Well that was tougher than planned. Our “easy” downhill 63km into Banff involved 985m of climb, 700 of those in the first 30km.
That High Rockies Trail certainly lives up to its name. Up in the thin air and seriously rocky, it is a swirling roller-coaster ride of beautifully banked switchbacks, huge up-downs and front-wheel lifting pop-ups. And it hit us after four days of hard riding. We don’t think we rode one full kilometre in the first 30km. Those pop-ups were huge and steep and the hundreds of rock-bridge creek crossings brought so many dips (with their down-UPs) that our legs were screaming. As were Bron’s brakes. The annoying squeak that started yesterday became a squeal even when the brakes weren’t on – clearly they are worn out. The only solution was to wet the discs every few hundred metres for the rest of the day – not exactly efficient!
We got to Spray Lakes a long way behind schedule, having taken two hours to do the first arduous 9km and the next 21 had not exactly been speedy. The lakes are stunning – turquoise water shouldered by colossal mountains – and we spent half an hour drinking it in while discussing how we could manage the rest of the day and still get to Banff before the pubs closed. We elected to take the gravel road for the next 10km and it was a good choice, although we were smothered in dust by the passing cars.
Very noteworthy on this road was the absence of litter. Our experience in B.C. has been that any gravel road close to towns has been strewn with beer cans. We saw not one today.
Having made up time we turned onto Goats Creek Trail – a lovely, gentle sweeping gravel trail through the beautiful Banff National Park. It has its ups and downs and is rocky in parts, but it does not bite. But what a culture shock we had when the quiet forested trail spat us out into the parking of the Banff Springs hotel. Loads of buses and crowds of people were too much for us so we beat it to the banks of the Bow River towards the St James Irish Pub and then our hotel.
That could be that for this year. We have reached our goal. But there’s a small chance we try to squeeze in a leg to Calgary before winter sets in. But – the way we feel now, the thought of getting on a bike in the near future is not appealing …
Today – 63km
Climb – 985m
Total distance – 1,756km
#thegreattrail
#transcanadatrail
#endlessbiking
#rockymountainbikes
Trans Canada Epic 
Good going! Sounds more difficult than we are doing on the bikes on the garden route and sunshine coast!
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haha yes Marius, I think it is a bit tougher! Yours looks great so far..
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