Day 119

September 8 - 192km (Calgary)

I woke up when it was still pitch-black and was ready to go at 6 in the morning. In order to hit 300km, I would have to constantly push the pace and hope that the wind would at least not be in my face.

The biking was going quite well. I was on schedule to hit 300km and I was constantly eating and drinking to ensure my body had enough fuel. There were periods when I was getting some headwind, but I pushed through.

Well, everything was going well until my rear wheel started to wobble. At first it was slight, but the wobble started to get noticeably stronger. I had to stop on the side of the road to assess the problem, and when I examined the spokes, I realized one of them snapped. That was not good. After a quick Google search, I learned I could bike with one spoke broken, so that’s what I did. Until another spoke broke. This was not good because I was about 100km away from Calgary, which was where the closest bike shops were. There was nothing I could do about the situation - I needed professional help. There was one small issue: the bike was in an unrideable state and I was quite far from Calgary. I was really frustrated because I told myself I was hitting 300km today and this was something I could not control.

I eventually was able to hitch a ride into the city. Vasyl, the man who picked me up, introduced me to his family and drove me all the way into Calgary. I went to a bike shop and they had to replace the wheel because it was in such a bad state. The amount of bike issues I had been dealing with since Winnipeg… it was not fun.