Golden to Drumheller

Wow...blogs are hard to keep up on. Rest day in Drumheller...better catch up!

Sanne did end up taking us and our Australian friend Simo up to Mount 7. She rocks! What a cool place in the world that is! great view. world class 4000 ft double black diamond downhill mountain bike course from the top. they hold a very famous event called 'psychosis' and they also launch hang gliders and para gliders. We got some sweet shots and found a geocache up there. (as you can see in one picture we caught some thermals with the eagles!)

Golden to field 88 km
Got to food line at 740 and all the oatmeal and eggs were all gone...just cold cereal left...so a nice sit down bacon and egg breakfast at a cutesy cafe. On our way out, Judy spotted one of the more famous death racers...the oldest!...We had to meet him.
Turns out his name is Dag. Canadian with a Norwegian background. Turning 70 this year, he was just on his way for a 10 hour training run through the rigorous back country of Golden. Gave us some of his secrets of longevity, VERY motivational to talk to. He had us fill in our info in his journal. Judy will see him Death race 2011!

The climb out of golden seemed easier than when we did it May long. Could we be getting stronger? A side trip to Emerald Lake and then we camped just past field, our turn to cook. Judy was salsa dancing to ipod music provided by Mark. Supper on time as usual team #1 rocks! yeah baby. Surprise visit from good friends Kevin and Allison, gave them some left overs, shared some wine, and plotted our escape to Calgary in a couple days

Field to Banff 112kms
3 degrees, breakfast crew and sweep was our morning task. Took a beautiful ride up to Takakkaw falls. Everything was good till kel started whistling the tune Rhine stone cowboy. I think the air was a little thin on the ascent. (where did that song come from anyway??)
The "optional" ride was via an abandoned stretch of the 1A. We got close to the end and the road was ribboned off with Bear warnings. We chanced the ride through as it was only a few kilometers to lake louise. Tons of bear sign, we got a pic of what we think was the remains of an unlucky cyclist.
Bow valley Parkway is a terrific cycle route except every once in a while I would have to wake judy up out of her day dream to remind her that we were not doing a time trial race. Met up with crew and made frequent stops including a hike into the upper falls of Johnson Canyon. The hike took longer than we thought so we had to put head down ass up to make it to camp for supper. Finally a supper with some texture, no 'one bucket' meal tonight, and all the salad you could eat!

Banff to Airdrie 153
Starting the day we caught an amazing tail wind and were just flying! During a stop in Lake Louise, we had to stop and take pictures of small van with a cool paint job. Turns out it was a for real camper rental company called "Wicked". Maybe a cool franchise option for free spirit son Taiger!
Winding our way into Airdrie, some disappointment upon arrival...a patch of lawn in the industrial section with a 2 km round trip to shower. BUT we had an ace up our sleeve...thanks to the master plan from 2 nights ago, Kevin showed up to 'break us out' and take us to Allison's lavish hide out for Bath, Wine, and a Meal fit for a King and Queen (which judy felt like after that bath)
'Keevo' dropped us of 8am next morning back to reality.

Airdrie to Drumheller 126kms
Hot Hot Hot. Was not long ago and everyone was complaining about being cold!
Cactus in bloom, cool Badlands topography, and STEEP short hills in and out of the red deer valley. We are probably staying at the nicest campground so far! washrooms, showers, and pool are close, lots of room for the tents and they are on grass instead of dirt!