Day 130

September 19 - 71km (Golden)

It was time to get on the main route again. I was disappointed I didn’t get to see Jasper, but extremely excited to make progress - especially since I would be crossing into my last province, British Columbia.

The welcome sign was only 10km away from Lake Louise, and when I reached there, I had to take a moment to understand the significance of it. I had travelled about 7500km to be here. I would soon be entering my 6th time zone. I had made friends for life across the entire country. The version of myself just starting my journey in Newfoundland would be amazed.

I began biking again. There were some climbs, but nothing I wasn’t used to. The views were absolutely gorgeous. I was biking through enormous valleys with the mountains surrounding me. Taking my hands out for even just a bit had me freezing (it was still extremely cold!) but it was worth recording the scenery.

After biking 71km, I eventually reached a construction site about 5km before Golden. It turns out I had made a little bit of a boo-boo. Only local traffic was allowed through the site as it was undergoing heavy construction and biking was absolutely not an option as expressed by the crew. The only way around was a detour - this involved going 70km back to Lake Louise, then about 100km down to Radium Hot Springs and 100km back up. So, just almost 3 extra days of biking. That wasn’t good.

That was until Shawn, someone who worked on the site, offered to put my bike in the car and drive me the 5km. I didn’t feel guilty about this considering I was not allowed to bike across the site no matter what, similar to the Confederation Bridge. As we drove up the site, I looked out to the gigantic chasm on my left. This was a huge climb, and I wish I could have experienced it, but again: nothing I could do.

We eventually reached Shawn’s, and I met Amy, Griffen and Gabe. They let me take a shower, fed me, and gave me a place to sleep. We watched Jeopardy at night and I had some great conversations with Griffen.

It was easy to fall asleep tonight consdering I had a nice comfy bed!