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A Jolly Good Journey   for Inline Skaters a look at the Calgary and Edmonton pathway systems.

The Calgary Journey

The photo below on the left was taken at the beginning of a 37 km journey. I had just left home and was on my way to the river pathways which would take me from one end of Calgary to the other.

This looks like I am packed for a week's journey. Actually, my napsack looks full because it contains loads of drinking water, and the empty bag I use to carry my inline skates.

Also, tour the Edmonton paths. View a quality thumbnail photo gallery of the Edmonton pathway system. (36 photos)     Click here to view this video at youtube.com   This 6 minute video lets you experience an easy cruise on inline skates. It was taken on fairly new and level paths in south-west Edmonton.

 

   

 

PART 1 (9 photos for 123 kb) includes these photos in which you head east followimg the river pathway, zoom through the trees, and then approach the more congested paths of downtown Calgary.

 

 

 

 

After passing through downtown Calgary, you begin PART 2 (10 photos for 127 kb) of the journey. In this part, after running through some more trees, you reach this point where you are heading south next to the river.

 

 

 

In PART 3 (10 photos for 138 kb) you come to this hill which offers a bit of a challenge.   After you arrive at the bottom, the path takes you into Fish Creek Park.   Lake Sikome, showers, and food are only about 40 minutes away, assuming the wind isn't against you.

 

The entire trip can take 3 to 6 hours, depending on the wind and your level of fitness. After a rest and swim, I bag my inline skates and head home by bus and c-train.

So you can now sit back and use your computer to zoom effortlessly through the entire journey. I promise you that it will all be down wind, and I promise that there won't be any bus pictures.

 

Does this really rate
as a Jolly Good Journey?

There are two sides to the evaluation of this journey.

One side is that the trip is on mostly smooth paved paths that are downhill, running downwind near the river through six beautiful Calgary city parks. You can get a real high when cruising along for hours with the wind behind you. It is satisfying to use a rhythm as you stride to maintain speed while running over the bumps and heaves in the pavement. For most of the run, you zoom along effortlessly. If you use expensive speedo type wheels, you will be surprised with how quick and easy the journey is.

It is nice to know that you are travelling on your own feet, and that you are moving along at a speed that is about four times faster than walking. The end of the trip comes almost too soon. When you reach Lake Sikome you can swim in the cool water, take a shower, have something to eat, and relax on the beach.

But there is another side to this journey. Along the way, there are two hills to climb, two steep hills to run down, about 1/3 of the run is over rough pavement, there are some irregular parts of the pavement which require your full attention, and breaking requires excellent balance. If you have not developed excellent breaking skills, even a small slope can be extremely dangerous.

Examples of how dangerous slopes can be for the beginner are in this file: the need for safety. Or you can view this video: Click here to view video at youtube.com.

Although much of the path is protected from the wind, sometimes you have to skate into it, and this can be the toughest part of the trip. There are many days when the wind will change directions a number of times and force you to work hard. As well, during the run the weather can change from one extreme to another. This turns every journey into an unpredictable adventure.

The last and worst problem you face happens when you finally make it to the lake. You must force yourself to take your beloved inline skates off. It is unfortunate, but sometimes we must face the truth. Inline skates don't work very well when you're swimming.   [I am only taking a wild guess here. Maybe you could try it. Let me know how you make out.]

After the swim and a rest, you climb a hill to get to the bus stop. The bus only comes once every 45 minutes, so it helps to know the schedule. The trip back is a bit slow, but when you're tired it doesn't matter; you have some good memories to keep you occupied.

 

Also tour the Edmonton paths. Here are 36 thumbnail photos of the paved paths that run down the river valley in Edmonton.

An April 11, 2002 photo. Edmonton had the coldest spring on record in 2002, so their paths looked like this. All the inline skaters in Edmonton only had 5 meters of pavement to work with. Luckily, on this day it wasn't crowded at all. But summer is a different story. Now you can explore Edmonton's path system. (36 thumbnail photos in the gallery.)

back to the future.

to a file about the need for safety.

Posted January 18, 2001.   Since March 18, 2002 you are guest .