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July 20 Wednesday Bicycle touring to Bow Island Alberta - Medicine Hat Alberta In the morning, the sprinklers are spraying inside the gazebo. We get up and wearily pack our bikes. By 6:23 AM, we are on the road. Our earliest start so far. We pedal down the road till we're ready for a break at Seven Persons. We hit the bakery for piping hot cinnamon buns fresh out of the oven. It is incredibly cheap for a pack of six pack -- all six cost what we would normally pay for one in the city. After inhaling that half-dozen we buy another six of the fantastic soft and oozy buns. Fueled by sugar, we mount our bikes and ride down the road towards Medicine Hat. The road turns north and suddenly the wind is no longer in our favour. Fortunately today is a short bike ride of a mere sixty kilometres. By the time we arrive in Medicine Hat the temperature had risen to "grill." We pedal in to the first campground. The guy there wants $7 per tent. "So," I say, "if we have three tents, you will charge us 21 bucks?" "I can give you a better deal that," he says. "How does $16 sound? Showers included," he adds. "No, thanks," I reply. "Too much." "I can't do it for any less than that for you guys." We leave and pedal our carcasses up a steep hill to Gas City campground. It is $10 and has free showers. There is an ultra clean new cookhouse. The campground is conveniently located next to the city's bike trails. We have a quick shower -- okay, maybe not that quick -- wash our clothes, set up our tents, and munch a popsicle before hopping back on our naked bicycles and heading off to explore the bike trails. It is particularly welcome respite in the shade along the riverbank of the South Saskatchewan River. I hate the sandflies though. We stopped to watch a ball game and we almost eaten alive by the nasty flies. We follow the bike path to a giant teepee overlooking the city. It is built of concrete and steel and is expected to last 500 years. Then, instead of following the bike path the long way around we take a more direct route towards downtown and over a bridge. We don't see one cyclist on the road; they're only on the trails. No motorists yelled at us to get back on the bike trails, but while we were stopped at a light, we did get a couple of long disapproving looks from the cops. We don't have any of our touring bags on, so maybe they think we're daft locals. I can hear them now: "We built those bike paths for you cyclists! Stay off our roads. Paid good tax money for them there trails, so you guys would have a good safe place to ride." We park our bikes outside a well known restaurant, Caroline's, and saunter in for supper. Not quite satisfied to call it a night, we take in a movie. It is 11:30 PM by the time we get out of the movie. We turn on our Vistalites and head out into traffic, back to the campground. Just wait till those cops see us now. But there is hardly any traffic. We come across the bike trails again and decide to ride the last half of the way on the trails. They go through a park and follow along the river. I know this because I can hear the water. I certainly can't see it. It is very dark. Pitch-black. Can't see my hand in front of my face. Then there's that killer climb before the campground. As I grunt my way up in the blackness I think maybe we should have paid that chap the 16 bucks? |
