Ride Summary

Distance: 36 mi / 58 km
Climbing: 2054 feet / 626 m
Descending: similar
Difficulty: Moderate
Link to workout in Strava

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there was a long line of tourists waiting to get "correct direction" pictures of the Banff sign, so I grabbed one from behind

Overpriced hostel included free breakfast, so I had free first breakfast - couple hardboiled eggs, a bit of canned fruit, coffee, and juice. I let the coffee work its way through my system before getting packed up. My pack-up process was a little funny this morning: you see, my shoes smell so bad that I really don't like sleeping near them or leaving them indoors. So I found a hiding place for them outside (while I have never asked a hotel/hostel for a sanctioned place to quarantine them, I assume the answer would just be "No.") But, after I stashed them under a shrub, it started raining so I moved them to a hiding place in the parking garage...but then I couldn't pack my tennis shoes (the only other shoes I have with me), until I visited the parking garage which I had no car in. Anyway, I then made it 1 mile down the road, to Timmy's.

This deer was also eating at Tim Horton's; I'm taking the picture from where I parked my bike against the window of the shop

This was the first day where I am riding the same route as I rode back in 2007 with the texas4000 (here's that section of the blog from that trip: Today lines up with July 10th) - in the same direction. I've been bombarded with memories and humbled by how much more effort this ride is than it was 17 years ago for me. I am carrying a 10 pound heavier bike and 80 pounds more stuff, and I am something like 30 pounds heavier myself, so some "more work" (in the physics sense of the word) is being done, but it feels like a lot more effort. I usually just feel like "the work is the work" - a line I borrowed from my therapist - and so I worry about getting myself up the next hill, and that isn't a demotivating thought; just something I accept. But now I have echoes of "how it was" intruding on the zen of "how it is" and the cognitive dissonance is quite distracting at times.

WELCOME writ large, twice!

I was re-welcomed to the Banff National park (which I had briefly entered, and then left, the day before - heading into the much-more-urban-than-I-remembered-it town of Banff). There were like yesterday so very many bikes on the road - I'd venture to say it might have been close to a thousand folks I passed or (much more frequently) was passed by. Folks on tandems, adaptive cycles, ebikes, ebikes, ebikes; pacelines and mountain bikes. That closed-to-motor-vehicles section of the road really drew a crowd today, which is the last Saturday it will be closed. The TL;DR: It was still continually stunning, though rather less animal-tastic than the day before. Still, I saw a deer and a goat and some marmots.

I just like saying "trottoir"

My heart was really jangled by this one trailhead/lodge where I'd hung out for awhile with some Texas 4000 teammates back in 2007. Very fond memories! Looking forward to making some new memories with Lori when we head back past in a week! But, today, I got my milkshake and carried on.

There were some steep, shorter (mile or so) climbs today; a couple of 10%+ sections that I managed to ride instead of walking! However, on the steepest I was struggling uphill so slowly - thinking hard about getting off and walking. But suddenly a minivan drove past and someone in it yelled "You got this!!" and...I smiled...and I made it over the crest in the saddle. That was my only motorist interaction today, just when I needed it. In general motorists don't say much here, so it was an oddity to have it happen at all, but to have it be a positive, encouraging, perfectly timed event was...something special and I felt blessed.

Lake Louise, town of, is down there. The whole thing!