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!