11 Juillet 2010, Banff, jour de repos / July 11th, 2010, Banff, rest day.

Spain has just won its 1st world cup, here we are in Banff on our rest day. We have just gotten out of the Banff upper hot springs pool. Having cycled down from there into town, we could hear the cheers from the bars on the main street. So we locked up our bikes and went into Athenas Pizza to watch the rest of the game. Got into Banff yesterday afternoon having cycled 10 days straight for a total of 1023 km through the Rockies. During the last three days we went through Rogers Pass and Kicking Horse Pass, challenging climbs forsure.

We left Vancouver July 1st just as the city was gearing up for Canada Day. The day before we had cycled through Stanley Park and around the city clockwise to Granville island, with its unusual houseboats. Scenic bike paths throughout the city. From Vancouver we biked to Mission ,then on to Hope (Where they filmed Rambo First Blood), then Spences Bridge ,following the fraser and Thompson rivers this was our first real taste of mountains (8% grade climbs). Then Merritt country music capital of Canada. Everyone whose made it big has sang there from Johny Cash to Reba McEntyre to the Dixie chicks. Gino's cooking is what keeps us fueled. In the following days we went to Pritchard (Next to Kamloops) real arid country, the hill leading up to Kamloops was 11% grade.

The morning we went from Pritchard to Sicamous Gino had left his helmet in the campground office, but a good Samaritan offered to get it to us later in the day, which he did. From Sicamous to Canyon Hot Springs we went through Revelstoke where Gino bought his fourth saddle of the trip: He's suffering from rear end issues. Canyon Hot Springs to Golden took us through the glacier park and Rogers Pass which is 1330m on our hottest day(32c). Golden to Kicking Horse Campground was a short ride, but the campsite was the nicest one we've hit since entering B.C. That night we went "swimming" in the Kicking Horse River and it was FREEZING! We are meeting Anik and Erik for supper tonight at our campsite in Banff.

Here are a few pictures.

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Spain has just won its 1st world cup, here we are in Banff on our rest day. We have just gotten out of the Banff upper hot springs pool. Having cycled down from there into town, we could hear the cheers from the bars on the main street. So we locked up our bikes and went into Athenas Pizza to watch the rest of the game.
Got into Banff yesterday afternoon having cycled 10 days straight for a total of 1023 km through the Rockies. During the last three days we went through Rogers Pass and Kicking Horse Pass, challenging climbs forsure.
We left Vancouver July 1st just as the city was gearing up for Canada Day. The day before we had cycled through Stanley Park and around the city clockwise to Granville island, with its unusual houseboats. Scenic bike paths throughout the city.
From Vancouver we biked to Mission ,then on to Hope (Where they filmed Rambo First Blood), then Spences Bridge ,following the fraser and Thompson rivers this was our first real taste of mountains (8% grade climbs). Then Merritt country music capital of Canada. Everyone whose made it big has sang there from Johny Cash to Reba McEntyre to the Dixie chicks.
Gino's cooking is what keeps us fueled. In the following days we went to Pritchard (Next to Kamloops) real arid country, the hill leading up to Kamloops was 11% grade. The morning we went from Pritchard to Sicamous Gino had left his helmet in the campground office, but a good Samaritan offered to get it to us later in the day, which he did.
From Sicamous to Canyon Hot Springs we went through Revelstoke where Gino bought his fourth saddle of the trip: He's suffering from rear end issues.
Canyon Hot Springs to Golden took us through the glacier park and Rogers Pass which is 1330m on our hottest day(32c). Golden to Kicking Horse Campground was a short ride, but the campsite was the nicest one we've hit since entering B.C. That night we went "swimming" in the Kicking Horse River and it was FREEZING!

We are meeting Anik and Erik for supper tonight at our campsite in Banff.
(Here are a few pictures)