Best of Banff – Part II

Wow, it turns out that between the running and all the walking I did on Saturday I was sore!!!  Oh well, Sunday arrived, the skies were reasonably clear so it was time to ride.  We headed out to the Bow Valley Parkway, the more scenic highway that connects Banff and Lake Louise. 

I rode this last year with my friend James the weekend before the Lake Stevens 70.3.  The scenery is amazing out here, plus the ride is a lot of fun.  The speed limit is fairly low along here and the ride is a fun one with some hills here and there, plus a net elevation loss on the way back.  Last year I rode the entire parkway and it was about a 3.5 hour ride.  This was a little more than what I and my riding partner were looking to do, so we parked at Johnston Canyon.  Along the way to Johnston Canyon we spied some elk!  Apparently there was a bear out along the way too, but we didn’t spot it.  The road was in pretty good shape – patches of gravel here and there, but definitely rideable.  While there were patches of sunshine here and there, there was also a pretty wicked wind coming out of the west.  It also looked like it was storming around Lake Louise.  After riding for about 40 minutes there were teeny tiny flakes of snow in the air.  We made the decision to turn around rather than risk getting caught in a possible storm.   The net downhill on the way back sure was nice as it only took 28 minutes to get back to the car!  And with that it was time to head back to Calgary…  We did manage to spy some goats on the way, but they were a little camera shy…