Day 41: 2/3 way to Jasper to Jasper

Got up fairly late, with about 90 miles or so to bike for the day. We ate breakfast and then Laura went back for supplies such as bread and fruit from a store back a few miles.

We took off towards Jasper, another tourist town, around about ten in the morning. Went along and once again the scenery was gorgeous. As we approached town, the mountains started to fade away, but that was certainly not the case in the beginning.

In fact, first we had to make our way up a mountain pass to the Columbia Ice Fields. We were biking along, me by myself somewhere in the middle, and I thought to myself how easy it was starting get. I glanced up as we were approaching a turn and I saw a flash of light off metal. Looked closer and saw that there was a road going up the big mountain. As Scooby-Doo would say: “Ruh-Roh”.

It was a long mountain pass that just kept going up and up I just put my bike in a low gear and went. It took a while, but the view from about halfway up was great. Further than that it went around the mountain and there wasn’t much to look at except how the road kept going up and up.

At the very top, though, there was a great view of the snow capped mountain peak, which was awfully close to where we were biking by. Not too much further on, came across a lodge across from a glacier. Going in I found out that it was just the edge of the Columbia Ice Fields, which are so large that every person in North America could have their own square meter of space and there would still be room. Unfortunately, the tour was more than $30 so I had to pass.

Coasted down the mountain behind a RV. I never would have done this before, but now we've spent so much time on our bikes that we can feel the difference between being ten feet behind a wind-blocking car and five feet. Some of us are getting right on the bumpers of larger vehicles and coasting at high speeds with no effort. We did this for a while until breaking off in the flats and then proceeded to go along the road until town. Along the way I stopped at a lodge (we almost always stop for coffee or hot chocolate), but the hot chocolate was $3.50 so I passed. As I turned the corner to leave I saw a piano, but more than that, I saw the piano had sheet music and a sign that said “Please Play Me”. (!!!) So I did, of course! I played the piano in their restuarant for about 100 people, from all over the world. One of the songs I played was “The Yellow Rose of Texas” so that was really neat. I played for around 30 minutes and had a fantastic time.

In town, the local A&W gave us free food. Quite tasty. Walked around town for a little bit and then joined some of the group in the local pub for some drinks (water for me) and to watch some sports.

On the way to camp, we raced up the hill which warmed us quite nicely. Mario cut across me to take a shortcut and we came so close to colliding at 20+ mph that it took a dangerous swerve on my part to avoid what could have been quite painful. But at any rate, I had a good shower in camp and a good second dinner and went to bed late, sometime around midnight.