Sun, Storms and Stunning Scenary -Day 10 - Lake Louise to Calgary

Woke up early and saw that the weather was fine, blue skies and some cloud over the Rockies. Also took note of the temperature, a warm 5 degrees, made me think twice about the long journey out of the mountains... but I managed to do it.

Texas Gates at the entrance of Lake Louise - designed to keep wildlife in the area (or out of the area) were not fun to go across... essentially these are cattle stops with huge spaces between them and I had to cross three of them to get to where I was headed. Even walking across them was tricky because I felt as though my tire would slide through the grate and my bike would be toast, obviously I managed though.

I had decided to take the scenic route from Lake Louise to Banff using the Bow River Parkway (Hwy 1A) - This was a good move as once again wildlife was out and about. I saw an elk, and about 13 deer over the course of the entire day. Good times. Cycling was smooth sailing all the way out of Banff National Park - stopping for lunch in Canmore (with Mike...LOL).

As the mountains became foothills I noticed that the sky was turning NASTY. Well actually it turned black, and thought for certain that I would get wet on the ride, so I stopped and prepped for the worst, but once again lucked out as I only received a few drops and a small shower. Watching lightning from a distance was cool - I'm just grateful that the storm was heading North and I was heading South East.

The highest point of the day was at Scott Hill (elevation 1450m) and from there I had an awesome cruise down into Calgary...averaging about 30km/h for most of the day - with the exception being the climb up the big hill.

Seeing the Calgary sign and knowing that I would be meeting up with Andy Moonsammy (workmate/friend) at Canada Olympic Park I was quite pleased with my efforts as I arrived in Calgary by 4:38pm.

I have now cycled 1153km.