It’s A Shame

There’s no substitute for experience. Well, that might not be entirely true but there’s definitely a lot of valuable information that can be learned through personal experience. Take, for instance, yesterday’s experience with the sprinklers where I woke up startled and confused but fortunately not soaked. This morning, on the other hand, I knew to expect them and since I was familiar with the sound I was able to sleep right through them. Now, you might argue that I should’ve just put my tent somewhere out of range of the sprinklers. Well, sure. That would be a valid argument. However, since I didn’t really know exactly where all the sprinkler heads were I figured I’d go with the devil I know.

Today was day number three in Medicine Hat and generally speaking it was to be a day of leisure – as opposed to all the stressful working days I’ve been having (yes, that was sarcasm).

The $0.57 pancake special at IHOP was only a one day thing so breakfast this morning consisted of finishing off some of the food I’ve been carrying around for almost longer than recommended. With the old food gone, the first order of business was to head over to the Real Canadian Superstore to restock my food supply – it was a trip that ended up being about as uneventful as you might expect so no further details are needed.

From there I headed over to Gravity Sports, a local bike shop. Before hitting the road this morning, I had checked my chain for signs of stretching and, according to the chain gauge that I have, my chain was significantly stretched. Rod, at Gravity Sports, confirmed the diagnosis and was able to make the necessary repairs. Preventative maintenance strikes again.

I had now completed two out the three things I wanted to do today – and I’ve heard that Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad. However, the third item was the one I was looking forward to the most. The baseball game. Of course, it was still several hours away from game time so I had some time to fill. Time that was filled with more cycling.

There are a few paths winding their way through and around Medicine Hat so I decided to explore some of them. This was a LOT nicer than my ride through town yesterday to get to the library – and the trails ended up leading me to the same part of town. So, I took a few pictures at City Hall, and then went to a neighbouring park where I found some active power outlets which allowed me to recharge my devices once again.

At 6:00, I headed over to Athletic Park for tonight’s ballgame between the Medicine Hat Mavericks and the Lethbridge Bulls. The downside of wild camping and staying in the same city for multiple days is that I have to take all my gear with me all the time. Fortunately, the people at the stadium were kind enough to let me bring my bike inside for a little bit of added security.

Athletic Park is a nice stadium, and a great place to spend an evening on hot summer evenings like this one. I sampled some of their fine cuisine and enjoyed the game from my $12 seat behind home plate. Sadly, despite root root rooting for the home team, things didn’t work out so well for the Mavericks on this night. And I think it’s pretty common knowledge that when that happens it’s a shame. However, the final score notwithstanding, it was a great night at the ball park.

After the game I made my way back to the Tourist Information Centre. I didn’t end up taking bike paths, as described by Rod earlier in the day, mainly because I think I missed a turn or two. I ended up taking a longer route which took me back via the Trans-Canada. The upside to this route was twofold. One, I avoided the big hill with a stop sign at the bottom. Two, since I was heading east I could scout out breakfast options for tomorrow morning. Needless to say, I was pretty happy to see a Subway would be available on my way out of Medicine Hat tomorrow morning.

I arrived back at the Tourist Information Centre around 10:30, so it was actually getting dark. As a result, I set up my tent in the same place as the previous two nights – even though I knew I’d get hit by the sprinklers again. I considered moving to an alternate spot but, with my luck, I’d end up right on top of one of the hidden sprinkler heads.

Despite only travelling 25 km on the day, it was a long and busy day – but it was also a beautifully hot and sunny day. As such, I knew sleep wasn’t going to be a problem tonight. Then again, it rarely is.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 25.03 km
Ride time: 1:38:15
Average speed: 15.28 km/h
Maximum speed: 49.02 km/h