# Wife's big TD adventure.



## bakerjw (Oct 8, 2014)

Well, it looks like this might be the year.
The last 3 years, I've ridden the TD route from Banff down into Montana from where I've flown home due to various reasons.

When I first started doing these rides, my wife and I discussed building a mountain tandem so that we could do rides like this together. Here in the Appalachians, out in the west, or up in the Canadian Rockies, stick to roads and trails with nothing too technical. We do a lot of riding on our road tandem and get along very well at it. We have also like camping so this seemed like the logical progression.

Riding a tandem has taught me to temper my expectations on speed and distance. Luckily I've been through that region enough times that I know what to expect on the roads/trails and the difficulties and distances involved. I am keenly aware that conditions change, things break and bodies don't always want to play well. Oh, do I know these things.

In asking on forums and consulting with others and my experiences, I have come up with a route that I think will work well.


Banff down the High Country Trail to Spray Lake
Cross the dam and take the highway to Bolton Store.
Cross Elk Pass to Elkford.
Highway from Elkford to Sparwood to Fernie. 47 miles.
From Fernie, there are a few options. Several factors come into play here.
A - take the Crows Nest Highway to 93 and ride straight south to Eureka.
B - Pick up the BC1000 trail in Fernie. At the WigWam forest service road intersection. Decide.

 Continue on to Elko and then make a push into Eureka.
Go down the WigWam Forest Service Road to the Wigwam river and camp out before taking on Galton Pass.

Getting to Galton is a challenge with the single track and the wall. The climb to the peak is just another gravel grind. The descent though is a bit rough and will have to be taken real slow.

Last year we camped right off of the Wigwam river and had a very nice evening. Be bear aware and take the necessary precautions and things are usually fine.

Anyway. Still planning prior to making bookings.


----------



## bakerjw (Oct 8, 2014)

Well. This last week my wife slipped in the yard and has a non displaced break in her lower fibula. There is no tendon or ligament damage but she will be down for at least 5 weeks.
So with the delay in her training and the added expense of the medical bills, our trip is cancelled.


----------



## Shartist (Aug 15, 2018)

I was about to come in here and joke about how the thread title sounds like the title of a swinger porno, buuut given her recent misfortune I’ll offer my wishes for a speedy recovery instead!


----------



## bakerjw (Oct 8, 2014)

Time for a bit of an update. My wife is in a boot now and still not putting any weight on her leg. We go to the doctor next week which will be 5+ weeks and she is hopeful that she will be able to start getting on the exercise bike fir light spinning.
American Airlines has been great to work with and has waived the cancellation fees for our original flight so we are looking at flying up in very late August and riding back stateside the first week of September.


----------



## She&I (Jan 4, 2010)

Edited.

So you're riding a 47-mile variation of the GDMBR?

Speedy healing to your lass.


----------



## bakerjw (Oct 8, 2014)

Actually the end mileage will be around 330.
We find out tomorrow if she can start spinning on the trainer.


----------



## She&I (Jan 4, 2010)

bakerjw said:


> Actually the end mileage will be around 330.
> We find out tomorrow if she can start spinning on the trainer.


Ah, got it. That sounds like quite a ride! I wonder if she has ample healing and training time for this to be reasonable - you probably do, too. Do you have closer-to-home options for getting dialed before biting off that chunk? I'd be inclined to delay it until next season and take some smaller steps. OTOH, it is tandem'ing, the great equalizer. Good luck, ride on...


----------



## bakerjw (Oct 8, 2014)

Thanks for the well wishes with an update.

It has been 10 weeks since she broke the bone. She has been walking without the boot and doing light resistance on the trainer. Today, she rode the trainer wearing the hiking shoes that I picked up for her for the trip. Her conditioning will not be as good as I would prefer but having been through these sections a few times, I don't think that it will be more of an issue. I was so apprehensive on my first TD trip not knowing what to expect. The majority of this route is wide gravel roads with Elk and Galton pass offering a way to mix it up a bit. By Fernie, I should have a gauge on how well she is doing and myself for that matter. I could fly up tomorrow and still be able to do the full ACA route down to Eureka.

Needless to say, I am tempering my daily mileage expectations.


----------

