Bob on BAC Canadian Rockies 2007

Cafe in Jaffrey


Orprey Nest at Ft Steele

We were up at 6:00 today and were at breakfast at 6:30. Today I had (canned) fruit, oatmeal, toast and coffee at the hotel. I got on the road at 8:00. It was cool, so I wore arm warmers, leg warmers and a light jacket. The road shoulders were worse than the day before. There was gravel, debris, broken pavement and missing pavement. I had to "take the lane" several times and got honked at a couple of times. One of the riders was warned by the Mounties to stay on the shoulder. A few miles into the ride, I came upon cyclists standing next to the road. Pat Greene and Chris Witt lost control of their tandem while crossing the rumble strip and dove into a deep ditch on the side of the road. They were both scratched up. Pat was in more pain and complained of double vision. Jim Woo, who has been trained in EMT procedures, cleaned them up and very calmly assessed Pat's condition. Although the tandem was in working order, Pat and Chris were advised to wait for Jean Struthers and the support van to take them to a hospital in Cranbrook for aid. Pat ended up staying overnight in the hospital while they observed her condition. Chris ended up taking the tandem apart and storing it in the van. They abandoned the ride the next day and flew back home. I volunteered to bring their tandem back to Berkeley.

After about 45 minutes giving aid and encouragement, we traveled on. We were able to turn off of the bad highway at mile 20 onto an almost deserted forest road. It was warming up, so I took off my outerwear and rode on. The pavement got a little rough but I was able to find the smoothest part of the road near the center line. This was not a problem because there was very little traffic.

The forest road ended in Jaffrey. It was 11:00 so I stopped at a café for lunch. I had a turkey and Swiss pannino with a salad. It was very good. Mike McMahon had stopped at the same time. He had a milkshake to drink with his Subway sandwich.

We had to get back onto Hwy 3 again for another 6 miles. We then turned off onto another country road for 19 miles. Although rough in spots, this road was also almost deserted. It rolled past lakes and streams. I saw an elk very close in a field. Before I could take its picture, it glided off into the distance. At the end of the road at Ft. Steele, we saw an osprey flying to its nest and took pictures of the nest and its chick.

At Ft. Steele, we had to get back onto the main road. It had the same lousy shoulder plus a construction zone with fine powder all over the road.

The Coach Motor Inn in Cranbrook had dropped its Best Western designation and was under renovation. The rooms were OK, though.

A bunch of us walked to Mr. Mike's for dinner. I had chicken breast with a spicy tomato sauce with shrimp and scallops.

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