On The Road Again: Quick Story Of A Rep's BC/AB Tour

Well it's that time of year again; dig out the Best Western frequent fliers card, toss my riding clothes into the Dakine 60/40 convertible, my trusty ceramic coffee travel-mug made squeaky clean and ten 2010 sample bikes (plus my own!) loaded into the b-Team machine.

These trips usually consist of long miles, lots of coffee and never enough riding.  After driving straight to Calgary I picked Bruce up at the airport and we headed out to see all our dealers and friends between Edmonton and Calgary.

Luck was on our side and we somehow managed to avoid a crippling snow storm which hit Calgary and the surrounding area only 24 hours before our arrival.  Thankfully Mother Nature's bipolar tendencies kicked in Albert-style and all the snow was gone by the time we got to town.  After leaving Edmonton it was the usual epic Alberta skies putting on a show for the trip back to Canmore.

Bruce flew back to Vancouver from Alberta so I was left to my own devices, which usually means lots of coffee and lots of driving.  I still had to see John at Poser Sports in Kimberley before continuing on to Sacred Ride in Nelson so I got to drive a highway I haven't spent much time on between Lake Louise and Radium.  I hadn't been on my bike this trip yet and was going a little stir-crazy so I stopped off at Marble Canyon for a short hike.

After that it was off to Nelson, oh Nelson......................

Of course, there was a spicy new ribbon of singletrack in town that had to be christened.  Leroy and Maya were kind enough to extract me from the business at hand, drive me to a mysterious drop-point and send all of us squealing with glee downhill back to the shop!

But not before making me ride and hike a nasty, steep, loose hill to an absolutely unreal viewpoint.  Of course, my camera batteries died about 40' before the viewpoint so you'll have to settle for a photo of the bikes!  Ah, what a superb way to end a road trip!