1998 - The Big Cycle Part 3

The Rockies Cycle (or) Shuswap to Radium to Jasper to Barriere to Shuswap
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Day 9 (Rampart Creek to Jasper - 140km)

Icefield Centre with the Athabasca Glacier behind us.

The day of THE BIG CLIMB! Well we got up just as the sun was coming up, but being in a deep valley, it wasn't going to hit us for some time. We pumped water into our water bottles and set off. It was 20 km to the base of the climb. The air was cool - the climb was steep - the climb was looooooong - but we had low gears. Reaching the summit of Sunwapta Pass and entering Jasper Park was a mile stone. The weather was ideal. Chuck and I gazed up upon Mt. Athabasca that we had climbed years ago and struck a similar pose to one we had made on the summit. At the Icefield Center the dining room was closed! Bummer. We so looked forward to a white table cloth breakfast. We went outside on the patio sipping our coffees and pointed out climbers on the upper reaches of Athabasca to various tourists. We basked in our achievements.

We soon pointed our bikes north and soon found an incredible tailwind blowing our bikes toward Jasper. After descending from Tangle Falls hill, the wind allowed us to easily cruise at 35 to 40 km/hr. Tangle Falls summit with Mt. Athabasca in the distance. Chuck got to find out just how good his new breaking system was when Ken and Dale did an unexpected turn into Jonas Creek Campground. It was somewhere along this section that Dale and I were blasting along when an old frost heave sprung up in front of us. At the last second we tried to unweight our bikes and the bump sent us hurtling through the air to land who knows how far past the bump. No broken spokes! Chuck said that when he hit it just after us, his aerodynamic crouch position caused his handle bar bag to come up and smack him in the face! It was at Jonas Creek that Dale cooked up the idea of not staying at Sunwapta Falls as planned, but to take advantage of the tailwinds and cycle to Jasper. I didn't think much of the plan at the time, but tried to be as non-committal as possible. When we got to Sunwapta Lodge, I thought that if we were going to continue, I had better stoke the old furnace. So I had a hamburger, much to the puzzlement of the other guys who commented on the still full stomachs from breakfast. I had learned though, that if I ran out of fuel, my day would quickly become very unpleasant. Actually Dale's idea was a good one. The weather was threatening, and the tail wind, although not as strong as before, was still helping us. Jasper would be the place to be if it were to rain, not a campsite 4 km north of Sunwapta Lodge. Ken started to really lag behind the rest of us. His stomach problems were obviously causing him serious problems. Just after 6:30 we rolled into the Whistler's campground. We set up camp, showered, and headed into Jasper for a late supper. We cycled back in the dark, our blinkers blinking, and flashlights in hand. Day 10 (Rest day at Jasper) Ken went to the clinic, and joined us soon after for breakfast. We did laundry and had our bikes checked at the bike shop. Dale got a very short hair cut and when Ken later went back to camp, the rest of us checked out one of the local pubs. We learned that the Yellowhead highway was closed at times because of a large forest fire. This got us thinking about the possibility of not being able to cycle through that route. We went to the "Something Else" Greek restaurant for supper. Ken was obviously not feeling well as he hardly touched his dinner. At camp, soon after making a call to Anna, Ken announced what we reluctantly expected. He was not continuing on the ride. He would board a bus the next day and head for home. Not being able to keep any food in his system long enough to get nourishment was not going to allow him to complete the 5 or 6 more days that it was going to take to get back to Shuswap Lake. We all felt bad but, under the circumstances, the only thing to do. We were just fortunate that we were at a place where getting him and his bike and gear home was easy. ... on to part 4