Day 13

Miles: 109

Miles from start: 1,053

We left Waterton Village under clear skies and with that wicked wind to our backs. 

It didn’t stay at our backs all day, however. Much of the day was spent at a tilt to the south to accommodate for the strong wind. 

In front of me, Richard and his bike took a five-degree slant to the south as he moved east.

We crossed back into the U.S. in the afternoon. The mountains shrank in our helmet mirrors and open rangeland spread in front. 

We frightened many cows grazing along route 501. There are so many calves among them. We also saw baby scunks today. They were by the side of the road where their mother had been hit by a car. 

I spent some time today annoyed at my left knee. I have developed tendinitis at the base of my medial lower quad. It’s worse on up hills, so it’s nice that all our long climbs are behind us until Vermont. However, even short, less-than-steep climbs bother it. I am taking ibuprofen and adjusting my cadence to try to take some of the stress off my knee. We’ll see if that helps enough. If not, I might replace my pedals for a pair with more float, which would let my heel move around more and help prevent overuse injuries. 

We ate pizza for dinner and set up our tent at a friendly RV park.