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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