Total distance: 1610km
Average speed: 26.5km/h
Weather: sunny with a few sprinkles
What a difference a day makes! After a most wonderful breakfast made by Shirley, I left Medicine Hat for Saskatchewan and was at the border in less than 2 hours thanks to an amazing tailwind. At the rest area, I reunited with Amy and Johnathan, the cyclists from yesterday, who said they were going to push for Swift Current. At the time I thought they were crazy and wished them good luck at the same time content with my plan to stay at Eagle Valley Campground just outside of Maple Creek. We biked together until I turned off to the campground while they continued ahead. The campground was deserted and it was not even 1pm. I felt good and sat around for 10min or so before deciding that I might as well cover more distance (having only done 90km by then), as someone who had biked across Canada years ago told me, if you get a tailwind, bike for 20 hours straight and don't stop! I went back out to the highway and stopped at the visitor centre 5km ahead to see what the options were between here and Swift Current. Turns out that Amy and Johnathan were still there, and the nice lady gave me the options of Tompkins (54km away) or Gull Lake (76km). Either of those sounded doable and I was just going to head east and see what happens. I kept an eye on my average speed and did some mental math, such that by the time I reached the ice cream stand in Tompkins around 3:30, I had convinced myself that going for Swift Current might not be such an insane idea. I sent a message to Sarah, my host in Swift Current, and told the other two that if they made it they would likely have a place to stay as well. That was the last that I saw of them, as it turns out that they called Sarah around 6:30 to say that they had camped somewhere 40km away. I wouldn't say the next 75km or so went by quickly, but it was definitely not as difficult as yesterday. In the end I got to Sarah's doorstep a bit after 7; she was surprised as she hadn't read my message but nonetheless welcomed me with the warmest hospitality and offered me so much delicious food. So today was a good day, with the wind on my side I managed to cover two days' mileage in one, getting a new daily record! Oh and I also saw an antelope!
That's a long ride in a day! You go girl :)
ReplyDelete