Day 136 (Rest day): 0 miles, Prince George Backpackers Motel
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When I'd tried to get my rear wheel fixed in Whitehorse, Jared had also mentioned my chain could do with changing. 10,000 kilometres on the one chain was excellent but any more was riding on borrowed time. I found a bike shop early in the morning and waited while the 15 year old bicycle mechanic put on my new chain. The owner walked in when he was almost finished, or should I say "waltzed" in, because he brought in with him lots of energy and a whole bunch of questions about my bike trip so far. Pretty soon Dave had convinced me to replace the entire drive chain, my front rings and rear cassette. He offered me what seemed like a great deal an the best set of Shimano rings ("seems to be a mistake, someone's put on the wrong price sticker") but as he was installing them he discovered that the bolt pattern on my crank didn't match the rings. Then he wandered about the shop, lost in thought, wondering what to do. Then he offered me an excellent deal on a set of top quality cranks. All of this plus a new rear cassette approached a price of $500 Canadian Dollars. Now I admit I am normally very gullible, but it just didn't seem worth the money, especially since I had only come in to replace a $40 chain. Then Dave drove me all the way across to the other side of town in order to see if a competing bike shop had a front cog set that matched my cranks. Dave was doing all he could to help me out, and seemed very genuine. But on our trip to the other bike shop he made it clear that he was a Christian and he didn't believe in Evolution. He then proceeded to describe some of his very screwed up views about the Native American people. When I walked out of the shop two and a half hours later he'd discounted everything I'd bought, given free labour, and told me as much as he could about tools and changing the rear cassette. I still didn't have a new set of front chain rings. I was kind of glad to get out of there.

I spent the rest of the day breaking my gluten-free diet eating cream puffs, fries and a pizza. I felt a little down today, but on further thinking about it, realised that my feeling down whilst on this bike trip compared to the feelings I'd experience on a normal working day in an office. I cheered up.

Day 137: 5.42 miles, 0:30 hours, Jasper National Park (Whistler Campground), ALBERTA
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The train trip was unremarkable. Got to Jasper and into a new time zone at 5pm. My plan is to head south as quickly as I can on Highway 93 and get back into the States (if they'll have me). I rode straight out to the National Park campground. It's the only campsite left open at this time of the year in the entire park. The ranger was nice enough to suggest I just pull into one of the closed ones on the way south, "but don't tell anyone I told you that". He was also nice enough to remind me that the overnight temperature would be -2 degrees Celsius.

Day 138: 88.38 miles, 6:39 hours, Stealth Camp (Rampart Creek Campground)
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I had my alarm set for 6am but it was still bloody cold and bloody dark. I reluctantly crawled out of bed at 7:30.

I took the riding slow and ate lots, even started getting my camera out again. It was a gradual 1000 metre climb and 100 kilometres to the first summit at the Icefields Centre. My chain grabs and jams whenever I try to change to the granny gears. It's because I've got the new chain on an old, worn-down set of cogs. So I struggled up-hill in middle gear. I rang a bike shop in Banff who suggested I try a bike shop in Lake Louise. Hopefully they will have some front chain rings so that I can stay on Highway 93 and go south as quickly as possible.

At the Icefields Centre I stocked up on a lot of water and some over-priced Snickers bars. When I was about to get back on my bike, a teenager approached me and was in total awe at the idea of me riding up to the summit, "Much respect to you man!" I then rolled downhill for about 40 kilometres and found one of the closed campgrounds that the ranger had mentioned yesterday. I made use of the dining building and set up my sleeping bag on top of one of the wooden tables.