On the sixth day, a Sunday, we rested.

After five consecutive days of grinding out hills, dodging rumble strips and gravel shoulders, and surviving cold nights in a tiny tent it was time to take a break and rest our weary bones.

And weary they are. Why wouldn’t they? In his five days of riding Clive averaged 115 kilometres a day. I started last Saturday and have ridden seven of eight days averaging 118 a day.

Jasper seemed like a good place to pitch a tent and stay a while. In this case two tents. After sharing a two-person tent for a couple of nights, I decided to buckle under and buy one of my own. It only has room for one person. Barely. But at least we won’t be bumping our big bodies against each other in futile attempts to get a full night’s sleep.

Saturday wasn’t nearly the SufferFest I feared. There were a couple of substantial hills but getting to Jasper wasn’t too bad. Certainly better than trying to go the Rogers Pass route. The biggest hurt, besides a nagging saddle sore, was paying $67 bucks for a National Parks pass. But we’ll probably be able to use it a few more times on this trip (Hello, Riding Mountain National Park), and it’s good for next year, too.

The wildlife sightings count tripled Saturday. Along with the deer I mentioned between Little Fort and Clearwater on Wednesday’s ride, another showed up in similar fashion running in front of me Saturday on the road before dashing off to the other side. A couple of hours before that I had my head down chugging up a hill when I looked down into the gully and there was a big bear staring up at me. He didn’t know what to make of this human on a weird contraption carrying a bunch of bags. Because he was just standing there I thought for a nanosecond about stopping to take a picture. Uh, no. Not a good idea. Wasn’t willing to give a bear a standing target. So I kept on climbing.

A couple of other things stood out about Saturday’s ride to the Rockies. When we climbed a hill just before Mount Robson Provincial Park as we got to the crest,  there they were. The Rockies laid out in all their glory in front of us. Their sculpted majesty was overwhelming. They made the mountain ranges before them – the Cariboos, the Monashees, the Selkirks, the Columbias and the Coast – pale in comparison to these spectacular natural monuments.

That beauty kept on coming. I came around another corner and there, suddenly, to my right was a picturesque lake with that emerald green water iconic to the Rockies. Moose Lake was its name and it had stunning rock-faced mountainsides on the other side of its length. I almost ran my Kona off the road trying to take in the sudden overload on my visual senses. Despite soaking it in as I rode – and Moose Lake is a long one – I didn’t want it to end so when I found a rest stop at the eastern end of the lake it was time to stop for lunch with Clive joining me a few minutes later. It was so peaceful and beautiful. To me it was a better work of art than anything in a gallery.

Dinner was in downtown Jasper which was hopping on a hot Saturday evening despite it being early May. We went to the Jasper Brewing Company restaurant where Clive slaked his thirst with a 32-ounce stein of craft-brewed pilsner and sated his appetite with Bison Curry. After five days on the road it was well deserved.

The Sunday debate is whether or not to take three days or four to get to St. Albert where Clive’s brother-in-law Brian Mennegozzo and his family live. Looks like the four-day plan makes more sense.

Fortunately we’ve got all day to decide.

Time to find a laundromat.

Kilometre count

Grant: Day 8 105 km Total (7 days riding) 830 km

Clive: Day 5 105 km Total (5 days riding) 575

• Ian and Rosamond’s family is in a bit of a limbo waiting to find out what the school district in Fort McMurray decides what’s up for Grade 12 students like Matthew. They’re safe in St. Albert for now, but it does look like it will be a while before Fort McMurray is opened up to its residents again. We’re hoping to meet up with them this week.