John Bolton - October 11, 2017


Canmore Banff videologue (unedited)


Episode Stats

Length

15 minutes

Words per Minute

150.57298

Word Count

2,260

Sentence Count

249

Misogynist Sentences

2


Summary

It's a beautiful morning in the Rocky Mountains as I head out for a ride between Canmore and Banff. I'm riding the Legacy Trail between them and the Minnewonka Loop. It's a nice ride and should be a great day for a bike ride.


Transcript

00:00:00.800 Okay, it's quarter to eight, Wednesday morning, September 27th, I do believe, and heading into Canmore today.
00:00:08.220 I'm going to do a ride on the Legacy Trail from Canmore to Banff, if you ever come out here to Alberta.
00:00:13.380 A great little ride between those two towns.
00:00:16.460 And then I'm going to be riding the Minnewonka Loop, but backwards, a little harder that way.
00:00:22.360 Also, I'm going to ride Sulphur Mountain, and then through Banff, and then over to Norquay, and ride up it.
00:00:29.120 It's about a five-minute climb up to the ski area, or five, rather, kilometer climb up to the ski area.
00:00:35.260 I might do it twice today just for fun, and then back into Canmore.
00:00:39.600 Chilly morning, a little bit of snow in the mountains.
00:00:41.840 It's been snowing out here at higher elevations, and I've got to get this ride in soon because it won't be much longer,
00:00:47.280 and there will be snow out here and no road riding at all.
00:00:50.640 About zero degrees to start the day.
00:00:52.540 It's supposed to get up to 20 in Banff today, so it's going to be a lovely day,
00:00:55.680 but it won't get to 20 until about 3 o'clock this afternoon.
00:00:58.360 It's going to be a cool start to the day, but it's a beautiful morning for a bike ride here in the Rocky Mountains.
00:01:06.640 All right, so here I am in Canmore, and I'm about to head out on the Legacy Trail,
00:01:11.040 which runs between Canmore and Banff, and then I'm going to ride the Minnewonka Loop.
00:01:15.280 I'm going to ride Sulphur Mountain through Banff, and then up Norquay, up to the ski area,
00:01:19.800 and then back here again today.
00:01:21.740 Cool morning, I'll tell you.
00:01:22.660 I'm wearing pretty much all cold-weather gear.
00:01:26.720 I'll probably wear shoe covers today.
00:01:29.160 Again, I forego that because it's supposed to warm up a little bit to about 20 today,
00:01:32.460 but I don't think it's going to get all that warm by the time I'm done this ride.
00:01:36.240 It won't be 20 until later this afternoon, and it's only about 8.30 right now.
00:01:39.800 It's a lovely morning to go for a ride here in Canmore.
00:01:45.120 When I was here last time at this particular parking lot, there were more cars here.
00:01:48.880 A lot of people are riding their bikes, and not as many today because it's only about 2 or 3 degrees right now,
00:01:53.340 so it's going to be a cool start to the day.
00:01:56.240 But generally, it's going to be a nice ride.
00:01:57.740 I think it's going to be a good one.
00:01:59.000 I'm certainly prepared for the ride today, and I should be able to keep nice and warm.
00:02:04.060 I bet you, you know, I'm wearing tights today.
00:02:07.240 I bet you dollars to donuts are running to people who are just wearing shorts.
00:02:10.240 I don't know how they do it.
00:02:11.280 I like to be warm when I ride.
00:02:12.440 I stopped for a second because I wanted to get some video, but not have wind noise around the camera,
00:02:22.640 which happens when I'm riding.
00:02:23.800 That's the Trans-Canada Highway over that way is towards Banff.
00:02:27.020 You can kind of see Cascade Mountain over top of that hill right there, just beyond just the left of that sign.
00:02:33.880 And for the most part, if you're in Alberta and you're going east to west, you're going uphill.
00:02:39.820 And you're going to gain elevation.
00:02:41.460 So if you're going from Canmore to Banff along this trail or pathway, you're going to gain elevation.
00:02:46.760 You hit two, three percent grades at times, but it's generally pretty flat, one percent.
00:02:51.480 A little bit of a downhill in front of me here, but it's mostly uphill.
00:02:55.260 You're going to gain some elevation between Canmore and Banff.
00:02:57.480 Coming back's a blast because you get mostly a downhill.
00:03:00.440 But beautiful view right along here as you're traveling along this trail.
00:03:04.660 I'm about halfway to Banff now.
00:03:06.780 And very soon I'm going to hit Cascade Mountain.
00:03:09.040 You go left off the highway, you get into Banff, you go right around Minnewonka, and that's where I'm going to go today.
00:03:14.020 I just passed under the Trans-Canada Highway, and I'm now at Cascade Mountain.
00:03:24.520 And you can actually see, I still see some cascading water off there, just one of them behind the trees.
00:03:29.740 But I'm going to head out to the right up here on the road to get down this pathway.
00:03:36.460 And head out on the Minnewonka Loop, and I'm going to do it in a counter-clockwise direction this time.
00:03:43.860 I haven't done it that way.
00:03:45.760 I always seem to do it in the opposite direction, so this time we'll go the other way.
00:03:51.060 Look at that water.
00:03:52.940 Wow, it's like a mirror today.
00:03:55.040 Like a mill pond, as my dad would say.
00:03:59.520 Nice and sunny.
00:04:00.760 My toes are a little cold, I have to tell you.
00:04:02.760 Because it's chilly out here, didn't put the shoe covers on today, thought it would just get too warm.
00:04:11.040 It might seem to warm up, but I'm not that bad, feeling pretty comfortable right now.
00:04:15.940 So, let's head out onto the Minnewonka Loop, and then we'll work our way into Banff.
00:04:26.940 Okay, coming up on to Jack Lake now.
00:04:29.540 Now, this is the lake before you get to Minnewonka.
00:04:38.880 Hey!
00:04:40.360 Hey!
00:04:42.660 There we go.
00:04:44.020 People are not paying attention.
00:04:45.780 Just yell really loud.
00:04:47.760 Keep your head on a swivel when you're riding a road bike.
00:04:50.080 Trust me.
00:04:51.380 People do not pay attention.
00:04:52.700 Anyhow, this is one of my favorite places.
00:04:58.600 One of my favorite pictures taken right here at the lake.
00:05:03.200 It's a lovely morning.
00:05:05.400 Look up that way.
00:05:07.680 Snow up there.
00:05:10.240 Got people enjoying their day out here.
00:05:13.420 Lovely.
00:05:13.700 And pretty soon, there will be a Minnewonka.
00:05:23.080 Have to go up this little short climb.
00:05:26.200 And, uh, we'll get the camera rolling then.
00:05:31.940 Okay, so, just about to come around the bend.
00:05:36.500 Should be a nice little downhill here.
00:05:39.000 Not too far.
00:05:40.380 And then we'll be at Lake Minnewonka.
00:05:42.940 So, let's roll down the hill.
00:05:45.300 And we will, uh, look at the lake.
00:05:47.720 Let's go here.
00:05:49.560 That's out.
00:05:50.060 Let's hop in.
00:05:50.680 Good.
00:05:50.940 We'll be right back.
00:06:20.940 We'll be right back.
00:06:50.940 We'll be right back.
00:07:20.940 So you come out here and you cross for a range here.
00:07:42.940 A lot of people in the park today.
00:07:49.940 We'll just stop here to get the other side of the road to make it safer because I don't
00:08:07.000 want to hurt myself or anything.
00:08:09.000 You can see it's lovely.
00:08:11.000 A lot of wind noise, I'm sure.
00:08:14.000 It's lovely here.
00:08:15.000 They have boat tours.
00:08:16.000 You can see the boat's on the way over there.
00:08:18.000 And then off in this direction.
00:08:20.000 And that's back over towards Banff behind the mountain there.
00:08:23.000 So it's a nice ride through here.
00:08:27.000 If you ever come out and you want to do some bike riding, the best way to see any in the
00:08:30.000 park is if you take a bike, you can rent bikes in Banff.
00:08:34.000 It's not really that hard right here.
00:08:37.000 There's a few little climbs in Banff that I'm going to do today that are a little more challenging.
00:08:41.000 But for the most part, pretty easy ride.
00:08:45.000 You can just stay on the bike paths.
00:08:48.000 They don't make them too tough.
00:08:50.000 We'll head back into Banff now.
00:08:54.000 Okay, here we are at Tunnel Mountain.
00:08:58.000 Nice little parking area which they paved this summer.
00:09:03.000 Which is really nice.
00:09:06.000 This way.
00:09:09.000 We'll head off that way now.
00:09:12.000 And then over to Norquay.
00:09:15.000 The ski area.
00:09:16.000 It'd be nice.
00:09:18.000 Okay, here I am.
00:09:20.000 This is into downtown Banff.
00:09:23.000 Alright, and we'll assume we just cross over the road here and go around just to the west
00:09:31.000 of the city center here.
00:09:32.000 And go up over there, that mountain over there towards Norquay which is the ski area here.
00:09:36.000 Lots of people out here today.
00:09:38.000 It's actually going to be a really nice day.
00:09:41.000 20 degrees here today.
00:09:42.000 So, a good day for touristing in the Rocky Mountains.
00:09:46.000 Okay, so I'm crossing over the TransCanada right now.
00:09:47.000 And I'm about to go up at the Norquay ski area.
00:09:53.000 It's uh, I've measured it out on rep map my ride and ride with GPS.
00:09:54.000 Strava.
00:09:55.000 Texas Gate.
00:09:56.000 Hang on here.
00:09:57.000 Hang on here.
00:09:58.000 Yeah, there we go.
00:09:59.000 I think it's 5k from here.
00:10:00.000 Okay, so I'm crossing over the TransCanada right now.
00:10:02.000 And I'm about to go up at the Norquay ski area.
00:10:09.000 I'm going up at 42.
00:10:10.000 I'm going up at 42.4k.
00:10:11.000 Let's see where I am at the top.
00:10:12.000 So, here we go.
00:10:13.000 I've met some friends coming up here.
00:10:14.000 These guys.
00:10:15.000 I'm going up here.
00:10:16.000 I'm going up at 42.4k.
00:10:17.000 Let's see where I am at the top.
00:10:19.000 So, here we go.
00:10:20.000 I'm going up here.
00:10:21.000 I'm going up at 42.4k.
00:10:22.000 I'm going up at 42.4k.
00:10:27.000 So, we're going up at 42.4k.
00:10:28.000 So, here we go.
00:10:31.000 I met some friends coming up here.
00:10:36.000 These guys are standing right in the road.
00:10:37.000 There's three of them.
00:10:38.000 You can see them there.
00:10:43.000 So these guys are standing right in the road. There's three of them. You can see them there. Another one coming into view. And they were just standing on the road coming up here. Plenty of signs saying, hey, you know, watch out for wildlife. And you certainly have to do that out here. I've seen herds of elk and lots of Rocky Mountain sheep and deer. I've yet to encounter a bear.
00:11:09.880 Okay, I didn't want to stop, but I did want you to see the deer up here on the ride.
00:11:17.360 Okay, so here I am at the Norquay ski area. And these big trucks actually passed me coming up here. I'll check the computer in just a minute to see how far it is. I think it's 5.3K from bottom to top. And here's what it looks like up here.
00:11:32.640 Let's see. No snow on the hills yet, but I'll tell you, you know, it's late September here. I thought I'd come do this ride today because it's not going to be very long.
00:11:44.740 And it's not going to be snow. I mean, this is the last time I'm going to do this this year. And it'll be a while.
00:11:49.500 Basically, you're going to have a sign. There's a sign at the bottom that says you can only go up if you have chains or winter tires on your car.
00:11:59.540 You can't get up here otherwise. But here's Norquay right now. Big truck making a lot of noise.
00:12:05.480 Let's take a look at the computer. And the computer says 47.8. So I think I said 42.4 at the bottom.
00:12:14.500 So 5.4K bottom to top here. And probably kilometer two to three.
00:12:24.000 Kilometer two to three, probably the hardest. Two to three and a half, I guess. Probably seven to eight percent at times.
00:12:31.440 It averages 5.8 percent if I remember correctly. So it's a pretty good ride. It's, you know, five kilometers uphill.
00:12:38.520 It doesn't really go down at all. I'm going to go down here about 600 meters.
00:12:42.120 It's a great overview over Banff. And we'll get some more footage down there.
00:12:46.620 But it's a great climb up here. If you get a chance to do it, do it.
00:12:50.420 Because how often do you get to ride up five kilometers? Uninterrupted, really.
00:12:54.640 I mean, you can do it a lot out here. But, you know, coming to Banff, take a little ride around town and challenge yourself a little bit.
00:13:02.160 Slow and steady. Find a rhythm. You'll make it to the top. Trust me.
00:13:05.140 Okay, here I am overlooking Banff. And this is the hill to get up to Norquay ski area.
00:13:15.500 Really, this is a beautiful place to stop. Some people here having a little picnic on the way up here.
00:13:21.660 And it's really nice. And actually, it's warming up quite nicely right now.
00:13:26.100 But a beautiful view here today on a beautiful sunny day in September.
00:13:29.660 Temperature is supposed to get up to about 20 today here in Banff.
00:13:33.700 So let's hope that hangs around all winter.
00:13:36.420 Although people who ski won't be too happy about that.
00:13:39.120 But just a beautiful day and a great view here.
00:13:46.440 All right. So I'm back at the car now.
00:13:48.920 A beautiful ride today. One of my favorite rides.
00:13:51.980 You know, let's take a look at the numbers here.
00:13:54.340 It's kind of hard to see because there's a light on it.
00:13:59.140 But I just told you it up this way.
00:14:01.200 It's 3 hours and 33 seconds.
00:14:06.080 Distance 76.9.
00:14:08.940 And 785 meters of total ascent.
00:14:12.380 Average speed 25.5.
00:14:14.280 You know, when you look at this ride, it's not a huge climbing day.
00:14:20.500 But beautiful scenery.
00:14:22.460 I mean, you can do that much elevation easy and a lot more just riding around Calgary.
00:14:26.960 But you get some interesting rides.
00:14:28.460 And particularly that one up in Norquay.
00:14:29.880 So if you ever want to ride this, it certainly is well worth doing this ride.
00:14:34.960 It's kind of one of those mid-level rides.
00:14:37.000 In the spring, if you haven't been riding all winter, 40, 45k rides.
00:14:41.380 I do a lot of those just to get in shape and then work your way up.
00:14:45.020 And then you can, you know, if you can do 75k out here, you can do 160k and do 100 mile rides.
00:14:52.280 It's just an awesome day in a beautiful, beautiful setting out here in Canmore.
00:14:57.620 And now I need to go look at mountain bikes.