Day 9 - Goodbye to the Mountains...
Happy Birthday Sue (June 9th)! Cam awoke horrified when he realized that he had snuggled in and was spooning with Ken - the words "...those aren't pillows..." jumped to his mind. It took a couple of seconds to get his bearings before he realized that it was Sue beside him and his horror quickly dispelled. Just a bad dream - thank goodness! He quickly recalled the awesome night before where he and Sue celebrated Sue's birthday with a great dinner and night together. Masculinity preserved.
Ken and Cam were both excited to head home to Calgary to see their families having conquered the mountains. Now that they were over the Continental Divide, it was literally downhill to the Atlantic for the rest of the trip. As they were preparing to start Day 9, it was tempting to think that the day would be an easy one cycling down out of the mountains. The trip would be 116 kms to Cam's house and 136 kms to Ken's - mostly downhill. It was fun for Sue to see the preparations for a day's ride firsthand. Her observations were that their routine was very well-defined and that 8 days of riding creates rather pungent hotel rooms (their laundry routine is clearly not very well-defined!).
Three Sisters Mountain - Canmore Alberta As Ken and Cam rode through the Bow River valley from Banff to Canmore, they were struck by how beautiful this part of the mountains is - definitely some of the nicest that they had seen on their trip so far. They also had the good fortune to spot a large grizzly bear off to the side by the train tracks. By the time Ken was able to stop, get the camera out, turn it on and zoom in the bear had disappeared into the forest. Really! The kilometres clicked away rapidly as the road was truly downhill and they had targeted lunch at the Stony Nakoda Casino and Resort in the foothills at noon and were going to meet up with their riding buddy Jim Mahood at the top of Scott Lake Hill by 2PM.
The Last Mountain before the foothills Around 40 kms into the ride, the mountains begin to recede into foothills. Cam began to feel a tinge of sadness that this first leg of their adventure through the mountains was quickly coming to an end. It had been a very challenging task to climb mountain pass after mountain pass - in total, they had climbed the equivalent of over 6 vertical miles. The landscape, however, was always beautiful and ever-changing which helped to make the hard work worthwhile. When Cam asked Ken if he would miss the mountains, his response was "about as much as a toothache" - clearly he is not as much of a sentimentalist...
 Brother-in-Law Rick Ohlhauser  Our riding buddy - Jim Mahood | We love to get visitors on the road and today we had two! After lunch, Cam and Ken were startled to see a biker waving them down. Thinking they were either going to get mugged or told off, they tentatively rode up to the biker only to discover that it was Ken's brother in law Rick Ohlhauser! Rick had ridden out to deliver a care package comprised of fresh cookies and bottles of icy cold water just as they were about to start the climb to the summit of Scott Lake Hill, the second highest point on the TransCanada Highway (after the Continental Divide) and the point where they would pass the 1000 kilometre mark for the trip! He was another angel arriving right on time! Thanks Rick - perfect timing! (and Wendy for the perfect cookies!) As mentioned earlier, our next visitor, Jim Mahood, was expected and was waiting patiently at the top of Scott Lake Hill, although the boys were about 45 minutes behind their target due to slow service at lunch (that's our story and we're sticking to it...). Jim has joined Cam and Ken's annual trips almost from the very beginning and took the day off to ride out from Calgary to meet us. It was awesome to have him join us for the final section of the trip and he helped us to keep a good pace, now racing to meet the 5PM target we had given to Sue. |
Our Welcoming Party! There were some pretty serious hills on the 19 km stretch of Springbank Road that took the boys up to Cam's house on the west edge of Calgary. The final one had a grade that rivaled the nasty "5.3" from Day 3. They were reminded once again that there are no easy days. However, as they crested the final hill about 5 minutes behind their target and approached the turn towards home, they spotted some people waving on the corner by the Petro-Can. It was a welcoming party consisting of Sue, Cam's kids Brendan, Ellyssa and Alexa, and Cam's parents holding signs and welcoming them into Calgary!!! Cam was overwhelmed with emotion and tears as he hugged each one so thankful for a loving and caring family. What an awesome welcome home - thanks so much everyone!
And so Cam arrived home shortly after 5PM, but after a short stop, Ken had another 20+ kms to ride to get home to his family on the east end of Calgary. This 20 kms took him an hour and a half to complete, but if you're going to ride across Canada, you have to ride across Calgary!
On Wednesday, when they head out on the next leg of the journey, Cam is going to have to tack on 20 kms to the morning ride to pick Ken up at his house, so there will be payback.
Ride Details:
- Distance: 118.6 kms (Cam), 140 kms (Ken)
- Riding time: 6 hours, 7 minutes (Cam)
- Average speed: 19.4 kms/hour
- Climbing: 2,880 feet
For more ride details, see Strava and for today's ride pictures see the Photo Gallery.
On Wednesday, when they head out on the next leg of the journey, Cam is going to have to tack on 20 kms to the morning ride to pick Ken up at his house, so there will be payback.
Ride Details:
- Distance: 118.6 kms (Cam), 140 kms (Ken)
- Riding time: 6 hours, 7 minutes (Cam)
- Average speed: 19.4 kms/hour
- Climbing: 2,880 feet
For more ride details, see Strava and for today's ride pictures see the Photo Gallery.