Calgary, Alberta and 5 Days of Wind

Hello all, I write from the comfy confines of our friend Chris' basement, where we all slept last night. The Doble family has graciously hosted us for a couple days here in beautiful, brand new Calgary. Really though, everything here looks new and sparkling, lots of money in this city. Apparently they can't even give jobs away at restaurants and mall stores, or so we've been told so far.

But back to biking. Since Regina we've had 5 days through the scorching prairies, with consistent and stubborn wind head-on or partially head-on and slight, but as Mike said, constant uphills. The combination of heat and wind really dries you out, forcing us on some days, like going through Medicine Hat, to guzzle upwards of 12 litres in day. Also, people may lead you to believe the prairies are flat, but that isn't always the case. Rolling hills are abundant in Saskatchewan and Alberta, hills that would seem miniscule in a car ride but become a little more evident when the legs are doing all the work. Still, between Superior and the Rockies, climbing is far less prevalent in the driest part of the country.

I'll summarize our distances and times for the past 5 days:

July 3rd Regina to Bessant Park, SK - 104km, 4:08
July 4th Bessant Park to Webb, SK - 176km, 7:32
July 5th Webb to Walsh, AB - 141km, 6:35
July 6th Walsh to Brooks, AB - 163km, 7:30
July 7th Brooks to Bassano, AB - 45km, 2:15 or thereabouts

In Bessant we found a great little campground that a stranger near Sobey's described as "free." Apparently it wasn't, but since we rolled through late at night after the office had closed, we never had to deal with anybody working there. In the morning we rode on out past the office and returned to the Trans Canada without paying the tab. No harm done we figured, there were plenty of empty lots and we didn't use their showers. Our first day didn't amount to much since we only got out of Regina around 3pm after visiting the bike shop downtown and cheffing a huge pasta lunch. I'd like to think my sauce concoction fueled our decent speed pushing over 25km/hr into the dying sun. And I should mention that the prairie sunsets are something else. We've done a good portion of our riding after dinner, since the wind and heat tends to die down. The open skies and vast expanses on every side provide great red, orange, and purple hues as a backdrop for our trek, and it seems like the during those moments we like to push our bodies harder, all in unison, making for some very efficient drafting.

From Bessant we took off for Webb, a small town a few kilometers off the highway. We actually never made it into the town, instead camping in a field near an abandoned little farm house/shed that had the roof blown off. Another great sunset, it was fun to camp without the fly on the tent and let the wind through. Though the wind was persistent again that day, we chipped away at the highway and completed a solid 176km.

From Webb we rode toward the Alberta border. The west end of Saskatchewan was my favorite part of the province landscape-wise, with smooth, almost perfectly rounded molehills on each side of the highway. In the crevices that lay in between we found small herds of cows and horses, and there were enough turns at the end of the day to keep the ride interesting. There was a particular stretch near the end of the day where Mike had a great shift ahead of me, powering up and down hills harldy wavering in rpm's. My shift followed, and likewise I led up and down the hills without trouble. Our legs at this point allow a lot more freedom in terms of when and where you choose to turn it on, so when it seems like everybody is on the same page we can really let loose, charging down hills to eliminate half of the following climb. Sometimes those climbs don't even warrant shifting out of third gear, which is a comforting thought knowing that such tactics won't last when we hit the rockies! The final leg of Saskatchewan had a long downhill before a sweeping turn to the border, which we coasted into for a photo, available on Mike's blog. Just 2km from the border was the small, boring town of Walsh, where we stayed at a gas station campground, which was as picturesque as it sounds. The selling point were showers, not too clean but clean enough with flip flops on. The paste of sweat, dirt, dust, bike grease, bug spray, and sunscreen does not wash easily, but when it does come off it feels terrific.

The following day took us through Medicine Hat, our biggest city in a while, filled with SUVs and box stores. Granted, we didn't have much time to check out the cultured spots, but it didn't seem terribly interesting to me. It was over 40 celsius that day, just scorching. I wouldn't recommend biking in that kind of heat, but we have a schedule to keep. Oh well, we dealt with it and drank plenty, and kept roadside rests brief to maintain the breeze of the biking. Our day ended with a Tim Horton's dinner in Brooks, and a sweet spot to camp behind the Victory Church. Victory over what, I'm not sure...evil I suppose, maybe witches or supervillains.

Yesterday we left Brooks and early on I noticed a crack developing in my rear tire rim. About two inches long, the crack made the rim flare out near the tire and as a result the tire itself would balloon out in that spot. With Adrian's help I loosened the back brakes so they wouldn't rub the rim or tire and cause the crack to widen. Unfortunately the town of Brooks has no bike shop, so I was forced to hope for the best and ride towards Calgary. It was pretty smooth sailing for 45km until the small town of Bassano, our lunch stop with again, no bike shop. Right when we stopped, my tube deflated at the town's edge. It was then we noticed a second crack in the rim, about four inches from the first crack. The rim itself was now slicing the tube beneath the tire, making my bike unrideable. The local auto repair shop couldn't even weld it temporarily because they didn't have the tools necessary to weld aluminum. Luckily, a man approached us at the gas station and quickly after hearing my situation, offered a ride into Calgary. What luck, and what a generous guy! Really, that was my only option, and I didn't slow the group down.

Mike Garett, my driver, was full of great stories from his travels around the world. He talked about the golf course he manages in Calgary and the last minute emergency repairs he was forced to make for a recent CPGA tournament, as well as his wife's degree in photojournalism and current art direction career. I cannot stress enough how interesting the people are that we meet along the way, or how their travel experiences have led them to being extremely kind to fellow travellers in need. Mike drove me downtown, and then to several bike shops to locate the rim I needed. We tried four different shops with no luck, until we found The Bike Shop downtown with 15 minutes until close and only one rim in stock compatible with my bike. The price tag was a hefty 239.99, way beyond anything I could afford on my budget for the trip. However, after getting a chance to speak with the manager and the mechanic and explaining my situation and endless search shop to shop, I managed to bargain for a deal at 133 bucks. Over a hundred dollars off the rim, PLUS they gave my bike a tune up and cleaned out all the parts, which normally runs around 40 to 50 dollars. Considering the desperation of my situation, they could've left me optionless with no affordable rims in town, but again, people are kind more often than not.

So now we're in Calgary and will check out the stampede tomorrow. We've been well fed here and started watching the start of the Tour de France on tv. Those guys are fast.

Not sure of where or when the next update will come, but we're all very excited for the rockies and the challenges to come, we're almost there!