Day 12 - Into the Plains

We woke to another day of clear skies and sunshine. Today’s ride started off with a detour to see the Banff Springs Hotel,

and then a quick ride to the bike store in Canmore to get the new rear wheel we had ordered for Serge a few days back. Although the bike store opens at 10:00 AM we arrived shortly before 9:00 AM and there were folks in the shop. Hats off to Rebound Cycle in downtown Canmore for letting us in and starting to work on replacing Serge’s rear wheel an hour before they officially opened. We even got to watch Mark Cavendish win today’s stage of the Tour du France and got served espressos while we were waiting. Note to future Tour Riders: It is very worthwhile to have a list of  "bike shops along the way" since at some point on the tour you may need a part or some service.  It really helps things if you can call a few days in advance to "stage" things in case they need to order parts (like Serge's rear wheel).

After leaving Canmore and the foothills of the Rockies, we headed to the north of Calgary and on to Airdrie. At one point the ground was so flat, I swore that we could see Manitoba. We managed to find the campsite despite the “cue sheet”, and with our tour of Airdire trying to find the site, I managed to clock just over 100 miles for the day – the first of many “Centuries” to come.




The weather was as hot as tar, as they used to say in North Carolina, and our “bike tans” are coming along frighteningly – a white torso, hands and feet with arms and legs as brown as coffee.