Cast and Crew

This post is long overdue. Since we'll all be hanging out together, either in person or vicariously, I figured introductions were in order. Terry hand-picked the riders he wanted to invite. Some of us rode with him on the the Crossroads cross-country ride. Others he met on the Paris-to-Istanbul trip he did last year. For some reason he deemed me worthy to join the group. No accounting for taste I suppose. From left to right we have



Agnes -- Terry's better half and the ringleader behind the Super Support Staff (SSS)

Xena & Phantom -- The mellowest dogs I've ever seen. I want to come back as them in my next life.

Terry (in red) -- The organizer of this expedition.

Jurg (blue helmet) -- Part of the Paris contingent. He flew in from Switzerland.

Me (leaning on bike for those who don't know me) -- your intrepid reporter

Don (red jersey) -- A local friend of Terry's who joined us for day 1.

Vickie (black sweater) -- Frank's better half and part of the SSS

Frank (blue helmet) -- Veteran of the cross-country trip. Frank and Vickie are riding the first week of the trip, unless we can convince them to stick around longer.

Rita (white top) -- Carl's better half and part of the SSS.

Jennifer (blue jersey) -- Terry's running coach and our lone female rider

Dean (red jersey) -- Jennifer's husband and riding partner

Carl (seated) -- Rita's husband and Paris vet. They are from Johannesburg but now call London their home

Sondra -- Jim's better half and the final member of the SSS.

Jim -- Vet of the cross-country tour and the Paris trip. I think Jim is the instigator behind a lot of what Terry does, but he'd claim that I have that backward.

This is a great group of folks. Terry only picked riders he liked. I have to say, he did a great job.

Paradise, well almost

Still no internet access. I suspect this will be an ongoing problem. Unfortunately I can only do so much with the phone. And I can't do justice to one of the most incredible days i've ever had on a bike.

Today had everything. Views unmatched on any ride i've ever done. The Kananasas Valley is simply remarkable. I've never seen anything like it. We saw bighorn sheep on the road several times today. And postcard mountain views that went on for 60 miles.

The major climb took us to over 7200 feet, two days after leaving sea level. Felt like I was breathing through a straw.

We were chased by weather all day and thought we'd dodged a bullet. The hailstorm, rain and lightning the last 15miles of the ride indicated otherwise. We saw one flash. I started counting...one thousa--BOOM!

This is a ride i'll be telling my great grandkids about. Definitely one for the ages.
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Morning in the rockies

Not a bad way to start the day
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A great first day

No internet access from the campsite so i'm posting from my crackberry. That will happen from time to time along the way. Bummer. No google earth stuff until I have access. Pardon the typos.

We had a nice relaxing ride out of town. Covered just over 50 miles as we headed towards the mountains. The views continually improved all day long. We're now at a campground right in the Bow Valley looking up at some magnificent peaks. This is apparently just a warm-up for what's to come.
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Final Countdown...

3...2...1... We're almost there!

After much turmoil and angst I was finally able to pick up my bike this morning. Bad Kitty!

But not without a little more stress this morning. I called to verify that we could pick it up at the FedEx office. When we got there the guy at the counter had no record of a package for either Terry or Kevin (my friend who sent it). Deep breath...Deep breath...He found it in the back room after searching for a few minutes and fortunately I assembled it without incident.

We took the morning to take a quick tour of downtown Calgary. The Calgary Stampede starts tomorrow so we're just going to miss the festivities. The downtown area is replete with hay bales and cowboy hats.There's a lovely walking district on 8th street right downtown that leads to Olympic Plaza. During the 1998 Winter Olympics this area hosted the medals ceremonies. In the winter they flood the fountain and turn the area into an outdoor skating arena. The group stopped for falafels for lunch. It's a good thing we start riding tomorrow. Agnes (Terry's wife) has been an incredible hostess. We're eating like pigs and I'll be fat as a house if I don't start getting some exercise.

Re: Now i'm ready for anything!

A good look, dont'cha think? Terry thinks of everything! Nanook of the North sez bring it on!

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Welcome to Calgary

Terry was waiting for me right outside of customs once I got to Calgary. We haven't seen each other for two years but it felt just like old times. I had a window seat for the flight in and got to see some of the country we'll be riding through. Holy smokes, the mountains are incredibly imposing. It's really beautiful, but my quads are quivering just thinking about what's to come.

I'm in the process of meeting everyone. We'll have 8 riders and 4 crew members. Four of the wives of the riders are going to be our support staff along the way. This seems like a really good group of folks.

While I made it here uneventfully my bike has not been so cooperative. I shipped it 2 day delivery on FedEx. It was due to arrive last Friday, but apparently some folks at the FedEx customs office have become attached to it. It's been quite a circus. They originally wanted me to pay excise tax because they assumed it was being shipped for retail. That took a couple of days to get resolved. Now it's out of customs and ready to be delivered, but today is Canada Day, a national holiday. So still no bike.

We're driving to the FedEx office tomorrow morning to pick it up. 2-day delivery has turned in to 9-day pickup. I've been going cookoo-for-coconuts the last couple of days worrying about how to get this resolved. My buddy Kevin has been pulling strings inside FedEx trying to get things worked out. Assuming no damage in shipping I'll get it put back together tomorrow just in time for Friday morning's roll-out. Hey, it ain't an adventure until something screws up.

On a happier note I found out that we'll be arriving back in Calgary a day earlier than planned so I'll be able to ride the entire trip. I had thought that I'd have to skip the last day of riding in order to catch my plane. Now it looks like I'll be able to finish with the group.