Day 53-54

Day 53

Today we rode from Tatoga Lake Resort to Dease Lake, and I dedicated my ride to Oma, Dorrie’s mom. It rained a little last night, which meant mosquitos and various other bugs when we woke up this morning. Our drivers treated us to very cinnamon-y pancakes and hashbrowns. During the first 20 mile segment, I rode with Dane for a bit, which was the first time in awhile I had ridden with him. He’s become the fisherman of the group, and can frequently be found stopped at stream crossings. At the lake last night, he caught at least six trout! The last 40 miles of the day I rode with MJ. We were talking the whole time, mostly about things not related to riding, but occasionally we had to interrupt ourselves to complain about the road. The road went from bumpy to dirt to gravel to deep gravel on a hairpin turn…ouch. And then we had to go uphill in gravel. As we neared Dease Lake though, we started to go downhill, which was a nice change of pace. On the way down, we noticed a billboard for Dease River Crossing, where we were supposed to be staying. I did a double take though when the side said that it was 75 km ahead. I turned to MJ and asked her if she’d seen it too. We arrived in Dease Lake to find out that sure enough, our campsite was 75 km ahead. Oops! Mama Z stepped in to save the day though. She gave us two apartments above her restaurant to stay in today and tomorrow (our rest day). One of them the guys who had done the Challenge had been staying in the last couple days and the other was across the hall. It was great to see the other half of the team today. They seemed to be resting pretty well, eating lots of ice cream and helping do dishes or whatever was needed in the restaurant downstairs. We made dinner in the apartment and hung out for a bit watching movies, playing games and catching up for the rest of the evening.

Day 54

I’m embarrassed to say how late I slept in today, but I think it was until 10a or so. I’m an early riser, so I still can’t figure out how I slept that long. Mike, Evan and I went downstairs and had breakfast in Mama Z’s restaurant. I got a three cheese omelet with hashbrowns and toast. The food was great. It turned out we were breakfasting in waves this morning because when we got downstairs, Peter, Geoff, Scott and Trent were just finishing up, and as we were finishing up, Ivan, Dane, Alberto and Geeta were just arriving. The rest of the team had apparently been down there earlier in the morning. We finished breakfast and Mike and I poked our heads into the kitchen to see if they needed anything done. We ended up doing a bunch of the dishes. Afterwards, we went to do laundry and check email. Around mid-afternoon, at least half of the team ended up back in the apartment watching TV and movies. Never able to sit still I cleaned the kitchen in the apartment, and when I finished Alberto came up asking if anyone would like to come help in the kitchen downstairs. I headed down and ended up making hamburgers. A few of us our going to head down to the restaurant for dinner shortly, and then it will likely be an early night to bed as we’ll be back on the road tomorrow.

Day 45-52

Day 45

Rest day in Prince George! We woke up the troops to get everyone fed around mid-morning. Dorrie came over to meet us at the college and had gotten us pink breast cancer survivor t-shirts and pashminas from the Canadian Cancer Association. We went around and shared who the breast cancer survivors were in our lives and she gave us buttons and a shirt or pashmina to pass along to them. Afterwards, the team piled into the vans and headed out to Ness Lake for a day of tubing, wakeboarding, eating and relaxing. Meanwhile, Mike and I headed to the library to take care of email and blog updates and then went to run errands for the team. Today was the first full day of getting used to my hair…I went out and got earrings. We headed out to the lake when we had taken care of everything and were immediately bummed we hadn’t spent all day out there! The lake house was really cute, very well stocked with food and filled with great company. Aleta, one of our hosts, even had a couple of the guys out picking huckleberries! When everyone had been thoroughly worn out, we headed back to the college.

Dorrie and Alex met us at the college and showed us a video on the Ronald McDonald house in Vancouver and then began to share Dylan’s story with us (despite some minor difficulties with computers and Powerpoint). Dylan passed away earlier this year at age 16. He had been battling cancer on and off since he was 18 months old. I never had the opportunity to meet Dylan, but his family and all the Texas 4000 riders who have met him the past few years have told me that he was an amazing young man. He had a rule that you had to smile when you walked into his hospital room. I feel fortunate to have been able to meet Dorrie and Alex and to hear Dylan’s story. It is for people like them that we ride. I realize that one of the goals of Texas 4000 is to spread hope, and as such, that is what I should be doing. I think, however, that the people I am meeting are giving me more hope than I can possibly expect to spread. Thank you to all our Prince George hosts for sharing your stories.

Day 46

Today we rode from Prince George to Vanderhoof, BC. I dedicated my day to Dylan. We got off to a slow start this morning. So much was going on and I had to keep reminding myself to take a deep breath. I switched drive days with Scott at the last minute so he could drive with someone else, and I ended up starting the day by sleeping through my alarm clock. We had to check out of the college and then drive everyone over to the bike shop to pick up our bikes—the mechanics at Summerside had been tuning the bikes yesterday. A photographer for the local paper came by to take pictures and followed the riders as they headed through town and back to Hwy 16W. The ride today was relatively uneventful (yeah!) and we arrived in Vanderhoof in the late afternoon. We had pizza donated for dinner and afterwards most of the team went out to see the latest Batman movie. A few of us decided to hang back at the church, had pizza there and sat around and talked. We were sleeping in the (finished) basement of the church, which meant cold (and dark) sleeping conditions. I had one of the best nights of sleep I’d had in a long time.

Day 47

I dedicated my ride today to Dorrie, one of our hosts in Prince George. The ride today was from Vanderhoof to Burns Lake. I’ve mentioned this in previous blog posts, but my legs have really been feeling bad the last few weeks. I can’t figure out what’s causing it, but it is frustrating. I kept up with the group today for about 15 miles and then got dropped. I was fighting tears at the first rest stop because I was so frustrated. I think it might be a nutrition issue (I’m a vegetarian and possibly not getting enough protein), but I’m not sure. I stuck with the back of the group today. The ride seemed to take forever but was relatively uneventful. We arrived at our hosts’ house a little before 5p, and our hosts had dinner ready soon after that. The food was amazing. By 6:30p we were on our way to host family houses for the evening. I stayed with Wanda and Ed. We stayed up talking until 10:30p or so, at which point Wanda and Ed headed to bed and Alberto and Evan turned on an Indiana Jones film. I grabbed a cup of chamomile and settled in with a book for a few minutes before heading to bed (in a real bed!).

Day 48

Today we rode from Burns Lake to Smithers, BC. I dedicated my ride to Taryn Sweeney. We woke up this morning before I was ready to be awake. Wanda had fixings out for us to make our own sack lunches. Really. We made brown paper bag lunches and decorated with stickers and markers. I made a couple of tuna sandwiches in an effort to see if it is protein that’s making the difference in how my legs are feeling. I hung with the back of the group again today. Half of the team was doing a shake-down ride for Dease Lake, so we didn’t meet up at the first rest stop as usual. The girls and I had lunch at 40 miles. Ten miles later, we stopped again though to see a grizzly bear. Don’t worry, it wasn’t a live grizzly. It was stuffed (but once was alive). I hope we never see one of them in the wild. We got into Smithers around dinner time. A bunch of us showered in the hose outside…Brrr! Because my birthday is tomorrow and Smithers is bigger than Kitwanga (where we’ll be tomorrow), Mike decided to take me out to dinner. We went to a sushi place, and then found a coffee shop and had a cup of tea. It made my day.

Day 49

The ride today was from Smithers to Kitwanga, BC. Today is my 27^th birthday and because of this, I decided to dedicate my ride today to two people: my godmother Eleanor Mackin and my father. Mike dedicated his day to my dad and Katherine dedicated hers to my aunt Rose. My morning started off in a brief panic—I couldn’t find my bike. While some would be scared it was stolen, I was more concerned that the team had done something silly to it. I found it leaning up against the van with a vase of pink roses in one of the water bottle holders and a 2-L bottle of root beer (my favorite) sitting on the ground next to it. I am spoiled, and I know it. We got on our bikes and headed over to A&W, which donated breakfast to us. There we met a bunch of people from the community and several of them joined us in our dedication circle. My legs were feeling a lot better today. I think I may be onto something with my protein theory. The first rest stop today was at a river. This was not just any river though. This river happened to be one up which the salmon run, and indeed they were running today. We wandered down and talked to some of the fishermen. One of them let Geeta, Katherine and I hold the salmon! At our second rest stop, Mike appeared with a birthday carrot cake (refer to my earlier comment about being spoiled). Shortly after this rest stop, Scott, Peter, Amy, Ivan and I were riding along in a paceline when car drove by and a filled cup came soaring over our heads. Fortunately no one was hit, but Amy turned to look at the flying object, touched wheels with Peter and fell. I was right on her wheel and though I slammed on my brakes, I ran into her and fell as well. We were fortunate to get away with a few minor scrapes and a little dirt on our bike shorts. Another car passed us at this point and pulled over to make sure we were ok. Ivan assured them we were fine, but told them about the first car. The car pulled off and we got back on our way. Less than 10 miles later, we see Mike in the van coming towards us. Apparently, the second car had stopped Mike and told him there were riders down. Mike was just checking to make sure we were ok. We assured him we were, and then realized that the tire on the trailer was going flat. Great. We got back on our way riding and headed to the nearest gas station to tell them we were in need of a trailer tire. While we were in the gas station, an ambulance pulled up followed by a cop. They started asking if we were ok. Apparently the car we had told we were ok had told the police there were six cyclists hit by a car. The police received the message as there were six motorcyclists hit by a car. This was true game of telephone if there ever was one. Ambulances and cops from three different cities had been dispatched to find us. We assured the ambulance and cops that we were fine, but told them about the first vehicle that had thrown something at us. Meanwhile, one of the many cops that had been dispatched helped Mike get a temporary wheel on the trailer and contacted a tire store so we could get new tires. Eventually, we all met up at the RV park in Kitwanga. The riders were all pretty hungry so we cooked chili and rice and I finally got to make curried chickpeas. After dinner, people sang happy birthday and we enjoyed the carrot cake. Just before dinner, a couple people from Kitwanga stopped by to say hi wondering why we were early. Turns out the Sierra route had contacted them but our team hadn’t. I am not sure where the miscommunication happened, but they were still excited to see us and offered to make us breakfast in the morning. Aside from the flying soda cups and flat tires, it was a great birthday. The bonus was that my legs were feeling great by the end of the day. I’m not questioning at this point, just accepting.

Day 50

Today we rode from Kitwanga to Meziadin Junction and I dedicated my ride to Dennis, one of the gentlemen we met yesterday at breakfast. We started off this morning with a great breakfast generously made by the folks in Kitwanga. It was wet when we got up, so we actually drove everyone to breakfast then drove back to the RV park to get the ride started. My legs again felt great today, which I was again surprised about given how long they have been feeling tired. I rode with Geoff, Scott and Amy for the first 40 miles or so and then wanted to pick up the pace even more (again weird because of how I had been feeling for awhile). Mike caught up to me eventually and we rode together for the rest of the day. Tomorrow is the Dease Lake Challenge, and in preparation for it, we decided to have spaghetti for dinner. Kasaundra jumped in and made homemade pasta sauce—yum! Meanwhile, the guys who are doing Dease Lake got all their bike gear, food, etc, ready to go. I got kicked out of my usual tent this evening so all the Challenge riders could sleep in the same tents.

Day 51

I woke up at 3:45a this morning with Peter so we could make breakfast for the seven riders doing the Dease Lake Challenge. The Dease Lake Challenge combines three days of riding into one for a total of 210 miles in one day. Each year there are a couple people from the team that do it. I wanted to, but as Mike was doing it, I stayed back. I thought I’d be okay with this, but as Peter and I watched the riders do their ride dedication this morning and then had to say goodbye for a few days, I realized that I was very not ok with it. I hate feeling left out and I had a lot on my mind otherwise. It bothered me a lot to watch the guys ride off and to realize that I couldn’t go ride off all that was on mind. I should have gone back to bed, but instead I walked laps around the campground. I lost count after five or so. Finally the rest of the team started to move. Everyone packed up their stuff and the tents and had breakfast. We circled up for ride dedication and all went pretty much as usual…until we got half way around the dedication circle. I thought I’d calmed myself down by walking earlier in the day, but I was wrong. By the time it got to me, I shared who I was riding for and broke down in tears. The entire circle came over and gave me a hug. I have some great teammates. I couldn’t do this without them. I dedicated my ride today to LTC Rachel Evans, one of my supervisors work who is a breast cancer survivor. Peter, Amy and I rode together all day today, or most of the day anyways. One of my contacts was making my eyes hurt this morning, so I was riding with one contact in for the first 40 miles or so. At this point, my eyes really started to hurt, so I sped up to get to the rest station so I could put on my glasses. Enroute, I saw a black bear sitting happily on the side of the road. I turned around and rode back to Peter and Amy so we could all ride past it together. We were talking as we went by so the bear moved by the time we got to it. We arrived at our campsite around 4p and some of the tents were already set up. I set mine up and then headed the shower. Bell II, the campground at which we are staying, is really cute. The shower facilities looked like a spa (woohoo!) and the lodge had a restaurant. We all decided to buy our own dinners this evening and enjoyed some great food. After putting in some laundry, we all retired to the leather couches and TV room upstairs from the restaurant. We’re all hanging out, catching up on our blogging and working through movie #2 for the evening. We don’t get to relax like this very often, and it is really a nice treat. I’m not sure if saying morale is low lately accurately describes the team. We’re not all down or annoyed with each other or anything, but people are a little homesick and ready to be in Anchorage. I think we all knew we’d feel this way at some point, so we’re being good to each other and trying to stay positive (which sometimes gets hard as the road conditions get more and more bumpy).

Day 52

I had a great night of sleep last night. I had a tent all to myself as half the team is gone for the next couple days for the Dease Lake Challenge. We breakfasted on the usual oatmeal and pancakes and got onto the road around 10a. I dedicated my ride today to John, a young man we met in Walmart the morning we were leaving Calgary. One of the things I had been weary about on this trip was going through Canada but telling people we were donating to the American Cancer Society. John taught me (inadvertently) why I shouldn’t be bothered by that. He actually received some of his treatments at Johns Hopkins because the research and treatment on the type of cancer he had was so far ahead in the US. He was very grateful for the work we are doing. The ride today was just over 90 miles from Bell II Lodge to Tatoga Lake Resort. The ride was beautiful as it has been for the last couple days. The road was glassy for the first 40 or 60 miles after which it got a little rough. We kept riding fast, telling ourselves that if we rode faster it would feel smoother. Our drivers today got creative with rest stops and we were being served hot chocolate and spaghetti at some of the rest stops! Our cabins here are right on the lake, which means a beautiful view but lots of mosquitos. It has been pretty damp, and as I am sleeping in a tent tonight, I’m hoping it doesn’t start pouring!

Day 38-44

Day 38

Before I update you on the ride today, it was brought to my attention that I made a couple mistakes in my dedications. This is very embarrassing to admit, but I would like to set the record straight. First, I need apologize to my family. My maternal grandmother had esophageal cancer, not liver cancer. She had complications with her liver, but as I was somewhat young when she got sick, I think I filed the information in my brain as liver cancer, obviously incorrectly. My second apology is to Mr. Muese. I confused the stories of two of my parents’ friends from college and mistakenly dedicated a day to him though he did not have cancer. No harm was intended with either of these mistakes, and I humbly apologize for any confusion or offense they may have caused.

Now, on with today…our ride was from Calgary to Banff, AB. I dedicated my ride to Jackie and Marilyn’s brother Mel, their father and to Chris Wallace’s family. We started off our day with an official Stampede breakfast, prepared by Jackie and Marilyn. Afterwards, some of the Hunting staff members joined us in our dedication circle. It was an emotional day for several people in the group. To give you an idea of how the group dynamics have changed over the last month or so, I remember that someone tearing up at our Day 2 dedication and there was kind of an awkward, yet heartfelt, silence that ensued, but no one moved. Today, when people started getting choked up, two or three other riders headed straight over to give them hugs. Team bonding is an amazing thing. The first 16 or so miles this morning we were on the bike paths through Calgary. They took us along Route 2, around the zoo and then along the river through downtown. I really liked Calgary actually. It seemed like a cool city. On our way out of town we passed by the Canadian Olympic Park and saw the ski jumps from the Calgary Olympics. I was told the other day that I needed to start putting riders names into my blogs, so I will do my best to not make the blogs anonymous anymore. I got to ride with Mike today for basically the first time this entire trip, which was awesome and somewhat unexpected at this point. The ride involved a lot of downhill and a nice tailwind. We flew through the third rest stop and were almost to the next stop when the minivan pulled over in front of us. Kasaundra hopped out and informed us that the battery had died on the 15 passenger van. Great. We rode up a mile or so farther and arrived at the entrance to Banff NP. Kasaundra left us with the basic rest stop necessities and then took off to go buy jumper cables (which apparently didn’t come in the van) and head back to the other van. Riders slowly started arriving where Mike and I were and we updated them on what was happening. When everyone got there, we paid for the passes to get into the park. Mike went with Kasaundra back to the van because at that point we had called AAA. The rest of us rode into the park and finished the last 9 or 10 miles to the town of Banff. The O’Connor’s had arranged dinner for us at a local restaurant, so we went straight to the restaurant. At this point, the update on the van was that the starter didn’t work and the battery appeared to be dead. We enjoyed dinner and then rode to the campsite a few miles up the road. The minivan made a trip back to the trailer (the trailer had been towed with the van) and got everyone’s personal bags, the tents and the sleeping gear. It was a long day, but it ended happily around the campfire.

Day 39

We got a VERY late start today. I didn’t set a wakeup time because we didn’t know when the trailer would be fixed. Mike and Pete headed to Canmore at 7:45a to talk to the mechanics about getting the van fixed. Meanwhile, everyone else stayed in bed or read books. I received a birthday package from the Caseys yesterday, and they had included a copy of The Last Lecture. I eat books for breakfast, and within 24 hours of opening the package, I was through 160 of the 200 pages in the book. It was a great morning! If you have not yet read the book, I would highly recommend it. It is a very fast read and had a lot of great observations and pearls of wisdom. The author gave his last lecture after been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Maybe part of the reason I found his story so interesting is that he was a professor of a hard science (as opposed to a soft science). In many ways, I recognize the personality type. Around noon it was discovered that nothing was wrong with our van. Hmm. I got the riders mobilized and we got on the road around 1p. I dedicated my ride today to my ultrarunning buddy Tom Craven. Today was Kasaundra’s 23^rd birthday, so about half the team only made it a few miles from camp before we stopped in town to grab a sandwich to celebrate. While we were eating it started raining (and it was cold) so we grabbed tea and coffee and stayed put a little longer. At 2:45p, we finally got hit the road. We’d stopped in a bike shop briefly before we started though and were informed that what we thought was a 60 mile ride was actually only 60k. Kasaundra, MJ, Stella, Geeta and I hopped on 1a, aka the scenic route, and headed to Lake Louise, our final destination for the day. The road meandered along through some absolutely beautiful scenery. Right before we rode into the town at Lake Louise, MJ and I saw our first black bear! We stopped a little further down the road and waited for the other three girls, who also had come upon a different black bear with her cub. Apparently it was a good day for black bear sightings! We headed into town, grabbed some ice cream and then headed to camp. After a shower, we went out to a restaurant for dinner. They gave us half off, and everyone decided to splurge to celebrate Kasaundra’s birthday. After dinner, we sat around a campfire back at camp and talked until well after the quiet hour—oops!

Day 40

Well, we appear to be on a roll with late starts…Today, we didn’t get on the rode until 3p—a new record! We got up early and went to check out Lake Louise and Lake Moraine, both of which we were told were absolutely gorgeous. We went to Lake Louise first. Scott, Peter, Ivan, Katherine and myself wandered along the path that appeared to go around the lake for awhile, but finally had to turn back when we realized the path went a lot further than we expected. The lake was beautiful. It is nestled up in the mountains and a glacier sits in the back. The water is an amazing shade of greenish blue, which is caused by particulates in the water. We went to Lake Moraine next, and I have to say, I liked it even better. The color of the water reminded me of the ocean. We didn’t get to stay very long because we needed to get back to camp. We rolled into camp, grab a few PB&Js and packed up our belongings. I dedicated my ride today to my co-worker Ben’s parents. Because we got started late and we were supposed to camp, we ended up only going about 40 miles today. This worked for me. I have been feeling a little off since the ride into Calgary. My whole body feels fatigued. Today I was noticing that everyone on the team was getting faster, except for me. Either that or I really wasn’t feeling well. I was being dropped by people who on a regular basis would not drop me like they did today. It was frustrating. We got into camp, and Stella and Evan made an awesome rice dish for dinner. I was my dishes after dinner and after trying to read for a few minutes decided it would be best just to go to sleep. My face was on fire and I was pretty worried.

Day 41

Today was our last day in Banff NP, but we ended the day in Jasper, which is located in Jasper NP. The ride today ended up being ~110 miles as we only did 40 miles yesterday. I dedicated my ride to my co-worker Ben’s grandparents. I woke up this morning still feeling a little under the weather. I put on a lot of clothing (it was VERY cold outside) and started about my day though and for about 30 minutes, I felt like a million dollars. Then I got on my bike. Within about 5 miles I again had everyone flying past me. Let’s suffice it to say this was very frustrating, but I figured that if my legs weren’t going to work, I might as well enjoy the scenery. So that’s what I did…with three layers of clothing. I got to the first rest stop and my teammates were surprised I still had that many layers on as they were removing theirs. I took off one layer but left the rest be. The second 20 miles I was still moving pretty slowly, but Ivan had slowed down to take pictures and ended up riding with me for a bit. It was very nice to have some company, and eventually, we actually caught up to a couple other people. This was when the climbing started. We had a 9 mile climb into the Columbia Icefields. Ouch. Ironically, I was actually feeling better at the top of the hill than I had been earlier in the day, though I was never moving very fast going up it. Shortly after leaving the next rest stop we passed a huge glacier. I didn’t stop to take in the view though because it started raining, and it was cold. I just wanted to keep moving. Fortunately for me, the ride at this point started heading downhill, which meant I didn’t have to worry as much about pedaling and could let gravity do some of the work. The next 20 miles flew by, for which I was very grateful. After a brief stop at the 60 mile rest stop, I headed back out on the rode. The next 20 miles was pretty flat with a few small hills. I skipped the next rest stop (it wasn’t there yet) and turned onto 93a, the alternative route to the road we had been on for most of the day. There was a sign that said something about bad road conditions, and I circled around for a moment before deciding to continue. Locals had told us to take 93a because it was more scenic, but if the road was really that bad, I’d be stuck on it for 20 miles. Well, aside from a few small patches, 93a was a great road. It would alongside the river, which again, was that amazing shade of blue-green. I saw a mama black bear with her cub, which was pretty neat. If it is possible to take a snapshot in your head of beautiful scenery, it was along this road of all places so far during this trip, where I would have wanted to take that snapshot. I suppose I did actually. I reached the highest point I would reach on 93a and before the descent began, the view towards the mountains was breathtaking. I continued on my ride and found my way to the church at which we were staying. I walked in the door and Rob told me I looked exhausted. I was tired, but honestly, I ended my ride feeling a lot better than when I started. I almost felt normal. The drivers had secured dinner at Jasper Pizza. It turns out they donate $1 towards cancer research for every pizza they sell, and the owner was excited to have us there. The pizza was delicious, and if you’re ever in the area, I’d recommend it. After dinner we picked up the rest of our laundry from the laundromat and headed back to the church. I read for a minute or two, but then we turned out the lights for bed.

Day 42

Drive day! Well, if it wasn’t implied from how tired I’ve been feeling lately, I was really excited for today and the opportunity to drive. My drive buddy today was Amy. We got up a little before 7a and started getting ready. We got everyone on the road around 10a, and I dedicated my day to Ben’s father-in-law. I started today filling up the gas tank in the 15 passenger van. It cost $150—yikes! In case you were wondering, yes, gas is more expensive here in Canada. Before the first rest stop we had our first border crossing in Canada. At mile 18 or so of the ride today, we left Alberta for British Columbia. We’ll be in BC for more than two weeks actually! The thing that stands out to me about the ride today was the weather. The weather in the mountains is very difficult to predict. It would start raining, be raining through a 2-5 mile patch and then stop. While it was raining it would be freezing, but then it might warm up 10 degrees in the sunny patches. Weird. The 60 mile rest stop today is worth of note. It was at Mt. Terry Fox. The mountain was named after Terry, who was diagnosed with bone cancer at age 18 and had to have a leg amputated. When he was 22 he decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research. He called the run the Marathon of Hope. The goal was to run the equivalent of a marathon (26.2 miles or 42.2km) everyday all the way across the country. He made it 5375km before having to stop. His cancer had spread to his lungs. He died in 1981 just before his 23^rd birthday. There has been over $24 million raised in his name for the Canadian Cancer Society. His story touched me on many levels. First and maybe most obviously was why he was doing his Marathon of Hope—to raise money for cancer research. Second, I study amputee gait. For those who don’t know my background, I’m currently working on a PhD in biomechanics and studying how amputees walk. I would love to extend at least part of my research to look at running. On the most personal level (or maybe the most shallow?), I think I was moved by his story as a runner. I have met, run with and coached many different types of runners. When you meet someone who uses the word “runner” to describe himself, they tend to be of a certain personality. I love being around runners. More often than not, they get “it,” or least “it” the way I understand it. Terry seems to have gotten “it,” and I appreciate his spirit. Suffice it to say, his story gave me a lot to think it. Ironically or not, I actually saw an article in the paper the other day saying that an American director was actually making a movie about Terry. I can’t recall when it was expected to be completed though, so I will have to look into it. I arrived at the host church McBride Anglican/United Church around 2:45p or so this afternoon. We got all the riders over to the community recreation center to shower and then we had dinner at the church. I think there were more vegetables on the table than any of us had seen in a long time, and we gratefully partook of them. The meal was great. Our hosts showed me around the kitchen and all the goodies they had left for us for breakfast, lunch and snacking tomorrow. It is now nearing bedtime and I am excited for a long night of rest. We crossed into a new time zone earlier today, which means an extra hour of sleep!

Day 43

I would like to say that today flew by but that wouldn’t exactly be an accurate statement. The first 60 miles flew by and we saw ourselves arriving at our 60 mile rest stop. We thought we only had 10 more miles to go, but 10 miles up the road our drivers informed us that today would actually be a 95 mile day instead of a 70 mile day. It is amazing how news like this can make your spirits drop. The ride today was from McBride to Purden, BC. I dedicated my ride to Terry Fox, the young man I mentioned yesterday in my blog. I never met him and I don’t know anyone that knows him. But I admire his spirit. As I mentioned earlier, the ride today was going quite well. There were a lot of leftover veggies from last night’s dinner so we had an abnormally “fresh” first rest stop. For all the parents reading this, I apologize for going against your wisdom, but it is not always a good idea to eat your vegetables. I was having some several stomach pain for a few miles after downing a bunch of broccoli today. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone, so for future reference, stay away from vegetables while riding even if you’re “taking it easy” that day. Kasaundra was riding with me at the time my stomach started hurting and she was very patient with me as I tried to keep moving. I am fortunate to have a great bunch of teammates. The last 25 miles or so of the ride, Kasaundra, Peter, Scott, MJ and I were riding together, and I cannot imagine better company with whom to plug out those last miles. When we finally arrived at the campsite, the riders in the front had already set up most of the tents, and dinner was well on its way to being made. After dinner, a bunch of us went up the hill to the café, and I got to have my first root beer float in months. The root beer in Canada tastes distinctly different from what you get in the US. Canadians put real sugar as opposed to high fructose corn syrup in their sodas. I have to say, ending a day with a root beer float is the way to go. The rain started coming down a little harder after the trip to the café, so I curled up in my tent, read my book for a few minutes and finally fell fast asleep.

Day 44

Because yesterday was quite a bit longer than expected, I didn’t set a wake up time for this morning. Later in the day, when I found out our host Dorrie and her daughter had been waiting for us at a bike shop for a couple hours, I felt terrible. One thing we need to work on for next year’s team is getting a pre-paid phone, so we can call in with hosts the day before we arrive just in case there are last minute changes in plans. It turned out there was a bunch of confusion, but it all worked out in the end. All of the riders successfully completed the 40 mile ride from Purden to Prince George, and most of us got our bikes into a local bike shop for a tune-up. Today was Trent’s 21^st birthday, and most of us dedicated our day to Trent’s dad, who passed away from cancer. I think we almost made Trent cry actually as we went around our dedication circle as usual and people individually chose to dedicate their day to him. Instead of staying with host families this year as teams have in the past, we are staying at a college in the dorms. We each even have our own rooms! After a quick shower, we piled into the van and drove to Aleta’s house where Dorrie, Aleta and others had a potluck dinner ready for us. One of the dishes even involved moose! Craig the magician performed for us after dinner, and he had several of us almost falling out of chairs laughing at a few points. In Rockies tradition, Prince George has been the place where people get their heads shaved into mohawks. This year’s Rockies team doesn’t seems to want to break every record from previous years and we decided that we needed to ha get their heads shaved into mohawks. This year’s Rockies team doesn’t seems to want to break every record from previous years and we decided that we needed to have at least 14 mohawks to break last year’s record. Well, unfortunately, we only got three actual mohawks this year…however, we got 10 uncles and three other girls cutting their hair drastically. You may be wondering what an uncle is, so I’ll try my best to describe it. An uncle is almost like a reverse mohawk, where the center of your head is bald but you have hair on the sides. People decided to do uncles this year because Mike’s sister is about to have a baby (due any day) and he is going to become an uncle. So, 10 guys got uncles and two guys got mohawks, which accounts for all the guys on the team. MJ also got a mohawk. I had been wanting to donate my hair, but my boyfriend wanted nothing to do with me cutting it. If you’ve been around me almost any length of time, you will quickly realize that if you don’t want me to do something, you should not tell me not to do it because I will likely do it anyways. Well folks, I didn’t shave my head, but I do have a pixie cut now. My fellow riders informed my boyfriend that he couldn’t tell me not to cut my hair when he’d been the first to step up and get the uncle cut. Payback is rough sometimes. Stella and Katherine also cut their hair, but its not nearly as short as MJ’s or mine. However, the middle section of their hair was left long, so that they can gel their hair up into mohawks. In this light, I suppose we had three mohawks and two faux hawks. While all of this hair cutting was going on, someone got Julio on the phone, and walked him through cutting his hair in Austin. In all, Rockies 2008 posted 16 crazy haircuts in Prince George. No, they’re not all mohawks, but we don’t really want to fit the mould. To the 2009 riders, do you think you can beat 16? Following this extravaganza we helped clean up Aleta’s house before heading back to the dorms. We spent the rest of the evening hanging out in MJ’s room celebrating Trent’s birthday as a team. What a day!

Day 25-37

Sorry for the long delay in blog updates! I have been camping and without internet for a week and a half or so now, which has made it difficult to post as frequently. So much has happened!

Day 25

Today we rode from Dubois to Grand Tetons National Park…quite possibly some of the most beautiful country I’ve ever seen. I dedicated my ride today to a woman named Claudia who was our waitress at the restaurant which fed us last night and a breast cancer survivor. The ride today was hard. The wind was not too bad, but we climbed to the continental divide before entering the park…And my legs were tired before we even started the ride. We reached the continental divide in the late morning at an altitude of over 9600 ft. This was the highest elevation we have had the whole team at to-date. My rider who had altitude sickness was moving pretty slow, but she stuck it out and finished the whole ride. When we reached the continental divide we ran into another group which was bicycling across America from the west coast to the east. Though their ride was a commercial operation which people paid to participate in, two of the riders we met were also fundraising for a cancer hospital in Colorado. One of the guys was a prostate cancer survivor and the wife of the other man was a breast cancer survivor. We also met a guy from Austin with the group who was a testicular cancer survivor! At the point we met all of these riders we were not yet in Grand Tetons NP. As we got closer to the park, the scenery became progressively more beautiful and the downhills became progressively longer, which made for smiles on the faces of all of our riders. We arrived in the park in the late afternoon, and checked into our campsite—our first night of camping on the trip! We set up the tents and cooked dinner, and after a few songs around the fire turned in hoping for bear-free nights.

Day 26

I rode for the men I met yesterday with the Ride Across America route. Two were cancer survivors and the wife of the other man was a breast cancer survivor. We rode from Grand Tetons to Yellowstone NP today. The two parks are right next to each other such that when you excite Grand Tetons via the North Entrance, you are actually heading into the South Entrance of Yellowstone. We got up early and took our time wandering through the Tetons because it was only 20 miles from our campsite to Yellowstone. What we did not realize at that time though was that once we got into Yellowstone, it was another 55 miles to our campsite. Oops. Right before we entered Yellowstone, we had a rest stop to collect everyone and saw our first buffalo. Once inside the park we had a 37 or so mile ride to Old Faithful, where we stopped for a late afternoon rest stop. I was the sweep rider today, and as I didn’t get into Old Faithful until pretty late, I didn’t actually get to see the geyser erupt. I had seen it before when I was driving across the country in college though so I wasn’t too disappointed. Most of the rest of the team got to see it though. Finally we were off on our way towards our campsite near Moran Junction. After dinner, we made smores and hung out around the campfire before crashing for the night.

Day 27

Day off in Yellowstone! As I write this after experiencing today, I will tell you in advance that today was the most relaxing day off I have had yet on this trip. Cities are great to be in so you can get things done, but being in a national park prevented me from doing that this time, which was great. I woke up early because I have become so used to getting up early at this point. I wandered out of my tent and found two other riders sitting around the campfire reading books, so I joined them. After awhile, more people started getting up and we made breakfast and moved campsites. Unfortunately, the reservations for the two nights we are staying at Yellowstone were made at different times so we actually had to move campsites in the middle of our stay. The move was fairly uneventful except for the parade of tents through the campground. People did not want to completely disassemble their tents and then have to reassemble them half an hour later, so they just picked them up and carried them through the campground to the new site. Whatever works! After the big move, part of the team went back to see Old Faithful because they missed it yesterday. Four of us decided we wanted to go swimming, so we took the other van and went in search of every swimming hole in the park. We drove a few miles back down the road, spotted a small trail and found ourselves wandering down to the river. We found a somewhat secluded spot and went swimming. Afterwards we sat on the rocks drying off and I started reading Siddhartha (the book I was reading) out loud. At the end of the chapter we decided it was time to move on and we went in search of hot springs and the prismatic geyser. The latter was very colorful and made me start ask questions...Why did I leave earth science? What kind of bacteria cause that color to appear? Who works on this research? How does this stuff relate to geology stuff I was doing a few things back about the origins of multicellular life? The questions were (are) a mix of both the science behind what I was looking at and me questioning what I’m doing with my life. I suppose trips like this make one do that. There have definitely been a lot of things floating through my head lately. When we got back to camp, I finished my book and then went and sat by the river for awhile to write in my journal. We turned in somewhat early because tomorrow is a ride day.

Day 28

I didn’t actually participate in the ride dedication today for a reason I will explain in a moment, but I did dedicate my day to Boogie. He was the brother of a woman at the campsite next to us who recently died from cancer. The reason I didn’t participate in the ride dedication today was because I was running. The ride today was 14 miles from our campsite in Yellowstone to West Yellowstone, MT, the city at the west entrance to the park. Because the ride was only 14 miles, myself and the other runner on the team decided to run the distance. We started running about an hour and a half before the riders were supposed to start riding and we were going to race them to the WY-MT border. Well, the riders started early and caught up to us about a mile or two before the exit to the park. Bummer. We were not deterred though because it was only the fastest few riders who passed us, so we continued on our way bound to beat at least some of the cyclists. I really enjoyed the run actually. We were cruising at an 8:15 or 8:30 minute per mile pace and talking about running and life the whole time. When we were less than half a mile from the exit to the park though we saw something that made our hearts jump into our throats…On the other side of the road (we were running against traffic), we saw a few orange jerseys off their bikes standing on the side of the road and several stopped cars. My heart jumped into my throat—a rider was on the ground. Needless to say we picked up the pace to get us there as quickly as our legs could carry us. No one knew exactly what happened other than that one of the riders had hit a road sign on the shoulder, fallen and appeared to have a seizure. One of the motorists who had stopped was a doctor and was watching over the rider until the ambulance arrived. They loaded the rider onto a stretcher, and he, the EMT and myself hopped in the back of the ambulance drove up the road to get us out of traffic. The EMT was a little worried and recommended the rider head to the hospital to get checked out by a doctor to be on the safe side. The options were Rexburg or Bozeman and as the team was headed to Bozeman after West Yellowstone anyways, I suggested he go there. The ambulance took him away. As no one thought it was too serious at that point, I made sure the rider had my number and then had hopped out of the ambulance. I then ran to the church at which we were staying (all the other riders and our vehicles had gone ahead). I think I needed that extra couple of miles of running to clear my head and figure out what to do next. I arrived at the church and found the phone number of our hosts in Bozeman. I gave them a call and left a message explaining the situation and asked if they might be able to host our rider over night until the rest of the team got there the following day. Our hosts called me back and informed me that they were already on their way to the hospital to see the rider and we stayed in contact for the next hour or two. Then the rider called me and said it was more serious then we thought. There was bleeding in the brain and a broken collar bone. He needed his belongings because they were taking him in a helicopter to a bigger city. The assistant ride director and I hopped in the car with the injured riders things and drove 90+ miles to Bozeman to get the injured rider his things. We got there and the flight crew was preparing the rider for the flight. We got to talk to him for maybe 10 minutes before they wheeled him outside. I had brought all my stuff to Bozeman so that I could go with him if I needed to, but as we were driving, I had been informed that his mom was flying out to see him. Two neurosurgeons had been lined up to see the rider upon his arrival in Billings. As I look back on this situation, I’m not sure the rider could have received better care. The EMT was awesome, and the staff in Bozeman were great. The neurosurgeons were at the hospital waiting to see the rider as soon as he got off the flight. Our hosts sat and talked with the rider for a couple hours as he waited for the helicopter to arrive as if he were their own son. I cannot have asked for anything better. The kindness and concern showed by everyone involved today really touched me to the core. Thank you to everyone who was involved in the care of this rider. I (and I’m sure he) appreciate it more than you know. Once we saw the rider off, our Bozeman hosts took the assistant ride director and I to dinner, which we were not expecting but for which we were very grateful. It had been a long day. After a very nice dinner, we headed back to West Yellowstone and the rest of the team. We arrived around 8p, and as it was the 4^th of July, most of the team headed out to see the fireworks. Honestly, I was in no mood for fireworks at that time, and I stayed at the church with the intentions of reading my book. A few minutes after the team left, I got a call from the injured rider with an update. He sounded much better and said they were going to monitor him for a bit. I read a book for a bit after that before falling asleep, exhausted from the day.

Day 29

We were up early this morning in anticipation of a somewhat long ride from West Yellowstone to Bozeman, MT. I dedicated my ride today to the daughter of one of our Bozeman hosts who passed away from cancer a couple years ago. The ride was mostly downhill and along the river. The scenery was beautiful, but I didn’t see much of it. I spent most of the day lost in thought. About 80 miles or so into the ride, I was pretty upset and took off from the rest station a little earlier than everyone else and rode as hard as I could for 15 miles or so and was exhausted. I felt better after this. We arrived at our hosts’ home in the mid- to late afternoon. They had quite a spread prepared for us, but I didn’t get to enjoy much at that point because I hopped in car with one of the hosts and headed straight to Costco, so I could shop for food for the team. We arrived back from shopping and after taking a quick shower, all the neighbors came over for a huge potluck dinner. The food was absolutely amazing, and the eating out on the porch which had a great view was the perfect way to end the day. After dessert the riders dispersed to host family houses. Two other girls and I went over to one of the neighbors houses and they showed us to the guest house. I slept in a cubby hole that the kids always play in, and it was one of the best nights of sleep I have had on the trip. The daughter of my host family had her hair cut really short, and though I wouldn’t say it planted a seed, it definitely made me start thinking more seriously about cutting my hair. I’ve had it really short before and have been contemplating doing it again and donating my hair to Locks of Love, or a similar organization, which makes wigs for kids with cancer.

Day 30

I dedicated my ride today to Kevin Wilkinson, the son of our Bozeman hosts, who is currently undergoing treatment for cancer. Our ride today was from Bozeman to Helena, MT, and it was one of my days to drive. The day started off with a great breakfast, beautiful weather and a flat road. The afternoon was where it got a little interesting. First, I was pulled over by a cop. Apparently I was going over a speed limit I hadn’t seen marked. He left me off, much to my relief, with a warning. I’ve definitely been on the look out for speed limit signs on every road every since. Shortly after this, the wind started pick up and the riders were faced with a stiff headwind for the last 30 or so miles of the ride. Ouch. As I was in the minivan and we were not exactly sure how many miles were left in the ride at the 60 mile rest stop, I had to stay out on the road and make sure the riders had the water and snacks they needed to finish the ride. When the last rider passed us at 80 miles, I and the other rider in my van drove ahead to the host church. We missed a turn and had to turn around but fortunately there was traffic circle. I’m not sure how most people deal with traffic circles, but I find them kind of silly looking. Every time I see one, I feel that I should drive around it more than once no matter how unnecessary it is. So I and the other rider drove around and around and were giggling hysterically. After the second lap he suggested I go around again, I think expecting that I wouldn’t do it, but I did. By this point I was laughing so hard I was crying. I am probably the one of the most easily amused people one could ever meet, and this was a great way to end the day. After the third lap, we excited the circle and went to the church. I took a shower and joined our hosts for dinner. They had made us ravioli, which I haven’t had in months, and they really hit the spot. There was group of people on a mission from Mississippi staying at the church as well, and I got to talk to a couple of the folks who were about my age and find out what they were doing. After dinner, we made a quick trip to Walmart and then headed back to the church for some much needed sleep.

Day 31

I dedicated my ride today to Chris Condit, the founder and executive director of Texas 4000. I’m very grateful for all the guidance and help he’s given me as I’ve been filling the role of Ride Director. He included a note of encouragement in a recent package he had sent, and I read it aloud to the team during ride dedication. The team laughed when I read his comments about us all doing pushups at rest stops. Our ride today was from Helena to Great Falls, MT. The men from the congregation cooked us breakfast this morning. I had the opportunity to sit with three of them this morning for breakfast, and for a number of reasons I was glad I did. One of the guys started talking about the power of positive thinking. He stopped himself in the mid sentence though saying he didn’t know if what he was saying was relevant. I assure him it was, thinking of my own struggles with moving to Texas, and he continued. I have thought about his words everyday since then. I was glad that he shared. Our ride today took us along the frontage road for Hwy 15. The frontage road wove along switching sides of the highway and occasionally wandering out of sight but always following the river. It was quite peaceful. I had a lot on my mind too. Early in the ride one of the other riders on the team and I had been chatting and he suggested that I should do more stuff with the group socially. Spending all one’s time with a group, as we do on this ride, will very quickly show you how much (or little) time you spend by yourself, and there have been a couple times when we were not with hosts where I preferred to sit with a book or go do something by myself than be with the group. For some people I think this would be torture, but for me, it’s energizing. I think I’m experiencing a different stress level on this trip than everyone else, and it’s nice to occasionally have an hour to myself to sit in quiet and decompress. Anyhow, the whole idea of how much time (all vs. almost all) of my time to spend with the team occupied my thoughts for a good chunk of the ride today. The last 20 miles or so of the ride I spent talking with people. Though I generally don’t like pacelines, I was riding in a double one those 20 miles. We arrived at the church and found that our hosts had left us 10 huge, fresh pizzas for dinner—mmmm. After dinner, a few of us went to a nearby Starbucks and sat with cups of tea and books while a few others went to the nearby sporting goods store to pick up some camping essentials. Sleeping conditions for this evening appear to be ideal. We are allowed to sleep wherever in the building…and the basement is finished. Yes, that’s right—cold, dark sleeping conditions. It could be a very good night!

Day 32

This morning we woke up early to ride from Great Falls to Dupuyer, MT. I dedicated my ride to my PhD advisor Jon Dingwell who is a cancer survivor. Our host joined us in our dedication circle and offered a prayer over us before we left. I figured out directions out of town, and as no one wrote them on the official direction board, I had to lead the way out of town. This may seem insignificant, but it is not. It means that the whole team rode together through town this morning. We always ride in groups, but due to the variety of paces on the team, we tend to divide up into groups with similar paces—very rarely are we actually all together. I stayed at the front and we formed a double paceline on the edge of town. About 10 of us stayed together the first 20 miles. We were chatting the whole way, which always make the time (and miles) fly. Our first rest stop of the day was in a grove of cottonwood trees, which was quite peaceful. The ride went pretty smoothly until the last 30 miles or so. At this point, a stiff headwind picked up and the terrain became quite hilly. I stayed back with some of the girls and pulled them through the first 15 or more miles before joining up with another rider and riding with him for the last 15 miles. To briefly explain what I mean when I say I was pulling some of the riders, I mean that I was riding at the front of the paceline the entire time, so everyone got to draft off of me. Drafting cuts down the wind resistance you’re experiencing, so it’s easier to ride. I was pretty tired at the end of the day, but I felt like I had had a good ride. We arrived in the late afternoon at the elementary school where we were spending the night. There were no showers, but there was a hose. The water coming out of the hose might be described in the following way: nice to have a glass of on a hot day, but not ideal for showering. It was very cold, but one of the first lessons you learn on this trip is to make use of what you have. So, I showered with the hose. I was covered in goosebumps when I finished, but at least I was clean. A local pub had offered to feed us dinner, so we walked over and hung out there for a bit. I got back from the restaurant and got ready for bed. I was out when my head touched the pillow, so much so that I didn’t hear the five or so riders who came in an hour later apparently making a lot of noise looking for their stuff in the dark and slamming the front door. I guess I was tired!

Day 33

Today we rode from Dupuyer to Glacier National Park (NP), MT, and I dedicated my ride to Tim Ricketts, a pancreatic cancer survivor we met in Ft. Collins, CO. His story was really quite amazing, and he was actually deemed cancer-free a day or two before the group arrived in Ft. Collins. I don’t know a lot about pancreatic cancer except that it’s very hard to treat and Tim is one of few success stories. He is really an inspiration. I have one word to describe the ride today: windy. There was head wind and cross wind but definitely no tail wind. Most of the ride today was through the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, which was very beautiful. The second 20 mile stretch of the day was probably the most difficult riding we have experience yet. I rode with four other riders the whole way and we did our best to keep each others spirits high. I found myself focusing on the wildflowers on the sides of the road because their beauty was about the only positive thing I could think of at that point. My little group of four arrived at the 40 mile aid station tired but hanging in there. Thirty minutes or so later a group of three girls and our two (male) sweep riders came in and a couple looked pretty upset. Apparently a couple guys in a truck at driven by them made a few comments then circled around and come back and actually slapped two of the girls on their butts. Everyone was enraged by this to say the least. The truck had the license plate covered so we couldn’t even get a plate number to report to the authorities. It’s difficult to express the frustration felt at this point, but it really makes one wonder, who does that kind of thing?! We got everyone calmed down and fed and decided that it was best we got out of there as soon as possible. The guys on the team re-distributed themselves so that there were a few more guys riding with the group of girls at the back. One thing that has continually impressed me about this team is what they do without me having to ask. I did not have to ask one of those guys to ride with the girls. We all look after each other. It is not even a question. As we got back on the road, the wind started to die down, but at the same time, the terrain became hillier. At the same time, the haze that had appeared to cover the mountains cleared up and the world was really brought to life. I was amazed all of the shades of green in the grass and how blue the sky was. The wildflowers were very bright and all sorts of different colors as well. We finally arrived at Glacier NP in the late afternoon. We checked into the campsite and set up the tents. The local lodge donated four huge pizzas for the team and after eating these several of us decided to try huckleberry ice cream for dessert. Yum! After dinner, we hung around the campsite and made smores. A few people stayed up playing the guitar and singing, but most people headed to bed for some much needed rest.

Day 34

Rest day in Glacier NP! I woke up early again as I am in the habit of doing on rest days. I laid in my tent reading for a little bit and then decided to go for a run. I did an out and back loop along St. Mary’s Lake, which was absolutely beautiful. The temperature was perfect while I was running, but shortly after I got back to camp, the temperature dropped. The sky looked a little cloudy, and several of us decided to do laundry. I ended up sitting in the laundry mat for a couple hours waiting for loads to change and reading and writing. It was actually quite nice. When everything was done, we headed back to camp and grabbed some lunch. Then a group of people wanted to go explore the park. A few of us were dropped off at one of the lodges so we could shower. That shower lasted eight exquisite minutes before my time ran out, but it was just what I needed. After showering three of us sat in the restaurant and talked over tea and food for a couple hours. One of the guys and I got into a deep conversation about joy. Some people just radiate joy and you can feel it when you’re around them. I was telling the other rider that when I was doing laundry earlier in the morning I had been thinking about things that make me happy. So he and I started talking about things that make one happy in the short term versus in the long term and what really makes people shine. We had a lot of different ideas, most of which I have been mulling over since the conversation, but we didn’t reach any conclusion that one specific thing caused people to glow. The van finally picked us up and we headed back down the road to our campsite. Six of us piled into a small tent and started talking while the rest of the group started a dance party near one of our vans. At one point the music got way too loud and I had to go say something. One rider in particular got pretty annoyed with me about this, and while he never said anything to me about it, several other people took him aside and tried to reason with him. I hate people being mad at me, but the noise level was really not appropriate. I headed to bed pretty upset that I had had to say anything. It started pouring down rain (great way to end an already tough evening!). I lay in my tent listening to the rain and talking things over with my tentmate.

Day 35

At some point last night a cold front moved in because we all woke up this morning and had to put on just about every piece of cold weather clothing we had brought. As I emerged from my tent I discovered that on of the other tents had leaked and the two riders in that tent had had to move to other tents in the middle of the night. In addition, the rain cover for another tent had come completely off in the wind and the riders had woken soaked with puddles in their tent. Let’s suffice it to say that that is not a good way to start the day. We all moved a little slowly this morning. I approached the rider who had been mad at me the night before and said I knew he was annoyed with me but that if he wanted to talk about anything that I would be happy to talk it over with him. To my surprise he apologized and said he had been out of line. I accepted the apology but assured him that if he wanted to talk about anything I was serious about the offer to talk about it. It’s hard to tell your peers you don’t agree with something they’re doing. A rider being mad had really made me think about whether I had also crossed a line in saying something. In the end, I think it was a good experience to learn from on both sides. We got breakfast and finally got on our way close to 10a (a very late start for us). The ride today was from Glacier NP to Claresholm, Alberta—our first country border crossing! I dedicated my ride today to my teammate Dylan LeBlanc who was diagnosed with testicular cancer earlier this year, had chemo and is still riding with us this summer on the other route. It was cold this morning, and I ended up riding with arm and leg warmers, a wind vest and gloves. The border turned out to be 20 miles from our campsite in the park, so we had our first rest stop there. I talked to a border agent briefly on the US side and he told me they’d actually had a dusting of snow there this morning from the cold front that moved in last night. Snow in July?! Seriously?! Crossing the border was relatively uneventful. All the riders had to go inside the immigration office while they checked our passports. We were finally on our way around 12:30p…with 80 miles to go on ride. Ouch. The ride was mostly flat with a headwind though it wasn’t as bad as the wind we had heading into Glacier NP. At one point during the ride, I was leading the group of girls at the back in a double paceline. I distinctly remember pulling into the last rest stop and having the front pack of riders staring with their mouths open. That back pack is notorious in our group for not riding in a paceline, so the front pack, which does it all the time, was impressed. I don’t ride with the girls all the time, so it was really cool to be part of the paceline. We arrived at our campsite in Claresholm around 7p. Our drivers for the day had gone out and found a restaurant to donate dinner. We showered quickly and then went to eat. Dinner was delicious and then they surprised us by giving us homemade ice cream for dessert! Afterwards we headed back to the campsite and while a few people hung out chatting, most people went to bed. Today was the half way mark day-wise through the trip!

Day 36

I dedicated my day today to two people. The first is the manager of the campsite we stayed at last night. She is currently undergoing treatment for cancer. I also dedicated my day to Mr. Bruno, the father of my brother’s girlfriend. He was diagnosed with kidney cancer awhile back and it went into remission and then came back again. He passed away about two years ago now. The ride today was from Claresholm to Calgary. It wasn’t windy today, but it was probably one of the hardest days I have had. My whole body felt like lead and I was really struggling to ride. We were on Hwy 2 all the way into town. It started getting more and more busy, and eventually we just pulled ourselves off the ride because it was just plain dangerous. I was with five other riders at that point and we headed into a Starbucks. The girls behind the counter were excited to hear about what we were doing and even gave us free drinks and pastries! We hung out there until another rider came to pick us up with the van and trailer. It turned out that he had already picked up three other riders from the highway and while we were loading the van, the rest of the riders had called and said they had pulled themselves off the road as well. We arrived at our hosts’ location and there was food waiting for us. After a hot shower, I got shown around the facility and then sat talking to the network manager for the company about a route out of the city for the day after tomorrow. Shortly after that, dinner was served. I have been catching up on my blogs almost ever since. Half the team or so headed into town this evening to check it out and the rest of us have been hanging out and chatting. It’s been very relaxing.

Day 37

Day off in Calgary! I woke up before 6a this morning…after a little more than three hours of sleep. Someone came into the cubicle I was sleeping in during the middle of the night, curled up under the desk and started snoring. I had no idea who it was but I couldn’t get the snoring to stop, so I just got out of my sleeping bag and went for a run. My legs felt pretty heavy, but it was nice to be outside in the sun and cool air. I finished my run and headed to the kitchen to grab some food and talk to the caterer. She introduced me to her sister who took me with her to the Canadian version of Costco. The team seems to be keen on beans and rice, so I picked up several different kinds of beans and a bunch of spices. I figure that we’ll try this, see what people like and go from there. Upon return to the host building, a bunch of us jumped in the 15 passenger van and headed out to do laundry. Fortunately, the laundromat was in a small shopping complex and we discovered Chinese, Vietnamese and Indian restaurants. I joined a few others at the Indian restaurant as I’ve been missing Indian food lately, and it was just what I needed. We finished up our laundry and again headed back to the building at which we’re staying. Realizing that it was only 3p, I decided the day was young and rallied the troops to head to a tea shop and internet café. I’m currently sitting in said tea shop (Oolong Tea House), and the atmosphere here is exactly what I wanted to be around on our rest day. There is very chill music playing and my large chai is delicious. I’m heading to what appears to be the largest used bookstore in the city in a few minutes and will be looking for a few new books to start eating for breakfast. I was just looking for free wireless, which was how I found this place, but it turns out that this is the young/hip/artsy neighborhood in town. We haven’t made it to Stampede and don’t know that we will, but at least we’re seeing the parts of the city where our Canadian peers hang out.