We're likely to be sticking close to home with a couple of smaller 3-5 day excursions through the summer. In the 'time-before-covid' our 2021 plan was  to do either an EV8(ish) ride along the Mediterranean or a Gaspe + NB and NS costal circumnavigation (decision by coin flip!) but that's off the table until next year.

Right now it looks like a 3-4 day circle route from Canmore -> Bragg Creek -> Longview -> Highwood Pass -> Canmore in early June. There might still be a bit of snow at the top of Highwood, but we can do just about 2/3 of this on roads that are closed to motor vehicle traffic until mid June. About 2/3 will also be on gravel forestry roads.

In the later summer we're also going to do the Canadian section of the Great Divide Ride. Nice thing about this is that we can also start riding from our front yard. Again, it will be about 4-5 days and we'll have to find someone to drive us home from Fernie (or we could just ride back on the highways). This will be a bit of a test to see if we are cut out for the full GDMBT ride in the future.

We are also hamstrung a bit by our domestic situation. At the start of all this mess last April, we signed up to be 'puppy raisers'  for the BC-Alberta Guide Dog Association. About a week after raising our hand we got this lovely little ball of fur ...

She has now grown into this ....

Under normal circumstances, these pups move on to advanced training (with trainers who really know what they are doing) when they are 16-17 months old. That would have been around July / August of this year, perfect for us to take off on a multi-month tour. However, right now the program is backed up and we will probably have her until at least the end of the year. Not a bad fall back to make up for the lack of extended touring!

Hope you have a great 2021 and life starts to get back to a new (but similar to old) normal.

Hi Lyle

Good on yer for taking on the puppy raising gig.

A few weeks ago on a mid week ride at the coffee shop we met a woman who told us that she was on her third puppy and both of the previous dogs had qualified, which not all dogs do.

Cheers

Mike

Wonderful tale of the guide puppy-become-dog, and congratulations to you both!

Those rides close to home are pretty good fare by anyone's standards.  I have fond memories of my Canmore-Highwood-Longview passage from jun 2016. Enjoy those extended-neighbourhood rides!

If your coin flip takes you to Atlantic Canada next year, do let me know [johncsaxby(at)rogersdotcom].  The route I've sketched out starts in Bathurst NB & goes along the Acadian coast of the Gulf to Cape Breton; around to Louisbourg, southwards to Canso, and eventually to Truro bef taking the train back to Ottawa.

Safe journeys,  John