What would you think if I sang out of tune
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song
And I'll try not to sing out of key
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm going to try with a little help from my friends
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song
And I'll try not to sing out of key
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm going to try with a little help from my friends
- The Beatles - "Get by with a Little Help from my Friends"
Youngstown, Alberta – Kindersley, Saskatchewan - 146 kilometers
Everyone was up bright and early this morning due to some weather related nerves following yesterday’s storm. I am pretty sure that CBC weather noticed a sharp increase in ‘hits’ that day on their Kimberly location as people went from complacency about the weather to complete and total paranoia. A fantastic pancake breakfast was served and everyone was on the road by around 7:30 / 8:00... give or take a few hours on the early side.
The ride out of Youngstown was a nice smooth one – Brendan, Andrew, Ian and I all biked together and we were making absolutely fantastic progress thanks to a wonderful north west tail wind (!!) which had developed during the night following the storm. It was blowing exactly in our direction – south east..!! We were averaging about 30 kms / hour in a beautifully formed pace line (yes, I am learning!) and the first hour breezed by so quickly that we decided to treat ourselves to a chocolate milk and a ‘pit stop’ at a very rural gas station just before the border to Saskatchewan..! Our 3rd province out of 10..!! It was nice to have a break and indulge in some ‘fast food’ – chocolate milk (about 1 liter of it) is the beverage of choice at the moment and goes down soooo nice. Apparently it is a great recovery drink.
The sun was shining and everyone was in an excellent mood. It’s funny how 1 day of really, really crappy weather can quickly jerk everyone back to ‘reality’ and remind you how little control you have over the weather and how much you depend on it to be your ‘friend’. It also helps you to appreciate how great good weather is and how it can ‘make or break’ a ride. I am realizing that a lot of this trip is due to luck – the luck part being the weather. If the day
had been ‘against the wind’ the 146 kilometers would have been an absolute nightmare. It is incredibly soul destroying to be peddling as fast as you can against the wind and not going any faster than about 10kms / hour as opposed to the 30kms / hour that we did today..
I was on Galley Duty today so there was some pressure to finish the 146kms before about 4pm. At the rate we were going there would be absolutely no problem in finishing by about 2:30ish. We made several stops along the way including the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan..!! Hoooray..!
My legs were feeling very strong and I had to exert very little energy to propel myself along the wonderfully flat Prairie road. Part of this can also be accounted to the pace line which seemed to get tighter and faster as
the day wore on and as we got used to each others riding habits. The road was pretty smooth with a great shoulder and as we were going pretty quickly I had enough momentum to go up and down the rolling hills without too much effort. The scenery was breathtaking and so peaceful – I didn’t think I’d be so keen on the Prairies (the wind certainly helps my spirits) but they are beautiful – acres and acres of pasture land, canola and wheat that looks like long green grass blowing in the wind. The harvest for the wheat must come in the late summer or early autumn. I expected the Prairies to be ‘flatter’ – the hills are actually rolling and the road doesn’t always go 100% straight – it does curve and wind its way through the hills making for a very scenic ride.
The people that we meet along the way (mostly at gas stations when we’re buying food..!) are all super nice and so friendly. Everyone is curious about where we are from, where we are going and why we’re doing what we’re doing. It’s really amazing how many people comment, “Wow – I’ve always wanted to do that”. I feel so lucky to be having this opportunity and sharing it with such a great group of people.
We cycled through a town called ‘Cereal’ – I thought that this was a wonderful bit of farmer irony giv
en we were surrounded by cereals..!
I really, really enjoyed the pace line today. Whilst I liked the Rockies, it was hard to have a pace line that had everyone at the same level of ability and strength. Now that we’re on the flats it’s much easier and much more ‘social’. We always shout up and down the pace line to warn the person behind about ‘Rumble Strips’, ‘cars back’ etc. etc. It’s now at the point where we have special hand signals to identify gravel on the road, rubbish on the road, potholes, loose rubber, railroad tracks, taking a drink, pee break etc. We even have a ‘Rumble Strip Countdown’. I feel like I’ve joined the cyclists subculture..! The order is usually Andrew, Ian, Brendan and me and then we go in a rotation, rotating about every 5 – 7 kms or whenever the lead person gets tired. Its easy to get so captivated by the scenery and the vastness of the land around you that you get lost in your thoughts and forget to pass down the ‘road conditions’ signals. A good solid rumble strip can quickly jerk you back to reality.
We had a great lunch off to the side of the road. We got to the top of a hill just outside of Marango and pulled off to relax, indulge in some peanut butter and rehydrate. It felt great to lie in the long grasses and the warm sun to chill out for about 15 minutes. The French Connection came and joined us for a few minutes before competitively jetting off. Apparently Brendan, Andrew and I have been nicknamed “Team London” (with the addition of Ian of course..!) so I am starting to think that a French vs. English rivalry is forming… Hopefully we won’t break out into full fledged war in the Plains of Abraham when we hit Quebec..! Everyone was looking forward to the final 40kms with an earlier than expected cruise into camp.
Brendan led the pace line for the final 20 kms into Kindersley and he floored it. It was fab – we averaged about 38kms / hour and hit up to about 48 on some of the downhills even though the shoulder was gravely and uneven. At times it felt as though the wind was literally pushing our bikes and up down the rolling hills – the feeling of ultimate freedom..! It was awesome. Everyone agreed that it was a sweet 20kms and we totally deserved the Tim Hortons which welcomed us to Kindersley. Once again, a coffee and a honey cruller donut were high on the agenda. We on the TdC are a loyal following of the Timmy’s chain.
It was hard to imagine that we biked 146kms that day as we have biked 100km days which have been more tiring..! Having said that I was pretty stiff and could certainly feel
my muscles seizing up from the moment I hopped off my bicycle.
Dave, John, Ross, Lani and Terry were already hard at work by the time I reached camp – the water was boiling and it was not long before the campsite smelled of a delicious chicken stir fry – compliments to Chef Dave who is a true Master of the kitchen. He had us all slicing and dicing within about 5 minutes. For dessert we had straw
berry shortcake with fresh strawberries. Mmmm…! As this is our second time on Galley Duty we’re starting to get the hang of things and know where ‘stuff’ is. It was fun to prepare the stir fry and I was impressed by the way things all came together and the way that we worked as a team.
Post dinner we did a quick clean up and I was asleep and in my tent within about 2 minutes flat. Another fabulous day on the Tour du Canada..!
Everyone was up bright and early this morning due to some weather related nerves following yesterday’s storm. I am pretty sure that CBC weather noticed a sharp increase in ‘hits’ that day on their Kimberly location as people went from complacency about the weather to complete and total paranoia. A fantastic pancake breakfast was served and everyone was on the road by around 7:30 / 8:00... give or take a few hours on the early side.
The ride out of Youngstown was a nice smooth one – Brendan, Andrew, Ian and I all biked together and we were making absolutely fantastic progress thanks to a wonderful north west tail wind (!!) which had developed during the night following the storm. It was blowing exactly in our direction – south east..!! We were averaging about 30 kms / hour in a beautifully formed pace line (yes, I am learning!) and the first hour breezed by so quickly that we decided to treat ourselves to a chocolate milk and a ‘pit stop’ at a very rural gas station just before the border to Saskatchewan..! Our 3rd province out of 10..!! It was nice to have a break and indulge in some ‘fast food’ – chocolate milk (about 1 liter of it) is the beverage of choice at the moment and goes down soooo nice. Apparently it is a great recovery drink.
The sun was shining and everyone was in an excellent mood. It’s funny how 1 day of really, really crappy weather can quickly jerk everyone back to ‘reality’ and remind you how little control you have over the weather and how much you depend on it to be your ‘friend’. It also helps you to appreciate how great good weather is and how it can ‘make or break’ a ride. I am realizing that a lot of this trip is due to luck – the luck part being the weather. If the day
had been ‘against the wind’ the 146 kilometers would have been an absolute nightmare. It is incredibly soul destroying to be peddling as fast as you can against the wind and not going any faster than about 10kms / hour as opposed to the 30kms / hour that we did today..I was on Galley Duty today so there was some pressure to finish the 146kms before about 4pm. At the rate we were going there would be absolutely no problem in finishing by about 2:30ish. We made several stops along the way including the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan..!! Hoooray..!
My legs were feeling very strong and I had to exert very little energy to propel myself along the wonderfully flat Prairie road. Part of this can also be accounted to the pace line which seemed to get tighter and faster as
the day wore on and as we got used to each others riding habits. The road was pretty smooth with a great shoulder and as we were going pretty quickly I had enough momentum to go up and down the rolling hills without too much effort. The scenery was breathtaking and so peaceful – I didn’t think I’d be so keen on the Prairies (the wind certainly helps my spirits) but they are beautiful – acres and acres of pasture land, canola and wheat that looks like long green grass blowing in the wind. The harvest for the wheat must come in the late summer or early autumn. I expected the Prairies to be ‘flatter’ – the hills are actually rolling and the road doesn’t always go 100% straight – it does curve and wind its way through the hills making for a very scenic ride.The people that we meet along the way (mostly at gas stations when we’re buying food..!) are all super nice and so friendly. Everyone is curious about where we are from, where we are going and why we’re doing what we’re doing. It’s really amazing how many people comment, “Wow – I’ve always wanted to do that”. I feel so lucky to be having this opportunity and sharing it with such a great group of people.
We cycled through a town called ‘Cereal’ – I thought that this was a wonderful bit of farmer irony giv
en we were surrounded by cereals..!
I really, really enjoyed the pace line today. Whilst I liked the Rockies, it was hard to have a pace line that had everyone at the same level of ability and strength. Now that we’re on the flats it’s much easier and much more ‘social’. We always shout up and down the pace line to warn the person behind about ‘Rumble Strips’, ‘cars back’ etc. etc. It’s now at the point where we have special hand signals to identify gravel on the road, rubbish on the road, potholes, loose rubber, railroad tracks, taking a drink, pee break etc. We even have a ‘Rumble Strip Countdown’. I feel like I’ve joined the cyclists subculture..! The order is usually Andrew, Ian, Brendan and me and then we go in a rotation, rotating about every 5 – 7 kms or whenever the lead person gets tired. Its easy to get so captivated by the scenery and the vastness of the land around you that you get lost in your thoughts and forget to pass down the ‘road conditions’ signals. A good solid rumble strip can quickly jerk you back to reality.
We had a great lunch off to the side of the road. We got to the top of a hill just outside of Marango and pulled off to relax, indulge in some peanut butter and rehydrate. It felt great to lie in the long grasses and the warm sun to chill out for about 15 minutes. The French Connection came and joined us for a few minutes before competitively jetting off. Apparently Brendan, Andrew and I have been nicknamed “Team London” (with the addition of Ian of course..!) so I am starting to think that a French vs. English rivalry is forming… Hopefully we won’t break out into full fledged war in the Plains of Abraham when we hit Quebec..! Everyone was looking forward to the final 40kms with an earlier than expected cruise into camp.
Brendan led the pace line for the final 20 kms into Kindersley and he floored it. It was fab – we averaged about 38kms / hour and hit up to about 48 on some of the downhills even though the shoulder was gravely and uneven. At times it felt as though the wind was literally pushing our bikes and up down the rolling hills – the feeling of ultimate freedom..! It was awesome. Everyone agreed that it was a sweet 20kms and we totally deserved the Tim Hortons which welcomed us to Kindersley. Once again, a coffee and a honey cruller donut were high on the agenda. We on the TdC are a loyal following of the Timmy’s chain.
It was hard to imagine that we biked 146kms that day as we have biked 100km days which have been more tiring..! Having said that I was pretty stiff and could certainly feel
my muscles seizing up from the moment I hopped off my bicycle.Dave, John, Ross, Lani and Terry were already hard at work by the time I reached camp – the water was boiling and it was not long before the campsite smelled of a delicious chicken stir fry – compliments to Chef Dave who is a true Master of the kitchen. He had us all slicing and dicing within about 5 minutes. For dessert we had straw
berry shortcake with fresh strawberries. Mmmm…! As this is our second time on Galley Duty we’re starting to get the hang of things and know where ‘stuff’ is. It was fun to prepare the stir fry and I was impressed by the way things all came together and the way that we worked as a team.Post dinner we did a quick clean up and I was asleep and in my tent within about 2 minutes flat. Another fabulous day on the Tour du Canada..!
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