From start to now

Getting ready for a trip like this takes time, and time was the one ingredient missing on the only day set aside to get ready for this trip. After the ride to Conquer Cancer I thought it would be fairly easy to re-pack for the big trip - but easier said than done. I wouldn't recommend anyone doing 2 big events back to back like this unless they were extremely organized. And even then, I still doubt it's possible or can happen stress-free. Those of you who know Susan (and how organized she is) will understand the true extent of the logistics required when even she found it near impossible to get ready in time.

But we made it - due largely to our respective men helping us out with packing and keeping us sane along the way as we forced bikes, camping gear and clothes into our bike boxes - although I'm sure we drove them crazy all day.

The flight to Calgary was uneventful. I sat beside a classmate I did my MBA with who was heading to Calgary to do a sales pitch - it's a small world except, I'm finding, when you're trying to pedal your way across it.

Getting the bike back together then loaded up took about an hour and half and then we were off on a bike path we found heading towards town. We worked our way south east toward Hwy 1 to get out of Calgary and our first wrong turn was quickly identified as we noticed we were cycling into the sun and it was late afternoon. The first night was spent in a camp at Strathmore (68km) followed by a long day to Brooks the next day (138km). Susan's sore leg from the Conquer cancer ride had flared up so after lunch she took the bus to Medicine Hat to get a couple days rest while I continued another 50km to Brooks. The last hour was into a head wind that kept increasing.

The next day I contemplated the bus as well since after cycling about 7km I realized my sore achilles from the cancer ride was too inflamed to continue. Fortunately, my little voice of reason won over the "I can do it, just suck it up" voice as I had been unclipping my left foot and pedaling with only my right leg for quite a while (a bad sign and not sustainable over 100km - at least not by me). Also, brutal cross winds were slowing me down to around 12km/h which would have required about 12 hours of solid riding to reach my destination. Since there is nothing between Brookds and Medicine Hat, I turned around at the 10km mark and coasted back to town for a day of R&R. The winds got stronger throughout the day, to the point where branches were breaking off trees and skipping along the road and I could barely walk upright. Turns out a tornado touched down north of where I was, so my decision to stay and rest proved to be a good one. It would have been a miserable day.

My heel was good enough to ride this morning, so I got an early start and made it the 110 km to Medicine Hat by 2pm. I had a lot of strong cross winds and some good tailwinds along the way and didn't stop much since I was by myself. There wasn't much to see along the way although I had a staring contest with a deer during lunch. I guess I won as he evnentually cantered away across the highway leaving me to finish my lunch alone. My iPod kept me happy along the way, but I regret to say that so far Eminem is the best music to cycle to. I really hate to admit I like Eminem.