Day 16 - Medecine Hat (AB) to Swift Current (SK)

Medecine Hat (AB) to Swift Current (SK)
229 km, over 10 hours
Sunny (mostly)
WINDY – 40 km/hr with gusts of 50 km/h

Picture link updated, click on the title of this entry to view.

What is the story of the day. The minor one is that Saskatchewan is not flat. I spent a lot of time in the granny gear at the beginning of Saskatchewan. The second story is the wind, the relentless and unforgiving wind.

But, other stories for now. Last night, after doing my homework (blog and pictures), I visited the couple who invited me to join them. They are from Windsor, heading out West for the guy to live there, and she returns. Nice folks. I had 3 beers with them, socialized by the fire, then head to bed.

The morning, the usual – would like to stay in bed (or in a bed) a little longer. But, no rest – I'll get plenty of rest on the bike today (just sitting on my bum). The plan: Swift Current, estimated 230 km, so 8-8.5 hours. I hoped to get an early start as I would change time zone as soon as I cross the provincial border.

Start time was decent (9 am), but I spent some time at the World's tallest teepee in Medecine Hat. After that, frapper la route.

The wind seemed strong today, but manageable. It was mainly a cross-wind, with a bit of headwind heading towards the border of Sask/AB, but with the road heading a bit North, I would expect a crosswind with the bit of tailwind. Hmmmm..

Crossing the border, this RV was backed all the way into the Welcome to Saskatchewan sign. It looked like a bicycle touring RV for a fundraiser of some sort. I was a bit annoyed and disappointed that I couldn't get a nice clean picture of the sign. I almost missed it too (damn RV).

Even though I am in a different time zone, the time hasn't changed (same as Alberta time). Only in the winter it changes. So, on the other side of Manitoba, I'll lose 2 hours, not one.

Hills – who said Saskatchewan is flat? I'd like to take them biking these parts.

Ran into a group of 4 cyclists who are touring Canada as well. They are based out of Ottawa, and it's a fundraiser for them. I believe it is www.typicallycanadian.com, and the folks are Alex, Kyle, Andrew and Steve. I saw them up ahead while biking at one point, and I was able to catch up sooner when one of them had a flat. They weren't heading much further for the day. It was their RV (support crew) that was blocking that provincial sign.

What was suppose to be a 8-8.5 hr day in the saddle turned out to be a lot more. The expected sidewind with a little bit of tailwind, well, didn't exactly happen. It went back and forth from a bit of tail wind to a bit of head wind. But, around 55 km left, the wind changed direction, and intensity. It became a bit aggressive, and relentless. I was being pushed around a lot. I felt like a beginner tri-geek (triathlon) who is learning how to ride with aerobars: all over the place. The wind was mainly a crosswind with becoming increasingly a dominant headwind. The last 10 km were completely headwind. I remember going down a hill, head down, pedalling, and able to hover around 15-16 km/h. For the first hour, I just put my head down and pedaled (having a speed of maybe 20 km/h). After that hour, the curse words were coming out (not softly either). I grunted for another hour, then gave up for the last hour – I just put in my time and ride into town.

Food – At lunch, I had a Saskatoon Berry pie. They are berries from that area, tasting sweet, similar to blueberries and cherries. They are red, with the size of a blueberry. Very good. I had it with Hokey Pokey ice cream – toffee and chocolate chunks with vanilla ice cream. It's like the Mirage candy bars we have. At supper, as I couldn't find a Subway or something similar (and I didn't want to bike further into that wind), I ate at Huskies. The deal – a double burger with cheese and the works, plus an egg in there. Turned out alright.

I am at a campsite, where it was quite fun and interesting setting up the tent in this wind. At the moment, it is nuts outside. I have weights at all corners, as the pegs would just rip out. During the set-up, I could just picture the tent flying away, like in the movie The Motorcycle Diaries. Have I talked about how great of a flick that is? If so, sorry.

I checked out the temperature (well, honestly, doesn't matter for temperature) but mainly the wind for tomorrow. It looks like it is settling down – only 30 damn km/hr, from the East. Guess what? I am heading East. Argh. I might have to break up my day. I have a feeling it'll be a grunt day. I dont know where I'll end up. I was hoping (best case scenario) to end up in Regina (250 km), but I hope that I can reach Moose Jaw (170 km) then do a shorter day into Regina. With the later option, I am still ahead a day, but I was hoping to be ahead 2 days to save things for a rainy day (have lighter days here and there). Oh well.

Alright, I will head to bed in a little bit, and I hope the tent is still around when I wake up tomorrow.

Cheers,

p2