May 28, 2014
The sun rising in the east over the cliffs of Medicine Hat and dark ominous clouds approaching in the west forecast the rest of my day. It began to rain as I packed to leave camp and then got hit by momentary downpour as I left the city. The same thing happened in the evening. Just as I set up camp the wind gusts, lightening, and rain began. I did wonder whether my lightweight tent would survive a thunderstorm but it made it through wonderfully and I remained dry. The real story of the day though was the wind. I know another rant about wind but it’s a force to be dealt with. I battled head on most of the day and learnt again the importance of proper pedaling technique. When the going is so tough, the temptation is to just put your weight into the push down and then alternate to the foot. It is in fact a very wasteful technique. Wearing clipless shoes, there are in fact four motions to every rotation. Push forward, push down, pull back, and pull up with one foot while the other is two steps ahead. It seems difficult but you know you’re doing it correctly when you feel yourself getting heavy in the seat and light on the pedals. The real kicker is that with less effort you feel yourself picking up speed. Nevertheless, it’s rather counterintuitive when the cycling gets hard but it is when technique makes the difference.