Aug 21 2015 Banff Preparations

This morning I was up at 6:45 and got ready for an early morning run.  I was meeting Sean and Marca for a 50 minute run.  It was pretty crisp at on 10C but after a few blocks it was great.  Not running in 22C was really nice.  We took the path way along the river and there was nobody out that early.  I really enjoyed the run and my Piriform/Sciatic   was not bothering at all.  Hopefully that injury is behind me.

After the run Gordon, Alan and I set out building a partition in the Penske to keep the luggage on one side and the food and kitchen stuff on the other.  We had to drive into Canmore to find a lumber store and get some plywood.  I was driving the big Ford 4X4 van and it is a monster to handle in the narrow and crowded Banff  streets.  While getting out of Banff we saw a small herd of deer eating flowers from someone’s flower pots.  Those guys have must love it here in town, with all the wonderful salads prepared for them.

By the time we got back from Canmore with some plywood and 2x4’s it was just pouring rain.  When we opened the back of the Penske we found that the roof was leaking and a lot of the luggage which had been stored in the truck was soaked.  So we set up a bunch buckets inside the truck and set about building the partition.  Because of the rain we had to shuffle all the stuff around where we working.  It took twice as long as it should have.

At 4:00 Pm was the introductory rider meeting and Rob got up and introduced the ride and every one then he handed out ride jerseys.  I was more than a little surprise to get one as I will be helping for only 9 days.  It is really nice.  It shows the details of the ride at 2745 miles and is the world’s longest off pavement cycle ride. 

It was a long day.  We started work at 8:00 am and finished 8:00 pm.   

Tomorrow is the first ride day it is 93 kms and with all the rain we got to day it is going to be a mud bath.   The forecast is for 1C at 7:00 am tomorrow and I believe it as there is a lot of snow piled up on the mountains around Banff.  So a long, cold, muddy day,  I am glad that I am doing picnic. 

Terry