Bountiful Beauty.

There has been alot to take in over these last days since Vancouver. It has been a good push through the Rockies that hasn't beat me down nearly as much as I thought it would. The difficulty of the climbs is easily replaced by the beauty of the landscape. I talk alot about the natural beauty of things throughout out this blog because it's something that means alot to me. I wish there was more I could do to protect it. The effects of global warming have hurt BC's forests more than I was aware of, and it was shocking to see it first hand.

The Carbon Emissions that are warming our annual temperatures seem to have a major effect on leaving a nasty bug alive through the warmer winters. If you already know this, I apologize in advance. But the lush forests in the National Parks and even on Logging lands are literally being eaten... and its not me resorting to chewing on bark either. It has been the evil Mountain Pine Beetle. This mass producing killing machine is eating all the pines. At first, I thought the discoloured trees were just an abnormal part of some of the forests. But when I saw the impact, the trees were completely brown. They are eating the forests at an alarming rate and moving into Alberta. They can travel about 100km a day... and can possibly move to Ontario to eat all our forests!! It's a scary thought but a good reason to educate ourselves on these issues.

When riding through B.C it's astonishing the beauty of the landscape along the roadside. There was hardly a moment where I felt bored riding through this province. The towns were usually quaint and well kept with nice people. Some were a little too touristy for me, but were still enjoyable. Riding in and out of the mountains has some awesome moments. Like riding along the great railway lines, these freight trains were incredibly long. I have seen long trains before around the city, but some of these trains were around 160 cars. The power of the locomotives moving up and around the mountains in engineering brilliance. These railway lines are a very interesting part of Canadian History. However, it's not good getting stuck at the crossing, waiting for close to half an hour for it to pass.

Also, riding along the famous TransCanada Hwy you get to see some of the most amazing river systems. Two that come to mind are the Columbia and Kicking Horse. The rivers are raging in spots and glistening in others, presenting the most spectacular blue I have ever seen. I wanted to jump in and drink it all in. But instead settled for just splashing my face to cool down.

The wildlife along the highways here in Canada I have seen more than I saw in the entire U.S.A. I saw a bunch of ram fighting by the side of the road. Then I saw some very white mountain goats making strange noises jumping up very steep cliffs. They made it look so effortless, I was extremely jealous. I saw a grizzly cub .... it could have been a black bear cub but it scurried very quickly away.

Matt!

*The previous blog was written 3 days ago*

HARD DAYS TO CALGARY

I was like the cowboy who first goes into the city. Staring up at the buildings in disbelief. Except I was looking at Mountains... I just couldn't believe the roughness and snow that still existed on them in July. But that would soon be understood as I packed from Lake Louise to get ready for the trek to Calgary. I knew it was 190km to Calgary but for some reason I was sad to leave the Rockies behind. The ground was wet and the there was a strip of clouds above my head but with bright blue sky on either side. I never prepared for rain because I thought this would pass.

It was cold in the mountains on this morning and the cold morning air felt like a late fall day. I was excited to make it to Calgary and see some familiar faces. After I put my camera away and got ready for the big push. I passed "Storm Mountain" and it didn't look good. The clouds were surrounding me and I could hear thunder in the distance. The clouds started to spit at me and I was still optimistic that it would pass. Then the clouds opened up and the most frightening thunder storm I had ever been in let loose very quickly. I got off my bike and hid among the trees. You might think going under a tree is a bad idea in a thunder storm. But you don't want to be on a bike in the middle of a flat area. It's better to be among the lots of trees if there is no alternative shelter. So, it eased up and I jumped back on my bike and started to ride fast hoping I could ride through the storm. I could see blue sky down the road and for some reason thought I could out ride it. But if you are familiar with the movie the Truman show this is how it felt with the cloud hovering above me. Moments later, I was being pelted with golf ball sized hail. The first couple I laughed at thinking that this was not real. But it was. They started coming down really hard and it hurt as they pelted my face and back.

I jumped back in the trees and found shelter. Again it stopped but the thunder storm rolled back in. The strikes seemed so close and flashing in several parts, the noises echoed through the mountains at a deafening volume.

This time I pushed hard down the road but now the rain was falling very hard. It seemed like basketball size rain drops were falling down. I had never felt so wet in my life. The speedometer was so saturated that it stopped working so I had no idea of the distance I was covering.

As I rounded down a hill I realized that my handling was becoming a little wobbly and making the sound I did not want to hear. It was a flat tire. I couldn't see shelter down the road and didn't want to change the tire in the forest so hiked back up 2 km to a rest stop and changed the tire in a Men's bathroom... Not the finest of Men's bathrooms either, the odour was less than pleasant.

I got the tire going quickly and jumped back on the road. I got to Canmore a couple hours later and ate at our national cuisine. Tim Horton's. The skies cleared almost completely when I got back on my bike and I was dry and feeling optimistic about making it to Calgary.

Forty minutes into the ride, those terrible clouds rolled back in with the thunder and lightening. This time aided by only marble size hail. This time I was closer to the foot hills to the Rockies and there was no shelter to seek out. The temperature dropped very quickly and now I was soaked to the bone and freezing. I had lost complete feeling in my hands and there was no real place to stop until Calgary, except to back track to Canmore. I decided to push to Calgary to meet my friend. It started to snow a couple of inches and people all looked at me as the drove by with puzzlement.

Now I made it to Calgary in one piece and got to meet some amazing people and see some family and friends. I would like specifically thank Colin and Lindsay for being more than generous. My Uncle Ken and Aunt Kathy for making the trek from Edmonton and there amazing contributions. Vicki and her two kids for discussing the trip with me and the great lunch. Chris Gardiner in Lake Louise for putting me up. Pierce Lang in Vancouver was more than accomodating aswell. THANKS THANKS THANKS !

Smiling and warm :)
till next time,

Matthew