Day One - 63km - Some rain
It was 18 months ago that I had my left knee replaced. Bernadette had her operation for carpal tunnel syndrome last month. With this as background we start out and a few things rotate through my mind as we start off from the back of the parking lot of the Banff Springs Hotel. Yesterday we went into the outfitter store to do our "not permitted on the plane shopping. We asked for bear spray...and how to use it, feeling inept. I mutter to Bern "After this trip we will feel like we belong in a shop like this". I had a conversation with my daughter Kathleen a week before and pronounced that, through the research I made on the internet, I am at the same level of experience as folks in "before internet time" of two 2 years in the skills of wilderness bike touring. She laughed. I agreed.
I always have a tendency to think that hard things won't be so hard, but hard things ARE hard. That was the lesson for day 1. The magnitude of what we had set out to accomplish made it self readily apparent...we weren't in Ontario anymore.
After one hard section, about 40 km into the ride, we came to a trailhead parking area where we met Mark and his wife Denise. The one way you can tell a great divide person is the distinctive green map they hold. Mark told us his story. Mark had a form of ALS and was slowly losing his voluntary muscle function. He was doing the Divide because " he still could". Last year he could ride a bike, and this year he could only walk with the aid of crutches and could only ride his three wheel bike. I told him that I had taken a leave to ride the route. He said "Good for you...you never know when something will come along and stop you from doing the things you dreamed of doing". We continued to run into Mark and his wife several times during the first few days and continued to admire his determination and perseverance.
After a long slog up a hill, a little more than half way to the designated stop at the camp ground, and rain starting, and we were running out of power to continue on. Looking at our map, again, I noticed that there was a lodge half way from where we currently suffering to the camp ground. We made it to the lodge after a long tough climb. We walked in, wet, cold, and dejected. The kid at the front desk said no rooms at the inn. After some grovelling the kid (Adam) came up with "Would you be okay with a Yurt"...I nodded and we took the accommodation, no questions asked. Adam, was our first trail angel.
