Day one

Well I survived day one... despite my chain breaking in the first five miles haha, easily fixed in a few minutes with a power link, but jeez. And it was a belter of a day too. My face may be a little toasted, I just can't see it to tell. But today was I guess what you would hope for on a trip like this, sunny skies, big snowy mountains and turquoise blue lakes. But 40 plus miles has left me a little fried.

Also my fears about today were confirmed. The first campsite was only 20 miles or so from Banff. Well I was there by lunch time (where I met a guy who was just about to finish the route backwards, he started at the end of May, so much for the passes being blocked with snow at that time of year) so didn't want to stop. So I pushed on to the only other thing on the map, a lodge at about 40 miles. Given that the campsite had been supposedly full due to it being a Canadian holiday this weekend,I didn't hold out much hope of a room, and the next campsite was another 20 miles away, a tall order for my legs today. But they did have a room. Oh yes, it came with dinner too. And all for the bargain price of $320 dollars. I didn't ask if that included tax. Anyway the lady gave me some suggestions as to where I could illegally camp. So right now I'm lying in my tent hiding from the mosquitoes and the park rangers with all my food in bag a 100 metres or so away hanging up a tree...cos of bears you see.

Of course I haven't seen any bears. Yet. But when something burst out of the bushes just half a mile down the first trail I was convinced it was a bear. That squirrel is so lucky I didn't mace it's furry little face. I have also been whooping like an idiot before all blind bends just in case Yogi is waiting round the other side.

I have seen loads of wildlife though, pine martins, marmots, hundreds of Dragon fly, eagles and a deer ran straight out in front of me. Even though I am not that far from the tourist trail still, I went several hours today without seeing a soul, a taste of things to come I guess.

I'm also worried about water. Here it is fine as I just filtered stream water for the extra I needed. But I drank over six litres today. I have never drunk that much on a ride. God knows what I will do in New Mexico!

Tomorrow should be my first crossing of the divide up on elk pass at 6500 feet. But considering I climbed from 4500 to 6000 feet with a few downs in between today, that shouldn't be a problem. Of course it wouldn't be right if I didn't have to lose most of that height first, that's where the fun is right. The map notes say about tomorrow's ascent "start climbing a virtual wall"!