Today we rode from Bannf, Alberta, Canada to Boulton Campground, Alberta, Canada. Sunny / hot weather. Highlights of the day include the scenery. Lowlights was the distance, it was more than planned for a first day.
Riding statistics: on Monday August 1, 2022, the 1st day on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route route, it took 10:10h (07:25h moving time), between 09:07 and 19:17, to cover 95 km (59 miles), including 1326 m (4351 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 13 km/h (8 mph). During today's ride the average temperature was 28 °C (86 °F) with a minimum of 19 °C (68 °F) and a maximum of 38 °C (106 °F).
Totals: So far, it took 0 days, 7 hours, 25 minutes and 8 seconds of cycling time to cover 95 km (59 miles), including 1326 m (4351 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 12.7 km/h (7.9 mph).
Leaving Banff
Riding out of Banff was incredible. The weather was fantastic and the scenery absolutely stunning. There was also some cloud coverage, and tree coverage, so the temperature was no issue at all. Just after the beautifull Banff Fairmont Springs hotel, we left pavement. The first couple of hours were all double, and some single, tracks. Scatt on the track changed from horse to bear, and soe other specicies. The first couple of miles we did see some other people hiking and biking, but thereafter we were pretty much alone.
A brutal gravel road
After noon, we got out of the forest and onto a wide gravel road. That section turned out to be a killer. It started at a beautiful lake and went on to about 30 minutes before our stop of the day. It was warm (no cover), there was a brutal headwind (all the way). The wind turned out to be both a blessing and a curse. The curse is obvious, but the blessing was some that it felt nice on the body (compared to the head), and it blowd all dust pretty quick away from all passing cars. Nevertheless a lot of dust. Everywhere! It was on this section that I really needed a longer break to get going again. I was a bit overheated, drank quite some water but my body did not like it anymore, fortunately I also had a Gatorade and that helped a lot. I also forced myself to heat some more. Slowly I recovered and after about 30 minutes I was ready to move on. We still had to go about 20 miles to our destination, a campground close to Kananaskis Lake. As it was later in the day, the scenery became even more beautiful with the light from the sun.
The campground
The end of the wide gravel road did not mark the end of our ride today. The gravel road ended with a long downhill which was great. But about 2 miles down the road we had to climb again. From there it was pretty hilly, while we desperately needed to stop ;). We aimed for the Elkwood campground. When we came there a nice gentleman directed us to the campground of the supervisor. No one there, so we decided to wait. When finally someone came, it turned out there was not a single spot left. Bummer. The guy did do a call-out by his MC radio to check on the other campgrounds. Eventually with got positive feedback from the Boulton Trading Post and Campground. The downside, according to their information it was still an hour bike ride (according to the guy it took 15 minutes by car for him at at least 50km an hour). Unfortunately we had no choice and we left. We where happy to see we also needed about more than 15 minutes, but by bike. We got ourselves a permit, bought some groceries and when to our camp spots. I had camp spot A18. When bike to our camping spots we still had a hill to climb. Pffffff. We also saw a sign at the entrance of our A-loop about an active bear in the area. Fortunately they had bear boxes so we did not need to hang our food. During the night there was rain, a thunderstorm, hard wind, and I still woke up too often and too early.
Gallery
I see the pictures now for the first time.
Wooowww!!!!
Enjoy!