CCCT 2012 - June 16/12 - Day 28

Cross Canada Cycling Tour - Saturday, June 16, 2012 - Day 28
Fort Macleod to Lethbridge, AB, Trip 60.17 kms Time 3 hrs 7 mins Max 68 kph
I was up several times during the night because of leg cramps. Note to self: drink more water before going to bed. We were up at 7:00 AM and after a quick breakfast of Greek yogurt, oatmeal with nuts and raisins, 1/2  banana and hot chocolate we loaded our gear on our bikes and set off for LETHBRIDGE at 9:10 AM. We enjoyed a fantastic tail wind, a superb and very wide paved shoulder, etc for 40 + kms. I topped out at 68 kph on one of the downhills!!! The Alberta highways are very well maintained and free of any debris and/or road kill. The only complaint is the lack of facilities. At one point Bev had to go behind a parked semi trailer to relieve herself. I suppose if you are driving in a car this is not a problem but when cycling even a clump of trees would be helpful.
We arrived at the Visitor's Centre in Lethbridge at 11:30 AM and were able to get information on the route to Medicine Hat, motels in Lethbridge and where to find the nearest bicycle shop. My hands were quite sore so I convinced Bev that we should stop for the day and go to the bike shop and get our bikes sorted out. We ate our ham and cheese sandwiches and cinnamon rolls on the VC deck. It was quite windy and felt like it was shaking just a little to much so rather than linger we set off for Bert and Mac's Bike Shop at 12:00 PM. They agreed to replace my rear wheel broken spoke and Bev's worn brakes and clean both our drive trains (i.e. chain, rear derailleur, etc). But first we wanted to find a motel for the night and get rid of our gear. Some of the Alberta drivers are so polite that a lady unexpectedly stopped at an intersection to let us cross even though she had the right of way. I wasn't sure what her intentions were and while trying to balance on my bike I managed to topple over onto my right shoulder - the one that was almost healed!!! Let's just say that I was not amused even though she pulled over around the corner to make sure I was OK. We cycled to a  nearby Travel Lodge Motel and paid $96.++ which included the taxes, wi-fi and  a free continental breakfast. This was the "Senior's Rate". We unloaded our bikes and cycled back several blocks to the bike shop. This time we had to cycle into the wind. When you have a tailwind you don't appreciate how strong it is until you have to turn around and cycle into it. Thank goodness it was only for a few blocks.
We left our bikes for the necessary repairs/maintenance at 1:30 PM and walked over to a nearby mall. We were hoping to find an ice cream shop but found only a "food court". We had to settle for Orange Julius Smoothies. We sat near a Chinese food stall. The aromas coming from it were driving me crazy. I convinced Bev that we should get a Chinese takeout for dinner. We could re-heat it once we got back to the motel room using the microwave. She agreed. We walked back to the bike shop stopping in at a Dollar Giant store so Bev could get some new bungee cords as hers were beginning to fray. I got a birthday card for Stephanie. We went into the bike shop and could see that my bike was still on a bike stand so sat down on a nearby bench to wait for the bike mechanic to finish working on it. A short while later my cell phone rang. It was Arlyn, the mechanic who had worked on our bikes, calling to say our bikes were ready. Bev paid $41.99 for the repairs to both our bikes (I provided my own spoke) and Bev only needed her front brakes replaced. We cycled back to the motel. I put some ICY/HOT cream on my left shoulder and knee, checked my e-mail and FB and lay down for a nap at 4:00 PM. I got up at 5:00 and watched the US Open while working on my blog. Bev warmed up our Chinese takeout dinners in the microwave. I managed to get days 17 and 18 completed before going off to bed at 10:30 PM.
Bev and Roly

CCCT 2012 - June 15/12 - Day 27

Cross Canada Cycling Tour - Friday, June 15, 2012 - Day 27
Pincher Creek to Fort Macleod, AB. Trip 54.37 kms Time 3 hrs 43 mins Max 35.8 kph

Leaving the Rockies behind and heading for Fort Macleod

Waiting for my TV Dinner to heat up!!!

After having been up a couple times during the night I finally got up at 7:10 AM. Bev was still asleep. I needed to pay my gardener for looking after my garden for the month of May. I logged on to the Internet and opened up my RBC account. It was a bit of a learning experience but after about a half an hour of trial and error I think I was finally able to transfer the funds to her. Meanwhile Bev had gotten up and was busy preparing oatmeal, hot chocolate, banana and Greek yogurt for breakfast.
We finished packing and loaded our gear on our bikes and set off for FORT MACLEOD at 9:15 AM. We took Hwy 6 to Hwy 3 and cycled for about 18 kms with a tail wind then the wind shifted to a strong crosswind. Bev almost got blown over a couple of times. We managed to get as far as BROCKET where there was a gas station/convenience store that had seen better days. There was no indoor toilet so Bev had to make use of the "Go-Hut" at the side of the building. I went in to see about getting us a hot chocolate. The lady behind the counter who was busy talking on her cellphone shouted to the guy catching a few Zzzzs in the over stuffed chair "Hey Doyle!!!" He woke up with a start and I asked him for hot chocolate. He said there was coffee in the back and went back to his interrupted siesta. Since neither of us drank coffee we gave it a miss and continued on to Fort Macleod. The wind shifted again and now we were pushing into a strong gusting head wind. At least it wasn't raining.
We arrived in Fort Macleod, after stopping at 12:00 PM for a snack of a hard boiled egg, 1/2 an orange and 1/2 a granola bar, at 1:30 PM. There was a Subway and an A&W at the edge of town. We chose to have a late lunch at the A&W. The frosty mugs of root beer really quenched our thirsts.
We looked for a Visitor's Center but had no luck. We went over to Main St and spotted 4-5 motels. We chose the DJ Motel at $60 per night. After unloading our gear Bev walked over to a nearby grocery store and came back with dinner (Hungry Man Turkey TV dinners). Meanwhile I had checked out the Wi-Fi and gotten into my PJs. I had a nap from 3:30 to 5:00 before getting up at 5:30 to work on my blog until dinner time. We were able to watch the US Open and Jays ballgame. We warmed up our TV dinners using the microwave provided by the motel. Very filling. We were both quite tired so it was off to bed at 10:00 PM
Bev and Roly

CCCT 2012 - June 14/12 - Day 26

Cross Canada Cycling Tour - Thursday, June 14, 2012 - Day 26
Coleman to Pincher Creek, AB - Trip 55:09 kms Time 3 hrs 10 mins Max 53.5 kph
I was up at 7:00 AM. In spite of my stomach still feeling a bit queasy I was determined to get back on the road again. Besides Bev was starting to get "cabin fever". We had a quick breakfast of  1/2 a banana each, some Greek yogurt and tea (2 cups for me). I got Tom to open up his workshop so we could get our bikes out while Bev finished tidying up the kitchenette. We loaded our panniers on our bikes and set off for PINCHER CREEK at 9:15. Thank goodness it was downhill most of the way, with a great paved shoulder and a tail wind all the way. We stopped in LUNDBRECK at 11:00 AM for a pit stop and a break. Not a very friendly place. The shop keeper was OK though.
We arrived in Pincher Creek at 2:30 PM after pushing into a southerly headwind for 3-4 kms. We stopped at a Timmy's for soup, a roll and chocolate milk before going to the Visitor's Centre to enquire about motels, etc. We found the Blue Mountain Motel was asking $65 but I talked him down to $60 + taxes. It had a nice large room with 2 double beds. We unpacked and put our bikes in the room. There was a problem with the taps for the bath/shower. I called reception and asked that they be fixed. The manager came by with his tool box and after fiddling with them for 1/2 an hour he had them working again. I set up the laptop on wi-fi and Bev let relatives know we were in Pincher Creek. I lay down for a nap at 3:30 PM and got up at 5:00 PM. My Bell-Sympatico e-mail was working OK once again. Must have been a wi-fi router problem back at the STOP Motel? I received an invoice from my gardener for $67.80. Bev managed to contact her cousins, who live in Cardston, and they agreed to meet us for dinner at 6:30 PM in Pincher Creek.

Sherry, Bev and Darlene

When Darlene and Sherry arrived we walked across the street to the Suisse restaurant. They had brought along a family photo album with photos of their visit to Hamilton back when Bev was in a High School Band. We took some photos. Back at the motel room I checked my e-mail and sent a reply to Keith thanking him for the copper oil cans that he got at Lee Valley Tools on special for my Father's Day present. I was still feeling a bit shaky so it was off to bed at 10:00 PM.
Bev and Roly

CCCT 2012 - June 10-13/12 Days 22-25

Cross Canada Cycling Tour - June 10-13/12 Sick Days
Feeling terrible!!! Also unable to open my Bell-Sympatico e-mail. Able to see contents of Inbox but when I try to open an e-mail I get "Error on Page" message. I managed to somehow get through the night and dragged my sorry ass out of bed Monday morning in order to go across the highway to the "Medical Clinic" which opened at 10:00 AM. After registering at the main desk and waited 1/2 an hour to see a doctor. After checking me over he said I needed to go to the hospital in Blairmore, about 4 kms further down the road. On the way back to the motel we ran into the manager, Tom, who offered to drive us to the hospital. I was admitted right away and after doing some blood work and getting some x-rays waited in Emergency for an hour or so before seeing an ER doctor. She recommended I be put on an IV for 8 hours as I was extremely dehydrated. It was now 1:00 PM so this meant I wouldn't be able to go home until 9:00 PM or so. There were several emergency cases for the ER staff to deal with including a guy who came in with a heart attack. They finally decided to take him to Calgary by road ambulance but about 20 minutes later told the ambulance crew to turn around and come back to the hospital as they now were going to transfer him by air ambulance. Anyway, after 8 hours on the IV I began to feel better. Bev had gone down to the cafeteria and got some tapiocca and some jello for me. I was finally discharged at 9:00 PM and we were able to get the one and only taxi that serviced all of the 5 nearby communities to come and pick us up and take us back to the motel for $12. On the plus side I was able to watch the Canadian F1 Grand Prix on Sunday. It turned out to be a terrific race with a surprise ending. I asked the doctor for some sort of medicine to help kill the flu bug but she said I would just have to let it run it course. She did give me some pills (2) to help ease the stomach cramps so I could a decent night's sleep. The next day I went back to the drug store and talked to the pharmacist who suggested I continue taking some Imodium and Kaopectate. The ER doctor also wanted me to take a liquid iron supplement as my "iron" count was low. The pharmacist said that I should wait until I get my diarrhea problem sorted out before taking an iron supplement as it would act as a further irritant. The pharmacist also recommended that I continue drinking Gatorade but to dilute it 50/50 with water. By Wednesday I was starting to feel much better but still very weak. We decided to wait on more day before setting off for Pincher Creek, AB.
Bev and Roly

CCCT 2012 - June 9, 2012 - Day 21

Cross Canada Cycling Tour - Saturday, June 9, 2012 - Day 21
Sparwood, BC, to Coleman, AB - Trip 37.81 kms Time 2 hrs 36 mins Max 55.9 kph

Leaving BC

I had trouble falling asleep. First of all there was the noise from the room next door then the FIREWORKS started at 11:00 PM and lasted until 11:30 PM. Bev merrily slept right through them!!! Then the train whistles started. Once again there were two crossings so the engineer had to lean on his horn at both. I got up at 6:00 AM. Bev had already been up at 4:30 AM and gone back to bed. Oh Oh some diarrhea!!! Not sure where that came from. Could be the rich food plus the reaction to the 4 black fly bites on my head and one on my right arm? Put some insect bite ointment on my bites and had 1/2 a banana, Greek yogurt, oatmeal and hot chocolate in our room for breakfast.

Serbio's happy to be in Alberta

We carried our bikes and gear downstairs to the front lobby. Met a German fellow cycling from Vancouver to Chicago via the States. He had been camping for the night and was just arriving for some breakfast. I asked him if he didn't find it a bit to cold to be camping. He said he had a good sleeping bag. It started spitting so we put our rain gear on before setting off for the BC/AB border. I took some photos of leaving BC and arriving in AB. We stopped in at the Visitor's Centre in AB and got AB pins at $3 each. We also asked about motels up ahead and had a granola bar and Nestea break before setting off again. We had the wind and rain in our faces as we left the V.C. before getting back on the highway and heading East. It was lashing down quite hard. We now had a nice paved shoulder and a very strong tail wind all the way to COLEMAN. The STOP Motel was advertising single rooms @ $63.30/night. I got a double for $69 including taxes. We put our gear in our room (heater on) and bikes in the "workshop" and walked across the highway to the drug store to get some Imodium for my diarrhea. Next we checked out the Mini Mart but found nothing suitable for making our own dinner. I was not feeling very well by the time we got back to our motel room so took 2 Imodium and lay down for a short nap. After cleaning up we went across the highway for dinner. The restaurant was celebrating their "Grand Opening" and had hired a young guitarist to entertain the clientele. He was just a bit to loud for me or maybe it was just that I wasn't feeling so great. I wasn't even feeling up to having a beer and turned down a FREE Sangria. I had Butternut Squash soup and Fettucine Alfredo but couldn't eat it all. Something very unusual for me. Bev had a veal snitzel "Senior's Portion" which covered her entire oversize plate. She had no trouble polishing it off on her own. It was very windy and bitterly cold getting back to our motel room. I tried to check my e-mail but was unable to open my Bell-Sympatico mail (something about "Error on the page") and was feeling much to poorly to work on my blog. We watched TV for awhile. I had another bout of diarrhea. Took some more Imodium. Had hot/cold sweats. Went to bed.
Bev and Roly

CCCT 2012 - June 8, 2012 - Day 20

Cross Canada Cycling Tour - Friday, June 20, 2012 - Day 20
Fernie to Sparwood, BC. Trip 32.11 Time 2:06 Max 42.3 kph

View from our hostel room in Fernie

My alarm went off at 6:00 AM. I was feeling a bit sore and quite tired from yesterday's 100 K + ride. Bev agreed to have a lie-in so I reset my alarm for 7:00 AM. We got up and packed our panniers. The hostel room was quite cold. We had a Greek yogurt and half a banana each before carrying some of our panniers down to the bike shed. We had to get the key from the front desk in order to get at our bikes so we could get some oatmeal and hot chocolate. We locked up and went down to the hostel kitchen where we met the manager and a young girl who was helping with the vacuuming. I put the kettle on after filling it up. The manager invited us to have pancakes! The griddle was already warmed up. I put some batter on it. My pancake quickly burnt and stuck to the griddle. I should have put some oil on first!!! The manager scraped my sorry looking pancake off the griddle and ditched it. After cleaning the griddle she oiled it and made a couple of pancakes for me. Bev was not very hungry and was complaining of a headache!!! I reminded her of her "home remedy" for curing headaches. After cleaning up our dirty dishes we went back up to our room to brush our teeth and finish packing. We checked out at 9:30 AM.
A local stopped and pulled over in his van as we were getting ready to leave. He wanted to know where we were from, where we were headed for, etc. He had cycled across Canada way back when before .... He just wanted to reminisce about his past cycling experiences and tell us what we could expect up ahead. We finally managed to get away and cycled to the Visitor's Centre and got information about the route and motels up ahead. We had to stop to put our rain covers/gear on. The paved shoulder was quite rough.
We arrived in Sparwood at 11:45 and went over to the RBC ATM to get some cash. RBC had FREE cup cakes and hot dogs. We waited for the wind and rain to let up but that wasn't happening. We went over to the Visitor's Centre and asked about accommodation. There were only 2 choices and the 2nd choice was not highly recommended. We chose the Causeway Bay Hotel. The V.C. staff told us the rooms started at $129. It was a bit more expensive than we were used to paying but because of the nasty weather we didn't have much choice. When checking in I gave the receptionist my usual sob story about being seniors on a tight budget, etc. She came up with a room for $85 plus taxes. It was just after noon and normal check-in time was 3:00 PM so we had to wait while our room was being cleaned. While waiting Bev asked about laundry facilities but there were none available in the hotel. A few minutes later the manager came over to us and offered us a $30 voucher for dinner and said we could do our laundry across the street. Bev went in to the restaurant to get us a hot chocolate and came back with 2 free hot chocolates!!! In spite of being a bit expensive I was beginning to like this hotel.
Many people, who were entering/leaving the restaurant, stopped to chat with us and ask about our cycling trip including a couple from Orleans who lived just around the corner from where Bev lived.
At last after a wait of 2 hours the receptionist informed us that our room was ready. We had to carry our gear and our bikes up to the 2nd floor as there was no elevator. It was a very large, very nice room. Well worth the wait. We gathered all our laundry and stuffed it into one of my large rear panniers. By this time I was feeling quite hungry so we had the ham and cheese sandwiches that Bev had prepared earlier. Bev showered and dressed and went out to do our laundry and look for some groceries while I worked on my blog. Managed to get Day 12 done.
I lay down for a short nap before going down to the restaurant for dinner. Had a cold beer and steak and spaghetti for dinner. It was excellent. The $30 voucher helped pay for our dinner. After dinner we went back up to our room. It was much to cold to go "walk about".  Watched a bit of TV and did some reading. Bev was quite tired and was off to bed at 8:30 PM. I put an ICY/HOT patch on my shoulder and took a couple Tylenol before retiring at 9:30 PM.

View from our hostel room in Fernie

Bev and Roly

CCCT 2012 - June 7, 2012 - Day 19

Cross Canada Cycling Tour - Thursday, June 7, 2012 - Day 19
Cranbrook to Fernie, BC. Trip 103.68 kms Time 6 hrs 30 mins Max 42.9 kph
We were up at 6:00 AM, packed and ready to leave at 7:00 AM. We had vouchers from the motel for breakfast at the Husky Truck Stop Cafe for up to $6.99 per person. We cycled to the cafe and chose the $4.99 Senior's Breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast. We thought we would come out ahead by chosing the $4.99 special only the tea was extra at $2.50 each!!! We still ended up having to pay $2.33 and leave a 15% tip. So much for a "complimentary breakfast".
We set off for JARRAY at 7:50 AM. We had much better cycling conditions than yesterday except for a head wind. Bev spotted several large brown birds with white heads/necks and golden beaks (Bald Eagles?)waiting to feed on a carcass. Not sure what the carcass was? We arrived in Jarray  at 11:00 AM. I called the B&B to let them know that we were going on to FERNIE. While stopped at the service station in Jarray we both went in and used the facilities. Bev bought a chocolate milk, which we shared, to go with our sandwiches.
We continued on to Fernie. We had one very tough climb to 945 m at ELKO. Very scenic. The mountain tops were covered in fresh white snow. I took several photos.

Scenery on the way to Fernie, BC

Bev & Roly with a price on their heads

Scenery on the way to Fernie (note tunnel on the right)

We arrived in Fernie at 4:00 PM. We stopped at a DQ to use the washroom and treated ourselves to an well deserved ice cream before cycling on to the Visitor's Centre. It turned out to be on the other side of town. OK if you're in a car or coming from the other direction!!! We decided to get some groceries instead. While waiting for Bev to come out I was approached by several people who were curious about our cycling trip including a "free lance journalist" who took our photos for a local publication. Also got a tip on a nearby hostel. We cycled to the hostel and paid $50 cash for a private room with bathroom on the 2nd floor. We only took the essential panniers up to our room and locked our bikes up in a shed. Our leg muscles were quite sore. They were not used to climbing stairs!!!
We cleaned up and walked over to the nearby PUB for Baby Back Ribs in a great BBQ Sauce. They went down real well with 2 cold beers. We finished the evening off with a date cake for dessert. Very yummy!!!
Before going back up to our room we checked out the hostel kitchen facilities. Very neat and well equipped. When I was checking in I asked the hostel manager about breakfast in the morning. He said they usually had pancakes but wouldn't be offering them until July when the busy season started. We decided we would make our own breakfast of oatmeal, tea, etc. The room was a bit cold so Bev quickly got under the covers and was soon off to sleep while I worked on my e-mail, etc.

Bald Eagle and carrion

Bev and Roly