|
Jasper National Park
| 8/15/2007 - 8/16/2007: The trip started good enough. Arriving at Jasper train station in beautiful 70's weather, with blue sky puffy white clouds overhead, I quickly sat about assembling my bike under cool yet well lit shaded corner. Assmebling the bike didn't proceed as easy as I had expected though. Apparently, the customs guy at the airport had gone through my bike, and the many contraptions I had sat up within the bike box to protect to spokes and what not were disengaged. While the bike escaped unscathed, many of the parts had been missplaced, and my looking for stuffs greatly slowed my progress. My spirit was upbeat though. Small kids with ice cream (on vacation with their families) would look interestedly at what I was doing as they passed... As I put my stuffs together, I also quickly realized I had brought way too many things. I would mail back a small package of things right off the bat just to make sure things fit! As I'd estimate later, my dry weight was some 60+ pounds.... In retrospect, being too cavalier about weight might be one undoing of this trip. The ride into campground the first day went smoothly. I had a nice shower, dinner, and sleep. My first full ride of the next day would go smoothly but also much longer than I expected, partly because the hostel I had planned to stay at had a "full" sign yet was also deserted when I rummaged about the place double checking to see if there was really no vacancy. Seeing nobody, with a kitchen full of empty cartons, gave me too creepy a feeling to stay... On a subsequent uphill, I'd get a little cramp in one of my hamstrings. I rested plenty of times the rest of the day to make it to the Colubian Ice Fields. Overall, I was proud of my biking. And I expected my body to quickly adjust for the challenges ahead... |
Journals
- 8/15/2006 (Tue) - Greyhound bus ride from Edmonton to Jasper, AB; bike from Jasper to Wapiti campground, 5.17 miles: this is the official biking beginning of the trip - nice to get started and to be on the saddle finally - even though I found I brought way too much stuffs... (journal)
- 8/16/2006 (Wed) - Jasper to Columbia Icefield Campground, 65.54 miles: I knew the beginning of the trip was going to be tough - having to deal with a gentle uphill the entire day, but I didn't anticipate doing 65+ miles of uphill on my first day! (journal)
| 25 Images | Generated by JAlbum 7.0 & Chameleon | Help |