Travelling by bycicle everything is unexpected.
one never knows whats around the next curve; a beautiful landscape, a mountain to climb, a puncture or an unexpected encounter. What appened to me the day I left Smithers, was in fact unexpected.
I left late that morning, it was around 11am. It was a beautifull day, high clouds, but sunny, and a soft brease from norhtwest,easyed the ride. I just talked with my parents over the phone, and that iluminated my day.
The Yellowhead highway, conects the pacific coast with the provinces of inland canada, it crosses heavely florested areas, and by the road, I could see some ranches with green fields, cows and horses. The first ones I saw, since I left Inuvik.
The landscape was changing since I left the Cassiar, the human presence was more evident.
I had just done about 40 km, when a pick up truck, over takes me and pull over a few meters away. out of it came a strong and tall man, in shorts, coulourfull shirt and a big smille on his face. At first, I thought it was the campground attendent from Smithers, that found out I left without pay the last night, and came looking for me.
I had an excuse formulated already, in fact was the true; I had look for him everywhere the previous day and that morning too. He was nowhere to be found, so I left him a message on his door saying: " looked for you everywhere. I'm i the Yellowhead'n east. The Portuguese cyclist" After all the tall man with a beard face, was Paul, a dentist from Huston, the next village, 30 km away.
After a small talk, he invited me to stay the night at his house, giving me a card with a number to call, when I arrive in Huston.
3 hours later, I was in his garage, that looked more like a bycicle workshop, cleaning up the 'Kona Fire Mountain'.
Paul had a big laught, when he was cleaning the chain of the bike, and I told him, that I've been using olive oil. I should have explained that, olive oil, like rice in India,or coconut in the caribbean, is a multi-function ingridient much used in the mediteranean.
That night at the dinner table, with Gheri, his wife, Alli Dani and Jo, his 3 daughters, we spoke with entusiasm about wich areas I should visit, and about bike touring in general, something that the all family are 'aficionados'. By the time desert came, Paul diverted the conversation to the alpine pine beetle....
Another effect of the global warming, that is topic of conversation in BC, from the dinner table to parlamentary sessions. The alpine pine beetle, atacks the trees, cutting the flux of water and nutrients, the leaves turn red, and at a later stage dies... It's necessary cold winters with temperatures well below 0, to kill the lavae. The mild winters of the last few years, allowed mortality rates as low as 10%, insted of the usual 80%, sesultinfg in a explosion of the beetle population.
The days that followed this dinner, I observed with more attention the pine forests, realising that the red patches, that I been seen since the Yukon, wheren't part of the autum coulours, as I inicialy thought, but a result of this epidemic that afects mostly the provinces of the Yukon and BC, and tretens to expand east, beyond the rocky mountains. The rest of the evening, was spent looking at maps of North America, and trying to make up the best itinerary for me. Everyone was unaminus, including Jo, the youngest daughter, that I should follow the pacific coast through Oregan and California, because it would be too cold in the american rockies, once I get there.
On the next morning, Gheri prepered me some snaks, and Paul a small bottle of oil for the chain, that he garanteed me, it would work better then olive oil, in the rocky mountains.
I said good bye to the Comparelii family and to this unexpected suprise, and continued my journey.
I had done only 10 km, when I met Kathy and David, the only cyclists I saw on this strech of 807 km between Smithers and Jasper.
Kathy and David are from Seatlle, they left the children with someone and dicided to tour the brithish colombia for a month, and because they travelled much faster then me, doing 150 km per day average, I only saw them that day.
What they didn't know, was that destiny, had a suprise for them.
The 2 days that followed on the way to Prince George, I had a strong tail wind, I took advantage of it, to add up kms; 127 in one day, and 146 in the next, setting up camp at 5pm and 5.30pm, respectevly.
Prince George is a big and modern town, and the plant on the east side spread its vapours everywere, so I dicided to push a bit further that day. But before went into town to buy a new sleeping bag, leaving the old one with a drunken native couple that where sitting on a bench in the library gardens.
Alcoolism is a problem amoughst the native comunities.I've been observing it since I've left Inuvik.
Traped betewn 2 societies, where they don't identify intirely with either, they leave with a nostalgic past, long gone, and are not acepted in full in the modern canadian society, resulting in problems like alcoolism and unemployment.
My new sleeping bag is much bigger then the old one, and it doesn't fit inside my bags. I have to transport it on top of the rack, next to my tent. But with just over a kilo and comfort temperature of -7, is just what I need for the rockies.
It was worth every one of the 79 dollares, right on the second day, when the temperature of the spot I found to camp, next to the Holmes river, went down to -2.
That afternoon, before I started to look for a place to spend the night, another car over takes me, and stops a few meters ahead. It was Kathy and David.
Kathy crashed on a downhill on her own., and after a visit to the hospital in Prince George, they dicided to store their bikes on the back of a rented car.
They showed me her helmet broken in 3 parts, and David insisted in offering me his.
My Fidel's hat, moved to the bags, for the moment, and in fact I fell better riding with a helmet.
On this last stretch of my journey through the Yellowhead Highway, I've crossed all the BC, from west to east, climbing the rockies at it's lowest pass, the yellowhead pass( 1159 metres) and arrived yesterday at this small mountain resort town of Jasper, already in the Alberta province.The jewel of the crown in the canadian mountains. This gigantic mountain chain, that stretches from the north of Canada, all the way to the Mexican border.
Waiting for Danina, at the moment, an old friend from Autralia, that live in Wistler and is arriving tomorow.
Our lives have been crossing each other, over the years. First in portugal, on a summer holidays when I first met her, then in london years later, again last year here in Canada, and once again tomorow, here in the rocky mountains.
From here I will follow the rockies into the United States, first riding the icefield parkway road to Banff, and then beyond into the south of Montana or until the weather permites it.
Once again the Elements, always present, in the built up of this journey to the land of fire......
Nuno Brilhante Pedrosa, em Jasper, Alberta, Canada.
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