Day 11 - Golden(BC) to Lake Louise(AB)

76.36 km - Total so far 1,308.99 km - http://ridewithgps.com/trips/4867770

• We updated Day 10 with a video of Hélène ringing the railway bell at the Roger's Pass Memorial Garden.

• Today we left Golden in the rain, again, heading to Lake Louise, Alberta. Our first climb is called by the locals '10 mile hill', aptly named as it took us 16 km to get there. The Town of Golden built a bike path that runs along Hwy 1, so for the first 1 km (steepest part) we were separated from the traffic. We took a short break at the top, ate our cookies in the rain and got back on the bikes. 

• We pedaled in the rain for 50 km to the Village of Field, where we stopped to enjoy a well deserved lunch of lemongrass and carrot soup with baguette and coffee. It stopped raining while we were having lunch. As soon as we headed to the Yoho Park information center, it started to rain again. I forget to mention the temperature was 10 degrees. We decided right there and then that we would not sleep in a tent tonight and at the information center, booked a room at the hostel in Lake Louise.

  

  After lunch and just before the rain

• After lunch, we headed out for our second climb of the day, Kicking Horse Pass. This part was a bit more eventful than the morning. We experienced rocks falling off the side of the cliff as we pedaled by. Some of these rocks were as big as a cycling helmet and one fell real close just behind Hélène. Again adrenaline kicked in and we got out of there quickly. We go to see a yellow bear caution sign illuminated with flashing lights. Not sure about the message, we picked up the pace and made a dash up the climb. On both occasions, we had been going up an incline so picking up the pace required a substantial effort.

Rain drops keep falling on our heads

• On the way up to the pass, we also passed the Continental Divide. Simply put, this is were the flow of water changes from EAST to WEST to WEST to EAST. Water was now heading towards Alberta. We eventually made it to Kicking Horse Pass which we were surprised to discover has no big sign marking the spot. The best we could find was a sign marking the Alberta border.

  

  Stream with water running EAST to WEST (towards Vancouver) 

• The video below gives you an idea of what it is like to cycle the Trans Canada Highway in the rain. It is a 4 lanes and 100 km per hour road. Fingers were cold and wet, so there are some issues that affect the intro and end of the video. The vehicles usually give us lots of room but you still get sprayed!