Date: August 21, 2022
I did not sleep well. Maybe there had been something wrong with the last glass of Guiness.
Over breakfast I met other cyclists from France and the US and we agreed to have dinner together in the evening.
One of them was Jean-Luc from Toulouse. He was 64 and had cycled the great divide mountain bike trail from Northern Mexico northbound all the way to Jasper. 3 months and 5,000 km in total. Amazing guy.
After that, I gave some video interviews to help raise more donations with this fundraising tour.
Also today was “big laundry” and I caught up on social media stuff.
All my activities were keenly observed by a little guy hopping around my place.
After lunch I went to town to see if my front left brake lever could be fixed. After seeing three different shops it became clear that this would not work. The lever was broken.
So I asked one of the mechanics to put the chain on my “granny gear” and fix it there. Instead of 3 x 10 gears, I now only have 1 x 10 gears but this should work for the mountains until I reach Calgary. it’s a bummer though.
On a positive note, our tent area had a visitor. A little elk, probably one year old.
For dinner I had an appointment with the two other long distance cycling guys Ethan and Charles-Antoine. They are both super nice and smart. They both met while cycling the great divide mountain bike trail from Mexico to Jasper. That’s 5,000 km right there.
The one with the yellow shirt is Ethan. He studied Philosophy, worked as an Android developer and team leader and has spent quite some time cycling and working in South America. He is now 30 and is looking to find a combination of life and work that gives him purpose. Fascinating guy.
Charles-Antoine is just 22 years old and also really amazing. He studies engineering at ICAM, a Jesuit-led university. Part of their studies is a self-financed and self-organized four-month project abroad. He chose cycling the great divide. What a cool project to prepare you for the world out there.
I told him how familiar this is to the idea of Zelidja and zis. He did not know these organizations obviously.
We talked about the purpose in life, about kindness, and about entrepreneurship. And of course cycling and out experiences on the roads and trails of Canada.
When we came “home” to the campground, Rob invited me to his fireplace. He had almost been run over by a group of elks who had been spooked by some cars.
He needed a couple of beers to let of steam and somebody to listen to. I was really really tired so I excused myself early.
In case you wanted to know my route so far. Here it is:
