So I decided to go to Jasper on my days off and test out our new tent trailer and also my new legs by cycling the long climb to Marmot Basin ski resort, the tent trailer worked magnificently..my legs not so much. The climb is one of the hardest things I’ve done to date but I definitely have to work on my climbing a bunch. It starts out with a gradual incline for around 4km then it really ramps up for the last 14km, I didn’t know if I could do it but I thought I didn’t have anything to lose so what the heck. When you get to the turn off for Marmot there’s a sign that says “warning steep inclines for the next 14km, chains mandatory in the winter”, luckily it wasn’t winter so I took a deep breath and off I went. It doesn’t start off easy right away I was out of my saddle trying to get a rhythm that I could maintain and finally found one and settled back into my seat. About 2kn in I was wondering where everybody was..?? There was seriously NO ONE else on the road, no cars, no trucks, no cyclists NO ONE. I started to wonder if it was safe for me to be up there by myself and with all the bear warning signs around my mind started to figure out how I would use my bike to defend myself in case of an attack?? It’s a little erie up there there’s no sounds except for my panting, the odd animal sound or the tree tops swaying in the wind.  I was struggling but I was keeping it together and before I knew it 7km down 7km to go, I can do this. I saw something moving up ahead and it was around 12 big horn sheep just hanging out and eating some grass, I slowed for a second but motored past them and they paid no attention to me as I passed. It gets really steep for the next 3km, I focused on my heart rate and battled through no worse for wear.

I knew I only had 4 km to go and I wanted to finish strong, I got out of my small chain ring and told myself to stay in the big ring until the top no matter how much suffering it would put me through.  I was in a groove, head down pedaling my bike like I stole it when I looked up there was a momma brown bear and her 2 cubs about 40ft in front of me grazing in the ditch, she went up on her hind quarters and just stared at me. She was probably thinking ” what is this idiot doing?” the cubs were moving towards me and she went down on all fours and that’s when I decided getting to the top wasn’t that important after all. My mission was stopped about 2 km from the top and I turned around and enjoyed the long ride down at about 65km an hour. I returned the next day with a bell on my bike and made it all the way up..52min, I guess I can accomplish anything.

See you at the finish line,

MB