Day 46-54 (7/22/08-7/29/08)

This is a picture from the back yard of my hosts in Burns Lake. Their view was amazing, they had horses and a dog and they were incredibly generous to the five of us that were staying with them. They made us awesome breakfast and the whole team got sack lunches from the hosts. It was great eating lunch that day, we all traded food like we were in grade school again.

I love these signs.

Scotty A and I are enjoying the view. At this area in the river many natives were salmon fishing. We arrived two days after they kicked off salmon season. The natives would tie themselves to the rocks and simply stick large nets into the water. I saw several fish pulled out of the water within 20 minutes.

We are getting close to ALASKA!!

Day 36-45 (7/12/08-7/21/08)

We saw many of these fields in Alberta, Canada. They were quite amazing, we could see them from miles away because they were as bright as a yellow high lighter. They were fields of cannola.

It was quite ironic that someone had written why on the side of the road with rocks. That day at that rest stop our 15 passenger van stopped working. I made the trip in the minivan between Banff NP and this place (20 miles away) 5 times. We had to have AAA tow the van and trailer to a local shop only to find out the next day that there was nothing wrong with the van. It just decided it didnt want to start...it was a long day. In addition to the stress of this situation I charged ~$100 in roaming charges as talking on my cell phone now costs 69 cents a minute.

My birthday in Banff NP. This place is probably the most beautiful place I have seen the whole trip.

Banff NP

Lake Louise, Banff NP.

The road you see in the picture is where I was before I climbed the mountain I was on top of taking this picture. The climb was 9 miles long and steep.

Icefields, Banff NP

Day off in Prince George. Stella, Amy and I are all tubing. Shortly after this pic was taken Stella and I both went flying off our tubes. Although the water was freezing we had so much fun out there.

Day 30-35 (7/6/08-7/11/08)

The sunset in Bozeman, MT from my hosts house backyard.


Stella and I stopped to take pictures of the valley we were riding through.

Waiting at a rest stop we were restless waiting on a rider who took a wrong turn and created the T4K tree.

The ride through Blackfeet Nation, an Indian reservation, on our way to Glacier NP.

Glacier NP

Leaving the United States entering Canada.

Day 30 may have been one of the hardest days of the trip. It was 115 miles and the last 30 miles there was a terrible headwind. Before the headwind I was moving, I was ready to get off my bike and eat dinner. The headwind destroyed me and MJ had to pull the remainder of the day while I drafted off of her.

Montana was the hardest stretch we have had on the trip. We had 5 days in a row that were between 80 and 100 miles. Three of the days were 98-115 miles. By the time we reached Glacier NP my legs were spent and in need of a rest day.

Day 35 was not only exciting because it marked the halfway point of our trip but it also was the day we entered Canada. We stopped in Claresholm, AB where a local restaurant provided us with amazing dinner, we had showers at the RV park we were staying and had amazing weather.

Update

It has been quite a few days since I have had reliable internet connection and the time to post a blog. I am now in Bozeman, MT. The scenary here is absoultely amazing. The farther north we are in our journey the more beautiful the country is. My favorite day of riding was when we were entering Teton National Park. The moutains were breath taking and the ride was amazing. The team camped for the first time this past week. One night in Teton and two nights in Yellowstone National Park. I would like to visit Yellowstone again when it is not so busy...being fourth of July weekend it was out of control.

Today we rode 98 miles from West Yellowstone, MT to Bozeman, MT. We were decending for most of the ride and were following a river. The breeze coming off the river was about 10 degrees cooler than the air outside. It was a great ride even though we had a head wind. MJ and I rode together the entire day and we averaged over 20 mph for the majority of it!

I am currently collecting pictures from my teammates for the past week because when I was uploading pictures from my camera to my computer for the past 5 days my camera memory card decided it needed to be reformatted which means I lost all my pictures. Teton and Yellowstone pictures will be coming soon...