Days 8, 9 and 10- The Big Days!

Too many days since my last post (lots of exscuses- no wireless in Sparwood, couldn't connect in Coldhurst, the dog ate my computer...) so I'll hit some highlights. The trip from Cranbrook to Sparwood was the first day we made up some extra distance. We had planned on only going to Fernie because we wanted to make a stop and Amy and Stu's (Amy's dad, Brian, is the frient who died from multiple myeloma and was the first reason that I wanted to raise some funds for the Cancer Society) but we decided that we could carry on to Sparwood (Murray stopped and spent the afternoon at Amy and Stu's- mostly so he could visit with Tannis, their 16 month old daughter!). The rest of us went back to Amy and Stu's for dinner. It was great to spend time with them and we had a wonderful meal! And Amy sent us packing with some granola squares. Healthy!! Especially if you only eat 8 of them at one sitting! Thanks for the great visit and hospitality!
The days ride was a good one, making great time for the first hour and a half . We cycled to the east side of the Rockies and that was the last of the climbs for that day.
From Sparwood we set out to conquer the Crowsnest pass! What a feat! Actually it was a pretty easy climb and is by far the easiest way across the big mountains. We picked up a tailwind and decided to hoist the main sails and go where the wind took us. And it took us about 172 k's! We made it a lot farther than we ever expected.
So, full of confidence we set out from Lethbridge early this morning with a view of maybe making it to Medicine Hat- 175 k's away. Our first challenge was to get through Lethbridge. It felt to me like what it must be like to cycle on the Gardiner Expressway on a busy morning! Not any fun at all. We survived that and were moving along well when my rear tire went flat. So, get that fixed and carry on! Then those favourable winds that we experienced the previous day that gave us the confidence to attempt another long day- well, those lovely winds turned on us. Boy, are they fickle! Nevertheless we soldiered on and did 118 k's by lunchtime. With that under our belts it seemed like a pretty leisurely cruise in the rest of the way- and it was. It was a lovely ride.
We've had no real major climbs (execpt getting out of bed in the moning) and the countryside was rolling but pretty minor all in all. I miss the mountains! The scenery here is fine, but not the beauty of the mountains. But I had better get used to it because it looks like we're going to have a steady diet of it!
Warren