


I started sprinting on the flats to gain momentum, big ring to gain some distance on her since she's much better on the hills, I was making 35Km/h and then the hill started and tried my best to stay in medium ring. I take a look on my mirror and there she is, right behind me. I start using lower gears as the hill turns more steep and using every single trick I have learned and just about 10 more minutes before reaching the top she just passes me with a smile and says "I'm sorry" and off she goes....I can't go any faster or stronger and there she is just putting some distance between us.
Lost that bet but came up with what would be her nickname from now on: Jenny "Mountain Goat" Harmer.
Hands down, she's the queen of the hills.
When I (finally) caught up with her, she was talking with this 70 something years old guy on the side of the road whos pulling a carrier. It turns out that Abraham (from Holland) is WALKING across Canada and divided his journey on 4 legs and he was in the middle of his last one from Calgary to Vancouver. He said it'd take him 8 months and that he was staying only at farms along the road and only packed what he could carry. We talked for about 15 minutes and took pictures with him. Amazing dude!

More hills and more riding but we were so eager of taking a picture with the "Welcome to Alberta" sign. We would be crossing provinces today and that made us so excited. Bye-bye British Columbia, hello Alberta but no sign, just constructionroad ahead. After anther fun downhill I stopped to ask one of the construction workers on the side of the road how far was the sign. "There's no sign!" she said.
We both looked at each other in disappointment but laughed immediately since we had been riding in Alberta for the past 5 minutes not knowing it. That became the subject of conversation until we got to Lake Louise and took pictures at that sign. Then headed straight to Lake Louise Mall for me to pay my debt and get some Ice cream. We got two huge ice creams while waiting for melanie and Kevin.

Melanie was heartbroken and scared not knowing what to do next but at the same time I understood Kevin. He had been not enjoying the past 2 days and started hating the trip so no point on continuing any further if its not making you happy. We decided right there a day off in Lake Louise was in much need. We went to check in the Hostel and we found it a bit pricey ($40/night) but we had no option, tired and trapped in a tourist town. We left the stuff in the room and gave Melanie some alone time to figure stuff out and call her family and friends. We went out to explore town and find dinner. Everything closed early except for a pub/restaurant from the hotel next door. Trying to save some money we ordered some nachos (the worst I've ever had) but the good news is that being in Alberta I'd be in the land of my favourite beer "Big Rock Grasshopper" so I had 2 of those. Went back to the room and Melanie was in tears. We tried to comfort her but at 12:30am after a long day the best call was just to go to bed and figure it out in the morning. Tough day indeed!