A big day - 138km, with more than 900m of climb ...and we crossed from Alberta into Saskatchewan. It was not the most auspicious border crossing - we drove to the border in the back of the truck belonging to the day’s hero. His name is Howard, he lays culverts for the County of Vermillion … Continue reading Day 38: Elk Point, AB to St Walburg, SK →

So this little corner of eastern Alberta is definitely not prairies. Either that or the prairies are characterized by big rolling hills and boreal forest. We climbed an unexpected 700m in the 130km of cycling today. Of course, the northerlies of yesterday swung around to the south east and were in our faces for all … Continue reading Day 37 – Smoky Lake, AB to Elk Point AB →

We have had some spectacular days since we started this epic journey. This was not one of them. It took 38km before we had no refineries or major industrial sites in close view. It was cold and windy and the heavy clouds stayed with us until the last few kilometres. We added 15km to our … Continue reading Day 36 – Fort Saskatchewan, AB to Smoky Lake AB →

A bike assembly, bag shipping and sorting out mechanical niggles day, with just 25km on the trail under heavy clouds. Even the locals complained of the cold. It was still only 9 degrees when we rolled into friendly and surprisingly charming Fort Saskatchewan and we’d had a chilly headwind all the way. Our first mishap … Continue reading Edmonton AB to Fort Saskatchewan AB →

Well this is different. We’re flying for the first time in a COVID-19 world, and the usually beautiful Vancouver is shrouded in wildfire smoke from the US, presenting the worst air quality in the world.It will be our longest leg on the trail so far - seven hundred kilometres in seven days’ cycling, up to … Continue reading Ready to go again – Edmonton, AB to Saskatoon, SK →

Maybe all that the prairie riding on the gravel bikes has softened us up; maybe we had just forgotten the heartrate rock ‘n roll that is mountain trail riding ... either way that was a tough little 48km with more than 700m of climb. We’re in Whistler for the weekend and since the Great Trail … Continue reading Whistler, BC →

What a horrible day of cycling - too much wind, too much highway. And conditions were so bad we sought a shorter route and shaved off about 15km. Very early start out of Wetaskiwin, straight on to the first 36km along Highway 2A into a building cross-headwind. The wind came across the highway, so the … Continue reading Day 35 (5 of 2020) Wetaskiwin to Edmonton, AB →

Go figure - we are some 2,000km inland and there are seagulls and pelicans around here. Other weird facts from today: we rode along a piece of blue string outside Wetaskiwin that answered the age-old question of how long it is (more than 4km) and we could actually out-cycle a thunderstorm. As has been the … Continue reading Day 34 (4 of 2020) – Red Deer to Wetaskiwin, AB →

A day that ended up being more tiring than it had looked on paper. Theoretically, overall gentle downhill with a few climbs, a slight tail wind and fewer than 90km of riding should have been fairly easy. But thick gravel roads, a longish stint on Highway 2A, and a puncture culminated in tired bodies that … Continue reading Day 33 (3 of 2020) – Olds to Red Deer, AB →

Just over 100km, first of grasslands and outskirts of Calgary (these go on forever), then endless fields - canola, corn, peas, wheat. Alberta is still green after about the same kind of rains we have had in Vancouver, and the colour suits it. Broken only by the luminous yellow of canola, or occasional ponds, the … Continue reading Day 32 (2 of 2020). Calgary to Olds, Alberta →