June 22 Saskatchewan Crossing to Jonas Creek

June 22 Thursday Saskatchewan Crossing to Jonas Creek Campground 76.8

We were up eary - before 7:00 but it did no good. My bike's tire was flat again. Rob went for coffee and a muffin - the muffin was $3.75 each and not even big. I started to repair the flat but could not find a hole in the tube so Rob offered me a new tube - it turned out to only have one patch. I put it in and pumped it up and asked Rob to take his turn. He figured it was about 55 lbs. I went to eat my muffin and pack up my stuff. Rob went off to check us out and I started to head towards the air compressor and found my tire to me almost flat again. This time Rob gave me a brand new tube and still couldn't find a hole in the second one. I used the compressor to fill
the tire and only worried for a few minutes that it might go flat again - Rob always does the hard pumping required to get the tire to the proper pressure.

It turned out the 11 km to the campground we had initially picked out for last nightwould have only taken about 45 minutes. Today's ride was relatively flat for the first 30 kms and we made good time, only stopping for a banana and to visit with another cyclist who was driving his wife around the route of the tour he took last year. They were from New Jersey so they had a long drive home after going to Jasper.

We could see the beginning of the climb to the summit from a distance and once we had actually started it we continued to look up at the steep switchback above us. It turned out that this part wasn't as difficult as it looked; we had a strong tailwind for the first part. Around the corner though, the grade did steepen to 8% in spots so it
was a slow ride for the next 10 km The summit arrived a bit earlier than we expected so it was a pleasure to coast down to the Icefields Centre where we rewarded ourselves with fries and gravey and a cup of
coffee.

We didn't stay long at the centre as a storm was coming over the
icefield and looked like it could get nnasty and the road ahead was
into the sunshine. We made a screaming
descent on a steep hill with a great tailwind and then we hit a short
steep ascent that caused our legs to scream but it was rewarded with
great views of the Athabasca River tumbling into the canyon below.
And then the downhill started again and we sped along making all the
climbing worthwhile. At one point, I thought I was slowing down and looked at my odometer and I was still going 58. The downhill with the wind lasted until we only had 10 km left to get to the campground.

While I'm typing this Rob is cooking the "Curry in a Hurry" and wondering which of the other campers has beer.