Day 4 - Indian Head SK to Brooks AB – toughest 500+ kms riding of my life.

Woke early at 5:30. Good night sleep after the rains of last night. No rain... no train horns...lol. Day appears clear and bright – no wind (that will change) ... but the campground and my tent is wet. Laid stuff out and waited for the sun to dry my tent from last night heavy rain. About 9 am I hit the road towards Regina 68 kms away. Not bad, little breezy start. Fuelled up and headed west towards Swift Current. Winds were stiff head and slight cross wind. Sky was sunny. The head winds increased and I saw that my gas mileage was suffering. My tank range dropped to less than 300 kms to close to reserve against the wind. Buffeting was not comfortable. Lunch in Swift Current a then I started towards Alberta border and Medicine Hat. The sky turned dark and the roads showed signs of passing rain showers, wind increased and I stopped once to take a break... the flag poles were bending in the SW wind. This was not a nice ride. The final 75 kms into Med Hat were very hard. I only got 221 kms on that tank of gas... down from my best of 378. I met a friend Tracy Mayer for a beer and to wait out the wind hopefully.. but nothing improved. I was concerned about getting to Brooks to visit Tracy Bader for dinner. I committed myself to doing that and hit the open prairie again... this time in strong cross winds and increasing rain. It there was a riding hell... this was close to it. The only good thing I can say was the cross winds were steady... no heavy gusts. The bike was dancing under me and in never got into 6th gear for the entire 97 kms of that ride. It was a struggle to maintain mid 80’s for speed and sometimes I slowed inadvertently to low 70’s. This in a 110 zone. Passed by at least 20 transports in that distance... but they respected me and I gave them extra space to keep away from the turbulence. Spray was not nice, but the wind cleared my visor and shield. I made it after 1:45 hour’s drive... glad to exit the hwy. I met Tracy, she let me change into dry clothes and we went to dinner. We had a nice evening chatting and catching up. She has just moved into a new home here and the house was in a state of renovations everywhere. Nice little bungalow though, they will be comfortable there.
No photos today. Had enough on my hands to worry about pictures of flat land and rain... the wind was worth a picture... but hard to take except seeing flags and grass and trees bending.



Tracy and Warrens new home