Calgary, Alberta

Fourth day in Calgary and getting into a routine, going to the library and getting on the internet during the morning, but first going for a coffee and a fudgy brownie.

I've been going through past video tapes - see the pictures at the video stills website. I've got up to the point where I was scared by what I thought was a bear eating my breakfast.



Back to the present. Tomorrow I head off into the mountains. I've had the bike serviced - there's a cog gone missing from one of the gears but I think I can manage without it, otherwise the bike's fine - and I've bought a ballaclava and an Ali G style skull cap (for wearing under the cycling helmet), some warm gloves and and new pair of shoes - running shoes rather than cycling shoes since I couldn't walk around in cycling shoes and can't afford (weight + money) to have two pairs of shoes, but they're waterproof and ought to be warmer than the crappy old Adidas trainers I've been wearing up to now.

The thing with cycling is that it's your extremeties that feel the cold: hands, feet and nose. I think I'll have all of those properly covered now. There's been snow in the mountains, but I've been told it doesn't last at this time of year. In the bike shop they advised against putting on snow tyres.

Let's check the weather forecast for Banff, which is where I hope to be the day after tomorrow (Monday). 9 degrees is okay. Tomorrow I aim to do 100km to Canmore, which apparently is not too hilly. I've made a booking for the hostel there. Would have gone today but the hostel was all booked up, due to it being Thanksgiving weekend.

Canmore to Banff is only 25km so although that will be hilly it should be easy (?) to do in a day. May stay another day in Banff since there are supposed to be hot springs there which could be good for my knee. Depends what the weather's like and what the forecast is, and I'll speak to people there about the next leg, up to Lake Louise where there's another hostel.

Trans Canada Highway in Alberta

It's going to be tough going, but I'll make sure the right leg does its fair share.

It's been good to have a break in Calgary, though I'm ready to leave now. I went to a local bar last night, which was good. Alberta allows smoking in bars which I think makes them better than bars in places where smoking is banned. I think I'd think that even if I were a non-smoker, which I'm not, especially in towns - I've been trying not to smoke whilst cycling, and will try not to up in the mountains where the air is thin.

Calgary, Alberta

I've decided my right leg has not been pulling (pushing?) its weight, leaving the left leg to do most of the work. That's why I keep getting pain in my left leg but not in the right leg, so I've been concentrating on making the right leg do its fair share of the work.

The saddle sores I've been getting recently have also been mainly on the left side.

Dr Mark informs me that it may be something to do with the ligaments, which I believe are the bits behind the knee. That's certainly where it hurts, though stretching exercises do help.


This is where the problems first started, back in Quebec, cycling along the St Laurence, which was very easy going, though it was after several rest days in Quebec City which maybe caused the ligaments to tighten up. The toughest days are usually ones following rest days. But I need the rest days. Without them I wouldn't be able to write anything on here.

Here is the lazy right leg, with the marks of the chain across it, giving the imnpression that it puts in a lot of effort, and until recently I was taken in by this.


There must be something in my brain that causes the left leg to work harder than the right leg. I'm right handed, but not sure what footed or legged I am. I was never much good at football so couldn't tell.

But perhaps it's nothing to do with that.

The left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, I think. It also controls langauge, whereas the right side of the brain is more into images. When I'm cycling along I'm thinking more in images, I think, and not so much in words, though words do go through my head. I also think a lot about numbers, particularly going across the praries, looking down at the speedometer every few seconds to see how fast (or slow) I'm going, then pressing the button and looking at the clock to see how many hours daylight I have left, then looking at the map to see where so many hours cycling at whatever speed gets me to and whether there's likely to be something to eat there and somewhere to sleep there.

I had hoped my thoughts whilst cycling would be more profound, that I would go into a meditative state and realize the true nature of reality, but really they're quite mundane thoughts. Perhaps that is the true nature of reality.

Calgary, Alberta

The ride across the praries has been slow and tough, mainly due to strong headwinds most days, plus bitterly cold mornings meaning I have tended to start later in the day, not wanting to get out of my sleeping bag while it's still below freezing outside.

Each day I've been at the mercy of the weather.

I remember speaking to someone a while back - can't remember when or where exactly - who reckoned they could control the weather. By "they" I don't mean them, the person who was speaking, I mean (or he meant) "They" - the usual "They" - US Government, military etc. And not just in a small way, but he reckoned maybe "They" created the hurricane that hit New Orleans. Would the Americans do that to their own people? I asked. Maybe it was the Chinese, or the Russians, he said. I remember being skeptical, and at the time the weather wasn't a big issue to me, but now it is.

It was great to spend last night in a warm bed, even though it's in a dorm with 4 others. The first night in a warm bed for almost two weeks.

I've been camping, mainly in cheap or free campsites - some have closed for the season - but also in a rest area off the highway and outside Saskatchewan's closed Tourist Welcome Centre.

That's enough of camping for a while. Apparently there's snow in Banff, and here in Calgary this morning it was frosty and misty, so for the mountain stretch I will be staying in hostels and motels.

After two days of particularly strong headwinds in Saskatchewan I had one day with perfect cycling conditions as I crossed into Alberta, but still it was a struggle as my left knee - the bit behind the knee really, whatever you call that - which has been plagueing me on and off since Quebec, returned with a vengeance. I had to stop every 10km and do stretching exercises which would keep the pain away for a while, but by the end of the day as I cycled through Medicine Hat (no idea why it's called that) it was really just my right leg doing all the work. To make myself feel better I shouted abuse at passing cars and trucks, especially the ones which don't use the outside lane to overtake.

There's been a four lane divided highway all across the praries mostly with very little traffic, and yet still some cars and some trucks can't be bothered to pull out into the outside lane in order to overtake a bike. On the windy days, particularly when the wind was coming from the South West, which it was on a few days, this could have a big effect since you're cycling along, leaning to compensate for the wind that's trying to push you off the road and then this thing comes along and blocks out the wind and you're then being dragged into its slipstream into the road and have to fight to stay on the shoulder. The trucks are usuallly good at pulling out into the outside line - it's the RVs that are the worst offenders. They're often the size of a coach but they don't seem to realize it, or they don't care.