emotion. Bitter in the fact that I just spent $9 on dinner when it was waiting for me downstairs. Bitter that the lady at the front desk didn't say, "Your room is Room 103 and down the hall on the left. Check out is at 11am. Oh, and their is some leftover pasta downstairs. Don't worry about going to the store." But sweet because I feel like I'm in high school again eating leftovers while I ski at Park City. Sweet because my dinner just doubled in size and I've got a stellar breakfast lined up. So, it wasn't technically the first meal I cooked. Someone else cooked it, I had to warm it up.
This trip is awesome.
"Oh shit. What if she comes after me? How long did the bear attack Mike Dunn before playing dead worked? How fast can I pedal this bike? How long can a bear sustain 30 mph?" All of these thoughts simultaneously raced through my mind as I carefully passed by on the side of a road as a black bear stood guard on the other. Moments later I realised she had 3 cubs with her, playing in the trees, who couldn't have been more than a week or so old. I stood and watched for a while as the bear cubs played and then ran up to mom to begin feeding. It is refreshing to be so close to nature. (Video on facebook). As I began my descent down from Mt. Norquay ski area I thought I was in the clear from animal attacks. Only around the next bend were a herd of Bighorn Sheep ramming their horns into each other as a show of power and dominance. "That's not a competition I want to be apart of," I thought. So I waited a couple of minutes for the next vehicle to pass, pushing the rams to one side of the road so I could pass quietly on the other.
Highway 1A between Banff and Lake Louise, in the Banff National Park is beautiful. Pine trees cover the mountain sides similar to the way sagebrush covers the road up above our cabin at Bear Lake. It is everywhere. Riding through this forest has got me thinking about the book, Into The Wild. The idea of leaving behind all that is bothersome about modern society and escaping into the wilderness is quite appealing.
The ride today was nice. Climbed up to a ski resort in the morning (where the bear encounter occurred) and it was nice to really feel my legs burn and lungs work at full capacity. Oxygen in carbon dioxide out. Inhaled oxygen is necessary to accept electrons and hydrogen ions at the end of the electron transport chain, which occurs on the inner mitochondrial membrane. This is the final step in turning ADP into ATP, which will be delivered by the blood to muscles where the ATP will allow for myosin-actin binding and releasing which is the basic function of muscular contraction. The carbon dioxide that is exhaled most likely comes from the pasta that the German couple cooked for me last night. It"s not the oxygen I just inhaled. The pasta was broken down into monosaccharides in my stomach and then absorbed in the duodenum of the small intestine. Since I ate so much pasta, the excess carbohydrates were stored as glycogen in my body, primarily in the liver and some in the muscles. The body stores enough glycogen to be able to ride at a high intensity for about 2-3 hours. Then I have to eat again. However, I am riding at a nice slow pace, in order to enjoy the views and splendor of this trip. At a lower intensity the body uses more fat and less glycogen as an energy source, which means that I can ride longer without feeling exhausted, and I lose a couple pounds from my midsection. But you have to burn 3500 calories to lose a pound, and I only burn about 40 calories per mile I ride (well about 33 according to my heart rate monitor, but carrying around all this extra weight has to up the ante a little). So I would have to ride about 80 or so miles to lose a pound. I'm riding 2500 miles, and only going to lose 5 pounds or so. That should give you a little idea on how much I plan to eat. Back to the carbon dioxide. As my body exercises these fuels (fat and glycogen) basically serve the same purpose. They are oxidised and release electrons to NAD, a B vitiamin, which carries these electrons to the electron transport chain where the ATP is made, as mentioned earlier. (As an aside, you know those 5 hour energy things at stores they always sell right where you check out. They have zero calories right. So how do they give you energy? They have these B vitamins which are necessary for your body to create energy, but don't necessarily contain energy themselves). So the carbon in the food you eat (hence the word carbohydrate) is exhaled as carbon dioxide and the oxygen you breathe in combines with electrons and hydrogen ions to form water, which is lost as sweat or urine. These are the types of things I think about as I traverse these Canadian Rockies. In fact, I run through this in my mind every time I go on a bike ride to keep my mind fresh. I am going to medical school, right?
I got to Lake Louise around 4pm. My first night not staying with someone. Argh. I have to pay for a room AND cook my own meal. Check into the local hostel, quickly get changed and hitchhike up to the lake. It's beautiful, but mostly covered in ice. Too cold for a swim at present, but I'll have to see about it in the morning. Back down to the village to buy dinner. I'm trying to be frugal so I get 3 bananas, a loaf of bread and a jar of PB. Yum. And I splurge on a chicken pot pie for $2 which brings the total to $9, spaced across 3 or 4 meals and we are talking $2.50 a meal. Then I get to the kitchen in the basement of the hostel to start up dinner. I see they have 2 fridges with other folks food, but I decide not to do the old Alta trick and eat all the other cousins food out of their "private" boxes in the basement. After I dive into my chicken pot pie I see the words Free Food Shelf, on the back of the second fridge. No way, this is too good to be true, I think, as I hop up in the middle of a bite to see what free food I might score. Nothing. Only leftover salad dressing and a slab of butter. I'm disheartened, I slowly return to my meal when out of the corner of my eye I see the words, Leftover Pasta Pomodoro, Please Eat written on a large pot in the back of the fridge. The plastic bag covering the pot has been dated 5/16, well within the still good to eat zone. I tear it open and am immediately filled with a bittersweet emotion. Bitter in the fact that I just spent $9 on dinner when it was waiting for me downstairs. Bitter that the lady at the front desk didn't say, "Your room is Room 103 and down the hall on the left. Check out is at 11am. Oh, and their is some leftover pasta downstairs. Don't worry about going to the store." But sweet because I feel like I'm in high school again eating leftovers while I ski at Park City. Sweet because my dinner just doubled in size and I've got a stellar breakfast lined up. So, it wasn't technically the first meal I cooked. Someone else cooked it, I had to warm it up.
This trip is awesome.
 |
| Mama bear and her three cubs. Never seen such young cubs before, and riding past her on the road was a bit nerve wracking. |
 |
| The beautiful Highway 1A. Pine trees galore. |
 |
| Lake Louise. Mostly frozen. Spectacular. |
 |
| Little guys playing in the trees. I watched for a couple hours. |
No comments:
Post a Comment