I really tried and tried to get up early but just couldn’t. Then I needed to sort out my electronics which I thought were okay but turns out they weren’t. First was the Gopro camera which now when I turned on just started taking hundreds of photos and I couldn’t turn it off without removing the battery. The second problem was my solar charger which I had returned and upgrade yesterday at MEC. The different brand had a multitude of connection types for various phones and electronic items but when plugged into my phone, the phone indicated I was at risk of wrecking the phone. It also would not charge my tablet no matter which combination of connections I used.
I left the apartment by 9AM and had the Gopro replaced at London Drugs. I have to admit I always get great service at London Drugs and there is no fuss or blaming the customer. I then rode to MEC and simply returned the new charger, borrowed a floor pump for my tires and bought a 12′ x 12′ tarp! By the time I got on the road for real it was around 11am and already starting to get hot which I in fact welcome.
Leaving Calgary isn’t super easy as far as finding decent bike routes but for the most part I was okay. My GPS was having problems and I lost my data signal near the outskirts of town so I took out my SIM card for a minute and rebooted. That seemed to work and I had a signal all day for the first time. I kept looking for towers along the Trans Canada and low and behold they were there telling me so. Still hate Bell though!
So to set the record straight, it is not flat for a bicycle. There is constant grade changes and little mini hills every couple of kilometers. Since it was later in the day there was always a wind and I really was still a little tired even with all of the days off. I struggled just to get to 50 kilometers. However as much as people say the prairies are boring, it is very beautiful out here. Rolling country side with deep green hay grasses growing, or sometimes cut hay so light brown fields for as far as the eye can see. All of the farm houses would have a cluster of trees surrounding it and the odd one had some home cooking you could stop for.
It was definitely a mind game today as I rarely got over 30km/hr and for many of the short hills I had to go into the old granny gear. In mind I just had to keep going even if I stopped every ten kilometers. I did a small break around 75 kilometers for some bagels and peanut butter but there were no real places to get food until the 105 kilometer marker where I came across a gas station and bought and ate two chocolate chip muffins and a powerade. There was no tap water but I knew I could swing on nothing for the next hour and a half.
Slowly but surely I eventually closed in on Bassano. I didn’t get a hold of my sisters friend but I found a cheap campsite for $15 at the end of town. I had vegetable chow mein at “Harry’s Place”, spoke to Harry about China and my current trip and I am now wrapping up to go to bed. Tomorrow will be dinosaur bones and Bad Lands!