Distance: 160km
Total distance: 1385km
Average speed: 20.6km/h
Weather: started out sunny, then cloudy and a bit of rain too
Today's battle with the wind makes the climbs up the mountains seem pale in comparison. Last night I fell asleep at 9:30 while it was still light out and other than a few wake ups throughout the night which tends to happen when camping, I was zonked out until 7:15. My plan to start early didn't really work as it was still 9 when I was on the road, after I mailed some postcards at the Bassano post office. 5km outside of Bassano I met my first touring cyclist companions! They were a young couple originally from Toronto who had started on Vancouver Island at the start of May, and were taking their time crossing the country, stopping in big towns for days at a time. They were also heading to Medicine Hat for the night and I biked with them for 10km or so before taking off on my own. I stopped in Brooks 40km down the road and had a long coffee/wifi break at McDonalds, thinking maybe they would show up. The clock turned 12 and I forced myself to get going again as I still had over 100km to cover. If I had to describe the next 4 hours, it would be that it felt like I had gone to hell and came back. Immediately after leaving Brooks, a strong wind started blowing from SE, exactly the direction I was travelling towards. On flat roads, I was crawling along at less than 20km/h. There were many moments that I questioned my sanity and apart from the odometer on my bike computer, it was hard to believe that I was still moving forwards. It was so mentally tiring that I had to stop twice after only 50km. The light at the end of the tunnel came when the highway curved and the headwind became a crosswind. I have to admit that I was a bit dejected when I saw there was still 45km to Medicine Hat. The wind probably died down somewhere after but by then I was so tired I didn't even notice. About 10km after that sign, a pickup truck carrying the two cyclists I had met earlier and their bikes pulled over and the nice driver came out offering me a ride to town. As drained as I was, I, as cheerfully as I could, declined the offer. I did ask him how much further Medicine Hat was, to which he said 16km, which I was pretty sure was way too short. That encounter though gave me a second wind and I managed to will my legs to carry me the last 35km to my friend Leigh's grandparents home, who are like angels and made me feel human again. I didn't realize how big Medicine Hat is (10 highway exits and over 60,000 people!). Along the way I also passed the South Saskatchewan River and the world's largest tepee!
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