March 2020

The plan changed too many times this spring, ideally I would have been back in chile to repair the bike but with covid shutting down borders I was now in USA with a bike frame and a rear wheel and clothes, all camping and filming gear was in South America, i was only here for 5 days after all. With a bit of help from many people I was able to get the bike together in Colorado but now there were rumors of flights shutting down to Canada and at that time of the pandemic all flights were very cheap. So it was either Vancouver or Calgary.

I arrived just few days before self isolation was mandatory but still did it anyway. A big change to be living here, I was more than happy self isolating with indoor heating, hot showers and time to edit episodes 36 and 37.

can’t escape the police, any time of the year.

April 2020

I got a chance to meet Scott and Skyler from Porcelain Rocket and see their shop in town. This is where all their bags are designed and made, everyone is an active rider or bikepacker!

below, probably about as clean as you will ever get to see the bike

the bike, Vicuna - named after the fast high altitude animals who roam the remote Puna de Atacama

I have been in touch with friends from Cranbrook about possibly visiting for a while and they were able to meet me here for a socially distanced ride out of town and they brought friends!

who is that shy brown dog? Don’t let first impressions deceive you, he is the one and only hound dog Gordo of Cranbrook and his friend Baxter the dog

We left the big city behind (1.3million) and onto the open country side Dan and Melanie take turns riding and driving and so do the dogs

After pizza dinner we figured it would take me about two weeks to reach Cranbrook and that would serve as self isolation, just in case.

I set up camp not too far from the highway. All my never used amazon entry level gear ready to take on the Canadian Rockies in Spring.

It’s all cowboy cattle country here and at the time there were news about outbreaks at some of the meat plants and how they have shut down. These fellows get to munch on more grass for a little while.

Alberta has already enacted fire bans in effort to discourage people gathering and camping but there is a certain risk already at the lower elevation with all the dried up vegetation.

Heading over to a pass over the Kananaskis Range it appears to be cleared but there is a worrying amount of snow on either side of the road.

Then it turns out that this is as far as the road is cleared.

but no problem. John on the bulldozer can run a line to the back, or that is what I guess the driver of the grader yells at me over the two roaring machines. Then they yell to eachother, then he goes and I follow.

that is one strong machine and this is how deep the snow would have been otherwise

Just as we near the intersection we spot other dozers and graders clearing the road on the other side. John says now I can go that way but I want to be going south.

pushing chunks of snow like they are marshmellows

looks like my earlier estimate about snow depth was about right

With the snow so soft I started looking up for places I could camp without snow, with a little bit of adjustment the sleeping pad was just level enough. I am still coming to terms with how cold Canada can still be, I have not had a proper winter here in over 5 years.

Thanks to the cold nights the road is rideable in the morning. What could be knee deep pushing, pulling and lifting in the afternoon takes few seconds

looks like some bear was wandering around on the snow

There were lots of wild life sightings or tracks of wild life and some Calgarians who were out social distancing in the mountains.

if you ever read this thank you for the food and the hand sanitizer!! it was so nice to stop and talk

camping was quiet and nice with accessible water and nothing too eventful but the cold, cold nights. There were plenty of trees but also some chances to get a good look at the Rocky Mountains

Coleman is a little highway stop on the edge of Alberta. There is a little store that looked open people stopping but its all only essential workers now. Other travel is not forbidden but not recommended and people seem to go by it, I have all my food with me and just pass by.

I found a nice track saving me some against the wind riding on the highway and taking me to the Corbin mine and The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. The snow keeps getting deeper and deeper until a point where I really begin to wonder if going back would be the best option

oddly enough walking through the cold creek feels warmer than in the slush

Finally the snow subsides on a south facing slope and I am left with a bit of a free for all across a cut block to find its access road

It was late by the time I found a campsite and I quickly set up and made instant mash potatoes.

it also helps to warm up your frozen toes a little

then the worst part of the day where you take off your wet socks and have to keep them in your sleeping bag to try or dry them or in my case just keep them warm enough so that they are not frozen in the morning.

I didnt get to see much due to clouds when i was here in 2014 and i wont get to see much here now. Do you see that mountain to the right? it’s being moved.

then it started snowing on the way up to Flathead Pass but it was still cold enough so that I was able to ride

down into the flathead the snow turns to rain and i become a wet <insert your choice of animal here>

in focus but not facing the right way, moose makes walking on this road look easy

The rain was on and off now but the snow was really deep, the prospects of camping somewhere dry were slim

There was an outfitters lodge nearby and a perfect porch to stay dry.

and while I was snowbound here on a tiny island in a sea of white, my little drone could fly out and take a photo of the flathead valley looking back to where I came from

and looking forward to USA as the flathead valley extends to Glacier national park, the border is currently closed.

The snow doesnt freeze too well and I end up knee deep in it. About 4 hours in total to make one appreciate all the work that it takes to keep a road open out here.

The Harvey Forest Road is clear but no logging traffic at all, likely due to covid. I enjoy the quiet ride through the Rockies.

caution these mountains may have sharp edges

Thank you

I take a pipeline road passing south of Mount Broadwood, now donated for conservation by Shell

its much warmer at this altitude, I set up a nice camp and get to dry out most of my gear

I find those little bugs crawling around a little interesting, they seem very armored. (later I find out those are ticks!)

wood ticks aren’t known to carry lyme disease but they will still bite you

over in the distance there are goats running around

all of a sudden a bunch of cyclists overtake me like a road sign, one of them is Steve, whom I met before in Banff. He is in a bit of a rush to catch up to the group though

the Elko mill which has also halted work at the moment.

in Elko I see somebody working on their truck outside and ask if I can recharge my phone. I am absolutely out of power. We get chatting from a very safe distance of course and its something that is really missing now with all the fear and precautions but it can be done safely.

Luckily according to medical experts and scientists there has been no edivence of human to dog transmission of covid and neither of us are sick so dog was in for pets and sniffing the funny looking bike.

meanwhile somebody drives by with his dog

Elko is a nice place, population 163

there is the road to Montana, there would be a place or two I would like to see again in USA and its great network of national parks but maybe another time.

Baynes Lake, one stop sign, one cat kind of town

This fills up completely with water at the end of the snowmelt

Then Steve from the morning comes up, he just finished his loop and is heading back to Fernie. His friends were done earlier but he is riding 160km today, he has his own podcast ( My Back 40 ) and we agreed we would sit down someday to talk but maybe not now. Steve was a bit upset that there wont be races this year with few already being cancelled.

I meet up with Mel and Dan and we ride on haha creek toward Cranbrook

these wheels might have been better for the snow

and as for Gordo, you will hear more about him soon. thanks for reading along.