Biking in April

The weather looked great for Saturday and so we decided it would be great to get the bike out and go for a little cruise.  Our first thought was to head to Swift Current.  It would be great to see our friends there and go to church but it was hard to pass up the idea of heading to the mountains especially when we could have company if we went that way.


Ron and I dressed in our full motorcycle gear as it was still a little chilly in the morning when we left home.  

We headed into the park at Saskatchewan River Crossing.  The winds were quite strong but it still felt nice and warm.

As we travelled on we could see that ahead of us it looked like there was a snow storm up in the mountains and the temperature was dropping.  We realized that Stephen was not dressed for mountain riding.

When we turned south on the Icefield Parkway we could see that the snow that was in the mountains was right with us and both bikes were in need of a fill up which meant we needed to get to Lake Louise which was about 45 minutes away.  I was praying that we could make it because it would not be pleasant being in the cold temperature waiting for help.

Ron motioned for me to try and take some pictures of the snow banks and snow falling.  This was a first for us to be caught in snow.  I took my glove off and got the camera out of my pocket and held it carefully to take a few pictures.  My hand was freezing.  I knew that Stephen was cold and I realized that even though we were dressed a lot warmer it was getting colder all the time.  I managed to take a shaking picture of the temperature over Ron's shoulder.That's a 3 degrees Celsius.

I watched the road signs for the distance to Lake Louise and was so relieved when we finally turned off and made it to the gas station.  We were all pretty cold and we enjoyed a hot chocolate after filling up with gas.  Reluctantly we got back on the bikes and headed to Banff.  It was warming up a bit by then but we were pretty chilled. We did a little walk around to get the blood going.

And we got a beavertail and some Starbucks tea and hot chocolate to warm up our insides.

We still had to go a little further but we were feeling a little better and ready for the last of the trip. 

So perhaps riding in the mountain in April is not the best idea but we've done it now.  We will let it warm up a bit before we try that again.  Perhaps going east might have been a better idea.