Today is Day #17 of The Road To Valour

On today’s ride I was joined by:

• Greg Kosar
• Ernie McDonald

After a wonderful sleep and an enjoyable breakfast in the Travelodge with Rotarian Bob Finnie we headed out into the rain. The climb out of Golden into the Kicking Horse Pass had worried us all for long and steep climbs. As it turned out, we have either built up a lot of leg strength and endurance or the climb wasn’t as bad as we thought that it would be or all of the above. With an 877 m total climb today on just 57.6 km, this was not an easy day. But the overall consensus at the end of the ride was – that wasn’t all that bad!

The new Kicking Horse Pass highway is an amazing bit of engineering and road construction.

At one point along the route when we need to take a moment to change foul weather clothes, we pulled into a rest area. While moving around the washrooms, an Australian, Misha, came over to us from his Canadream RV and asked if we would like a hot cup of tea. We got over to the RV and his wife, Louise, brewed up some of the best tea that I have ever had. Angels come is all shapes, sizes and accents..

The weather is really playing havoc with the route planning and the budget for The Road To Valour. Today was a fairly long ride with a lot of climbing. but what made the day tough was the weather. Cold, windy and wet! That and the weather guy is forecasting up to 10 cm snow starting tonight and continuing through tomorrow for our ride into Lake Louise. We aren’t equipped to camp in the snow – our tents are three season (at best) and we just don’t have the clothes to survive a night at about – 2 C. So we opted for a B&B in Field tonight and have decided to ride through Lake Louise tomorrow and make our way to Banff, where we have booked into a hotel. Not quite sure what we will do from Banff, but I have a meeting in Canmore on Wednesday morning. Praying for warmer and dryer weather!

While in the military I learned the the first Principle of War is Selection and Maintenance of the Aim. Through all of the adjustments that may need to be made, there is one and only one goal of The Road To Valour is to arrive at the Valour Road Commemorative Plaza at noon on Canada Day.

Riding The Road To Valour