It’s not the age- it’s the mileage.

I took a year off of BC Bike Touring last year because my son was born at the end of June and I had no interest in being anywhere other than right at home.  I didn’t miss it.  It wasn’t until April of this year that the idea of a 2018 bike tour had started to emerge.  I had turned 40, a milestone birthday that I think is supposed to make one feel old. I sure don’t….and I’m ready to put some more miles on.

I normally ride alone, but I discovered that two of my friends were also riding out west to Kelowna and we thought it would be fun to ride out to the mountains together on the first day.  We left home just after 8am and spent the entire morning and early part of the afternoon roaring across the prairie through Provost, Stettler, and finally ended up at Rocky Mountain House.

Smoke was in the air the entire time.  We head heard about the forest fires in BC but the day we left was really the first day when we had noticed the smoke in the air all the way over in Saskatchewan. We would end up breathing that smoky air the entire day.  It was also very hot- mid 30s.  We were applying sunscreen at every stop because we kept sweating it off in our hot leather gear.

There’s a lot of anticipation at Rocky Mountain House.  The flat prairie is behind you and for the next two hours before reaching the Icefields you ride through the forested foothills and eventually end up in the Rocky Mountains.  It’s a great experience, and possibly the greatest place to enter the Rockies because of the isolation of the highway.  There’s not much traffic compared to the Yellowhead or TransCanada.

We reached the Icefields Parkway at around 4pm, and proceeded to ride down the most scenic highway in the world.  The problem with reaching it near the end of the first day is that we didn’t really take the time to appreciate it because we were so tired.  Riding for seven hours across the prairie wears you out…and on Day 1 the ass and legs aren’t really used to it, so your body gets very sore. At this point all I wanted was to reach my destination at Radium and relax.  The smoke and the sun were also adding to the fatigue.

Unfortunately, my arrival would be delayed because Highway 93 to Radium was closed due to forest fires along the highway.  I had to take a detour through Kicking Horse Pass into Golden and then south to Radium, which is far less scenic and ended up costing me about 45 minutes in time.  At Golden I split off from my friends, who were staying there to head west to Kelowna the next day.  The last 100km stretch from Golden to Radium was painful.  The scenery wasn’t great and I was uncomfortable and just wanted the ride to be over.

It was about 8pm when I reached Radium.  The motel I stay at has a great pool, and there’s no better way to cap off a huge 11 hour ride in the heat and smoke than by jumping in a cold pool.  It was incredibly refreshing.  After cleaning up I made my way to the Old Saltzburg for some schnitzel, sauerkraut, red cabbage, and Stiegl.  It was the perfect meal to satisfy at the end of a long day.

Day 1 was over.  I was excited to be back on the road, but the first day of any tour is really just about getting across the prairie into the mountains.  The real fun begins when you get to wake up in the mountains and enjoy them all day.