Canada Day Ride

Me in my geeky bike clothing- so I could be seen on the highway

Squirrel celebrates Canada Day

On July 1, the clouds lifted and there was sunshine!  It was like a miracle. It was also Canada Day!  Mary-jo left a message just after the crack of dawn for me to call her back.  She wanted to go riding and so did I.  It was so boring hanging around home on Saturday, June 29.

We met at 8:30am by the Highway 16 East hill.  It was nice that the sun was out but it wasn't too hot.  It was easy climbing up the hill.  I had all 4 bags on the bike, but not the tent and stuff on the rack.  It was still pretty loaded as I wanted to train that way and also test out my Ortliebs.

Mary-jo visits with her friends

While stopping for a break.. I took off to go for a pee in the bush.  I heard some laughter in the background, but it sounded like there was more people then just my 2 friends.  It turns out that some friends of Mary-jo recognized her on the road and had stopped to say hi.  I got them to take the shot of me and my friends on the top of the post.

We then continued onwards.  We had a break at the usual boxcar stop.  Mary-jo was having a noise on her bike that we couldn't pinpoint.  She'll have to take it to the shop again on Monday.  Better to find problems now then on Tour De Jasper.

Break at Box Car

We rode further then I expected.  We rode out just past the Willow River rest stop which is about 40 km out of the city. We were going ride a bit further, but Mary-jo decided that because of the unknown noise on her bicycle, that this was a good place to turn around.

Highway is busy due to Canada Day Long Weekend

Lupin

On the way back we bumped into some other cyclists with Canadian flags on their bike.  Why hadn't I thought about that?  I wonder if they were out for the day or doing an overnighter ride to Purden like I had done the weekend before?

I had so much energy coming back.  I could have ridden many more kms although 80 kms is not too bad!  I headed to the park for Canada Day celebrations while my friends went home.

Spent some time after the ride at the Park

When I finally arrived home, it started to rain heavily.  My timing couldn't have been better!  What a great day to ride and it made me forget how boring Saturday was.  (although I got lots of sleep!)