Part1 from Colin's Perspective

Ohhhh.....my back is killing me!!

We left Edmonton and took off down the Yellowhead. For some reason, time seems to come to a stand still on a motorbike - what would take you an hour to drive in a car, seems to take 3 on a bike.

We shot off to Edson for our first stop. It took us two hours to get there...some of the longest hours my back has seen. You're in this odd position where you're partly crouched forward...but not enough to lean on anything, and not far enough back to sit up straight. I'm sure Notredame never saw anything like me going down the road.

It gets very monotonous, too. For hours (minutes actually) at a time, I would just listen to the sound of the motor. Look in the left mirror....look in the right mirror...sound of the motor....that's it...nothing else to do. I would know the exact pitch that the motor made when I went up a hill and had to give it a little more gas...and then it would sound almost silent when I let off the gas....you really start to go into a trance when you're that bored. And any mistake I made means Serena and I crash...but anyway, back to the motor...

I think the first 200 kms is the furthest I can go without resting. The legs from Edson - Hinton and Hinton-Jasper where only 100kms and the hour on the road was fine. I think that's what we'll shoot for - 1 hour at a time and then we'll pull over to lie down and straighten my back out. You see...not all of us have these luxury back rests behind us. Of course, Serena does.

Ok, we're off for breakfast in Jasper and then we're headed to Skookum Inn, or something like that. I guess the skookumberry pie is something to try. No doubt they will not have internet, so it may be a while for the next posting.

Look for more pics on the next post, too.