Day 3 - Golden to Castle Mountain Jct During the night, the rain comes down in earnest. I lay awake in the tent and wonder how bad the combination of rain and uphill will be today. However, upon looking out of the tent in the morning, I'm greeted with a blue sky with only a few wisps of mist. Will we be lucky for the third day in a row? [enlarge]

Day 3 Elevation Profile This graphic is a GPS-data derived representation of the elevation profile of the third day of the ride. This was the tough day, with most of the ride being uphill, sometimes very steeply. This was aggravated by a strong headwind from before Field right up to top of Kicking Horse Pass. [enlarge]

Endless Hoppers The trains haven't been too bad overnight - no excessive blowing of horns and the sounds of clickety-clacking is actually kind of soothing. Here a very long train composed entity of the same type of hopper car trundles past. [enlarge]

Day 3 breakfast Here is a picture taken from inside the gym in Golden where the catered breakfast was held. Once again, I have to say that the service, food, and efficiency of the EVCC for this ride is beyond reproach. [enlarge]

Sublime Cycling I think this shot captures the essence of cycling this magnificent route. Lorraine, John, and Nancy start the climb up the trans-canada highway towards Kicking Horse Pass. It is turning out to be a beautiful day. [enlarge]

Golden Overlook As it rises, the highway turns out over a nice view of Golden. [enlarge]

Canyon The highway soon enters a narrow canyon, which winds along high above the Kicking Horse River. The shoulders here are narrow and the traffic heavy. [enlarge]

Tandem Here's a shot of one of the several tandem bikes that did the route this year. [enlarge]

Day 3 - Morning Snack Stop The morning snack stop on day 3 has me eating a ton of Oranges - they are chilled just to the right temperature and are sweet and seedless. [enlarge]

Ben explains Something about mountains to a fellow cyclist. [enlarge]

Nancy and Kapristo Mountain [enlarge]

Lorraine and Kapristo Mountain [enlarge]

John and Chancellor Peak [enlarge]

Trans Canada Highway This is a shot taken in Yoho National Park. The Ottertail Range is visible in the background and the highway crosses the Kicking Horse River here. From here it is a gentle climb to the lunch stop at Field, BC. [enlarge]

Nearing Field As we get closer to field, a horrible headwind builds. It gets to the point were the road is only slightly sloping yet I can barely manage 10km/hr. This doesn't look good, since after Field an extremely steep climb is required to get to the top of the Kicking Horse Pass. Also, a lot of wet debris gully avalanches are occuring on the mountains around us. Spectacular. [enlarge]

Lunch at Field Finally we make it to Field. The wind is brutal - however, the weather is still warm and beautiful, and we enjoy a hearty lunch. Here, Lorraine, John and Nancy sit around and chat. [enlarge]

Lorraine and Andrew Tired but happy, with Mount Steven in the background. [enlarge]

Halfway up.... Here Lorraine and I stand at the lookout for the famous Spiral train tunnels that the CP railroad uses to get trains up and over the pass. [enlarge]

Spiral Tunnel Here is a not-too-great shot of the entrance/exit of one of the spiral tunnels. [enlarge]

Alicia and Kevin's Panniers Lorraine promised some friends (Alicia and Kevin) that we would take a picture of the panniers that we borrowed from her (thanks guys!). At this point we've managed to slog almost all of the way up to the Kicking Horse Pass. Unfortunately, there's tail-end Charlie lurking in the background - not a good sign. This time there were a fair number of people behind us. I suspect that the headwind being what it was caused a large portion of riders to go much slower than usual. [enlarge]

Deer Butt This deer would not co-operate so - I snapped anyway. [enlarge]

THE END! At about 5:25pm we roll into Castle Mountain Junction. We are a bit late, and definitely tired, but its been a great ride. The weather co-operated well, all in all., and we are grateful for that. Here Ben and Bruce contemplate the end of the ride. [enlarge]

Lorraine - successful GT rider [enlarge]

John and Nancy Discuss plans to go for supper in Banff. We end up deciding to go to an Italian restaurant called Giorgio's. [enlarge]

Interactive trackmap with photo points - Golden Triangle Ride - click map to view Interactive trackmap with photo points - Golden Triangle Ride - click to view

At Giorgio's We all have a good hearty meal at Giorgio's in Banff. Here we can see Barb, a well-known EVCC club member and on the EVCC executive. [enlarge]