The GRAAB Challenge – Gravel Across Alberta was certainly
that, a challenge!
The Origin
I dreamt up this idea because I wanted to ride across
Alberta. I thought there must be a good way to get across AB on the road less
travelled and why not take pictures of interesting landmarks on the way. Elk
Pass seemed like the best choice to start since it is on the border of BC and
it’s not on a busy road. With the BC-AB border snaking along the Rocky
Mountains, there are not many crossing points that are not backcountry hiking
trails or busy highways. Next, I looked for a finish point. Of all the border towns
along the southern part of the AB-SK border, what better finishing landmark
than the World’s Largest Bunnock in Macklin, SK. Then I searched for interesting
landmarks between those two points and pieced together a route that stayed on
gravel or off road most of the way. Overall, it was a success! Even though
there were some paved roads, they were either not busy or had a big enough
shoulder that I never felt like I was on a heavily traveled road the whole ride.
The Trial Run
I posted the 601km route to social media and made a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/GRAABchallenge. I wanted the route to be out there for others to try but for it also to be a laid-back
challenge. I thought a Facebook page would be a fun way for those that ride the
route to post their photos of the landmarks and anyone could do it whenever
they wanted. People could do it at a touring pace or at a faster race-ish pace.
If going fast, times could be compared for the all so important bragging rights.
Lol!
My schedule worked out and I was able to give it a shot
during a fall weekend! It would be so exciting to see the varying landscape of
Alberta in the fall colors! I wanted to do it as fast as I could but also take
care of myself a bit better than some other rides like this that I have done. That
means a bit more sleep. And I did sleep a bit more…although only a little bit
more. I also stopped for meals more often than I would usually do on these
kinds of rides. It was nice to just ride at my pace without having the race
mentality. Go as quick as you can but stop and smell the roses (or maybe the freshly
made Subway sandwich -YUM).
Another fairly new thing to me was using a geared bike. I
typically ride single speed but wanted to give this gear thing a try. I managed
to source an XT shifter and derailleur and Dale at Rollingdale Cycle added them
to the bike.
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| Gears, what a novelty! |
My wife Kristin and sister Joyce dropped me off at the Elk
Pass trailhead on Friday morning. Before even starting the GRAAB, I had to
ride about 5.5km and 270m of climbing. It was a bit cold, 5°C, so I didn’t mind
warming up with a bit of a climb. The fall colours already were breathtaking!
This stretch of trail is part of the Tour Divide and Alberta Rockies 700 so it
was familiar territory.
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| On the way up! |
The ride to the top took about 40 minutes. Once at the top,
I took my photos, turned around and went back the way I came. The inaugural
GRAAB ride begins!
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| Landmark 1. Elk Valley Arch |
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| The first selfie! |
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| Starting time 9:37am September 24, 2021 |
I
zipped down the hill excited to see what was in store for me over the next
couple of days. I travelled down the double track I just came up, then turned into
some gentle single track through Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. This is such a
nice portion of trail that winds through the pine forest. I went down into the
Boulton Creek Campground and up Whiskey Jack Trail until I got to Hwy 40. This
is a short segment of pavement until the route turns left onto the steeeep
climb up to Elbow Lake. The mountains were amazing in the morning sun. Typically,
the forest is all green on the sides of the mountains. At this time of year
there were these strips of gold going up the mountainside with the leaves
changing colour.
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| Hwy 40: Pictures never do it justice! |
I turned onto the rocky double track that led up to Elbow
Lake. Steep, steep, steep. With the geared bike I was able to climb most of it,
but when I felt like I was working too hard, I got off and walked. I had to
make sure not to burn any matches. There was still a long way to go! The trail
was pretty busy with hikers, horses, and one other guy on a bike. As I walked
up a steep climb, I chatted with a guy and his two young children. Those kids
were doing awesome with their big packs! |
| First view of Elbow Lake |
Once
I got to Elbow Lake, I was blown away with how beautiful it was! I rode the
other way on this trail during the Alberta Rockies 500 COVID Edition in 2020
but did it in the middle of the night, so I missed all the scenery.
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Another view of Elbow Lake
|
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| Yet another view of Elbow Lake. The view blew me away! |
The
trail led me into a flat, open section with mountains towering on either side. I’ll
say it again, it was awesome! The trail was quite rocky, and I was thinking how
this might be on a gravel bike. I was pretty happy with my 50mm wide tires and
suspension fork. You may be able to ride a skinnier tire gravel bike, but it
would probably be pretty rough. This rough, rocky trail continued all the way
to the Little Elbow campground. If you are going to do this route on a rigid,
skinny tire gravel bike, beware of this section!
I
cruised down through the valley and was very happy this section is on the
route! It’s a fantastic section to showcase the Rocky Mountains. As I was
zipping down the trail, I noticed I was off route. Typically in a bikepacking
race, I would have to go back and get on the route. In the GRAAB, going off
route a little bit is no big deal, so I stayed on my trail. It was a nice
little section of single track that I would alter the route to take when I got
back home.
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| Singletrack reroute looking back |
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| Singletrack looking forward. Gorgeous bit of trail. |
I
bombed down the rocks toward the Little Elbow campground. I was enjoying this
thoroughly! Another thing that was different with the geared bike is the
ability to gear up. I was holding 30-35kph on some of the downhill sections. I
had to be careful not to push too hard. That’s where a single speed is nice. It
keeps you from working too hard on the easy sections so gives you a chance to
recover.
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| New bridge across the river |
There
were a few river crossings that were not very deep except for one. I managed to
ride through the deep one but saturated my shoes and socks. The water went up
to just below my hubs. I hoped my shoes and socks would dry out before it got
too cold at night. At one point as I was flying down a gradual downhill, I saw
a group (or is it a pack?) of horses and riders. Since horses are living beings
and I didn’t want to startle them, I stopped on the side of the trail and let
them pass. I don’t know much about horses and didn’t know how they would react
to a bike flying by at 30kph. The cowpeople (politically correct way of saying
cowboy since there were male and female riders) seemed appreciative. I think I
will add stopping for horses to my list of riding policies alongside never
riding over Texas gates in my aerobars.
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| Bridge at Little Elbow Campground |
After
the Little Elbow Campground, the gravel roads begin! I knew I would miss the
mountain biking but was looking forward to some faster speeds. The route turned
onto Powderface Trail. It was nice to settle into the rhythm of climbing and
descending on the gravel.
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| Lots of this on Powderface Trail |
After
Powderface, there was a bit of pavement on Sibbald Creek Trail. It was a nice
break after all the elevation of the day. I could see the mountains getting a
bit smaller as I made my way into the foothills.
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| Sibbald Creek Trail. I continued to be blown away by the fall colours! |
Just
before Cochrane, I stopped to use the facilities (a bush) and checked my cell
reception. I had some so I posted my Elk Pass photos to the GRAAB Facebook page.
The scenery was opening up and I was starting to see more farmland.
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| The start of many wide open prairie views |
I got to Cochrane about 5:00 or 5:30 and started riding on
their local foot paths. The route showed going on the road at one part so I
would have to change the route when I got home. As I crossed a road, I saw an
A&W down the street. Food! I went down to the little complex, resupplied at
the gas station and had a sub at Subway. In Cochrane, I had to find the Men of
Vision Cowboy. I tried to make the route go past all the landmarks, but the
Cowboy is up on a hill off the trail. I tried taking a selfie from the bottom
of the trail but the picture looked lame, so I went up the hill to get right
beside the statue.  |
| Lame selfie from the trail |
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| Much less lame selfie |
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| The Cochrane cowboy looks off into the sunrise contemplating life |
I
left Cochrane with a full belly and good spirits. I climbed as the sun set and
was looking forward to seeing Airdrie.
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| Cochrane at sunset |
The tailwind was strong that night, my friends. I whipped
down the roads toward Airdrie enjoying the easy, fast pedaling. I got into Airdrie
about 11:00pm and wanted some more food. I saw a Co-op gas station, but it was
closed. I was happy to see that the Tim Hortons next door was not! I got some
supper and breakfast and filled up my water. I would usually call Kristin while
I ate, but there was a pack of youths nearby swearing and being loud like kids
do at that age. I ate my sandwich amused by the youths posturing amongst
themselves by being as annoying and loud as possible. I remember those irrational,
carefree days.After eating I kept riding on the paths of Airdrie slaloming
around more disenfranchised youths in the dark (ringing my bell of course). I
got to the Korean Totem Poles and crossed another landmark off the list.
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I am agape like the totems!
|
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Korean Totem Poles
|
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| Bridge across Hwy 2 |
I
continued through Airdrie on my way to Irricana still enjoying the tailwind. I
arrived at Old Smoky the Horse at about 12:30am and took my photos. I wondered
if anyone saw me and thought it was strange some guy on a bike was taking
selfies with a horse statue in the middle of the night.
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Nut on a bike by Old Smoky the Horse
|
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| Old Smoky the Horse! |
I went
on to look for the truck and tractor on a pole only a couple of kilometers
away. When I got where they were supposed to be, there was nothing there except
an auto recycling yard. I went up and down the road in the dark looking for
them to no avail. They must have torn them down for this auto yard. They would
have to be removed from the list.
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| Auto recycling yard where the truck and tractor on a pole should be |
On
to Beiseker. I went to see Squirt the Skunk. Squirt was the start and finish of
the Hurt’n Albert’n 550 (HA550) that I rode a few years back, so I knew he was
in the little campground in town. I rode into the campground and wanted to get
a couple hours of sleep. I took my photos and looked for a bush to sleep beside.
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| Selfie with Squirt |
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| Squirt in the dark. No lights, so I'm shining my headlight on him. |
I rolled out my bivy and laid down to sleep. I did not sleep
very well. It felt like I did not sleep at all, but when I checked my watch, I
actually slept through my alarm! It was a very weird sleep. I packed up in
about 6 minutes and headed down the road about 5:00am. It was pretty warm!
Overnight, it only got to down to about 15C. I rode for a little while, then
stopped to eat my wrap I bought in Cochrane for breakfast.
There was one stretch of road that I struggled
with hard on the HA550. It’s long and straight, with lots of big up and down
climbs. Not mountain-size climbs but still pretty big. This time doing it was
not as bad as back in the HA550, but it was still challenging. One silver
lining to this piece of road, was I was riding it during sunrise. As the sun
came up, the sky glowed in oranges and reds. Being in the prairie now the sky
was huge! The prairie stretched out for miles and miles. On the top of one
ridge, I looked back and actually saw the small sawtooth of the mountains in
the far distance!
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| Sunrise looking toward the sun |
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| Sunrise looking away from the sun. The whole sky was alive with colour! |
I
arrived in Drumheller at about 10:30am Saturday morning. I found the Circle K
closest to the route and loaded up on some food. I saw a plug behind a nasty,
slimy garbage can so plugged my battery pack in and slid the garbage can in
front…with my foot. I talked to Kristin while eating my warm ham and cheese
burgers. They were actually pretty good! When I was in the store, I saw a Peace
Officer and wondered if he would comment on my bear spray prominently displayed
on my shoulder strap. It’s a more common sight in the Rockies but probably not
in the Badlands. I wondered, but he didn’t say anything. After eating I rolled
down the road to the World’s Largest Dinosaur and took my pictures.
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| The fear is real! That inanimate plaster dinosaur might get me! |
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| The World's Largest Dinosaur! |
After
the climb out of the river valley Drumheller rests in, the elevation profile is
quite flat. I expected to go faster for the remainder of the route. It’s the
prairies - it should be flat and it’s all on gravel roads. But then there was
the wind. It was so nice to have a tailwind up to this point, but now it
shifted into a full-on headwind. The stretch I thought was going to be fast
ended up being a slow grind as I was buffeted by the gusts of wind. To add to
that, most of the roads were freshly graded so I had to plow into the wind and
plow through the thick layer of gravel. I was hard-pressed to get my speed up
to 18kph.
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| Thick gravel and wind in the face, but the scenery was still fabulous! |
I kept plugging away. Any progress is good progress. I would
make it to Hanna eventually. At one point, I felt tired, so took a nap on the
side of the road behind a bush. The grass was already packed down, so it was
probably a deer bedding spot. Just after I started riding, a small deer jumped
out of the bushes and ran off. Maybe we were both taking a nap.
I eventually got to Hanna about 7:00pm. This was
the last stop for resupply until the finish which was about 220km away. I got
some snacks at a gas station and bought a couple of footlongs at Subway. While
I chowed down on my sub, I told Kristin about the soul-sucking wind and gravel
all the way here. I was scared the next 100km segment to Veteran would have the
same disheartening wind. After dinner, I went to the second Hanna goose and got
my pictures.
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| The
goose attacked! It must have heard my disparaging comments about Nickelback. |
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| Hanna
goose taking off into the sunset |
Thankfully,
the wind died down to a less demoralizing level. Darkness fell and I was
blessed with a clear sky and bright moon and stars. The moon was bright enough
that I could dimly make out the terrain. There was also a relief from the thick
gravel. Some of the section roads went through farmers fields. They consisted
of mostly dry clay. This would be hard if it was wet, but it was dry for me, so
I rejoiced whenever the route took me on these less maintained roads. Since
they went through farmer’s fields I had to open and close several gates along
the way.
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| Don't
free the bovines! |
At about 10pm, I was feeling tired, so I rolled out my bivy for a sleep on the side of the road. I slept about an hour and started packing
up. The clear sky was beautiful but that also made it quite cold – about 3°C. I
put on some warm gear and started pedaling to Veteran. The sleep monster hit
me hard that night. About every 1-1.5 hours I would start nodding off. Whenever
this happens, my policy is to stop and take a 10-minute nap. The road was flat
and fairly fast but with the naps, I took longer than I hoped to get to
Veteran. But I got there eventually!
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| Do
you see the fatigue in my eyes? |
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| The
illuminated Poppy |
I
was cold and hungry, so I searched the small park nearby for some shelter to
eat and take a nap. Then out of the darkness a glorious thing appeared! An
outhouse… Just kidding; it was a fully enclosed picnic shelter to protect me
from the cold wind. The shelter was located amongst a group of RVs. It was
about 5:00am so I did not want to wake anyone up. It felt like I was tiptoeing
around a group of sleeping hippos (that’s the closest animal I could think of that
resembles an RV) trying not to wake them up. When I approached the picnic
shelter, I slid open the barn door and it emitted a loud fingernail-on-chalkboard
squeaking noise. Don’t wake the hippos! Thankfully, none awoke, and I was able
to eat my sub and sleep on the picnic table for about half an hour without
being disturbed. There was even a plug inside, so I was able to charge my
battery pack a bit too.
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| My sanctuary
from the cold, cold wind |
I
left Veteran at about sunrise and rode down a nice stretch of pavement. These
little bits of pavement were nice reprieves from soft gravel roads.
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| Swamp
reflecting sunrise |
Thankfully,
the headwind died down a bit. I turned off the pavement and was back on gravel.
My spirits were high after the sanctuary in the picnic shelter. The wind was even
cooperating! It shifted into a fairly strong south wind. My route was either
going North or East, so I either had a tailwind or crosswind. I’ll take it! I
stopped in this area to have a nice conversation with a cow. On these long
rides, the cows are nice creatures to talk to and break up the boredom. I can’t
remember why I stopped or what I was talking to the cow about, but she was very
attentive and listened well. I was just about to pack up and ride off when the
cow made a coughing noise and a bunch of liquid poured out of her mouth. That
must be what chewing cud looks like. I bid her farewell and was on my way.
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| Gravel
for miles and miles |
The
elevation profile for this section to the finish in Macklin showed some pretty significant
peaks and I wondered what it would be like. I hoped I would not be plowing through
fresh gravel and I got my wish. The route started following more less-used roads
that are primarily used by farmers and gas or oil service workers. And it was
sandy, very sandy. I loved it! It was nice being on these remote roads. Some
sections were thick with sand and had to be walked, and some were a bit overgrown
with bushes, but I loved the remoteness and they were fun to ride.
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| Sandy
terrain. Wonderful! |
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| Getting
sandier! |
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| And
even sandier! I had to walk through this bit. |
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| Some
sections were a bit overgrown. Beautiful in the Fall! |
As
I got closer to Macklin, the service roads ended, and I was back on some thick
gravel. That didn’t bother me though. I was almost done! I got to the border of
Saskatchewan and wanted to take a picture at the “welcome” sign. But guess what?
There wasn’t one. I guess they only have those on the major roads. The only indication
I crossed the border was two signs on either side of a range road. The AB sign
was blue and started at 10 and the SK sign was green and ended at 3290.
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| AB
and SK RR signs |
Almost done! I snaked my way through the sleepy town of Macklin
and arrived at the Bunnock! A majestic 30-foot-tall bone in the prairies never
looked so good. Kristin and Joyce were there and had a cold Coke and container
of fruit for me. The Coke tasted extra sweet since I just ran out of all my
water. The GRAAB Challenge was complete in 2 days, 7 hours and 1 minute! |
| Done
at 4:38pm on Sunday, Sept 26th, 2021 |
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| Bunnock
selfie |
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| Victory
at the Bunnock! |
