September 7th

Average Speed: 14.2 Km/h
Days Distance: 40 Km

Holy shit! What a day. I am now smuggled up inside my tent after finally getting the dam stove lit and eating a much needed supper. We didn't leave on time...only a few hours late. I got lost in Edmonton and ended up cycling an extra few Km's just to find PJ, Clay and my dear Sandra. Thanks Alice, Darcy and Shelby for following me through all my lostness. I love you guys.

I was tired right away and I don't even want to mention the thoughts that entered my mind as I struggled to even bike out of Edmonton. I don't know if it was the anxiety or the stupid amounts of water that I was drinking but I vomited after catching up with PJ and the crew. But as things progressed the biking got easier. We past Leduc and the airport in our 40 km ride. That is not bad considering the head wind we had the whole time. PJ is much faster than I am right now but I hope to break in soon.

We finally pulled over at our chosen rest stop and the cows stood about 10 feet away to watch us set up camp. I guess we are exciting to them. I am sore and tired. I miss Sandra already but we will push on tomorrow.

September 8th

Average Speed: 19.2 Km/h
Days Distance: 35 Km

A whole new day with a whole new outlook on this bike trip. I awoke to Sandra crawling into my tent (a wonderful surprise) and unbelievable pain in my legs. It was freezing cold as well during the night so I must wear some more clothing to bed.

Sandra brought us some food, sugar, hot chocolate and some love and inspiration for me to continue. Thanks babe. After eating a breakfast of oatmeal, bananna's and a bagel, and packing up camp I was off again. I was totall surprised by the increase in speed that I could maintain. I was averaging close to 20km/h the whole way.

However, today we had to stop early because PJ's tendons in his knees were to inflamed. No probs tho... Spent a full day relaxin and my mom even came out to visit us with more food and more love. Tomorrow we will be off again for the 80km ride into Red Deer. Hope mine and PJ's legs hold out. We start with a MONSTER climb...for us anyways.

September 9th Day 3. Red Deer, Alberta

Average Speed: 18 Km/h
Days Distance: 75 Km

More than anything, I am extatic that we made it into Red Deer. We both had to overcome headwinds, knee pain, and the worst hills to date. That monster hill I talked about turned out to be child's play compared to some of the others.

It is the most amazing feeling to set a goal that you are unsure if you can really accomplish, and then beat it against all odds. Even tho my knee was screaming in pain for the last 20 km's I pushed on hard. It was so important to me to make it into Red Deer. It gives me hope and encouragement for the rest of the trip. I am excited that we set a desired pace of 75km's per day and did it by the third day. It's awesome.

When we arrived in Red Deer we couldn't find a hostel so we decided to spend 2 nights at the local Travel Lodge Hotel. Ahh....good times. Soft beds, warm nights, showers, and once again Sandra came out to see me. Thanks so much Sandra.

Spent today, Sept 10th, just doing some more shopping and resting. We also got to do some much needed laundry. Our clothes STANK! Thanks Jackie from Red Deer. Tonight we will have some beers and relax. Hope to be in Calgary in two more days.

September 11th

Average Speed: 19.2Km/h
Days Distance: 47 Km

After being so excited about doing a full day of biking on Monday, today was depending on ohow you look at it, a big let down. We left Red Deer at about 11:30AM and my knee was still hurting. We stopped for our first break after one hour of biking and the pace was great. Pver 20km's/h. But my knee hurt so I had to exchange my not so good tenser for PJ's good one. We did another 20 Km's and I had to stop again due to knee pain. We stopped for lunch right outside Bowden Penitentiary....jail.

The last 7km's were awful. I have never pushed myself to tears before but there is a first time for everything. Finally I gave in and told PJ that I had to quit for the day and rest my sore knee. I guess the real dissapointment comes from setting a gold of Calgary in 2 days and knowing I will not make it unless I have a KICK-ASS day tomorrow which probably won't happen with the pain I am in.

I guess I could look at it like "I biked 47 km's with knee pain" and that should suffice. How many others can even do that? But it is hard when you are on a bike and want to go so far everyday. Well that's part of the trip tho. Some failures and some success...just push on.

A few more things to add. Not all is bad on this bike trip. So many things are so interesting and fun. Eating for instance is always a great time. More so than ever. I have also never eaten so healthy.

Cars, trucks, motorbikes, and semis also honk at us. Some want us out of the way but most are in support of what we are doing. The night sky away from the city is truly an infinite wonder with the millions of stars, northern lights, and bright moons. Also acheiving speeds of over 50 Km/h on bikes is an absolute thrill and rush. It's even kind of nice to crawl into my tent as it is starting to feel more cozy all the time even tho it is still pretty cold at nights.

After hours of biking, setting up camping, cooking, eating, cleaning, and putting everything away, PJ and I entertain ourselves with verbal banter, crib, throwing around the football or just chatting.

Trent was right, "not all of travel is glitz and glamour, but the rewards are immense."

September 12th

Average Speed: 18 Km/h
Days Distance: 52 Km

Surprise, surprise! We didn't make it into Calgary. Have about 48 - 50 km's left to go. Today started out with very little pain and a great pace. In the first hour we covered 23 km's. It was relatively flat tho. Then we breaked for a bite and all of a sudden out of no where there are monster hills all over the place along with a strong head wind which frustrated me to the point of screaming out profanities to the hills and winds. My tantrum didn't work.

But still I pushed on with now incredible knee pain again. It's cool to think that I am doing all of these Km's in pain and with one leg taking most of the work of peddling.

We were running low on water so I stubled across the highway to a farm to ask for some water. We met a nice old man named Bill who kindly allowed us to fill our water bottles and gave us each a cold coke. That hit the spot! Thanks Bill!

Tomorrow we will be in Calgary no matter what. If I can't make it on the bike than Jeanette will come and get us. I have decided to rest my knee for 2 days to try and get better. I really hope that is enough time to heal my pain.

I also wanted to add that today was so tough that I had to swallow some pride and walk my bike up two big hills. The pain was unbearable. I am also growing to love the semi's that pass us by so close. At first they were a bit nerving, but now I love them for they create such a wind that it pulls me forward for a brief second and gives me a chance to rest and to gear up a bit to improve my pace. They are also strong enough to stop the constant headwinds for about 5 seconds. Not much but a break is a break!

September 13th Day 7. Calgary, Alberta

Average Speed: 27 Km/h
Days Distance: 50 Km

Today I got the breaks I needed so badly. My knees are both now hurting as the right knee has been over compensating for the failure of the left one. I almost didn't even try to cycle to Calgary as I was in that much pain. But I decided that not trying was the worst idea. This morning was very cold and the winds were strong but this time at our backs. That is the main reason I decided to try. I flew.

We travelled at speeds of up to 40km/h and averaged 30km/h most of the time. I stopped only once to take a picture of the Welcome To Calgary sign. Other than that the 3 Advils I took this morning worked out very well. In less than 2 hours we arrived at Jeanettes house.

The ride through Calgary's streets, especially the Deerfoot Trail, was scary. 4 lanes of traffic being merged into 6 and sometimes I found myself in the middle of the road surrounded by crazy Calgary traffic and waiting for the perfect moment to get over two lanes to the safer shoulder. A few really tense moments for sure.

But everything worked out and we were greeted by Carole, Jeanettes mother. We had our showers and naps before actually seeing Jeanette. We met Rick, Jeanettes father, Igor the guy who drew the Lord Of The Rings covers, his girlfriend and some other family friends. We all stayed for a wonderful supper with some great pictures of the whole show.

After dinner PJ and I entertained the crew with a few songs on the guitar and then headed out to the pub for a great time. A full day for sure. Now it is relaxin time. Let the knees heal up a little before we head south to Lethbridge. Ciao

September 16th - My 25th BirthdayDay 10. High River, Alberta

Average Speed: 21.2 Km/h
Days Distance: 82 Km

HAPPY 25th B Day Ian!

We didn't really get the chance to leave Calgary as early as we wanted to. We left around 2:00PM. Had loads of fun in this wonderful city and I even found it a bit hard to leave. A feeling I am sure weill come again as there will be many magical places on our tours. Got a bit lost going out of Calgary cause the bike paths are not well labelled, but they run along the Bow River which is beautiful. But once again we decided to ride the Deerfoot Trail.

This was my time for giving out fingers as I was more comfortable and gave hand signals that the drivers completely ignored. Took lunch after a strong 25 km's at the place where we were to meet Trent but the time lost on the bike trails probably was enough to Trent to give up on us. Sorry Trent...we tried!

Had some tough climbs in thelast few km's out of Calgary with strong headwinds. I took the opportunity to look at the Calgary city centre from afar on a bridge to say goodbye in my own way as I knew everything from now on would be new to me.

I could tell that my knees have started the healing process as we climbed and climbed the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and I dazed off into their enormity thinking about all the adventures that route may have. But that is for another time. We cycled on to 82 km's and a Super 8 Motel where we will stay 2 nights to rest knees again and celebrate both my B-day and an excellent day of biking. I feel sore but strong and very excited as I know that the US border is fast approaching and will contain more adventure and stories.

Take care from High River!

September 18th Day 12. Granum, Alberta

Average Speed: 21.8 Km/h
Days Distance: 87.27 Km

After spending a great day in High River in the swimming pool, hot tub and nice room of the Super 8, we were off again with high hopes of making the 150 km ride to Lethbridge in only 2 days. A feat we could not accomplish on the Edmonton->Red Deer or Red Deer->Calgary rides. But as the knees grow stronger so does our pace. Todays ride was quite scenic with the mountains off in the distance to one side of me and the prairie flat lands to the other side. Quite beautiful at times.

I got a little scare today as my shots of knee pain started in at about 46 km's. I was afraid of the repeat of the last 2 150km treks. No more 3 days on those distances please. But some advice my aunty Carla gave me worked out well. Thanks Carla it worked beautifully. We experienced STRONG side winds today which made the biking more difficult. But we decided to head east down highway 519, 87 km's away from our starting point this day. But even tho I felt strong enough to continue, we stopped for the night at a well placed campground. A beautiful little spot with few people and much quieter than in the ditches of Highway 2.

This place has nice lawns (even ground makes for a better nights sleep) and a nice little pond stocked with goldfish and trout which we watched jumping to eat flies for supper while we ate our own supper. Back to pasta with stewed tomatoes, tomatoe paste and some spices. YUM!

My knees feel great and I am sure we can handle the 65 - 70 km ride into Lethbridge tomorrow where we will stay with Clay's mom and pick up some more MP3 player batteries. We ordered them cause PJ lost his. He also lost our really good multi-tool but PJ is a bit of a tool anyways. No biggie PJ.

Feeling great and excited for our stay in Lethbridge. PEACE!

September 19th Day 13. Lethbridge, Alberta

Average Speed: 21 Km/h
Days Distance: 70 Km

Well we made it to Lethbridge but not at all without a fight. The 31km stretch down 519 was quite easy as the winds were so strong. I would honestly say about 50km/h non-stop. The started up in the morning when we were packing up camp. This was a bit frustrating as it was hard to fold up the tent with the winds blowing it all over the place. I also had to get over losing my 1st item of the trip.

My pack towel blew into the nice little pond as I was putting on my biking shoes. I could have reached it in time if I would have just stepped one step into the pond but my shoes were laced on and too expensive to replace just to save a $20 towel. So I watched as it soaked up 10 times it's weight in water and suck to the bottom.

Anyhow, the ride down 519 happened in only 53 minutes time with speeds barely dropping below 40km/h. The howl of the winds was definitely cool to hear. Also the hum of my tires over the pavement. Sounds that we could not hear over the roaring traffic of highway 2 traffic. At the turn-off to highway 23 we realized that the wind was now kinda in our face at an angle. Well I tried to ride in that and was tossed around like an idiot on a bike in a wind storm. I was blown into the middle of the first lane on the highway. That gave me a scare so I decided to walk my bike for a bit hoping the wind would let up. NOPE!

I must have looked stupid walking my bike down a hill. But we stopped at a little river and watched as a sparrow played games in the strong winds. He just would try to hover above the water, then he would be swept away by the winds and would come back for more.

I asked PJ what he thought of hitchhiking into Lethbridge. Sure he said. I will meet you there when I finish biking in. Him saying that made me think again about how I should at least try. So I did.

The first few km's were tough but soon enough we were sailing again as the highway turned so the wind was our ally. We made it into Lethbridge in 2 days.

This city is beautiful. Seems to be cut right into the earth with lots of valleys. I hit a new high speed on my bike. 72 km/h! I simply coasted to that speed as the hill was that steep. Got only a little lost in Lethbridge but made it to Wilma, George, Dalyce and Shadow the dog's house.

Thank you all for the place to rest our tired bodies. We will stay here a few days to get some chores done and take advantage of our last Canadian stop.

US here we come.

September 22nd Day 16. Milk River, Alberta

Average Speed: 29.1 Km/h
Days Distance: 87.52 Km

What a wonderful stay in Lethbridge. The family was great, wonder suppers and we even got to use George's van to get around town. Thanks George! We left Lethbridge hoping to make it to a small town called Milk River. The wind was pretty cold but the direction was in our favor...at our backs.

The ride was fairly easy as we completed the 87 km jaunt in under 3 hours and stopping only twice briefly due to cold winds. My legs felt stronger than they have been even before this trip. All hills on this ride were surmounted quite easily with my piston like quads...or so I was imagining anyways.

Milk River is a small town with almost no one in it. Kinda scary actually with how desolate it was when we arrived. We decided to stay in a hotel again cause it is so cold outside. Tomorrow we will cross the border and should be there for a bit while they search through our bags. Actuall I can't wait. I thought about this the whole way down from Lethbridge. I can't wait to drive by that singe mountain that I have been staring at for the last 40 km's. It's weird. Just a huge mountain where there should be no mountain. All else is flat except for that. Quite interesting to look at actually.

I am extremely pumped for tomorrow.

September 23rd Day 17. Shelby, Montana

Average Speed: 17.8 Km/h
Days Distance: 79.59 Km

Today was by far the hardest ride we have had. The highways were full of large and long hills and the first 40km's were accompanied by 30km/h headwinds. Tough! I honeestly didn't think I'd make 80km's today but I did. Maybe it was the extreme excitement of finally being over the border. Pretty exciting stuff has happened here so far.

Crossing the border was simple enough surprisingly. We were asked only a few questions by Mac McGlaughlin, had to fill out one form and were sent on our ways with best wishes and some travel advisories for Central America.

We finally past that mountain that just sort of sticks up out of nowhere. It was quite a site.

I stopped on the side of the highway at about 60 km's to stretch my legs out and a nice guy stopped to ask if I was ok. Also our first highway patrol officer run in was today. He pulled up beside me and said, "Meow, you know how far it is to town don't you?" He was just making sure I was ok I guess. Just funny to see Farva* on the first day in the US.

*See the movie Super Troopers. Very funny.

We are now in another hotel in Shelby, Montana. We have decided to stay in rooms on Mondays and Thursdays so we can catch some wrestling. And today is Monday so....

September 25thDay 19. Great Falls, Montana

Average Speed: 18.1 Km/h
Days Distance: 137 Km

I am almost to tired to even make this journal entry. We stayed in Shelby an extra day cause of rain and cold. We were both upset with ourselves about taking off another day so we decided to do 2 days of biking in one day. Yes, 137 km's in one day. And if that is not tough enough, we were mostly climbing and had a constant headwind of 10-15 km/h the whole way. I still can't believe we made it that far. I surprise myself.

Saw some amazing scenery today in the valleys we dipped into. One was called Marias Valley and was a great ride down into. A beautiful river and trees spread all over the place cut right into the middle of the huge valley. Wonderful to get into, but hell to get out of. What a hill. My legs must be at least 2 inches bigger from todays ride, or maybe it's just the stupid amounts of Ben Gay I put on them. That tingly feeling just puts me back into a happy place.

Great Falls is not at all what I expected. It's about the size of Red Deer, AB only it's kinda old. I mean the buildings are all really old styled. Thin, red brick and tall with steel stairways for fire escapes and a lot of dirt all around.

Not all of the town looks like this...just where we are staying. Some of Great Falls is very nice with grassy knolls and winding rivers all over the place.

However, we must move on...

September 27th Day 21. Great Falls, Montana

We are still in Great Falls, but that's ok. We met a pretty cool guy named Paul who tokk us out for drinks last night. Me and PJ were at Appleby's having some drinks and he was the bartender on duty. We got to talking and the next thing we knew we were at a pub called the Sip N Dip and absolutley wrecked. The SipNDip has a pool behind the bar that is acutually viewable from the side because of a thick plexi glass wall. They actually pay girls to swim in mermaid outfits in the pool during busy hours. We met Vern, the bartender who bought us a few rounds. Thanks Vern.

We may go back there tonight with Paul but will take it easier. We took a cab to Appleby's today for lunch. Met quite an interesting cab driver with lots of red-neck in him. He drove up in a blue Pontiac with no taxi meters or signs anywhere on the car. It was just a normal car. How are we going to get charged?

The guy was nice, polite and very talkative. Told us all about how we was going to EXPLODE the cab scene into Great Falls with his new taxi company. "As soon as the bank approves my loan, I am gonna buy me 10 Caddillacs and hire only nice drivers who are good lookin." And he plans to do it all by word of mouth. Good luck man!

So he decided $6 was the fare for the 16 block cab ride. Seemed like he just picked the number at random. Why is it that everytime we take a cab, I sit in the front and just invite in the conversation from these type of people? In Red Deer, I almost forgot to write about this, but PJ reminded me, our cab driver was insane. He kept telling us about how many retards lived in Red Deer. He'd kinda get angry as he would blurt out, You know your in the fucking retard capital of Alberta?" Ya...ok bud, we'll get out here!

Anyhow, should be interesting tonight. Will let you know!

September 29th Day 23. Stanford, Montana

Average Speed: 22.9 Km/h
Days Distance: 96.72 Km
Total Distance: 940.87 Km

Well well well....the people of Great Falls had a hard time letting us go. Our friend Paul wanted us to stay the week and party. I am sure all the others we met probably would have enjoyed that as well. I know I said I was going to take it easy and I did kinda...this is what happened on our last night out in Great Falls.

For a while I was relaxin and sipping some cocktails and next thing a lawyer in a suede cowboy hat is buyin us shots of Crown Royal. Then Vern brought over some more, than a new friend Katie....YEEEEEHAW!

An announcement is made that the local entertainer, a piano playin lady, is celebrating a nilestone. She has been playing piano at the Sip N Dip for 40 years. Ya...she was about 75 years old. Not my idea of good entertainment but definitley interesting. Nonetheless we partied hard and had a great time.

After the SipNDip we tried the Cigar Club but it was being closed early due to a fight that had broken out before we got there. So we headed over to Pauls house to close out the night. This place reminded me of my old pad in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Black lights, stobe lights and a party goin on. There were definitely some characters at this place and they liked the new boys almost as much as the married 35 year old cougar who tried to get me to go home with her.

What an experience we left behind there...

Todays ride was simply amazing. We rode our bikes through the first mountain range, High Forest Mountains. We rode the first 35km's heading straight for the mountains and I was windering what our preplanned but remaining 70km's had in store. We dipped into a huge valley and stayed there for about a 40 or 50 km ride through the most beautiful landscape so far. I have heard of rolling hills before, but have never seen them like these ones. They are 100's of feet tall and covered by grass and nice trees which was nice for a change. There were also all kinds of little streams winding all over the fields. Simply wonderful scenery.

We came out of the mountains and finished off our ride at the 96 km mark, only 4 short of our goal. But this hotel, the least expensive to date, is cozy and warmer than the night ar. Too bad it wasn't just 4 more kilometers away.

I have been having a recurring dream lately as well.

I awake each morning out of this dream and take a moment to look around. That's when I wake up and I actually go through a physical moment of something. I can't explain it really well but I just have a wave of peace, calm and realization roll over me at just the right pace.

The dream always involves me sitting back amongst my friends and family. Which means I am home from my bike trip with not really seeing anything. I feel nothing but failure to acheive my goal. But something is new. For the first time I am feeling more upset at myself for failing than anyone else is. I haven't let down my father, mother, siblings, or friends more than I have let down myself. Failed at my own goal!

But the good thing is that in my dream I am always trying to find a way to finish, and I am desperate to get back to the task at hand. I awake at this moment of desperation and that's when the wave rolls in.

Looking back even now, such a short time from departure, I feel and see memories of this trip as if they were years ago and not simply days. It's an amazing feeling as I know there is much more left. I love what I am doing and that grows each day.

We are 60 km's away from 1000 Total Km's on this trip. A big milestone for us. We had originally set our pace at 2000 km's per month. We will fall short of that in our first month as Day 30 approaches quickly. We are going to do as many km's as we can in the last 7 days of this first month. But the mountains are going to make it more difficuly for sure. Good night!

September 30th Day 24. Lewiston, Montana

Average Speed: 26.6 Km/h
Days Distance: 75.24 Km
Total Distance: 1016.11 Km

So if we do what distance we have done so far only 25 more times we will be in Argentina! Our first 1000km's is now under our belts and I am pretty confident in saying that we know a lot more about cycling and touring in general. Peddling strokes, dieting, mind conditioning and more. I must say that it's a great feeling!

Todays ride was actually very simple as the winds were at our backs at least 80% of the way. We were supposed to go until 100km's but I desperately needed to do laundry and once again it was soooo cold.

A quick note on the weather so far in Montana. It seems as though all of the US has warm weather. A bit stormy like in Florida with hurricanes Isidore and Lili going all crazy but at least it's warm. It is unseasonabley cold where we are. Some 22 degress farenhiet or 12 degress celcius colder than normal with no end to this cold snap in sight! What kind of sick joke is this?

Back to the ride. We stopped in the town called Lewiston and this town really has something special to it. It's old but clean and charming. Lot's of nice touches like the centre town clock tower or old style street lamps. The downtown is right out of a western style movie.

We checked into the Yogo Inn and received an extremely warm welcome by the front desk man, Ronald. He gave us a room discount and two free drinks at the bar just because we had to wait 30 minutes to get our room!

So we went to the lounge for our free drinks and the waitress was equally as hospitable. She told the hotel's PR manager our story and the PR lady came out right away to meet us. She tried getting us a meeting with the local paper but no reporters were available. She left us with some useful information oh how to easily get more media attention. Let's just see how we do with it. Tomorrow is supposed to snow and biking is going to be a challenge for sure. We have to do about 130 km's just to get to the next town with a warm hotel to stay in.

Never a worthwhile reward without a scrumptrelescent challenge leading the way.

But although it is cold, and even though it's far, I want to bike tomorrow. I find myself welcoming the challenge this time rather than finding a way to dodge it or make it easier. Maybe now I am just more interested in "just seeing" what happens if I just try.

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