Drat!
Guess I'll be getting a touch wet on the bike this morning then?
The route into, and out of, Calgary was pretty simple. The bike lanes are pretty good here.Once through town I headed south on a canal path until it intersected with highway 22x. This was running perfectly East/West and with the tailwind, was a beaut to ride.
The sun eventually showed face and partially dried me out. At Gleichen I hoped to refill my water bottles, but there didn't seem to be a working tap anywhere in town. I landed up taking the last bit of water from a local store, draining the last few drops from his water cooler.
Leaving town, I headed towards the TCH, but first had to win a sprint with a dog. I spied the 2 dogs sitting near a fence about 20m off the road, one paid me no attention, the other seemed keen on me.My choices: speed up or stop.
I sped up and the dog timed his arced run perfectly, joining me at full speed. Thankfully he didn't try and attack me, I think he was just out for some fun.
I was at full speed, he was at full speed, and kept checking me out with a sly sideways glance. We must have stayed like this for at least 500m before he started faltering. He then had to dodge a large wooden peg in the verge, which threw him off completely. He looked at me, gave me a little yelp and peeled off. I had a massive smile on my face and really wish I could have recorded that little moment. For the briefest time, we were in unison, man and dog, at 37km/h.
Dark skies loomed behind me as I rolled into Bassano, nothing threatening for the moment, but I figured there would be some noise and light a little later.I was the only person in the campsite, so setup under some shelter and watched the storm pass me by.
Luckily the rain was light and not hanging around, but the thunder rumbled and crackled all night long. It's a great sound to fall asleep to.
Distance: 173.3 km
Time: 7:38:26
Height gained/lost: 657m /-1062m
Calories: 5325
Love the dog story1
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