The Current Normal – Head Out on the Highway

An obvious homage to the second line of Born to be Wild by Canadian rocker John Kay and Steppenwolf, one of my ultimate driving songs.

November 2, 2020 promised temperatures of +19 C (66 F) with a breezy morning and windy afternoon. We set out for our bike ride with fully charged batteries at about 10:30 AM, in an attempt to beat the higher winds.

Pedaling Eastward, the wind was in our faces, pedaling South, we again felt the wind in our faces. After about 5 miles, I stopped to remove a layer, gloves and toque. Things were heating up. Unusual weather for November 2, but we would take it. Naked tree trunks and tall golden grasses swayed in the winds.

At the corner of TR 505 and RR 234

At that point, we discussed how far we wanted to go and opted to ride South to SH 625, then East to RR 233 and then play it by ear. At 625, we turned East….into the wind. Traffic was busier than usual and even on the shoulder, we were buffeted about a few times by passing semis. We paused to take in the rural agricultural scenery.

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Here is the highway of which I speak.

Stubble fields abound along the highway.

As we approached RR 233, we spotted neighbours P & M, also on bikes, heading South and exchanged waves. They are more serious cyclists than us and were riding true road bikes. We again stopped to admire the scenery, while they pedaled on. We turned South on 233 and followed P & M for a bit, before again stopping for photos.

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P & M ride off into the distance

Still a few hay bales to move around.

Reaching Airport Road (East/West), I spied some “Alberta beef” up ahead and we paused for this bovine photo shoot.

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We turned back to Airport Road, where we headed further East for a mile (wind in our faces) to RR 232, where we turned North. The winds were again in our faces, What the H—? OK, a fun ride home then! Our favourite little bird watching pond was still iced over, even at +12 C.

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At SH 625, we turned East for the homeward trek and found the wind….again in our faces. Looks like the Blow-mont effect was more wide spread than we expected.

On the way outbound, we were watching for our donkey friends, but they were AWOL. On the return trip, they were standing about in the field looking incredibly cute.

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After the donkey stop, we pedaled non stop for home and whichever way we turned, the wind was always in our faces. Good thing we had charged the batteries. We arrived home just after Noon, having ridden 36 km (22.5 miles). Not bad for November 2 and probably our last bike ride of the season.