Day 8 Mara to Albert Canyon 79 miles.

Despite my hope of improving weather the rain returned overnight and I awoke to a soaking wet tent to pack away.

I headed out of camp at about 8am and pretty soon realised my new saddle was going to give me a few problems. After a few km my left thigh was rubbing against it and I had to stop to adjust it. I persisted up until we got to the Last Spike exhibition at about 40 km and then moved it backwards to try to stop the rubbing but the damage had been done and the rest of the day was quite sore. Thankfully I don’t appear to have done much damage to my skin so I’m hopeful all will be well in the morning. 

The last spike museum is to commemorate the driving in of the last spike (which holds the rail to the railway sleeper) on the east/west railway line. This meant that the railway was complete and they could get all the way across Canada rather than just to the east of the mountains.

After a quick stop we headed off along the Trans Canada Highway, the main motorway which runs coast to coast across Canada.

The ride was relatively flat early on with only the odd climb to get me warmed up. Once again we were cycling along the valley floor and occasionally climbing over small passes between valleys. The scenery is huge and photographs just don’t do it justice.

At about 90km we pulled into a café for lunch and a rest as we knew the last 30km or so would be a stiff challenge. From this point on we were climbing up Rogers Pass, named after the man who discovered a train route through the mountains, which is a steady climb for about 70km, 40km of which we will complete first thing tomorrow. Today was about 5/6%  in places with the odd descent but sadly the head winds we seem to have been plagued with got even stronger and we were having to pedal hard even going downhill in places.

I have to admit I was pretty pleased to get to camp: 80 miles had taken us nearly 6 hours and I was knackered and my bum was sore from the new saddle.

The campsite is nice though, green grass to pitch on and a hot spring fed pool which I had a soak in. Dinner was Chicken and Asian Noodles which was very nice, the wind has finally dropped and the sun come out which has given us a chance to dry some stuff out. Sadly the railway once again runs alongside the camp site so we are in for a noisy night I fear.

Phone signals and Internet have been problematic over the last few days but hopefully when we get to our next stop in Golden tomorrow that will be easier.

We move into Mountain time tomorrow about half way through the ride which means we move forward an hour, the first time I have cycled across a time zone.

Golden will be the location for our second rest day and I am looking forward to the rest and a chance to get my washing done and hopefully the tent dried out. The weather forecast is for rain on Sunday and then it should start to warm up from Monday.

Tomorrow is only 72 miles but most of it is up!

Onwards and upwards!