Alberta is my country - A trip to Lake Louise (thanks for the entrance fee Mr. Carney)
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
121.16661
Summary
In this episode, I take you on a ride to Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada. It's a beautiful day in the middle of the summer, and I wanted to take you through a bit of my favourite part of my province, Alberta.
Transcript
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Hi, it's John and welcome to the channel. It is Friday, July the 25th. I hope you're having a
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great start to your day. I am not here right now. Actually, I am in Banff, Alberta. Welcome to
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beautiful Banff, Alberta. I'm going to take you on a little trip today, but before I start,
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I want to say thank you to Mark Carney for allowing me into Banff National Park for free
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today. Nothing says Canada Strong quite like a bankrupt country allowing people to get more
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free stuff, but that's about as political as I want to get today. You know, I get up in the morning
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very early and the first thing I do is I sit in front of my computer and I look for something
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bad to talk about. And I know it's terrible to say, but it's the absolute truth. There's that old
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saying, if it bleeds, it leads. Well, if it's bad, it leads when it comes to YouTube for sure.
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Joseph Conrad, the writer, had a saying. It was the fascination of the abomination. You know,
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it's the reason why you stop and slow down a little bit just so you can see, you know,
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a crash at the side of the road to see if you can see any gore. I know it's terrible,
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but that's what we do in the morning. We get up and we look for videos that make us mad.
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You probably go to a lot of YouTube videos that make you feel mad because there's so much to be
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mad about in this country right now. You know, and it's a strange thing that we're in the middle
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of summertime. It is supposed to be the quiet season, but it's day after day after day,
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never ending depression when it comes to politics and the country and politicians in this country.
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So today I wanted to do something a little bit different, kind of leave the politics behind.
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That's about it. That's about all you're going to get today regarding politics and take you
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on a little ride in my province of Alberta, the province I want to be independent.
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I am so lucky. I rode, drove from Southeast Calgary today. In one hour, I was in the mountains,
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but an hour and 40 minutes, I'm standing here in Banff, Alberta. And today I'm going to take you for
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a ride to Lake Louise and maybe a little bit farther today. Some people who live in Alberta have
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probably done this trip before. We're going to go along the Bow Valley Parkway,
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but I'll bet most of you have never done this on a bicycle. So sit back, relax. Let's take a trip
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to Lake Louise. So here we are riding out to the start of our ride. And today's ride is going to be
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about 120 kilometers. It might be a little longer. It might take a detour. I'll make that decision as
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I'm coming out of Lake Louise today. But we're riding up the road here. If you continue up the
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mountain off in the distance there, you go up to the Norquay ski area. I ride up there quite often.
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Bottom to top is about five and a half kilometers.
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We're going to make a turn up here and go past Vermilion Lakes.
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Just thought I'd stop for a second. I didn't want to, but it's a little windy. I got a bit of a headwind
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today. This is the Bow Valley Parkway and it runs parallel to the Trans-Canada Highway,
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which is just over there that way, just over to the left. Beautiful views through here, quiet road
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generally, and only 60 kilometers an hour. And it's nicely paved. And generally this time of year,
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they have it closed and parts of it closed, but obviously they've got the road open right now.
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A little out of breath at the top of the hill. I'm at Marantz Curve. And this is one of my favorite
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places on this whole ride. All I've got to do is go down the bottom of this hill,
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We are at Bracalond Lane as we get connected to the lord on the grass fort and with a
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ульт pin on pretty close, but he let's go down the whole road.
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It's kind of a bit dev заметful, which is important.
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I always say when I'm riding, always take some time to enjoy the scenery.
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So I'm just going to go through the light here.
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But we're going to go through the lights underneath an overpass, make a right-hand turn,
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cross the Bow River on a small bridge, and then we go up to Lake Louise.
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And we're going to work our way through the crowd and go right down to Lake Louise.
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So I'm 62 and a half K into my ride right now and so this is going to be a 125 K bike ride today and it is humid out here and not all that busy, you know.
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It's a Thursday morning actually when I'm recording this, you're seeing this on Friday and if you're ever wanting to come to Lake Louise, don't come on weekends, don't come on holidays, this is one of the biggest tourist traps in the whole world.
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You know, I moved out to Alberta, well 14 years ago from Ontario and I love Ontario.
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If you ever get a chance, go there, you know, rent yourself a cottage and go to cottage country in central Ontario sometime.
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People often say to me, what do you miss about Ontario? I say water.
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Alberta is pretty dry as I'm sitting right at Lake Louise, but I say I would give up the water anytime for this.
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I'm a cyclist. I get to ride here anytime I want. I am a blessed person. Alberta is my country.
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Now it's time to head to the bottom of the mountain, get some more fluids and head back to Banff.
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125 K ride. Isn't it beautiful here at Lake Louise? Look at that water.
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Okay, the beauty about having to ride up is you get to ride down.
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So here I am back at the Bo Valley Parkway, this time I'm going in the opposite direction,
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So here I am back where I started here in Banff, obviously a lot more cars here today.
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This is a free parking area right at the train station.
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I hope you enjoyed the ride, you know I didn't want to get too political here.
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You know I'm interested in Alberta independence, but even if Alberta leaves, this park will
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still be here, these mountains will still be here, Alberta will still be here, Lake Louise
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Everybody from Canada can still come to this beautiful place.
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You just saw one of the most amazing tourist places in the whole world, Lake Louise.
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And you know I did a 125 kilometer bike ride today and I feel so blessed that I live in
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this province, 125K in four hours, 44 minutes and 44 seconds.
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But again, all of this will still be here if Alberta leaves.
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I didn't want to get too political today, I really didn't.
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Stay tuned at the end if you're interested in seeing the information on this ride.
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And if you're ever here, you could give it a try for sure.
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There's other places you can start along the Bow Valley Parkway so you don't have to do
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I hope you enjoyed this, a little bit different for sure.