Gremlin's Tall Stories

Why does the alarm ring at stupid times like 7am? I really should stop doing that, but then, I guess I do need to get cracking, see some scenery, ride some roads and check into a new place. No complimentary breakfast today, so into the Inn’s restaurant for a quick brekkie of cereal and orange juice. Typically, having cleaned the bike the previous day, it had rained during the night, so I dried the bike off.

Back in the room, I thought fuck it, it’s still chilly out, I’ll spend some time checking emails and writing some blogs. Before long, someone is hollering for me, and it turns out one of the Harley’s has a rather flat looking rear tyre. Some head scratching and investigation, and it appeared that an o-ring inside the cap (the cap of course had the HD logo etched into it ) hadn’t been in place, and had been in top of the valve, presumably it slowly let air out overnight. Pumped it back up, confirmed I would be on the road behind them, and left them to it.

A good portion of the group had left at 8am as usual, I only left Jasper around 11am, enjoying the slow start… GiJoe knows all about that. It was only 180 miles today, through one of the most scenic roads in the world, the Glacier highway, otherwise called the Icefields Parkway.

Started off down a shortcut, only to have Karen my dear GPS send me back. Returning, she’s sending me on a bizarre route that makes no sense, and about twice the distance. Nope, the road I was on was correct, so back I go, and onto 93. Before long I come across another toll booth, they want to see my ticket, except it’s tucked away in the top box. Another gorgeous girl (are these booths filled with them?) says she believes me, but in future, carry it with you. Righto.

I’ll keep this writing short, as again, the road is simply magic, you’re riding right through the rockies. This isn’t like home, with the odd mountain, it’s a park of mountains and you thread your way through them for hours on end. Couldn’t be bothered getting off the bike for Athabasca Falls, but headed down the back road and saw most of them anyway.

Went off the beaten track exploring a gravel road, even had to do a few puddle crossings because of the rain. Didn’t take long for the bike to get filthy again. She’s a dirty bitch, and it’s no wonder I don’t bother cleaning her. Back onto seal, I did 93A instead, which was less maintained and much more bumpy. It took until almost the end of the road before I realised I was heading north… doh, needed south, so pulled a u-turn. Been thankful several times on this trip while moving the bike around, of the awesome steering lock.

The road kept getting even more impressive, with moutains, waterfalls and huge glaciers. See the pics and they don’t do it justice. There was the odd smattering of rain now and then, but nothing sustained and the road remained mostly dry. Still 100km odd north of Banff I stopped for yet another picture and two BMW’s pulled up, coming from the south. They were staying in Banff, a day trip north, the rest of the group sitting in the hot pools.

I complimented the GSA rider on his fine choice, and chuckling, he repaid the favour. They were from Washington state, and wondered if it would get any better, as the weather south was terrible with nothing to see. I confirmed they must continue north, for at least 50km, if not 100km (it was early afternoon) as there was indeed plenty to see. They were much happier about that, and I continued south, into the worsening weather. I’d already put my rain jacket on several stops previously, just before a decent rain shower, so I was all prepared.

The weather stayed decent until Lake Louise, which I had heard was absolutely beautiful, so a stop was required. It was extremely commercial, lots of tourists, so took a few quick photos, was astounded by the size of the hotel and the clear view to the lake and glacier above and carried on. Walked the few hundred metres to the lake in full gear, the flip front helmet presumably not too scary…

Stopped by Lake Moraine as well. 8km off the road on a 50kph sealed road. Flipping cars dawdling and holding everyone up instead of pulling off the road. Got a park right near the front of the carpark, again walking in full gear a mere 100m, but the rain was heavier. Saw a little squirrel, only the 2nd time I caught wildlife on film. Route down was ok, but still caught up to someone doing 30-40kph… 10 cars in the queue, and they didn’t use the pullouts. Thought to myself it would have been an offence in Oregon…

55km remained until Banff, so didn’t bother with a lunch or toilet stop. Going through roadworks marked 70kph, I’m doing 80kph and being passed by everything in sight. These speedlimits are still a bit odd. Went a bit quicker, sitting behind cars, radar detector went off, pulled back into slow lane. Repeated the same exercise a bit later, same result. Eventually it went back to 90kph, and I sat behind a couple of caravans doing 110kph ish… yep, huge caravans towed by F250 type utes.

Another photo stop just short of Banff, then got stuck in traffic entering Banff because of a railway crossing closing for a train. Checked into Irvin’s Mountain Inn around 5pm, parked the bike in the garage with a 5’10 height limit… had to duck while on the bike and while walking around. Did some organising of pictures and writing of blogs.

Murray and I headed out to explore the town for dinner, as he’d already walked around in the afternoon, most of the group arriving around 1.30pm. After hunting, umming and arring over options, we settled on Boston Pizza. I had a small (10”), garlic bread, smoothie (with cream on the top? :scratch) and cheesecake for dessert. Delicious.

It was already late evening, so back to the Inn, Murray to bed, I posted a couple of blogs, still trying to catch up on the backlog.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yGfjnJrPpU4RRrqU8