Our fourth day (Aug 6) started out poorly. The motel cafe didn't have enough pancake batter for our breakfast. Do you believe it! And it had run out of potatoes the night before! The waitresses seemed to take on quite a disinterested approach to their jobs. Talk about being out in the hinterland! To top it off the morning was rainy. Looking north where we were headed looked downright ominous. Low dark clouds smothered the valley where we were headed making it look terribly depressing.

The ride started again with a tail wind, but it was soon cold and raining so heavily that I felt I had to trade my SuperMicroft jacket for my heavy duty goretex jacket and waterproof overmitts. I also had on goretex faced tights and waterproof over booties over my cycling shoes. I pulled the hood over my helmet and tried to get used to the idea that Valemount was 90 km ahead with absolutely no services of any kind in between! What a depressing prospect!

It rained hard for about half an hour, then stopped. That was the last rain we had while cycling for the whole trip. We passed a woman walking north and she was very talkative and wanted us to turn around and chat. We smiled, waved, and cycled on. She seemed just a little odd in her mannerisms.

We began to stop every 10 km. Ken was naturally faster and our regular stops got us together on a regular basis, and just importantly, gave our bums a rest. We tried to nibble on something and drink during each of these rests, even if it was just a sip and a suck on a hard candy. I found I couldn't go too long without "fueling the furnace". About every 20 km I found having half a chocolate bar was helpful.

At the 40 km stop we had half a sub sandwich which we had bought at Blue River. I had roast beef, cheese, some sort of salad like addition, and some rather tasty mustard. By this time the weather was starting to get quite good, with a strong tail wind from the south. The final run into Valemount was mostly downhill, where we got up to 35 to 40 km/h with little problem!

The former KOA campsite in Valemount was opposite a number of restaurants. We had a very filling meal of zucchini strips, pasta, and topped off with apple pie and ice cream for dessert. The furnace was full again!

We planned to only go to Robson Center the next day, which would be a run of only 35 km. That would set us up for a reasonable 85 km to Jasper after that. I looked forward to the easy 35 km the next day, not because I couldn't do another 90 km, but just because a short day would tend to allow me to recharge my batteries. Food and rest was obviously the key in doing that. Travelling fully loaded as we were, and going over hilly terrain, created a situation where it was impossible to eat too much. I found it difficult to replace what I was burning up during the day. With me especially, staying hydrated was extremely important. Without doing so, I tend to get headaches and become quite useless. The cool days we were experiencing were making that easy.

Day Five - Valemount to Mount Robson

The morning started chilly but we both just used shorts and cotton T shirts. It was flat to Tete Juane Cache and then we had some moderate hills up to the Mt. Robson viewpoint. What a view and sense of accomplishment! It was a short run from there to the Mount Robson Provincial Park visitor center and adjoining campsite. Robson was cloudless all day. A real treat. It felt good to just sit around and recharge. The day's 35 km was very easy. We spent the whole afternoon sitting at a picnic table at the visitor center reading and eating. The last five days, especially the last two had been very full.

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