Reasons 206 - 368

I've got to thank my sister, Sarah for the tip of Walmarts being a place to camp. We took advantage of that in Edson. It was pretty funny. The Walmart is smack in the middle of both sides of a split highway. So, we could hear traffic from both sides. Then on the other side of us was a car dealership that must have been power-washing or something loud and dramatic til late into the night. We were both so tired that we konked out anyway.

When we woke up, there was a super dense fog covering the town. We suited up in full rain gear and hoped that our visibility would be enough on the road. The fog lasted for a couple hours and then lifted when the sun melted it away. It was a little nerve-wracking riding in the mist.

We reached Obed Summit, the highest elevation on the Yellowhead Highway on our way to Hinton.

It's been a dream of mine to bike that hill for a long time, but Collin stomped all over it. Before we left, Collin's family was generous enough to gift him a fancy-times, Garmin Bike GPS. It's definitely come in handy. And, one of it's features is to calculate elevation. 

Just before climbing Obed Summit we had to climb another gargantuan hill, which Collin's Garmin claims was higher by five metres. Collin definitely made a thing out of it. We laughed a lot about it.

When we got to Hinton we headed to Tim Hortons to get some wifi, and were considering camping out at Walmart again. Then we got a text from Collin's mom, Kathy saying that an old work friend of hers might be able to host us. We were super relieved. Even if we had to pitch our tents in the yard, the prospect of having hot showers was revitalizing. 

We navigated our way through Hinton to Melyssa's place. She was called into work just before we arrived, so we took our time setting up our tents in the backyard. Once we were nearly finished setting up, Melyssa walked into the yard to say hello with a big smile. It felt great to be invited in by someone friendly.

After some great, hot showers we did some laundry and watched some Discovery Channel. First was MythBusters, which is always great. But, then Highway Thru Hell came on. For those of you who may not know, this show is all about the terrors of the Coquihalla highway in British Columbia. Not only does this highway claim the most deaths per year, it is also the way that Collin and I are headed. Sure enough, the high majority of the accidents happen during the Winter, but the show sure got me worked up. We really don't want to die.

Needless to say, we left the TV before the end of the program, and went to bed.

The route from Hinton to Jasper is nearly all downhill, so our ride should have been a breeze. That would have been the case if it wasn't for the "breeze" that came at us head-on the entire day. We really had to fight for every pedal-stroke the whole day. It was brutal. The wind literally made it feel like we were slugging it uphill. Ridiculous.

We were unsure whether we were going to have a place to stay when we got to Jasper. We went for dinner at the Bright Spot to collect our heads and rest our weary bodies. A couple days before, I had attempted to contact Bruce on warmshowers.org.

Warmshowers.org is an online community of cycling tourists and hosts. In other words, people that are crazy enough to ride everywhere by bike connected with people that are crazy enough to host the riders.

Bruce got back to us last minute and was able to host us. The three of us watched Thursday Night Football as Bruce casually threw back some beers. We chatted here and there about our common cycling experiences.

Collin charged his Garmin GPS until it beeped to indicate it was fully charged. And, I pumped up my Exped Downmat sleeping pad. Bruce, with his expansive knowledge of bike gear knew from the particular beeping that Collin had a Garmin, and from the sound of the one-way pump that I had a Downmat. We kind of got a charge out of that.

Bruce was really friendly. It was easy to be relaxed around him. This was exactly what we needed after such a brutal day of riding.

Today, we are going to split the difference between Jasper and Valemount. Tonight, we'll stay somewhere in the wilderness around Moose Lake. We'll stay in Valemount on Saturday night and all day Sunday to take a rest day. Maybe we'll find a church to go to and meet some new people. We're hoping that someone from WarmShowers will host us in Valemount, but we might be on our own. So, if you happen to know anybody there give us a shout.

Reasons 32 - 206

Okay, so our first 'full' day was pretty awesome. We rode from my aunt and uncle's acreage into Spruce Grove to Starbucks. We had our first random stranger come up to us to ask us about our tour. Several people stopped to admire our bikes. That was nice.

Then we hit the road. The weather was pretty great and our spirits were high. We rolled into Entwhistle around 8pm. We wandered around a little bit and then took our chances knocking on someone's door. We politely introduced ourselves and our tour, then asked if we could possibly pitch our tents on their front lawn and possibly use their restroom. The woman kind of thought about it for half a second, then asked her husband, and told us no. She was nice about it, and suggested we go to the Pembina River Provincial Park to camp.

We took her up on this suggestion and it worked out great. Because we rode in so late the campground registration was closed and snuck in unnoticed. We were pretty excited to set up our tents. We were also really stoked for some nice hot showers, but alas they were coin operated and we didn't have the right change. So, we opted for hand-sanitizer, faux showers instead.

This is the little cookout hut we camped beside.

This morning we packed up and did a little bicycle maintenance. We added some pressure to our tires and cleaned and lubed our chains. Then, the open road once again.

Today was a bit of a struggle. The whole morning was really windy. And it was blasting us from the front and side, so we just could do anything but go slow and push through it.

Then a mini rain storm came. Good news, all our rain gear works! And, we definitely needed all of it, jackets, pants, gloves, booties to cover our shoes and covers for our panniers. It was pretty ridiculous, but we kept on truckin'.

And, now, we're safely in Edson, having ridden our first 100km fully loaded. SO CRAZY. It is mad work, folks. We are both carrying a little more than 60 pounds of gear on our bikes. So, pedalling that far is tough stuff. For real.

This is us, ravenous at McDonalds after such a nutso day. Hey, we earned it.

Reasons 1 - 32

We had such a fantastic potluck/going-away party. Seriously. So many fantastic people. Such good friends and family. We feel so loved and supported it's ridiculous. Here's some snapshots.

Good eats, good times.

Great laughs had by all.

Family hangouts.

Cute babies.

Nathan's cousin, Jesse actually joined Collin and Nathan on their first ride to Spruce Grove.

Blake's ass.

Everybody joined together to pray and encourage Nathan and Collin before the goodbyes started. So fantastic.

A rare moment of Collin getting as emotional as his mom. It was nice.

Collin, chillin' with his fam'.

Nathan loves his mom.

And, his sister, Sarah.

Who are these guys? What are they doing? Are they nuts?

Nathan Jonah Kai Winter and Collin Gelderman are good buddies who are embarking on the adventure of a lifetime. They are taking a long-distance, cycling tour around North America starting and ending in their hometown of Edmonton, Alberta. Their tour will take them first to Vancouver, BC and then South along the American West Coast as far as San Diego. Then, East through the Southern US to Florida, North along the American East Coast to the Canadian Maritimes, and finally, East through Canada back to Edmonton.

We will be riding around twenty thousand kilometres over the course of our entire trip. We are hoping that every single kilometre will hold good reason to treasure the moment, and to spur us onward.

Nathan Jonah Kai Winter, an ardent proponent of equality amongst all social classes, is a Warehouse Facilitator at The Mustard Seed, an organization that delivers basic services, housing and employment to those experiencing poverty and homelessness in Calgary and Edmonton. In this role, he assists in managing the Personal Assistance Centre, a retail-style store that offers free clothing, toiletries and household goods to those in poverty. Nathan believes that offering a great outfit to the homeless can restore dignity where it has been lost. For the last three years, he has been living, working and worshipping amongst those in extreme need in the inner city of Edmonton, Alberta.

As a cycling enthusiast, Nathan advocates for cyclist’s rights and healthy bicycle maintenance. He is an all-year-round bicycle commuter, long-distance touring cyclist and lover of fixed-gear road bikes. Nathan is a member of the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters Society which offers workshops and volunteer bicycle mechanics to the community.

Nathan is a bit of music nerd. He has more than 19,000 songs in his iTunes from all sorts of genres. He loves live music and has seen 57 out of his top 100 listened-to artists. Nathan believes that music is one of the most beautiful parts of life and can most often be common ground between strangers.

Collin Gelderman met Nathan while working for The Mustard Seed. The two share similar values, vision and hope in the possibility of ending poverty. Nathan and Collin also share the same love of adventure and willingness to meet new people and share our live's stories.

Collin is devoted to living a healthy lifestyle. He is passionate about eating well and keeping active. He considers himself a movie buff. Collin is up for watching anything, but prefers films that cause him to think critically about life and the art of film-making. His favourite movie is Beauty and the Beast.