Day 13 - Banff to Cochrane

105.49 km - Total so far 1,152.57 km - http://ridewithgps.com/trips/4942630 (Partial GPS battery died)

• We had a challenging night in Banff National Park. They have a "bare campsite" policy so we had to lock everything we owned that has a scent (food, toiletries, etc) in the food lockers, some distance away from our tent.To keep things simple, we locked everything away. We also slept in this morning.

• We were on the road by 8 a.m., with our first destination Canmore. Every time we hear the name "Canmore" we are reminded of the Royal Canadian Air Farce character "Mike, from Canmore". We were expecting Canmore to be a hick town filled with rednecks. We could not have been more wrong. 

• We followed the Legacy Trail downhill to Canmore for 22 km. The trail is multi-use (people, cyclists and horses) and runs along Hwy 1A. We found Canmore not to be as touristy as Banff and had we known how easy it was to get to, we would have cycled the extra km the day before to get there.

  

  Legacy Trail towards Canmore. Cars are on Hwy 1

• A couple of videos of the Legacy Trail closer to Canmore

• On the Legacy Trail in Canmore, we came across a bicycle repair/maintenance station complete with tools, bike maintenance rack and pump. One of the locals informed us that fitness is important to the people of Canmore and this is reflected in the infra structure. We stopped for coffee at the Rave Cafe for our second breakfast. Expensive but we savored a most excellent cup of java.

  

  Bike repair station. You can hang your bike between the two arms

• Heading out of town, we kept being passed by a number of cyclists. One of them rode along side us for a while and told us that he was part of a fund raising ride. We mentioned that we were travelling from Vancouver to Ottawa and had been on the road for 13 days. He asked if we still talked to each other and we responded without hesitation that we still loved each other.

  

  Ride participant 

• We found out that the ride was stopping for lunch up the road about halfway to Cochrane (50 km) and we decided to crash their lunch. As we got there, they beat us to it and invited us to join them. The fund raiser is called "Ride for A Reason" and is conducted to raise funds for the Southern Alberta Bible Camp. Part of the funds raised are used to offer children the opportunity to attend bible camp and the remainder used to maintain the facilities. It was a privilege to have lunch with them and share some of our riding experiences and listen to theirs. The ride is in its 7th running is a 3 day event covering 340 km. As we left, we were presented with water bottles and stickers, that we proudly affixed to our waterproof bags for all to see. Have a safe ride and we might just join you on one of your rides.

  

  One of the ride support vehicles with trailer

• Farther down the road, we spotted 4 mountain goats. Two were by the side of the road while the other two were on the rock face making their way down. It is simply unbelievable how sure footed they are as they quickly made their way down the rock face. 

  

  Cute isn't he 

• As if he had not had enough fun and excitement, Hélène decided to liven things up by picking up a deck screw in her back tire less than 1 km from Cochrane. Fortunately, we were only going down a shallow incline and she was able to control her bike to a safe stop. The screw entered to bottom of the tire and came out the side wall thereby making the tire unusable. We both carry a spare folding tire and tubes and within 15 minutes, we were back on the road.

  

  Gonna have a flat then go big or go home!

• Before we head out tomorrow, we will have to pick up another touring tire. They are a more substantial bicycle tire than what is offered at Canadian Tire and we hope the local bike shop will have one. 

• The scenery has changed significantly, gone are the luscious forests and rock faced mountains with snow. We are now on the edge of the prairies and can see for a long distance. As we came upon the sign announcing "Cochrane 18 km" all we had to do was look up and we could see the town.

• An update on our friend Millon. He is relaxing in Calgary.