July 12, 2019
Yahk - Cranbrook, BC
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I was unfortunately wide awake at 4 AM. Sunrise was soon after. We are definitely heading north. We have another short day into Cranbrook where we will take a rest day. There is some confusion about the name of our motel. It appears to be a former Motel 6, now called the Nomad. We have a layover here and would like something comfortable. Genny and I did some last minute looking around st other lodging in the area. Best Western was roughly across the street but literally $100. more a night. Since the pool and spa aren’t amenities we would us and they didn’t offer breakfast, that wasn’t of interest. Although they do have a laundry. That is useful!
Depart time is 8:30-9. We should arrive early to town. Jacinto is going to wait for Two Scoop Steve’s to open at 10 AM. They have soup and sandwiches. Me? I’m having oatmeal. It’s my first of the trip. We’ve been eating a hot breakfast every morning. Jacinto has been carrying a Ziplock bag of breakfast fixings all this time.
Speaking of Jacinto, he’s been having some back of the knee pain. Which typically means the seat is too high. Gravity might move seats down, but they sure don’t go up by themselves. ??? After a couple of days of knee pain, today he decided to move the seat. Upon close examination, his seat was marked and it was in the wrong place. Jacinto decided when he had the chain changed in Moab that they must have used a workstand that had a seatpost clamp and had to expose more of the post and didn’t get it back just right. Since that was the end of the trip, he didn’t notice. Hopefully his knee gets better.
I managed to go back to sleep for a couple of hours, even with a train or two passing right across the street and blowing their whistles. I had a momentary diversion this morning when I discovered that Pandora isn't available in Canada. I ended up paying a Spotify premium subscription to download music. If I'd known Pandora wasn't available here, I would have downloaded more music, but I don't have enough.
I'm getting used to this cruising valley life with the occasional short climb. We had a fast ride into town today. We were down the road at 8:45. It was 62 degrees and sunny skies. What more could we ask for? A tailwind? Yep, we've got that also. We've had a tailwind the entire trip. I expect we will have a southern tailwind until we get to Lake Louise, then I will probably want to get out earlier and beat what will become a headwind.
Today our view was more tall pine trees with occasional aspen trees. I speculated as to why aspen trees around home started growing at ~7,500 feet, but here they grow at ~2,500 feet. Jim's opinion is that we are further north and the climate is similar to our climate in Colorado. That sounds reasonable to me.
We bicycled past two lakes. I just checked the map to write down the names and they have the same name and are connected by a river. The Moyie Lake.
We are on Crowsnest Highway/3 now. It has a moderate amount of traffic and a good shoulder, for the most part. At the beginning there was a long section with concrete barriers protecting the drop off. That was a problem for us because our nice shoulder had an inconveniently placed rumble strip. Traffic was just heavy enough to make riding to the left of the white line a bad idea. But riding to the right actually meant riding to the right of the rumble strip which placed us uncomfortably close to the concrete barriers. The last time we were in Canada we met a young couple on the road. He had brushed the guard rail with his pannier and crashed, scraping his leg up.
Although our day had an upward trend, it was a fast ride. We crossed back over into Mountain Time, which worked in our favor getting into the motel room. Jim, Genny, and I regrouped a couple of times. We agreed to go eat if we found something before the motel. Jim pulled in at a Taco Time. Right across the street was Cancun Mexican Restaurant. I pointed out that Jacinto would probably like to eat Mexican food tonight, if we ate at Taco Time, was that too much Mexican? Genny didn't think so. This wasn't quite like the Taco Times in Colorado. They had pountine fries (with cheese curds and gravy). Our food was served on real plates, which was a nice reduction of plastic ware.
Our Motel 6 was just down the road. This is the town that we weren't too sure of the motel reviews and had thought about a last minute change, but a $100. upcharge per night made us decide to take the chance. Our room is very nice and modernized. Laminate flooring, new bathroom, fresh paint. It's a great deal. So far all of our lodging has been a good value. That's about to change as we hit the tourist track of BC.
We've had a satisfying five days on the road. I would suggest this as a good first bicycle tour as far as easy terrain. There are some areas of heavy vehicle traffic that a first timer could find difficult. Tomorrow is a day off. Genny is happy to rest her new hip. Jacinto is hoping his leg will feel better. We have many services at our disposal. Last night was Yahk, with convenience store food. Our next riding day will be to Skookumchuck, where we will again be eating convenience store food. That or carrying from here. We weren't too pressured this morning for food as the riding day was easy. Genny said she made the ride on a throat lozenger. Which might be a slight exaggeration . . . however, the day from Skookumchuck to Radium Hot Springs is a serious touring day. We will need to start with fuel in the tank. It's a good thing we have a day off to plan our strategy.
Jacinto had his chain replaced in Moab, ~300 miles ago. The mechanic warned him that there might be some slipping of gears because that chain was very worn. He's been having trouble only in the smallest ring. Today he had trouble in the three smallest rings. I think that is odd that all three rings weren't a problem from the start. Jim says it's all gremlins and who knows - he thinks Jacinto should get the new cassette. There is a bicycle shop directly behind the Motel 6. How convenient is that? A new 9 speed cassette is only $33. CAD. The big chainring is a 36 instead of the 32 Jacinto currently has. He won't know what to do with all of those gears. Jacinto's walked his bike over so they can work on it tomorrow. That is extra nice as we will have a little more space in the room.
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Today's ride: 41 miles (66 km)
Total: 204 miles (328 km)
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