2003 Golden Triangle

Day 1

Woke up at my usual time of 5:30 in the am to get my stuff together. Nic quite happily accepted a park pass for his fee to get me to Castle Mtn. As we drove up we compared his GPS unit to my altimeter and they weren’t that far off of each other on total climb and such. As we pulled into the junction we both realized that this group had their stuff together. There was a St. Johns First Aid unit there along with volunteers ready to get you signed in and your bag taken care of. Even the club president grabbed my bag from me and put it on the truck.

To the snack stop wasn’t bad I was cold, first in my hands and then my toes. I needed a second sock, which I am so glad that I tossed in the bike bag at the last second. I met Ken the Tri-athlete just before snack and kept pace with him for a while.

It was nice to see Lake Louise Ski hill again it brought back some good memories. I think I chased a train somewhere around here and lost J

The downhill from the great divide was anti-climatic, I didn’t realize I was over the top until it was too late and passed the signs. Snow was in the air and the wind was gaining strength in the headwind department. A lot of people complained about the snow and were shocked to here me say “didn’t notice, been through worse”. I was the only one to stop at Spiral Tunnels, and I finally got to see a train go in and out of the thing.

Lunch at Field was great! Clouds were on one side and sun was shining on the mountains in front of us as we eat. It was mostly downhill to the next snack where I kept getting stuck behind people that Braked on the downhill, what’s up with that!! I mean there was a headwind to slow them down for crying out loud. A word of caution those bridges before golden are not fun I hope they finish the road repair soon!

The town of Golden is built in two parts top and bottom, when on a bike and you have something to do at the bottom, don’t climb back up the hill if you don’t have to! There were people going up the hill with their luggage on their backs to get to their hotel, then back down for supper, up after, down the next day to drop off the luggage and start the ride. Silly rabbits!

Ken walked past my site before supper and we talked and exchanged emails, except I can’t find his now. Suppertime there was a slide show showing pictures from the last 20 years of the ride. I met three guys that have been doing this for a long time. Also a couple, the lady looked like Moe from work. And I would bump into these people more often than I thought. Good people just don’t know their names.

I came back to my tent and table and started to write in my journal for something to do so I didn’t go to sleep too early. All of a sudden this wonderful looking lady is walking towards me. I have just found my next-Tent-site-mate for the evening. We talked for a while until this older guy brought out a guitar and started playing old songs. Meagan (Me-A-gen) kept the fire going after I killed it by moving one log… I think I lost my campfire badge that evening.

Day 2

I arrived at the first snack stop before the food was out. I was quite shocked that I had that early of a start, I was certain there were many people ahead of me. I met up with Ken again and check out the average speed on the next stretch J But I didn’t look at the view as much as I intended. We kept seeing another group going the other direction and they were a lot of younger women on that ride!

The elevation profile lies!!! This looked like the flat stage but it wasn’t. Every foot up was the same down. I must have climbed a 50 foot hill 50 times after lunch. But I did crank on these hills so I was quite happy.

I made it into the Ball Diamonds at Radium and found Ken waiting on the fence asleep. Just after lunch he looked at me and said “I just want to crank it up and see what the legs can do today” that guy took off like lightning, to see him having a nap was quite funny to say the least. Then it dawned on me that we beat the luggage truck, oh crap! By the time the guy had the back door open there were two chains formed up ready to unload the truck. Some people didn’t pay attention to the 30lb limit, my back hurt from some of those damned bags. With half the people staying in hotels they shouldn’t be so many 50lb bags!

We ended up going to the Hot springs together on the first shuttle up. The hot springs are very nice, there were shall we say some “great views” J There were a couple of good looking women that could make you cry. We ended up having home made Kooteney Pasta and after supper just hanging out with those three guys from the night before.

Day 3

Woke up really early and made the mistake of opening the zipper on the sleeping bag. I discovered frost on the inside and outside of the tent. It was good enough motivation to do the bathroom run.

I knew this was going to be a hard day so I wanted to get a good start to the day. I was with Ken until I stopped to take pictures of the hot springs. Haven’t seen him since. Like I said earlier, he is like lightning. Well I climbed the 13.4 Km to the top of the hill in just under and hour and a half. Good grief that was a tough hill, guys were saying it was the hardest hill they have ever done. It was tough yes but I thought Bow Pass was harder because it was so much longer climb.

As I went up the hill I was stripping off layers to avoid overheating. Other people were not but it was what I had to do to survive. Now at the top of the hill you have to put it all back on because the wind will get very cold. Good thing I had my fleece gloves with me.

At the snack stop a lady went into the bathroom hut and the door lock stuck! It appears to have happened before because the bottom vent was kicked out and there she was on her hands and knees crawling out. It was funny to see everyone watching and then clapping when she got out.

Just before Lunch I noticed my right knee was in disagreement with me. It appears that I was climbing a false flat in the big ring clipped into the peddles. I was limping a bit at lunch and got some flack from a volunteer scolding me a little. She was right it wasn’t a race and there were vans there if you could not go on. I thought I could go slowly to the snack stop and see if it got worse or not. I really wanted to complete the whole trip but I was cautious. I found a cadence I liked and tried to stick with it (wish my cadence sensor was working it would have made it easier).

When I got to the last snack I asked a few people I had met how bad the hill was compared to this morning. I was told it wasn’t as bad just hang in there but hurry up. There was a storm brewing behind us and the tail wind that it was creating could push you up the hill. The climb has a false summit to it. I thought I was at the top only to go around another corner and see more uphill. I should have looked at my elevation to see how close I was but I was having problems with it earlier, I forgot to start the log right-away so it was still on baro mode for the first 3 Km which was all uphill!

The downhill was amazing, traffic must have had a hole just for me. I went down and there weren’t many cars passing me until I got to a slow lady braking again (argh!) As soon as a string of cars went buy I yelled “clear on the left” to two strangers and then Kranked on the pedals to get to 68kpH.

I got to Castle Junction to try and find Ken to get the ride to Banff but he had already left. So the tall guy from the trio gave me a ride to met Laura (from work). I was amazed to see her waiting at the gas station I thought she was going to be late for certain but it was me that was.

I am already thinking about the 21^st GT next year and how I can prep for it better than I did this year. Count me in, Sign me up, this loaner is hooked on this group experience.

Randy Miller

May 22, 2003