Tuesday 9 July 2013

Days 8, 9 & 10 of the EPIC Ride - Golden, BC - Banff, AB; Banff - Calgary, AB; Calgary rest day

Day #8 of the EPIC Ride
Friday, July 5, 2013
Golden, BC - Banff, AB
Distance: 148 km
Avg. Speed: 25 km/h
Partly cloudy

Day #9 of the EPIC Ride
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Banff – Calgary, AB
Distance: 127 km
Mostly cloudy all day-windy and rainy in the later part of the day

Day #10 of the EPIC Ride
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Rest day in Calgary


Sorry about the delay in posting stuff. I was busy and somewhat lazy at the same time.

So for Day #8 of our trip, the Riders went from Golden, BC and crossed over in to Banff.
After breakfast, they left the campsite and started out for the day, while I cleaned up camp, did a couple quick errands, and then realized I needed to catch up really quickly. By the time I caught up with the Riders, they’d rode over 80km in 4 hours. We stopped for lunch in the village of Lake Louise for about an hour, then the Riders headed off for Banff, while I went up to see Lake Louise


Between that side-trip, and the time to get to Banff, the Riders actually made it to Banff a few minutes before I did. They covered 57 km in 1.5 hours!

When we arrived in Banff, we got ourselves set up at the Rundlestone Lodge on Banff Avenue, thanks to the generosity of General Manager Ron Bateman. He and his wife and daughters had us over in the evening for a delicious dinner! Then we went back to the Lodge and soaked in the hot tub. Thanks again to the Batemans for all their hospitality!

On Saturday, Dave, Luke and Evan rode from Banff to Calgary. The first part of the day was cool and overcast, with a bunch of uphills and downhills coming through the last of the mountains. For our first water and snack break, we pulled off on an exit that used to actually go somewhere, before the flooding in that area…


A few kilometres later, we left the mountains and passed through rolling hills and fields. At the second stop, as the Riders were getting ready to do the last part of the day’s ride, Luke noticed that dark clouds were moving south/southeast. They started off in an attempt to avoid rain, but the clouds moved too fast.


By the time they’d reached Calgary, they were cold, soaked, and tired. Winds of at least 40 km/h beat at them from the north, while rain pelted at them as they rode.

Thankfully, a friend of ours, Jesse Corriveau, had set up  accommodations for us at the SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) Residence building just off of the Trans-Canada. Once the Riders reached Calgary, they were able to dry off and change, and then we went to Swiss Chalet, thanks to Jesse giving us a gift card.

This is my view from the 22nd-and top-floor of the Residence building at night.


On Sunday, we took a day off and went to Centre Street Church in Calgary, where we were treated to lunch after the service. We sat and talked with a couple people from the church and had some great discussions about Ratanak and sex trafficking awareness.

We then visited the coolest bicycle shop we’ve ever been to, called The Bike Shop, in downtown Calgary. They had stock in everything you could need for bicycles on one floor, and on the second floor, they had dozens of bicycles. They also ran a large repair area on the first floor.

Later in the evening, Jesse treated us-again!-to dinner at Peter’s Drive-In (burgers, fries, & shakes), and my cousin Justin and Evan’s uncle Marc joined us as well.

We were there so long, talking and joking around, that finally we started to get cold and noticed that even though it was still bright out, it was almost 10 pm!

So we headed back to the residence building and got some sleep in preparation for a long day of riding.



Thanks for all the support, prayers, and connections as we go!
While the riding is going well overall, we are still raising money for Ratanak, and we have a $25,000 goal, Right now we’re at about $13,000.


Please, consider donating to Ratanak. Our team is giving up our summer and going through long days of riding to do what we can to help others; will you help by making a sacrifice too?


Keep it EPIC!

- Ben

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