Section 0 Banff Alberta to Roosville Montana - D1

06/10 Day 1 Banff - top of Elk Pass, Tobermory snowmobile cabin  (70 Miles)

Beginning the race with the Grande Depart was as exciting as we’d hoped.  There were all of us racers; about 70 (another 15 racers had opted to start at the same time from Antelope Wells and travel north), plus some family members and of course the legendary Crazy Larry (Google or FB search him if you really want to know).  Also at the start was Mike Dion who was a featured cyclist in the Ride the Divide film.  He was there working on a new project, the Path. 

I think someone just said go and on June 10^th at 8:30am, 2 years of worry and training took off with a sea of pack laden bikes.  We departed from back side of the Banff Springs Hostel on the Bow then Spray river trails.  Flat and paved at first, then a gut busting climb that topped out behind The Fairmont hotel then onto dirt and into Banff National Park.  There were lots of short (relatively speaking) climbs, and river crossings on bridges making way through the river valley between Mount Rundle and Sulpher Mountain.

Sheila TB and Vance McMurry (also from Austin, Texas)

View from the back

At about 12 miles we came out of the forest climbing a steep grade and heard the cheer of spectators.  This would be the only time racers would see friends/family until, if lucky, Antelope Wells NM.  Once racer we dubbed Cabelas man for his large fanny pack with the retail emblem across the back lost a pedal here and had to get a ride back to a bike shop and restart.  He was a several time vet and very consistent rider though you would not think it.  He caught us later climbing Elk pass – which means we stopped too much.

Mile 17 saw STB’s first flat.  We had crossed a dam at the north end of the Spray Lakes Reservoir.  While waiting for her to make the repair, we were joined by Luke and Marion, a couple from South Africa with whom we would spend a great deal of time over the following weeks. 

While STB fixes flat #1

We continued along the trail and needing water began looking for a pump the park host had told us about.  I’d never gotten water from a ground pump before, and though I am certainly over the novelty now, was excited to pump and treat my bottles. 

 At about mile 56 the route moved on to a twisting, undulating paved bike path in the Peter Lougheed Provincial Park.  It was the sort of path that is hemmed in by trees and to me, mind numbing.  At the end of the path, we had counted on a café there being open and so were not carrying a large amount of food. The café was closed.  The store next door was just a camp ground store with meager supplies geared more towards making smores than feeding hungry cyclists.  Dinner was cold chili from can + ramen + coffee spiked with Starbucks Via.  After tapering off coffee in the weeks before TD, that alone made me smile.  

Cue at mile 61.9 “Start climbing a virtual wall”.  Uh huh.  Yeah.  They left out the snow and ice covered part.  I followed STB’s example of grabbing the back of the saddle to add pulling forward to my repertoire of pushing and swearing, all combining to satisfactory results.  What seemed like 5 days was really just a few 10ths of a mile.  The road/trail did continue to climb following a power line.  We found we could ride on any ice but the mud and snow had to be pushed through.  This was not in my Texas training regime.

STB pushing past 1st snow patch - steepness is hard to capture

The top of Elk pass is 6,443 feet and we’d made our first crossing of the Continental Divide (CD) as well. 

After a few more miles, we see the Tobermory snowmobile cabin.  It was after 9pm and getting dark.  We’d been at it 12.5 hrs and perhaps a bit shell shocked at the reality of the challenge.  All too readily, we decided to stay at the cabin.  Two spectators (names?) had lit the wood stove and any rider was free to stay there.  We were the first. 

Soaking wet clothes came off and were hung near the stove.  Dry anything put on and food consumed, bikes cleaned and lubed.  Later in the night other cyclists arrived.  The German (Reinhold) snored like crazy all night and we got no sleep.  Then it started to rain, hard.  Tomorrow we would suffer for this weakness.

Cabin mates