Day 35 (5 of 2020) Wetaskiwin to Edmonton, AB

What a horrible day of cycling – too much wind, too much highway. And conditions were so bad we sought a shorter route and shaved off about 15km.
Very early start out of Wetaskiwin, straight on to the first 36km along Highway 2A into a building cross-headwind. The wind came across the highway, so the constant cacophony of commuting cars and trucks caused swirling unpredictable vacuums of air. We were squashed on to about two feet of road shoulder, between a rumble strip and a large drop-off. There wasn’t much looking around, but we did stop just before LeDuc to smile at a group of young foals cavorting in a field.
It was also cold, and the wind chill made for a “feels like” way under 10 degrees, so the breakfast and coffee stop at Prestigio in Leduc was most welcome. Here we also stocked up on lunch as there was nothing between us and Edmonton except fields, gravel roads and more wind.
Again we had a gathering storm on the horizon, but this time we were heading into it instead of cycling away to beat it. When the rain started we stopped in at the Wedmans’ farm west of the Edmonton airport; the wind so strong (35km/h gusting 45km) the storm blew over in a few minutes. We had a great chat though, and learned a new term … “citiot” which farmer David W is working hard to avoid becoming – resisting the City’s pushes to buy his land (which he doesn’t recall putting up for sale). His family has farmed here since 1892 and intend continuing doing so. Their fields are stunning and we hope they stay that way.
But as we rode towards Edmonton, as with almost every other city we have ridden though, we passed the new developments of cookie-cutter houses that conglomerate into outskirts or satellite communities. They sprawl for miles and are going up fast.
Edmonton is a large city and we had about 30km to ride though these outskirts, over freeways and on through lovely wooded parklands. Finally we crossed the wide and strong North Saskatchewan River before we turned up a steep hill to the provincial Legislature for the end of this particular leg of our journey.
Four-and-a-bit days to finish the first run of 2020. Now on to planning the rest of the journey…
Today’s distance: 88km
Total distance: 2,353km

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