Most people associate risk with hazardous situations, situations that could cause you harm, and one of the down-sides to working in the risk management area is that you become very intensely aware of the uncertainties that might lead to problems down the track.
Monday May 21 is a public holiday in Canada - a long weekend that I had been warned about for days. "There will be a lot of traffic on the road", "people will be impatient", "they will be rushing to where they want to holiday", "campgrounds will be full - so you'd better book ahead ..."
The whole weekend had been a bit of a disappointment from that point of view. Traffic had been very light, very courteous - even friendly, and the biggest problem with campgrounds was not that they were full, but that they seemed very empty - often because, despite the long weekend, many of them weren't open yet for the summer holidays.
And yet here we were in Summit River at a campground that the owners actually opened so we could stay there. I awoke early in the morning and wandered over to the 'Lounge', which was located in the log cabin main building and beautifully laid out ... for a campground.
Our plan for the day was to ride up to Viewmount, about 35km away for brunch and then push on to Mount Robson Campground before the ride into Jasper the following day.
I left a little earlier because Holger had met a young German family that had pulled into Swift River for the night, and because he was pretty confident of catching me up on the road.
The ride up to Viewmount was pretty uneventful, and the scenery was pretty much as expected. Heading toward Mount Robson and Jasper, you expect everything to be getting bigger.
I was a little surprised to make it all the way into Viewmount before Holger caught up, but we had both spotted an advertisement for a Swiss Bakery on the way into town and thought that might be worth checking out.
We rode down the main street of Viewmount and eventually found the Bakery, which was closed both today (the Public Holiday) and tomorrow. Sad Face. We also noted that there was a small bike shop right next door ... which we hoped we wouldn't need.
Heading back to the main street we found the local IGA supermarket and consoled ourselves with apple strudel, chocolate milk and bananas - a wonderfully balanced meal with all of the major food groups (and then some).
After a long chat, we returned to our bikes to find that I had sustained another flat tyre. Just the tiniest bit annoying. We decided that Holger should ride on to Mount Robson while I sorted this out and joined him later. It was pretty hot, and having pulled the wheel apart, I was struggling to find the puncture to repair it. This was my fourth puncture of the trip and I was a bit over it, to be honest. Plan B - push the bike around to the little bike shop and get them to sort it.
The guys at the bike shop were really helpful but advised that the 'temporary' glueless patches I had used for previous punctures were really not worth the trouble for touring - although fine for racing, where you just need to be able to get back on the bike quickly.
Long story, short, there were no spare tubes in Viewmount that would fit my bike, and after phoning around the nearest tubes were in Jasper, some 120km away.
So this is where the risk bit comes in. I had no spare tubes and was riding through the Canadian Rockies. Given the distances and the weight on the bike, it seemed much more prudent to cut my losses and get a bus through to Jasper. Not ideal, but better than getting stuck somewhere up the highway with wrecked tyres, potentially wrecked rims and no way to get anywhere. The downside was that the only bus to Jasper left Viewmount at 0415 am!
Ughhh!
Fast forward to the next morning. I 'woke up' at about 0300 (not sure that I had slept much actually) to find that the temporary repair to my rear wheel was flat again - so needed yet another patch. Fast repair, fast breakfast of sorts, fast pack up everythiing, fast 'get bike to bus station'. Awesome start for 4am.
The bus trip to Jasper was ... dark ... initially, and then pretty amazing. Managed to see another bear from the bus, my third for the trip, before we rolled into Jasper at about 0630.
Now I just had to kill a few hours until 0900 when the bike shop opened. Coffee was looking pretty good - but the only option was Tim Hortons, so it had to be Hot Chocolate.
(I apologise to all of those Timmies fans out there, but their coffee is pretty average)
Bike shop ... 3 spare tubes of the correct size ... pack everything up again ... back on the road to commence my ride down the Icefields Parkway, which was to be the most spectacular part of the trip to date, but as soon as I had entered the Jasper National Park I got another flat tyre in the now multiple patched rear tube that had been giving me so much grief. BUT NOW I HAVE NEW TUBES ... (smug face). So another repair.
I'm actually getting quite good at removing wheels and tyres, and finding my repair gear - Life Skills.
The ride was great ...
This last image was from Honeymoon Lake, where I stopped for a short rest and waded in to cool my feet. So ... this is Spring Melt water, right? ... So ... its really cold, right?
Speaking to a couple of Rangers, it was suggested that I ride another 20 or so km to the next campground, Jonas. There wasn't a lake there, they advised, but it was a lovely campground next to a stream.
So off we went again. This was going to be an 82km day, which didn't seem too bad.
Jonas campground was lovely, and the stream was very cold ... especially for strip washing. 'Brisk', is the word I think.
Tired, but relieved to be sitting in a VERY cold stream.
(There's more to this story, so ask me when you see me next ...LOL)
But the next day was to be even more challenging, and more spectacular.
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