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bikes canada general moosling

Legacy Trail

It’s a far cry from a few weeks ago when we last tried to cycle along here and were stopped short by huge drifts of snow. The trail has been ploughed and swept, and as we cycled to and from Banff, it felt like a Summer weekend. The trail was busy, the day was warm and sunny (I’m sunburnt now), and the snow was staying up on the mountains in a very civilised fashion.

The Chariot doesn’t induce sleep half so well behind a bike as it does when being towed by skis, but the Moosling still enjoys the ride.

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bikes canada general

Look at that, it’s a bike that’s not on snow

We’ve ridden out along the bike path towards the Three Sisters a few times in the last couple of weeks. Finally, it’s nearly clear of snow, and the Chariot is only getting a little muddy when we venture out.

Rumour has it that the Legacy Trail between Banff and Canmore has now been cleared and swept too, so once there comes a day without rain or snow in the forecast, I might get out there with the Chariot for a ride.

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bikes canada general moosling snow

Legacy Trail fail

Instead of going skiing yesterday, we optimistically decided to head out on the Legacy Trail. Theoretically it was rideable, as it was certainly bare of snow in huge patches. It would be the first proper test ride for the biking version of the Chariot as well.

Things went well until we actually reached the Legacy Trail, at the Banff Park gates.

We rode around the first huge snow drift, then there was just a whole lot of gravel, as we were right next to the highway. That wasn’t great, but still, easy enough to ride on.

But then we hit the uphill, which was covered with a huge snow drift. We could see a bare patch afterwards, so we though “Why not?”, and pushed on up through it.

Alex started out through the next drift, and this was the “Seriously? There’s just more snow?” moment. So the Legacy Trail is rideable in parts, if you’re happy riding on the highway the rest of the way. We opted to sit in the sun on the bare trail and eat cookies, and then turn around and go home. Defeated once again by Super Winter. At least the Chariot passed the biking nap test.

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bikes canada general snow

Winter Meltdown Triathlon (more of a ‘Do your worst winter, who wants spring anyway’)

Despite all rumours to the contrary, it’s supposed to be Spring by now. No-one has told the weather yet. They’re worried it will start hitting us with -10oC days to go with the snow.

Anyway, somehow I ended up doing a Winter Triathlon. Sensibly, it involved no swimming. Instead there was a ski leg, which I ended up doing. As a result, there are no photos of that part, so instead I bring to you photos of people trying to bike in 15cm of fresh snow (heh heh), and running through 15cm of fresh snow (heh heh heh).


A bike pedals through a field of white

 


Alex coming round past the Red Bull girls for his second bike lap

 


Anya, the runner for team Finn’s Minions, arrives back after a slog through the snow

 


Alex finally finishing after skiing 10km, biking 10km and running 5.6km

 


Team Finn’s Minions – victorious in our own minds, if not in actual fact, thanks to the copious quantities of elite athletes and excessively fit people in Canmore

 

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bikes european bike epic general

Flashback: Cycle touring in Japan in 2009

Phew, I don’t want to even think about how long ago it was that I started working on this video. Long enough. It’s finally finished now – a selection of our photos from the Hokkaido, Japan portion of our 2009 cycle tour, set to a frenetic ska version of Turning Japanese, and invoking awesome route-drawn-on-map technology (well, not that awesome, but shh).