September 4th

Day 1 of riding.

Woke this morning warm, but froze my a$$ off getting out of the tent. Fortunately, all the locals were complaining about how cold it was as well. So that made me feel like less of a wuss. It was 34 degrees, or as the Canadians say, 1.

I started out on the trail behind the Banff Springs hotel. Saw my first bear sitting in the trail at mile 4. Nice start.

Trail was pretty rough. Passed one hiker and a Canadian Mounty. Both asked where I was headed.

"El Paso", I replied.

"Kinof late to be starting..isn't it?"

This sentiment has now been repeated a good 20 times since I started.

My relatively late start was further reinforced by the fact that after 55 miles of riding with 2000 feet of vertical, I arrived at the campsite at 6 pm to find that it was closed.

Next a lodge 3 miles further was also closed.

Starting to get worried at this point. Only one campsite between me and a 2000 ft. climb. "If this next site is closed, I'm sleeping on the side of the road and the bears can eat me"...I thought.

Fortunately, the site at mile 60 was open. As was their store which had boiling water from the coffee maker. So hot rehydrated beef stroganoff for me. Sweeeet.

I would have heated the food myself, but evidently everclear (which I use to run my stove) is illegal in Canada. Ha. Canada sucks. (Just kidding Nicki).