Woke up to some serious cloud coverage, looked out the window and saw some light flurries. Hmm. Guess that when you are in the Rockies in May you expect the best. Had breakfast with Yves, it was delicious, some sort of Oatmeal with dried fruit and walnuts. The French really know how to cook. Got packed up and was on the road by 9:30 or so. Had to make a stop in town to pick up some postcards. I´m going to try and send one to my wife everday of this trip, in an effort to tell her I love her and I am glad that she allowed me to go on this trip.
Today´s ride was pretty mellow. 25km to Banff, with a slight tailwind on a nice bike path that ran alongside the Trans Canada Highway. I wanted to give myself plenty of time in Banff to poke around, so I planned for a short ride. Arrived before noon, lightly snowing the whole way, which was much better than the forecasted rain because snow quietly slides off my Mont Bell while rain would have made me a wet mess.
When I arrived I was excited to do some hiking. Something about all the pine trees and massive mountains warms up my soul and tells me to go hiking more than anything I can think of. Hiked to the top of Sulphur Mountain, it was nice, new snow on the trail and very cloudy and overcast at the top. Rode the Gondola down and soaked it up and the Banff Hot Springs. Mmmm. Nothing like 39 degree Celsius hot spring water to recharge you after a couple hours hiking and riding. Lunch was basic: 2 bananas, 2 donuts and a bagel. My mom said Banff was way expensive, but I managed for just $2.90. Trying to keep the costs down. Strolled around town before riding 5km off to Lake Minnewanka. Beautiful.
Tonight I am staying with friends of the host from last night. They are a Swiss-German couple. Seem nice so far, as soon as I arrived they showed me my room and bathroom and said they had to run out but that I should make myself at home. Will do. Opened up the fridge and jumped online. Sounds about right? (The only problem is trying to navigate this German keyboard, and yesterday´s French keyboard. I spend forever looking for missing keys.)
Today´s ride was pretty mellow. 25km to Banff, with a slight tailwind on a nice bike path that ran alongside the Trans Canada Highway. I wanted to give myself plenty of time in Banff to poke around, so I planned for a short ride. Arrived before noon, lightly snowing the whole way, which was much better than the forecasted rain because snow quietly slides off my Mont Bell while rain would have made me a wet mess.
When I arrived I was excited to do some hiking. Something about all the pine trees and massive mountains warms up my soul and tells me to go hiking more than anything I can think of. Hiked to the top of Sulphur Mountain, it was nice, new snow on the trail and very cloudy and overcast at the top. Rode the Gondola down and soaked it up and the Banff Hot Springs. Mmmm. Nothing like 39 degree Celsius hot spring water to recharge you after a couple hours hiking and riding. Lunch was basic: 2 bananas, 2 donuts and a bagel. My mom said Banff was way expensive, but I managed for just $2.90. Trying to keep the costs down. Strolled around town before riding 5km off to Lake Minnewanka. Beautiful.
Tonight I am staying with friends of the host from last night. They are a Swiss-German couple. Seem nice so far, as soon as I arrived they showed me my room and bathroom and said they had to run out but that I should make myself at home. Will do. Opened up the fridge and jumped online. Sounds about right? (The only problem is trying to navigate this German keyboard, and yesterday´s French keyboard. I spend forever looking for missing keys.)
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| Here you can see my lovely bike next to beautiful Lake MInnewanka and the lovely Canadian flag. |
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| The Tim Horton´s-Wendy´s drive thru combo. Fantastic. Now all the donuts I can manage and my JBC to slide everything down. The US of A needs to look into this. |
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| Downtown Banff. Mountains, Pine Trees and every outdoor clothing or gear store you could think of. Possibly a summer home in the future? |
Alright, seriously jealous now. That lake looks somewhat nicer than Blind Lake where we're camping tonight.
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