The Anti-Going to the Sun Road

Greetings from Waterton National Park which has been a cycling paradise. Spectacular scenery (that we can actually see since the weather has been great), wonderfully paved roads with wide shoulders and minimal car traffic:

Here was the nicest view for a place to change a flat tire:

And check out this lunch spot:

Notice Badass Art on the right who, as predicted, did not let a rockslide deter him from getting back into the saddle! I cannot adequately express the beauty of Waterton National Park. The absence of crowds here is also in stark contrast to many U.S. National Parks.

The late and great Robin Williams, a bicycle aficionado, called cycling “moving meditation”. That certainly is how it is for me and I have done some wistful reminiscing the past few days while pedaling. Maybe it is because today is the 40th anniversary of my first day at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, the law firm where I have spent my entire career:

Or maybe it is because Mary and I took our first cycling trip (with our friends Rob and Steve) 38 years ago to this same general area of the Canadian Rockies:

But my memories are probably not entirely accurate. I have noticed from taking countless depositions that memories change and become more selective over time. I recently got together with some good law school friends. This was an objectively successful group — two Judges, a former “Federal Prosecutor of the Year” (for a jury trial conviction of mob boss Vinny “The Chin” Gigante), a notable public defender and law firm partners. Was there a lot of career reflection? Nope. The most memorable law school experience for blog readers Scott, Paul and Dave was their intramural basketball team beating the team of Glenn, Glenn and me. But we all have very different memories of that game. One Glenn claimed to have no memory of that game. The other Glenn, now a federal judge, declined to comment. I recall that our team, named “The Very Serious Students”, stunk up the gym in the first half, but had a furious second half comeback only to fall short. Scott recalls the name of my team as “Superteam”. And just as Steinbeck’s “East of Eden” was the story of Cain and Abel, this game was Scott’s David and Goliath, with the Philistines ending the game lying prostrate on the gym floor. Here is Scott’s recollection of the basketball abilities of the two teams:

(Courtesy Mary Cooperman Photoshop Collection). Similarly, embellishment has overtaken reality for our 1987 tour of the Canadian Rockies, which we now call “The Tall Tale Tour”. Our route was completely uphill and despite a fully loaded set of panniers, we went at speeds rivaling Tour de France riders. But then the photographs bring us back down to earth (notice Steve’s Soviet Union-chic rainwear):

The good news is that we are all still pedaling. Here’s a picture of the Gang of Four from the Canadian Rockies and from a ride we took last month in New Hampshire:

One memory I know I have correct is the beauty of the Canadian Rockies. Here is even more evidence of that:

And we even saw elk last night:

Tomorrow are two more rides in Waterton National Park and then it is back to Glacier National Park for a final ride on Friday. For a Canadian musical coda, a legendary rocker wrote this song in 1989 as a protest to policies of George H.W. Bush. How quaint that protest now seems.