Cycling from Banff

I’m not sure where to start with this one. On one hand, we had a great day out: we got to see Banff (the town), Tammy and the kids rode the Legacy Trail to Canmore and got to see more of that town, too. I got to ride Highway 1A to Lake Louse and got to see Moraine Lake.

Then on the other hand, Miranda got sick on the way back from Canmore, leaving Tammy to nurse them the 25 km back to Banff and making her do most of the work with the headwind that wanted them to not make it back.

I think I’ll focus on the good parts, okay? I mean, check this out:

This all started with Tommy from the club suggesting that this Saturday’s ride go from Banff to Moraine Lake. For the uninitiated, here is a link to the Strava ride:

Last year there was a similar club ride, but it happened when we were in Victoria so I couldn’t take part. This year there was no such problem. We met at the rec centre in Banff for 9:00 and then headed out.

We rode from Banff to Lake Louise. The park was pretty busy, and there were long lines of cars trying to park at various trailheads. We stopped at Castle Mountain and then in Lake Louise for water and washrooms, then started climbing. The road is very steep and there were lots of cars on it. But in the end, I got to see things I’d only ever seen in my Geography textbooks back at UVic.

The weather behaved, staying a mix of sun and cloud and in the low twenties. Perfect except for the wind as I mentioned earlier. I wasn’t affected much since I had ten other strong riders to work with, but it did kick Tammy and the kids in the teeth.

Here’s the group photo of us in front of the lake. We didn’t get to see much beyond the parking lot, but that’s okay.

We were back by 3:30, after lunching in Lake Louise. That was only about 45 minutes after Tammy and the kids got back… which brings me to their ride. I wasn’t there, of course, but I’ve gotten some of the narrative and some pictures. Here’s a link to their ride:

It started a little chillier than they would have liked, but it was a nice tailwind and downhill from Banff to Canmore. The scenery was beautiful.

They made it to Canmore in about an hour, leaving lots of time for poking around and having lunch at Boston Pizza. The highlight of their trip was seeing a bunch of black-and-white bunnies.

Then Miranda got sick. And she continues to be sick. She just barfed upstairs. I think we can either chock that up to bad food at BP or actual illness and bad timing.

Could have been better, could have been worse. It certainly was memorable. 🚴‍♂️