We have so much to be thankful for in completing our cycling trip. Planning and booking places for this trip began last September. Knowing everything could change due to forest fires or other situations. Our families involvement kept changing, but that was understandable.

Here is a list of things we are thankful for:

-while cycling we had very little rain. We had a few thunderstorms that happened overnight.

-very comfortable temperatures.

-making it to every booked place for night. Having good places to camp out.

-Enjoying clear smoke free days the entire trip. This provided opportunities to enjoy the scenery.

-Not having any flat tires or other bike related issues.

-Meeting so many friendly people.

Dreams of the next trip are always active in the head. Wherever the bikes take us next, we look forward to new adventures.

Gerald/Cheryl Warkentin

Here are some highlights from our final day of cycling. Today we cycled 109 km’s from Banff to Cochrane. The day started at 6 am with a light drizzle to make everything wet for packing.

Tomorrow we will do one more final post that will summarize our trip. We have so much to be thankful for during this cycling trip.

We also fundraise for MCC for the relief efforts they do. If you donated already, thank you. If you wish to donate you can go to our donation page.

A great day for riding except for the first and last 10 km’s, these were the hardest km’s of cycling.

Camping at Lake Louise one needs to see the actual Lake.

We traveled the 1A from Lake Louise to Banff. What an excellent road for cycling.

With a quick stop in Banff, eating a little and picking up some groceries. We headed to our campsite which was 10 km’s out of Banff. Most of it uphill.

Leaving our Motel this morning after having a buffet breakfast was a pleasure. First 3 km’s were downhill. After that it seemed like the next 30 km’s were uphill. It was slow going as we went up.

The scenery was stunning, here are a few photos.

We both knew this was going to be a tough day of cycling. Major mountains needed to be climbed. We left with low overcast skies and a temperature of plus 7, without rain.

It felt like all morning we were climbing. It was very slow going. Road was so steep at one point that we ended up walking our bikes for over 2 km’s. In total for the day we ascended 1,092 metres. Going downhill our top speed was 63.7 km’s per hour. Speed limit was 60 kmh.

We travelled 98 kms for the day.

When we book places 10 months in advance of a trip taken on a bicycle, it is hard to know what weather conditions we will be dealing with in making it to our planned destinations. Today was a planned day off and it rained half the day. Tomorrow will be a gruelling 100 km ride with major climbs.

This morning we were able to take a 4 km hike before it rained. Here are pictures from the day.

Two night stay at Beckers Chalet was like a dream. Chantel’s friend is the manager of the Beckers Chalet restaurant. This morning we enjoyed their breakfast buffet, complements of our daughter’s friend, before heading on the road again.

Will be staying here for two nights, taking another day off tomorrow. Before attempting to do 100 km’s on Friday that includes a Mountain Pass.

A day off (August 5th) from cycling, here are some day off pictures.

Today Amelia joined us for the 86 km ride. Chantel was the cheerful supporter who carried all our gear. She drove into Jasper to get lunch and brought it back for us. This made the day go smoothly. We had to deal with scattered rain showers all day.

Tomorrow we look forward to a day off. We have cycled 7 days in a row and need a break.

Being prepared when there are no services is important when cycling. 70 km’s is not a very long distance for cycling but it proved a challenge when our food and water was running low. Cell phone and other devices were also all running low on charges. We arrived in Hinton before totally running out of gas.

This is Gerald and Cheryl signing off from Hinton. Two of the cleanest people in town, after the first shower in 72 hours.