Day 39: 2/3 way to Banff to Banff

The sun came up early, but I didn’t have to get up so I just rolled over and slept another couple of hours. The team was 50 miles behind me so I was in no hurry to get anywhere.

I eventually got up, ate my breakfast and talked some more with the neighbors. Packed up camp and got back on the bike and started into the mountains. I was really getting saddle sore with the extra weight and my shoulders were chafing hard, but again I would think about cancer and what it must be like to suffer in their way and I would keep going. Even still, I was thinking I was about reaching my physical limit. But then something amazing happened.

I was struggling up a mountain road in a narrow canyon when a line of RV's passed me and I heard someone shout. Okay, fine, wasn't the first time someone in a car yelled at me. Then a few minutes later, I came around a bend and saw the line of RV's parked on the side of the highway. A line of elderly men were apparently waiting for me. They had passed me up then pulled over at a scenic overlook. As I passed by, they applauded and cheered and yelled “Bravo! You’ve got it! Keep going!” That was a nice boost. Incredible what a little moment of support can do.

A little later on, an elderly man on a bike came up beside me and we talked for a little ways about who we were and where we were going. He pulled off into a town and I was once again by myself, but only about 10 miles or so from Banff.

At Banff, I got off the bike and proceeded to wait, not knowing what time it was or how long it would take. I was on the side of the highways, but the shoulder was about 10 feet or more wide so I wasn’t concerned. In fact, after about an hour or so of waiting I got pretty tired and fell asleep on the grass by my bike. I was woken up by somebody with a foreign accent who was concerned about a man on his back next to a bike, next to the highway so I had to get up so I didn’t worry anybody.

A couple hours later still there was nobody so I fell asleep again with the same result. Oops and sorry! But this time it wasn’t too long after I was woken up that I saw Stephen come around the bend, about 4 hours after I had arrived.

We stayed for a while and started collecting riders before Channing showed up with the van. I threw my stuff in the van and then the riders decided to head into Banff to see the sites (it’s a beautiful tourist town) with about 20 miles left on the day.

We rode around (I felt like a feather on the bike now) and stopped in different pubs to see if the tour was on. Stephen and I finally found one that would let us put our bikes in their pub and the two of us watched a great performance by Lance as we ate a decent meal and drank up our beverage of choice. One of the nice things about not drinking alcohol at a pub is that usually everything else is free. So I got all the cranberry juice I wanted at no charge.

After the tour, we said thanks and goodbye and headed back onto the road. After two days of hard riding I knew I couldn’t keep up with Stephen so gave him the go ahead to leave me behind.

About 5 miles from the final destination, I was caught by the rest of the team who unexpectedly came up behind me. Almost everybody had stayed in the town, but they had found a different pub and so we had missed each other. Fortunately, they knew how to get to camp and if it hadn’t been for them I would have biked ten miles in the wrong direction, which is exactly what Stephen ended up doing since he was biking by himself.

Got into camp, glad to be surrounded by all the great members of the team. Felt good to get away for a litte bit and felt good to be back.