A day that ended up being more tiring than it had looked on paper.
Theoretically, overall gentle downhill with a few climbs, a slight tail wind and fewer than 90km of riding should have been fairly easy. But thick gravel roads, a longish stint on Highway 2A, and a puncture culminated in tired bodies that pulled up to the Radisson in Red Deer.
To be fair, it was mostly a beautiful ride. It started in gentle morning light with us wheeling cheerfully along deserted back country roads. Rolling fields stretching into the distance looked like Teletubbyland, birds sang in the wetlands, cows and horses watched us with curiosity.
And there was the delightful find of the Dark Woods Brewery and Coffee Roaster in Innisfail which was built by the hands of twins Scott and Nick Bell. Worth a stop – their coffee is great and their cinnamon buns fresh and delicious. We didn’t try the beer and weren’t going to carry any but the locals raved about it.
As we turned on to the highway Gill got our first puncture of the 2,000-plus km of trail, which meant a hot, noisy repair stop on the side of the highway followed by a more careful ride avoiding debris all the way into town.
Once in Red Deer we had a picnic and meandered the last 13km through Waskasoo Park. Despite the scenic paths with wonderful forests, grassy areas and the fast flowing Red Deer River, the seemingly never ending paths tested our patience. We almost had a serious incident when poor Jen rode straight into a 20cm high unmarked, metal lump placed in the middle of the trail – apparently to enable gate locking. We would far rather have been on one of the many floaties on the river bearing small drinks parties of people who were definitely not working as hard as us.
Today’s distance: 84km
Total distance: 2,167km
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Trans Canada Epic 