Woke up bright and early to a clear view of the mountain peaks in the background of the campsite, my tent coated in ice from the cold night. For the first time I hadnt overheated during the night, instead Id been quite comfortable; my sleeping bag was made for this climate.
Began cooking breakfast within the warmth of the indoor kitchen and struck up a conversation with another member of the chairity cycling group. It turned out they were also heading to Golden Municipal Campground, so he offered to load my gear in their support RV and drive it there! I hesitated to accept at firat because my pride insisted I carry it with me, but I quickly thought better of it and acquisced. I finished packing, exchanged contact info, and soon I was on the road, nearly gear free!
It felt amazing to ride with so little resistance for the first time since I began, and I zipped on down the road out of Revelstoke. Great views of the town neatles below the mountains as I ascended the road out of town. I continued to float down the road, ever farther into the mountain range. I could feel the weather become colder, and it began to snow. It started to sink in that I was heading into some real wintery mountain terrain, and I better hope I packed the right amount of gear, because there is 150 KM of wilderness between Revelstoke and Golden.
The weather soon improved and became sunnier as I worked my into the mountain chain. More and more great snowy peaks began to become visable as I progressed. After about 60 KM I reached today's big challenge: Roger's Pass. The road began to wind upwards around one of the snow capped peaks I had been admiring, and I slowly worked my way up to the top. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was easier than I expected and I was soon at the top. Then the decent began. There are many avalanche cover tunnels over certain parts of the highway, and I soon found myself on a steep and long downhill section descending through the tunnels at an exhilarating pace. I hollered my excitement and joy as I went.
Once at the bottem of this huge decent, I still had many KM of up amd down terrain to cover before Golden. The views of the surrounding mountains became increasingly fantastic, and I spent lots of time staring in wonder and taking pictures, amazed by where I was. I was IN a National Geographic scene. Some places had a head wind so strong it stopped me in my tracks for a moment or two, but I didnt even care.
The members of the charity had already biked this route yesterday, and had returned to Revelstoke in their RV to do charity stuff, which is when I met them. It was soon time for them to drive back to Golden, so with around 60 KM of my journey to go, they passed me on the highway, and lo and behold they had a snack a water for me! We stopped and chatted for a while, and my figure head gnome found a name. He shall heneceforth be known as Vern, after one of the members of the chairity riders. He cant convince anyone to name their child after him, but I think its a great name for my gnome.
Many beautiful KM later I am near Golden, with magnificent views of the mountains over a grassy plain running parallel to the highway. My camera had died sadly, so no pictures. I may have seen the small shape of a bear in the distance. Or maybe it was a rock. The jury is out.
After 10 hours of cycling, I finished the 150 KM of beautiful mountain terrain. I pulled up to camp, set up my tent next to their RV, and enjoyed a free meal they graciously provided me. Our camp is next to a river with train tracks on the other side and mountains in the background.
I went to bed content with myself, with the misconception that from Golden to Canmore over the next two days would be easy downhill. Hindsight from today has taught me that this was a tinsy winsy HUGE misunderstanding.
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