The rest day consistent of wrestling cow girls, riding bulls and roping the little balls hanging off Chevy pickup trucks or something like that. I set up all my malfunctioning equipment to charge up fully while I rode out to Bow Cycle out by 16th where I entered Calgary the day before. I was great because I pretty much took the bike path along the Bow river almost the whole way. Even though it was midday Wednesday there were lots of cyclists and even more runners.

When I got to Bow Cycle my new friend Tim was on lunch so I chatted up the people in reception about my trip and gave them some of my cards. Wait, let’s back up, this shop is humongous! I walked in the service entrance where 3 or 4 mechanics are going at it. To right of their area is all of the bike accessories in the middle of the floor and there are bikes and frames hanging all around including an upstairs balcony full of bike overlooking the floor. There is another group of mechanics working downstairs out of site and finally there is an off site warehouse where they build bikes. Okay back to the story.

I figured Tim might be a while so I lined up to get my bike looked at. A mechanic came around and asked if next week would be okay for pick up. I explained that I was leaving tomorrow and had only come out because Tim said he would find time to look at it. He threw it out on the stand adjusted the two main problems, shifting and braking, for no charge. Since Tim still wasn’t back I went for some Vietnamese food which was great except the bad service and when I came back he was there. He introduced me to an owner and we chatted about my trip and bike stores in Calgary compared to Vancouver and the introduction of bikes at MEC which wasn’t really an issue yet as far as competition. Though I do like small bike shops I think it would nice to have a serious shop like this in Vancouver that built their bikes as well.

I went back to the apartment and checked on my Gopro camera and it was fully charged and it turned on and recorded video. Great, next I tested the solar charger. It also seemed to be charged my phone! Okay that means I can just go walk around and pick up some supplies. After getting some toiletries I walked into the downtown. I found Stephan Avenue which is essentially closed to cars and was lined with restuarants and pubs with outdoor patios. It was a sunny beautiful so I walked along for quite a while to about the centre of down and somehow ended up at an expensive restaurant. It didn’t matter though, I nursed the beer, had a $15 appy and soaked up the sun.

After about an hour I started back to Derek’s apartment but I wanted to walk down 17th Avenue which is part of the “Red Mile” where Calgary Flames fans party when Calgary wins. I guess it is pretty quiet these days but they have one a cup at least: still not over last year – doh! There are a multitude of restaurants along the street and some variety but nothing like Vancouver. Still it had great atmosphere and it was only around 6PM.

When I got back Derek and Ashley were ready to go so we went to a vegetarian restuarant but there was an hour wait. We then went to “The Farm” which sell produce from mostly local Alberta farmers. It has a connected cheese and meat store and the do pairings in the restuarant similar to the Salt Lick in Vancouver. They also sell entrees as well. We order some cheeses and meat and the vintage Gouda was so good and paired with pistacio nuts!

After dinner I caught up on some blogging before crashing out hard.