Western Canada - Alberta - First Serious Bike Tour in (hopefully)

Miro : You are partly correct about the Trans Can Hwy, parts of it have been poor some years. ( Sask + Manitoba ) The Fed gov't maybe spent their money elsewhere.
But the length is like from Lisbon to Crimea somewhere ? 6% as many people maybe. We only have 5 months of construction time each year.
I do know they are trying new and better methods. Things are not getting worse here at all. They Will in USA very soon. 10% defficient bridges at least.
I haven't been to Europe. My brother took a bus tour 30 years ago. How many roads there have even a half metre sholder ??

Do you drink the tap water anywhere in Europe ? I never bought bottled water anywhere here.

Well a couple family members are making prepping for my trip easier. My great-uncle donated a tripod to me that he no longer uses, and yesterday at work my mother suprises me with an Oakley rain jacket that she scored for $50 on clearance at Cranky's in St. Albert; Which coincidenatally, proved very handy on my commute the last two days. It's certainly nice to not have to worry about getting all of the essentials myself.

And again thanks to another family member, I now have a perfectly suitable two-man tent for me and my gear. This trip just got $185 cheaper!

Alright, picked up the last of the major essentials today; front rack & panniers, portable stove, small cooking set. Starting to really look like a touring machine now, I just gotta play with how I strap down the tent and sleeping bag. The front rack was a real B*$%^ to mount due to behind-the-axle islets, straight blade forks and disc brakes in the way, but I got the thing on there and secure. I'll likely load er up after work tomorrow and see how it rides. The excitement builds...
162274

162275

162276

Looking good!

Well the trip was shorter than expected! Due to some mechanical issues (broken spoke mainly), time constraints, and dwindling resources, the trip ended up being four riding days. I was picked up yesterday in Hinton by my mother.

All in all it was a great trip! I rode about 330km to Hinton from Morinville, 85km on day one, 100-110km on days two and three, and just under 40km on day 4 due to a broken spoke. I had changed my mind about the Rockies and decided to do my original trip (Edmonton-Jasper-Edmonton) but the broken spoke at Obed Summit east of Hinton put an end to that. I wasn't equipped to change a spoke on the road, and even with the wheel true I wanted to err on the side of caution and not ride more than I had to. Next time I'll bring at least some spare drive-side spokes and my new chainwhip and cassette tool.

I met some really interesting people, was fed lemon fried perch by some generous fellow campers in Obed Provincial Park, rode up the biggest hills yet (20 kms of them with little flats before Obed Summit near Hinton!), and consider my first solo bike tour a success!

Here's some photos.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52813095@N03/sets/72157624674259654/

Hey Aaron, bummer that the trip had to be cut short, but a nice tour nonetheless. Congratulations on your first tour, and thanks for sharing the photos. I liked that one of you flexing your muscles in front of the Obed Summit sign - definitely an appropriate pose for that location!

man, you've got absolutely the biggest one-sleeper tent i've ever seen! seriously, there's some weight savings to be had there...

Totally agree about the tent, twas a little on the bulky side, however, for the price (Free!) I couldn't ask for much better,

Totally agree about the tent, twas a little on the bulky side, however, for the price (Free!) I couldn't ask for much better,

free shaves 500g off the weight of anything!

Congrats on the tour, looks like you had fun. Judging from your photo album it's a good thing those people offered the fish, were you planning on subsisting on soup and rice cakes for the whole tour? :lol:

Not the whole tour, but being broke the first couple days till the good ol payroll came in I was eating pasta three meals a day. Never again, lesson learned! The last three days I enjoyed a good deal of fruit, nuts, a little meat, and some bread. Much better than my plain pasta diet! I was very glad for the fish, some of the friendliest people I have ever met were on that 5-day tour. Something about being on a gear-laden bicycle brings out the heart in people it seems.

While I was disappointed that the tour didn't go nearly as long as I had hoped, I learned a great deal and am happy I can carry the experiences and the ability to change my own spokes on to my next adventure. And maybe I won't only pack pasta. :P

Aaron - Would be happy to teach you how to replace spokes but think that you might consider getting a tougher rear wheel for your bike if you plan on doing any serious touring.

You're a big guy and carry a lot of gear and the stock wheels are probably only rated to 250 pounds.

Other than that... we still have some nice weather ahead of us and should really get out and do some riding.

I actually changed the spoke that I broke myself. Shimano was smart and made the lockring for both the casette and disc rotor the same, so for the same price I would have paid the LBS to replace it ( wanted to see if United would change it for free, no cigar.) I took my $45 and bought a chainwhip, casette tool, and a repair manual, and learned something useful! The next tour I'll definitely look at a good 36 or even 40 spoke wheel.

And I agree about the riding. I've gotten slack and have to get the mileage back up again and get doing long day trips on my days off work. I could be apart from my bike for a good while and need to get the most out of the next two months.

I have tomorrow off and after looking at the weather forecast could not be more excited about taking a ride into Edmonton tomorrow. Sunny, and 25 with a feel-like temp of 31. I'll have to go exploring some untraversed parts of the River Valley and get the camera out.

I have tomorrow off and after looking at the weather forecast could not be more excited about taking a ride into Edmonton tomorrow. Sunny, and 25 with a feel-like temp of 31. I'll have to go exploring some untraversed parts of the River Valley and get the camera out.

You should ring me up... have been slacking off myself and should get out for a spin.

Sounds like a plan!