ALBERTA, CANADA WITH ALEX STIEDA

_{Film: Droptree Productions}   | _{Photos: Daniel Sharp}  

Introduction

Alex Stieda should have been a tour guide. Sure, he was the first North American bicycle racer to don the yellow jersey at the Tour de France but at this current moment, on our way back to Jasper, Alberta from his hometown of Edmonton, he is in full-on tour-guide mode.

The four-hour drive from Edmonton is not new to us. Earlier in the day we made the journey from the small, middle-of-nowhere town of Jasper to collect our Rapha Continental compatriots, as well as Stieda, and make the trek back. Our journey began on the West Coast, then up through the desolation that is the middle of Canada. Beautiful desolation, but desolation nonetheless. As we made our way through Vancouver and Kamloops, the mountains started to take shape. They started as grassy, soft-looking hills off to our left. Every once in a while, a sharp crack would pop up through the greenery, evidence of the hard rock beneath. Slowly but surely those cracks gave way to mountains that eventually towered over our van as day progressed well into night and we eventually arrived in the town of Jasper.

_{Read on to Day One »}