Something New On The Horizon

Today was without a doubt the best day of riding to date. It was sunny, it was warm, and there was a legitimate tailwind pushing me towards my destination. Disclaimer: The elusive easterly tailwind has still yet to make an appearance but a tailwind is a tailwind.

As for today’s destination, well … as mentioned in my previous update, Calgary is about 150 km from Red Deer and certainly doable in a day. Today it is was EASILY doable. But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.

I had a great sleep at Anna’s last night and, by the time I made my way to the kitchen, Anna had already made smoothies for breakfast. This day was off to a great start. Once again, Anna was such a great host and so accommodating. She left early to go to work – busy day ahead – but not before I remembered to get a photo with yet another great Warm Showers host.

I actually didn’t leave much later than Anna as I was packed up and on the road by about 8:45. There was a bit of a chill in the air (by my standards) so I was back to long pants and sleeves for the start of the ride. I think that definitely falls into the “First World Problems” category. By mid-morning I was back to shorts and a t-shirt.

My first stop of the day was at Subway which was conveniently located about 1 km from Anna’s place. From there I worked my way over to the 2A bound for Calgary. I was originally going to take the main #2 highway but the 2A has good shoulders, less traffic and wasn’t going to add noticeable distance to my ride. I stayed on the 2A until Innisfail – about 40 km – at which point getting back on #2 was the more direct (albeit busier) route.

Despite still having my Subway purchase from this morning, I opted to stop at the Subway in Innisfail to get a hot lunch (even though it was actually only 10:30). I figured time wasn’t going to be an issue today. The tailwind I mentioned earlier was treating me very well so I was quite confident that today’s 160 km would be easily attainable.

From a cycling point of view, the road to Calgary is relatively flat. There are a few hills as you get closer to the city but certainly nothing intimidating by nature. What was intimidating today actually WAS nature. By early afternoon there were a series of massive thunderstorms clearly taking place to the west. Fortunately, it was quite a bit to the west as I was able to watch them while pedalling in the sun. And with the wind blowing from the north I wasn’t too concerned about those clouds paying me a visit.

Perhaps the most exciting part of today’s ride, other than the tailwind, was that I finally got a glimpse of what I’ve been looking for. The mountains. I’m not going to lie, when I looked out towards the horizon and saw the mountains (looking pretty small and harmless, I might add), well … I definitely got chills. It will still be a while before I’m crossing those mountains but it felt great to see them.

By about 2:00 my lack of meteorological knowledge was on full display as the dark storm clouds that had been comfortably to the west for most of the afternoon were now very much creeping into my space. And by “creeping” I mean they were almost directly overhead. And yet I still had a tailwind.

Fortunately, today was shaping up to be one of those days where things were just working out. At about the same time that I realized I was about to find myself in the middle of a downpour I was also approaching Airdrie, the last town before Calgary. And home to a Wendy’s. If all went well I would be watching a thunderstorm while enjoying a large chocolate Frosty. All went well.

I pulled into Wendy’s just as the rain started to fall. Unfortunately, there was no shelter under which I could put my bike so I did what any responsible cyclist would do – I took my bike inside Wendy’s. I was going to ask permission but I figured this was a good time to use the “it’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission” approach.

For the next half hour or so, the storm blow through while my bike and I watched – comfortably sheltered from the storm. I used that time to secure accommodation for the night. I had considered staying in Airdrie – and if I had a tent I likely would’ve. However, the motel options were more than a little unreasonable so I extended my search to include Calgary and was able to find a good deal.

The final 30 km into Calgary turned out to be a little bit more adventurous than expected. I left Wendy’s and headed back to the #2 highway – it was the more direct route than what Google Maps was proposing. My GPS concurred with my decision. To say that the #2 gets a lot busier as you near Calgary would be a bit of an understatement. Before I knew it, I once again found myself cycling on a highway on which I was reasonably confident I had no business being. And yet I stayed. I stayed as the highway expanded to four lanes – full of traffic travelling in excess of 110 km/h. I stayed when on-ramps appeared to my right and I was literally surrounded by highway traffic.

It was during this time that I came to the conclusion that I should never tell any fellow cyclists what the roads in a given area are like (at least, not without some sort of disclaimer). I clearly have a different level of tolerance for such things. Despite being surrounded by high speed traffic, and even having to cross a few lanes of said traffic from time to time, I never felt concerned for my safety. Sure, I probably shouldn’t have been there but for the most part there was a wide shoulder available and it was really just the noise that made it seem more intense. In all honesty, I thought it was fun. For the record, I was tempted to take a photo during this portion of the ride but I thought better of it.

The highway adventure continued for about 10 km before I reached my exit. From there, my GPS unit proceeded to lead me on a direct route to a dead end. Well, it was a dead end due to construction but a dead end nonetheless. I might have be able to sneak through but as far as I could tell doing so would’ve required me to cross a couple of Calgary International’s runways which probably would’ve garnered some unwanted attention. It was tempting though.

To make a long story longer, I eventually re-routed myself into Calgary along some not-entirely-bike-friendly roads before arriving at my motel. For the record and for the second time in as many days, I managed to enter a big city without the fanfare of a “welcome” sign. Given that I like to take pictures of said signs, I always find it more than a little disappointing when such sign doesn’t exist – or, more accurately, is located on an alternate route. Yesterday, I think I just missed the Red Deer sign (somehow). Today, I ended up taking a “less conventional” route into the city so not seeing a welcome sign wasn’t entirely surprising. Disappointing. But not surprising. Maybe I’ll see one on the way out of town.

Anyway, as the numbers below indicate, today’s ride was by far the most efficient to date. Add in my first sighting of the mountains, narrowly avoiding a thunderstorm, and watching said thunderstorm while enjoying a large chocolate Frosty … well, it’s safe to say that today was a very good day.

If all goes well tomorrow, I’ll head downtown to MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op) and get a new tent. The adventure continues.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 157.89 km
Ride time: 6:03:12
Average speed: 26.08 km/h
Maximum speed: 57.46 km/h