Day 15, July 4th, Lethbridge to Medicine Hat

Adam Vossepoel, Brodie Pattenden, and Chris Courtney joined us for this leg of the journey. Adam and Chris both want to do this next year for the University, so it was good experience for them; or that’s at least what I told them. The owners of Alpinland lent their personal bikes to Adam and Brodie for the trip. These weren’t the cheapest bikes to borrow, and it saved them a great deal of time and money in not having to find other road bikes. A shout-out to Alpinland! Brett had a Doctor’s appointment at 2pm, so he stayed behind and caught up with us later in Medicine Hat.

We began biking around 8:15am from the west side of Lethbridge. It took us awhile to get out of Lethbridge. Whoop-up was a breeze after BC. As we got out of Lethbridge, there was a not so friendly storm behind us. We were able to sustain 40km/h for around 15k with a substantial tailwind from this storm. As we turned onto highway 3, the storm caught up to us, and it began to rain fairly heavy. It didn’t let up until we hit Taber, where we decided to take a break at McDonald’s. Having Craig and Todd from CRDC filming on the highway gave us motivation as we biked through the rain. Thanks guys!

Around 100k into the ride, Adam and Brodie were getting pretty tired. Completely understandable for people who don’t regularly bike and just rode a 100k. We stopped for a break and refueled on energy gels, drinks, food, and ibuprofen. We were all good for the remainder of the trip. Chris on the other hand looked as if he had road BC with us. You could tell he worked at Alpinland.

Around Burdett, we saw this Armored Personal Carrier on the road by a John Deere dealership. The owner let us get on to take a picture. He then showed us his personal collection of army vehicles in the back. It was a pretty cool break from the highway.

We all stopped for photos and high-fives at 160k. It was the first “century” Adam, Chris and Brodie had rode (100miles). In the end, it was 180k to the teepee in Medicine Hat from Lethbridge. Google was off again. Sorry Brodie!

We had dinner at the Medicine Hat buffet. Allan’s dad had our meals covered. Adam, Chris and Brodie then headed back to Lethbridge, while Alan and I went to Brett’s Grandma’s house. It was quite a treat to stay at her place. We each had our own bed. Definitely spoiled. Thanks Margaret!

Thanks again to Brodie, Chris and Adam for joining us on this part of the trip. It was a nice change. Although, I think Adam thought all the honks on the road were attributed to his bike shorts.