{Pictures from my Birthday Party}

 

My flowers! I couldn't keep them long though since I was leaving the next day, so I just took lots of pictures of them.

 

 Scott doing his Roast/Toast

 

  

My standing ovation.

  

 

 

Trying to cut the cake

 Birthday girls!

 

Thank you clean up crew for coming early and staying late!

 

Out with my friends.

Day 23: 0km

May 29, 2012

Saskatoon

Today was incredible. Mom and I took some time to do spa type things and then I had my birthday celebration. It was such an amazing day.

My birthday celebration was organized by my mother, my nuni, Sujata Musi, dad, and the whole indo-Canadian Christian fellowship group. It was so well done. I want to give a proper thank you to everyone for making my 21st year such a special memory.

There were a few speakers at the get together. Both my parents, my little-big sister Elma, Scott Thompson (my outdoor school teacher and family friend), Shelly Fedreau (another close family friend), my auntie Betty, my grade 4 teacher Diane Epp, my taekwando instructor and close family friend Scott Kopperudd, Dr. Taranger (a prostate cancer focused doctor) and Wayne Dick (a cancer survivour who also biked across Canada) all spoke. Thank you so much for everything that was said. Every single word touched me in ways I can't even explain.

I also want to thank everyone who came. I honestly felt like the 200 ish people there were all family. It was  incredible and I felt so at home. There was so much love in that room. When I went up to speak, I was so overwhelmed that I couldn't even say everything I wanted to say, I was so close to tears. I am truly moved that so many people cared enough to show up and give so much love and encouragement for my future battles. This birthday celebration will be my motivation for the trip. Your love is keeping me moving.

After the appies and getting to see everyone, some people who I hadn't seen since before I moved, Elle, Rohit, John, Rebecca and I went to Original Joes for drinks. And so I could eat. I was too excited talking to everyone that I had forgotten to eat!! It was so much fun! Perfect evening. Thank you all so so so much! And sorry for the late entry!!!!

Day 22: 0 km

May 28, 2012

Saskatoon

I had so much fun today!!!! Last night we got in at about 11:30PM and because my parents house is under construction, I stayed with my aunt and grandma. Sujata musi and I chatted until probably 1 am!

Today I watched two movies (so exciting!) and then slowly got ready. Then mom and I went and bought a few clothes that I could wear around town. Jeans are too heavy to pack, but it was too cold for my shorts! Then mom, dad, Conor and I went to Earls (thank you Jason and the guys at the Earls in Calgary! ) and had a great meal.

After dinner I went out for a few drinks with Ryan, Matt and Dustin, a few guys I went to high school with. It was so good to see them again. They caught me up on the ridiculous things all the guys were all doing in their lives.

Then back to Nunis for an earlier night! Amazing day!

And... we are now selling T-shirts! $20 each, proceeds go to Prostate Cancer Canada. 

Available in med, large, and larger sizes upon request. 

In Saskatoon call 306-229-9879 

In Cranbrook they are sold on 11th street at Swing Street Coffee Shop.

Thank you for your support!

Day 21: 27.32 km

May 27, 2012

Chaplin - Moose Jaw

This morning I woke up and I could see my breath lingering in the air when I breathed. And it was raining pretty good. And I had to pee. Not a good start. It was 7:34am when I turned on my phone and saw the text message from Matt saying that he had left at 7:30 to brave the day because he wanted to make it to Regina. Yah, right. I got up and packed up. I slept in all my clothes so it didn't take me long at all to pack. Plus, I wasn't planning to squat in this random campground with no washrooms when there was a cafe right outside the campground. The campground was strange. There was no one running it, and no where to pay, so I didn't. I figure if I pay $20 for campgrounds with showers washrooms and laundry, this campground was maybe worth $2. So I packed up and ran over to the cafe for breakfast.

Breakfast consisted of warmed up pizza from the night before and delicious tea. The waitress from the night before was working again in the morning so when I dropped my stuff off at the booth and ran to the washroom, I came back to tea with milk and sugar just like I had gotten last night. Super nice girl. And i played peekaboo with a toddler. Except she was doing the hiding and I was the one being surprised. It was too cute, I loved every second of it. At breakfast I ran back into Annie and we stayed together for the day. 

After breakfast, while I was paying, I met Karol (Carl. Karol, if you read this, you made my day. Let me introduce Karol to everyone. Karol is a truck driver, who has a very generous heart. We had a very honest chat about hemp (or the "bad" name for it is marijuana as he said) and it's medicinal values, but that the government won't let us use it. Karol wanted me to keep an open mind about marijuana, and it's powers. He was not impressed that there were medications for cancers that doctors weren't allowed to use. When I explained that I was from Kimberley BC, and in order to live there you had to be open minded, he was absolutely thrilled. Karol ended up donating $20 to Prostate Cancer Canada, and $60 to me to get food and shelter with. Once again, this was definitely a highlight of the trip. It made me laugh. 

Today was the worst day yet. I think I have said that a few times now, but I really don't think I can mentally or physically take any worse than today. It was freezing cold, pouring rain, and we had a 30-35 km head wind. We were going on average 9 km an hour, with moments that were 5km an hour. That's the speed of the 8.5% grade on the Coquihalla. I would do the Coquihalla 10 times over if I would be promised to never have a day like this again. For 5 km the shoulder was gone so we were in the lane. Then the shoulder got good, so Annie went side by side to chat to get our minds off the situation. With the constant rain and spray from the semis the visibility was terrible. We were a good 2 -3 feet away from traffic and safe, but because we were going so slow we were unstable. Then, a semi passed, which pulled me into the highway from his wind. I almost got hit by the truck following him. He probably didn't see me until the last second because of the spray. He swerved and missed me by about a foot and a half.  I was freaked out. Not to mention, my fingers were frost bitten and frozen from squeezing my handle bars. I was completely frozen and soaked to the bone; I couldn't feel my face, hands or feet. After the semi incident I called mom and got her to come get us. It was too much. It was dangerous. It was truly insane. I've had hypothermia before, I've done swift water rescue courses in the beginning of May in a glacier river in a blizzard, and I've never been that cold. It was all in the hands, feet and face, and when that part of your body gets cold it shuts it down to warm your core. It was terrible. 

Annie and I got to Parkbeg, 65 km out of Moose jaw when mom got us. We had never been so happy. We loaded the van and warmed up. Mom had it cranked! It was amazing! I quickly changed so I wasn't soaking, and we got warm drinks. 

We were leaving my bike with the fire fighters in Moose Jaw. They helped us unload everything, and we stayed and chatted with the guys for a long time! 

They are super nice there we had a good chat. A few of them boarded, and knew Kimberley, we talked about the bike trip, and life in general. Rob, who knew my dad, talked about planning for when I come back on Wednesday. 

 Josh, who also chatted with us the whole time, was super interested in the trip. Really nice guy! Ummm, and was in the fire fighters calendar for May. Haha I met a local celebrity. 

Then Annie, mom and I ate a free meal at Smittys! One of the firefighters owned it! It was delicious. 

And then we dropped Annie back off at her bike at the hall and witnessed the photo shoot for the fire fighters calendar! Yesss!!!! God, today turned around fast! Haha what a great moment! 

Then we visited family, which was amazing to see everyone, and mom and I drove home to Saskatoon. It is so nice to be home. I can't even explain it. I have constantly been in new places every day and I have never felt so far away from having a home, this is incredible. So excited for the next few days. 

I want to say a quick thank you for all the comments on the posts. They are so encouraging, when I get the emails of each comment. I have yet to figure out how to comment back on my phone, but I wanted to say each one means the world thank you so much!!!

Day 20: 95.33 km

May 26, 2012

Swift Current - Chaplin

So, I cheated. I didn't get the chance this morning to go back and do the amount that I skipped. But eventually I will add an extra 15 km in (that's what it ended up being). Regardless, last night and today I was happy I cheated and found Matt. I know I would still be phoneless and Matt-less if I hadn't had gone with Melina.

Last night, there were these guys at the campground that freaked me out. I was definitely over exaggerating in my head, but they scared me. For 3 hours straight one of them would always be in the pay phone booth, and they would just stare at you as you went by. Super creepy to me. It was completely dark except the light in the booth so that made them look scarier. So last night I locked myself in my tent. It was definitely an illusion of safety, but it worked, I slept like a baby.

The next morning Matt and I took off at 9am for humptys. We didn't find it until 10:15am! We were pretty lost. Then by 11am we left.

We stopped for lunch in Herbert. We ate outside the grocery store and I bought blackberries and sweet peas. Delicious! Everyone was so nice in that town, except going into the town I really got creeped out. This older man drove by and whistled at me. Then he pulled a u-turn and followed me for about 5 minutes as I tried to find Matt. He would sit in parking lots and just watch me bike in circles. It freaked me out because I had my bandanna over my face, so he couldn't see what I looked like, he just knew I was a girl. I panicked a bit, and was so grateful when I got to Matt.

Today we totaled 8 hour of cycling and finished only 90 km down the highway in Chaplin, plus the extra 5+ being lost in swift current. It is so hard to deal with going that slow. The wind is really taking a lot out of us! It's so hard to know how far we will get each day out here. It's really teaching me to be patient and flexible, which lets face it, those are two areas that I should probably work on! So At least I'm growing from this mentally and physically exhausting wind! Even Matt, who has done 160km days in the mountains and 140km days including a pass is exhausted after 95 km of biking in this wind. His goal was to get farther so he could reach Regina tomorrow, but he had to stop here as well. But at least tomorrow once I get to Moosejaw it will be a good break! Which my knees really need at this point! I can't wait!

Day 19: 96.6 km

May 25, 2012

Eagle Valley Campground - Swift Current

This morning was beautiful. My phone was still dead, and would not charge, so I woke up with no idea what time it was. Yes, I did wake up hugging my phone in hopes that my love would turn it back on. I slowly got out of bed and took my time getting ready. I sat in the sun and dried my tent as i made porridge and hot chocolate and listened to the birds. The trees at this campground created a haven for the birds. Some types I had never seen before, they were all types of colors. They were loud, but a pleasant loud. Then Annie came over. Turns out it was 8 am and I had already been up for what felt like a couple hours! So I had an early morning. I took my time because I wanted to leave at 9 am because the info center 5 km up the road was open at 9. That is where I blogged from this morning. Really nice info center. Then I took off to meet up with Annie. It was a super sunny, blue bird day today, but the winds were quite cold.

20 km up the road I caught up to Annie. She was having bike problems, so after looking at her bike for a bit, we thumbed a ride for her into town. I was quite proud. I knew what was wrong with her bike! I just couldn't fix it, haha but I'm getting closer to knowing a little about bikes.

After that I was on my own. I has no idea where Matt was, and Annie was gone too. I had no music, no communication with anyone, nothing. Shoot me now. It was terrible! To top that off there was a headwind and all I could hear was the wind!

I stopped in Tompkins for lunch. I got a co-op lunch. Turns out there's a restaurant in the same building right around the corner, but I was clueless to this and bought a pre-wrapped pizza sub and baby-bell cheese. But!! I got Ice-cream! There was a cute pink and white ice cream place right beside the co-op. The ice-cream lady and I chatted forever. It was such a relief to talk to someone other than Steve (my bike panda).

Then I carried on. I was really struggling. I can honestly say that the prairies are more difficult than the mountains. This head wind never stopped! And it would randomly blow harder! It was like constantly going uphill. It was so difficult. And the prairies are NOT flat. It's constantly rolling. You would never notice because cars have cruise control on all the time, but it's not flat. I was struggling uphill going 8km/hr, and downhill only 15! The winds take everything from you! It was easier in the mountains because you knew there was a downhill after. I miss the strong back winds!!!

I passed this guy biking west. He must have been Doing a cross Canada trip as well, because the vehicle following him had stickers all over it. It looked like it was his wife or some lady following him. How nice is that! What a trip! I was so jealous seeing no weight on his bike, with a vehicle and a loved one right there with him every step of the way! And to top that all off, the wind was favoring him too! That would be so nice to have no weight on a bike!

As I was struggling to move today, I saw a badger. Not the animal I ever wanted to run into. Especially going 10km/hr. I was so freaked out! I would honestly so much rather run into a bear! The badger sat there and stared at me like it was daring me to come closer. Such scary little animals. Cocky, mean, and crazy determined animals. I couldn't have biked fast enough away.

At around 80km my knees really started to hurt. Like I've said a few times now, it was like biking uphill for a straight 80km and my knees really hurt under that pressure. But I knew my campground at the beginning of Swift Current was 35-40 km away, so I promised myself at 100 km I would judge how my knees felt and if I needed to I would hitch hike into swift and bike an extra 15-20 km in the am. So I wouldn't be cheating kilometers wise, but there would be a 10 km section of the highway I would miss because I'd bike west 10 km and back into swift 10km to make it up. At around 90 km I knew that I would have to hitch in. My knees were really hurting. But I had to go a little further so tomorrow wouldn't be too big of a day with the catch-up. At 96 km I could see that this suv had pulled into the shoulder. This girl was on the side of the road. My first thought was that I was going to have to watch this girl pee because there was NOTHING to block it. Not a good pee area. But then she was kind of just standing there. Then I really hoped that she wouldn't leave before I got there because I wanted to know the time. I knew it was kind of late but I didn't know what time it was all day! When I got close I asked what time it was. Then I could actually see who it was. It was Melina! My cousin! (Well really my cousins cousin but she's my cousin to me) I was so excited! It was hilarious! She didn't know if it was me or not so she just stood there! It was so perfect! I was hurting so she drove me into the campground. If she wouldn't have I probably wouldn't have made it in before dark! At least it felt like that anyway! I was so happy! We crammed my bike and me in, and drive to the campground. I really felt like it was cheating but it couldn't have worked out more perfect. Because she drove me in, I ran into Thomas, who was biking with Matt, so now I am back with Matt! If she wouldn't have dropped me off I would have probably missed them! And if I wouldn't have been with Matt, or people in general, I wouldn't have lit a fire to roast marshmallows.

And if I wouldn't have lit the fire, I wouldn't have randomly wanted to roast my broken phone, so then my phone wouldn't have miraculously been fixed!!!!!! The fire must have dried out any water in it! So at the moment, cheated or not, I'm a happy camper enjoying a fire with friends back in the world of cellular communication. It ended up being an amazing day! Even with no phone, music, time, a badger run in, and a head wind.

Day 18: 104.94 km

May 25, 2012

Medicine Hat - Eagle Valley Park Campground

Today was interesting. I woke up this morning to rain. Matt and I texted back and fourth debating whether or not to bike today. I really had to pee, so we decided to go cause I would have to brave the rain at that moment anyway. We packed up, and went to ABC for breakfast.

The wind was a bit against us for the ride today. It was only 20 km/hour but it was surprising how much of a difference it made! I was averaging 15-19 km/hour instead of 30-40! I lost Matt right out of Medicine Hat, but we texted agreeing to meet at Eagle Valley Campground to make dinner, and then keep on going.

There was this 5 km stretch where you could test your odometer. I found out that mine was EXACTLY right!!! It was the most exciting 5 km stretch ever. I would get so excited coming up to a check sign. Its the little things that matter most right Maryann?

I passed the boarder into Saskatchewan, and I met a girl Annie, at the Saskatchewan sign.

She took a picture of me at the sign, and then my phone died! Now it won't charge or anything! I am glad it happened now, because I am going to Saskatoon on Sunday for a couple days and I can get that sorted out. It is weird to bike without music, or knowing the time, or being able to talk to people. Of course that didn't stop me, Annie (who is also biking across Canada) and I chatted the whole way.

I got to the campground and Matt was no where to be found. The lady at the campground said he continued on and was thinking about going to Maple Creek. Now that I don't have a cell, I feel like I may have lost him for good. I biked from the campground 3 km to the visitor center to use the payphone because the lady and I couldn't figure out how to use a collect call. Turns out no one was home. I got to the payphone and called mom. I have never been so relieved. I felt like it was going to be ok. It's incredible how attached to technology I am. Then I went across the street to the gas station, loaded up on a bit of junk food, went back to the campground, had a lovely shower, ate dinner, and went to bed. It was weird to bike west, back to the campground.

Eagle Valley Campground is an awesome little campground. They have a Carribean theme, and have a of ton little trees, which are perfect to block wind but they let lots of sun in. There are so many birds! They were constantly singing. Quite a nice place.

The prairies have actually almost been harder than the mountains. In the mountains I had dad, and there was a town pretty much every night. The passes were easy to research and we could see a profile of the gradients so I knew what was coming. The prairies is different, I don't expect hills so I don't like it when they come. And I hate not knowing things. One of my biggest pet peeves is not knowing the full truth or information about something. Its more than a pet peeve, its an absolute hate. I hate it if people tell me half truths, or if I am not fully prepared for something. With the wind I have exactly that. I have no idea what the wind is going to do. I like knowing and mentally preparing for things, but then when the wind is in your face fighting you and you can't prepare for it, it is hard. It is honestly like constantly fighting up hill. It is incredible.

Looks like Day 19 will be good though! Hope I can post soon!

Alberta Stats

Alberta Stats:

-total km cycled: 572.26 km
-km/ day: 127.18 km/day (excluding day off)
-Total days: 5.5
-Days cycling: 4.5
-flats: 1, the flat from hell
-no destroyed bikes, but lost 2 people!! (Matt took off, and I have no cell to reach him, and Dad is gone)

My journey so far...

Day 17: 158.33 km

May 23, 2012

Bassano- Medicine Hat

What a day. I awoke so confused after quite the nightmare. It took me a bit to figure everything out. It was wet outside, but the rain had stopped. Which was nice for us to pack up with. All of my clothes were still hanging in the washroom, so I grabbed it and packed everything up. I was trying so hard to light the stove this morning, but my strike anything matches weren't working because the "anythings" that I could strike on was wet. And my lighter was out. After several failed attempts to get warm oatmeal and hot chocolate into my belly after a cold night, I settled for my half a sub from Calgary. Somehow the sub had been a little rained on, so it was super soggy. Not a good start to the day. I was grumpy from the terrible sleep from the night before, so I sat in the bathroom and pouted and ate. To top that all off, the laundry mat wasn't open yet so we had to pack our tents super wet. All I could think was it would be another night without sleep.

We left Bassano at around 9 and got into Brooks at 10:59. I know this because McDonald's starts serving lunch at 11 and I was SO happy to get fries (which I may be a little addicted to) and a smoothie. I have been craving McDonald's since Vernon!!! I was happy.

After Brooks, it was a 110 km journey to medicine hat. It was super windy! 65km winds! But it was behind us! We were so lucky, until I got a flat. Matt, as always, was LONG gone. I bitterly will always call this flat tire the "flat from hell". 65km winds are fine when they are behind you, but not anywhere else. As soon as I stopped (which was hard because the winds really wanted me to keep going) my bike and I toppled over because of the winds from a semi. I sat on the side of the road and figured out my tire, And every time a semi came by I had to brace myself. 4 times I fell over because I was standing when one drove by. Once I fell flat on my face because I couldn't reach the ground with my hand over top of the tire.

I have not changed a flat tire since grade 8. It's easy to remember it again, but it's not the fastest thing I've ever done. Because it was my back tire, I had to take my bob trailer off. My tools were in my Bob bag, so I opened it and got them out and set off to work. The last little bit of tire to get over the rim was so difficult. My wrists are sore from being in one position all the time, and I couldn't stand up to get more force behind it because I kept toppling over, so I struggled and struggled, having to stop and hold things every time a semi drove by. Then, the winds (just winds, not from a semi or car) pushed over my bob trailer. That thing is friggen' heavy! It stunned me. I put things down, and went to put the trailer back up. One of my gloves flew away! Argh. I sat back down with the wheel and pried the tire back into place. Finally. Then, I tried to get the tire back on. It was awkward. The wind was blowing my bike everywhere. (And me everywhere.) There were moments I would have to put my hands down on the ground and just focus on standing there! I couldn't figure out how to get my tire back on. It was all awkward to me. I flipped my bike upside down on its seat and handle bars to get a better view, and then my bob trailer fell over again, but this time all my things went rolling out all over the ditch! Everything was flying around. The winds were so strong they were picking up everything! I had to run around the ditch and grab everything. When I had got it all, I noticed that my bike had fallen down from the wind. I sat down, started bawling, and called dad for motivation. He was driving at work and said he would call back soon. I just sat there and blubbered while eating an Eatmore bar. When he called me back he talked me through getting my tire on, and putting the bob back on in the wind. When the Bob was on, the bike/bob combo was catching so much wind I had all my body pushing against the side of my bike to keep it standing up. Like when you have to push a car in neutral. That stance. It was incredible. Slowly, I inched my way back around my bike and got back on it. The flat from hell was my 3rd breakdown, and 1.5 hours later I got peddling again. At least it wasn't raining.

When the winds had pushed my bike over it had completely bent my handlebars! But Matt fixed them. By 4:30ish I got into Medicine Hat. Matt had found a lovely campground, I showered, and we went for a delicious well deserved meal.

Tomorrow we will be in Saskatchewan! Homeward bound! I can't wait for the birthday get together my mom has planned. Some of the friends who are coming I haven't seen in years! I just can't wait!

It's days like these that I want to quit and go home. I miss my bed, my shower...my car! I feel like I have had quite a few, and yes maybe too many, mental breakdowns already. But every breakdown is a chance to fix it even better than it was before. Unless it was raining and windy, the flat tire experience couldn't have gotten much worse and I conquered that. Anything that's thrown at me I feel like eventually I will conquer it. It may just take a few breakdowns to have these improvement opportunities.

8:15PM and most definitely bedtime for me.

{Pictures Day 16} Calgary - Bassano

 

Goodbye Mountains

Goodbye Calgary. Miss you Kayla!

 So windy even the flags stem is bending!

Pastel Clouds

 

Not cool.

 

Pretty kitty!!!! Tried to steal him but he wouldn't let me within 8 ft. He'd follow me though, just not let me close!

Day 16: 144.68 km

May 22, 2012

Calgary-Bassano

One word to describe today. Wind. We started out from Calgary at 8:10 am. We were supposed to meet at 7:45, but getting out of Kayla's apartment was insanely difficult. She was already gone, so at 7:30 I started the process of getting my bag, bob trailer, and bike out of her place. Her door was SO heavy and if it closed I would be locked out! So that took maneuvering. Then I had to get everything down the elevators, which took me up to the 15th floor instead both times I went on it. Then out the next locking door without getting locked out. 40 mins later, I had escaped.

By 8:45 we were on our bikes. Matt and I followed the river paths out of Calgary, which is the Transcanada trail. And once again, it deceived us. Lots of it was under construction, and detours were poorly marked, and we just tried to follow deerfoot trail (hwy 2) down south. Then we took hwy 22x east to attach us onto hwy 1.

For 2.5 hours on 22x we were fighting against a strong, 35-40 km/hour head and cross wind. It was insane. There were gusts that would push me almost clear off the shoulder. Matt of course was a little dot in the distance, if he was even visible at all. It was crazy when a semi would pass in the on-coming traffic. It was literally like hitting a wall of wind. It would hurt a lot of the time how strong that "semi wall" was. When a semi would pass going our way, it would shower my bare legs with pebbles and would suck me into the lane right behind it. I really had to fight to go straight! And we passed a dead deer! So gross! Bad highway!

Once we were on hwy 1, the winds were at our back. Such a difference! I was going 15-20 km/hr, now all the sudden I was averaging 40km/hr! We were flying! At one point we were going down hill, at 50km/hr, and I decided ten would be the best time to stand up on a peddle an fix my shorts. I lost all control of my bike. I had the biggest speed wobble of life! The shoulders were about 8ft wide, and I was doing slaloms into the actual lane! I had no control and I honestly thought I was going to die! It took a good minute of me screaming, trying to get my bike from swerving everywhere to get it back under control. I was so lucky, because just as I did, a semi passed me. If he would have been any earlier I would have been creamed because I was swerving far into their lane!

After the hill of death, we got to a gas station. I had a delicious Kit Kat to celebrate the fact that I was still alive. I saw a beautiful kitten there that I wanted to steal! But it wouldn't come within 8 ft of me! I would try to inch closer to it, without it noticing. When I gave up, and walked away, it followed, but still stayed a safe distance away. He would have loved Asha, my kitty back home!

After the gas station we pushed for Bassano. Mom and i chatted on the phone for a good 20 mins. It's so nice when someone calls because my headphones let me chat, and it makes the super long kilometers go so much faster! Then, it started pouring rain! The winds picked up again too. We found a camp ground, and we're SO lucky that the rain stopped for 10 mins while we set up camp and went to have a shower! Now it's pouring again, and Matt and I are hiding out in the girls washroom. We are the only ones at the camp ground and we have taken full advantage. All my things are hung up all over the place in here and I even made dinner in here! Now I gotta put some things away and run back out to my tent for bed!

Day 15: 0 km

May 21, 2012

Calgary

No biking today except meeting mom and dad for breakfast! YAY! Such a needed first full day off!!! This morning I met mom and dad for a quick and delicious breakfast, and I got my bike fixed. Greg from the Bike Doctor in Saskatoon had noticed that my smallest gear in the front was bent because of all of the shenanigans that had happened previously. He fixed it by hand the best he could, and then we took it to a bike shop in Calgary. They were quite impressed with the hand straightening, but we decided to get new gears all together. We bought better gears so hopefully it will be a much smoother ride from now on.

Today I had to say good bye to mom and dad after stopping at MEC. I was so upset. I really do feel alone as of now. Even though Matt and I will be rejoining tomorrow, it doesnt feel the same (sorry matt!!!!!). I am going to miss dad so much, and I already do. He was my rock through this bike trip. I am very scared now without him.

Other than saying goodbye to mom and dad, nothing much happened today except I got to catch up with Kayla. Which is always the best thing ever. We honestly dont stop laughing. We were trying to steal toilet paper today from the Spagetti Factory because Kayla was out and she is leaving tomorrow. But they locked their toilet paper roll holders. Obviously we arnt the first people who have tried to steal toilet paper. TP is important! I miss her every day. Even when she cuts me off after one virgin Caesar...

Tomorrow will be the start of my "next" journey. Here I come Saskatchewan!!! Oh... boy....

{Pictures Day 14} Canmore - Calgary

 

My clothes for 70 days.

  Me and dad switching bags so I can try the Bob trailer.

 Heart mountain. One of my favorite places to climb for sure!

 

Yamniska. Last mountain before the flatlands.

Hello flats

 

Good bye mountains.

 

 Not a good day, mom took photos anyway.

 Hilarious photo. I did NOT want my photo taken, but mom took it. This was my best smile that day.

Day 14: 94 km

May 21, 2012

Canmore- Calgary

Yesterday at the Bagel Co. in Canmore, we ran into Greg, from the Bike Doctor, and he took a look at my bike. Back in Golden I had gotten a new chain because my chain was originally too long, so thats why it was falling off. One of the times it fell off it must have gotten jammed and bent, so I had been biking up those 3 passes with a terrible chain. Then, Greg noticed that my gear was bent too! From my chain mishaps. He tried to bend it back into shape, which did work, but I do need a new gear now. Which sucks. This could have been all been avoided if the first shop seen that my chain was too long. I really want to thank Greg from Bike Doctor for catching, and fixing my gear as much as he could by hand, as well as Olympia in Vernon, who completely fitted me to my bike and my knee pains are now completely gone!!! Except my left leg does get sore sometimes still because it was so used to compensating for my injured knee that I get cramps in my shin. It just sucks that I didnt talk to these two shops first!

Last night was great. Mom got into Canmore and we all went out for dinner. We went to Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co. and it was delicious. They have a old stone pizza oven, and when they accidentally broke a glass they yelled Opa! The staff and atmosphere was quite pleasant. Then we went back to the hotel and mom was so stoked on the bracelets she was making. If anyone, guys and girls, are interested in these leather bracelets, they are $10 each and you can pick a little phrase to have written on it. Or if you chose it can be blank too for the guys out there that dont want little motivational words on it. Mom is quite excited because in the last day we have had 13 orders!

Today felt very difficult. We left some stuff with my mom, and I tried my dad's Bob Trailer, to see if I wanted to continue the trip with that instead of my bike panniers. We started out just flying out of Canmore. It felt like we were just ripping, and we were! We were out of the mountains and in the foothills (30 km) in an hour and a little bit. Then I started to get hungry. Things get ugly when I get hungry. My patience slowly disappears, I lose all speed, and I struggle with things. I absolutely crash. My body is not quite used to the amount of calories I burn and I struggle to eat enough as it is, so I do tend to crash. As I am crashing, my chain falls off. I was so frustrated with my chain. It has fallen off about 70 times already this trip. That is me trying to under exaggerate the amount. I lost control of the trailer and it started pulling me down into the ditch. I was so frustrated, but I got control of the trailer and fixed my chain. I hopped back onto the bike and two peddles later, so 5 feet down the road, it fell off again. I literally slammed on the brakes, threw my kickstand down, and stormed off. I was so mad I didnt watch where I was walking and walked right into a big puddle into the ditch and soaked my feet. I just started bawling. (yes, I did hear dad laughing in the background as I cried. I was going to beat him up later but then forgot.) It was the first time that I was absolutely done with the trip. I honestly contemplated quitting right there. I just wanted to go home. I was so frustrated, tired, hungry, and fed up with my god damn bike. I was done.

It took a lot to get to Calgary after that. I was pretty upset. But I got over it and was back to my talkative self about 2 hours later. Mom was playing photo leap frog with us in the truck as she did her crafty bracelets. I was so excited to see Kayla. That drove me to Calgary. But when I pictured getting to Calgary I pictured downhill all the way. Not the case. Who the hell put those hills there since the last time I drove that road! So many rolling hills that I never noticed in a car before!

Finally we got to Calgary. Got a hotel for mom and dad, and Dad and I switched some things around because he is leaving tomorrow *tear*, and we went out to meet Kayla.

Kayla and I went to dinner at Earl's, and the guys at Earl's donated $40+ as well as a gift card for Earls!!! It was awesome to chat with them! I am nervous for tomorrow, and being on a fatherless journey from this point on, but hopefully it will be good!

{Photos Day 13} Lake Louise - Canmore

 

Hwy 1A

 

 

  

Castle mountain. One of my favorites.

 

 

A book cover. Holy wolves are huge!!

 

 Ice-cream break!

 

 Such a quiet beautiful highway

  

  

 

 

Dr Seuss's book "Oh The Places You'll Go"

 

Thank you! Finally, 3 bike shops later Greg McKee from Bike Doctor in Saskatoon runs into us in Canmore and fixes my bike! My chain is FINALLY fixed!

My mom came so we got a fancy room :)

 

Mom really excited about making the bracelets. 

The bracelets wrap 3 times around with encouraging words. You get to pick a word to individualize yours. $10 per bracelet and 100% goes to prostate cancer research! 

Email me @

kieren_britton@hotmail.com

if you want to order some!

 Pizza place for dinner!