Willie Nelson - "On the Road Again"

On the road again
Just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin' music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again
On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been
Seein' things that I may never see again,
And I can't wait to get on the road again.

- Willie Nelson - "On the road again"

Kenora to Caliper Lake – 19 July
127kms / 79 miles

I was sooooo not in the mood to get up this morning but decided to have a shower to kick start my day at about 5:45am. A heavy dew covered my tent and it had been quite a humid evening so everything was wet and sticky. Brendan and Andrew were both on Galley Duty so I was rather pleased to use that as an excuse to pop down to Tim Hortons after breakfast for my 2nd breakfast and arranged for them to meet me there. I really enjoy the social aspect of the trip but there are those lovely quiet moments, away from the bikes, the lycra, the chain lube where you sit in a coffee shop – “the real world” – alone, savouring every gulp of coffee and attempting not to think about the fact that you have 127kms to bike that day. I waited in Timmy’s for about 45 minutes before being collected by the boys to get ‘back in the saddle again’. Whilst it had taken about 10kms uphill to get into Kenora two days ago it took about 3 minutes to get out of Kenora and back into the rolling hills..

It was not long before I began to really miss the Prairies. Whilst the Prairies are uber flat and peaceful, the Canadian Shield is rocky, hilly, and ever changing. Every bend reveals another lake and another rolling hill. You’re either biking uphill or downhill – there really isn’t any inbetween. And the hills never seem to stop rolling – up and down and up and down as the road wound its way around Lake of the Woods. I love the scenery – it is absolutely gorgeous and a welcome change from Manitoba which was a bit ‘monotonous’ BUT it was also a lot more difficult terrain to manage. I’ve come to realise that I have the endurance to go long distances (perhaps one of the reasons I loved the Prairies) but unfortunately still don’t have the strength (or the chain ring!) to power up and down the hills of the Canadian Shield. BUT, having said that, by the end of the day I did get used to it and was finding it a bit easier and can definitely feel myself improving and getting stronger. In that respect it's very positive. It’s a bit like biking in the wind – the less you think about it, the easier it is. Plus, all of the changing of the gears is definitely helping my left wrist which is now finding a bit more action switching between my big cog and my small cog so I'm slowly building up strength again and regaining feeling.

The number of towns (and road side advertising) is also increasing which breaks the ride up quite nicely and also provides plenty of excuses to stop and eat and/or check out historic sights. There were very few places to stop between Kenora and Caliper Lake (our destination for the day) but we did manage to find a lovely little Hotel / Restaurant at the Sioux Narrows where I devoured a hamburger and chocolate milk. It was a short stop to break up the day as we still had about 40kms left to go. The bridge we crossed over entering the ‘heart’ of Sioux Narrows used to be he longest single span wooden bridge in North America. The new bridge that opened in 2007 reused some of the timber from the original bridge.

I biked the last 30ish kms with Laura and Tak which was nice. It was a rolling ride and not overly difficult but I was very tired and was looking forward to getting to camp in good time to make the most of the afternoon and get caught up on organising my ‘stuff’.

The campsite was nice – in a provincial park – and surrounded by pine trees. Our site reminded me so much of a trip to Rome last year when a friend and I managed to discover our own little version of ‘Canada’, very close to the Colloseum in the heart of Rome – primarily because of some tall white pine (?) trees shadowing over a dry bed of needles which release a sweet pine smell when trampled over. It was very quiet and very nice… I was 120% certain that I would have absolutely no problem sleeping tonight..!

The Galley Crew for the evening was the vegetarian crew and they served up a delicious curry rice and veggie ratatouille. It was very tasty and was washed down by fresh watermelon for dessert.

I am now laying in my tent listening to the rain fall on the outer shell. It’s a relaxing sound and a gentle shower which will hopefully clear up in time for the morning and take some of the humidity out of the air. There is a 70% chance of showers for tomorrow and I sincerely hope that it is overpowered by the 30% chance that it won’t rain. I am trying to be optimistic..!

Mongo Jerry - "In the Summer Time"

We're not grey people, we're not dirty, we're not mean.
We love ev'rybody, but we do as you please.
When the weather is fine, we go fishing or go swimming in the sea.
We're always happy. Life's for living, yeah!
That's your philosophy.

- Mongo Jerry - "In the Summer Time"

Kenora Rest Day – 18 July
2,785 kms biked to date; Daily average 151kms

Ah, the glorious, long awaited Rest Day… it was like a dream come true not to feel the pressure of getting up and packing up my tent at 6am..! I was absolutely exhausted and slept so incredibly well. I was definitely happy to have made the decision to keep a low profile the previous evening so I was able to start my recovery process from the 6 days of riding and the 903 kms covered.

I got up at 7:30am hoping to make the most of the day and get one key element checked off the list – laundry. I headed down to the laundry stations as quickly as I could and threw my giant duffel bag of lycra into the line. There were only 2 washers and 2 dryers for 38 sweaty riders so the machines were a ‘hot commodity’…!

Brendan and I decided to head out into the big, bad metropolis of Kenora. As I dragged myself into Kenora the previous afternoon (chin on the handlebars I was so tired..!) I did manage to notice that it looked like quite a promising little town for exploration. We started the day in the usual tradition – with the Tim Hortons caffeine injection and a healthy filling of donuts. Laura had previously commented how she had started to notice how many Canadians are so overweight compared to our ‘svelt’ little group of riders… but then I could not help but point out that we spend most of our free time in places like Tim Hortons, Dairy Queen, McDonalds and any ‘greasy spoon’ / local diner within a 5 km radius of our route. Health and nutrition are not particularly high on the agenda and sometimes I feel like I am biking as an excuse to eat..!

Post Timmy’s we walked further to explore Kenora. It is a nice little town of about 13,000 people. The main industry used to be pulp and paper but the mill was recently shut down which has greatly affected the local economy. Tourism is now one of the key sources of revenue but with the increasing price of gas and the low US dollar that is also on a decline. In spite of this, I thought Kenora had a great vibe, a visibly young population and some trendy little shops. The name ‘Kenora’ originates from the 3 ‘districts’ that were combined to form one city – KEetwan district, NOxxxx??? district and the RAt district… And, another fact about Kenora is that the main street of the downtown core used to be the border between Ontario and Manitoba. More info can be found on http://www.kenora.ca/

Brendan has a friend who is originally from Kenora so was able to get some first hand recommendations. One real ‘find’ was ‘Ye Ol’Chip Truck’. Whilst it was only 11am and we’d just finished our Timmy’s breakfast we decided to indulge in some ‘chips’ (fries) served from ‘ye ol’truck’. Man, were they ever good particularly with the addition of salt and vinegar.

We managed to track down a book store, coffee shop AND, the highlight of my trip so far, a bike shop where I purchased a BIKING SKIRT..! I’d been complaining about my rather predictable and unfashionable lycra shorts and my limited wardrobe so was delighted to double my wardrobe choices by 50%..!! Now I have to make a decision in the morning of ‘skirt’ or ‘shorts’…! I also bought a new top to even out my rapidly darkening tan lines… As you can see, I definitely have my priorities straight.

A delicious frosty pint of Rickards was drunk at the popular bar in town called ‘Haps’. The sun was shining and it would have been so easy to have a few more drinks on the lovely outdoor patio and fall asleep in the sun. The bar was strategically placed on the main street so it makes for wonderful people watching. On a hot and sunny summers day with the sun beating down on your head with a cold pint in hand it is hard to believe that Kenora often experiences winter temperatures of about -40 degrees celcius..! Plus heaps and heaps of snow..!

One thing I’ve noticed since our arrival in Ontario is how friendly the people are. I’m not sure if it’s just the Kenora or Campground Culture but everywhere you go people are keen to chat or greet you with a ‘good morning’ and a smile. I’ve often heard that Canadians are polite and the folks in Kenora certainly seem to live up to the reputation.

That night we all met up with the French Connection, Laura and Tak and splurged on a $13 (!!) "All You Can Eat 'Chinese' Buffet". It was a hilarious meal with loads of laughs particularly around reading of the fortune cookies.

MSG lethargy set in as we decided to complete the evening with an instalment of Batman – The Dark Knight. I am embarrassed to admit that this is the first Batman movie that I’ve seen and I must say that I very much enjoyed it and am going to have to broaden my horizons and see the others. Fantastic film – both the storyline and the actors - and I would certainly give it two thumbs up and would actually even watch it again. Between Spiderman and Batman I’m really getting my fill of comic-book superhero movies. The movie theatre where we saw the film was absolutely packed with a very young and very jovial mixed crowd. It was Friday night and everyone was out in full force. Some people even came to the movie with faces painted like the Joker. At the moment the days all seem to blend together so I have completely lost track of days of the week. It was strange to be reminded that it was Friday night and in ‘real life’ I would be going out with friends in London and preparing for the weekend ahead – not massaging my muscles preparing for a 127kms biking day the following day.

We all walked home from the theatre mentally preparing for our next installment of riding. A lovely full moon lit our path and guided the way to the campground. Another relaxing and productive rest day had once again come to an end.

Frank Sinatra - "My Way"

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up and spit it out.
I faced it all and I stood tall;
And did it my way...

- Frank Sinatra - "My Way"

Portage la Prairie to Beausejour - 157 kms / 97 miles

I’m absolutely exhausted but feel the need to get my ‘true’ feelings down tonight before falling into a very deep sleep. I’m worried that if I wait to type it all out tomorrow that I will have romanticised it..! I think that everyone else is as tired as I am as there is a choir of snoring going on around me. In fact, I think that I am surrounded…. And I also hear thunder off in the distance. It will be a long night…

Today was hard work on many levels – physically, mentally and emotionally. I was on Galley Duty and was up and out by 6am. The coffee was already on and the early risers were knee-deep in peanut butter and brown bread. As much as I dread Galley Duty I do actually enjoy it and really like my team. It’s nice to work together and now that we’ve done it a few times we are starting to have a routine going. By the end of the trip we’ll have it down to a 25 minute clean up..!

Dave was working his magic on turning the apple fritters into ‘appelflappen’ (or apple pancakes). I test drove the first batch and with the addition of some syrup they were… edible and surprisingly tasty.

Weather Obsession...

It’s amazing how obsessed I’ve become with the weather. I kept my eye on the sky throughout breakfast – it was partially sunny and there were some dark clouds looming off in the distance. I recalled the sailors expression “pink sky in the morning, sailors take warning”. Brendan, aka, “The Weatherman”, had consulted the trusty blackberry for an update on the weather and it didn’t look to promising – 80 % chance of rain for Portage AND Beausejour. Yikes. It might not be a very ‘beau sejour’ ce jour. Terry also consulted the weather on a different website… and got a semi-decent report of ‘mix of sun and clouds’. As Brendan has been right about 99.9% of the time on the weather front, I decided that I’d trust his near perfect track record and packed my bright pink rain jacket, blue rain pants. I felt a bit like the ‘Rainbow Bright’ cartoon character but didn’t care – function over fashion..! (I never thought I’d say that!)

Everyone was and running around trying to prepare themselves for the inevitable. It’s hard when you know that you have a long day ahead and that you will likely spend most of it wearing damp / soaking clothing and sopping wet shoes. What’s worse, many products that are ‘Gore Tex’ are waterproof to an extent but there comes a point when your own sweat builds up inside the jacket which is just as bad as the water bouncing off of the outer shell.

Background to 'diva-esque qualities' - not one of my finer traits...

I feel that I had best mention my absolute hate for being wet from rain (if it is not apparent already!). I can handle a lot – cold, wind, snow, heat… but rain and I simply do not mix. I just can’t stand it.

I’m not sure where it comes from but have some guesses – possibly my Grade 2/3 phase when it wasn’t cool to wear snow pants in the winter… so I spent many afternoons in elementary school in soaking wet wool leotards under freezing cold wet jeans after recesses of sledding. The thought of it still makes me shudder. This feeling of discomfort was exacerbated during the summers when I was between the ages of 10 – 15. I decided to make a bit of ‘summer cash’ corn detasseling. For those ‘city slickers’ reading this, corn has to be detassled so it doesn't pollinate itself. The detassling itself consists of walking up and down rows of corn for eight hours a day, doing nothing but popping the tassels (potentially the ‘yellow’ things) out of the corn and dropping them on the ground. If you've ever seen a row of corn, you'll find some rows that are kilometers long and the corn itself can be five to eight feet tall. Imagine eight to twelve hours a day, “pop, pop, pop” in the scorching heat and humidity of a South Western Ontario summer, sweating, sneezing, itching and twitching and getting "corn rash" from brushing against the damp to dry leaves, for about three weeks... at around 5 dollars/ hour. Nothing, nothing is worse than plodding through a soaking wet corn field, knee deep in mud, reaching up to get the butts out of corn that should have been pulled about a week earlier… and then wearing the same wet clothes all day in the high humidity.. with a bunch of smelly teenagers. Yick. But that is the character-building nature of small-town rural life in SWO.

SO, biking in the rain goes right up there on the list of things that I can’t stand. Call me a ‘Diva’, ‘Princess’ or ‘Your Highness’ – whatever... When I signed up for TdC I knew I couldn’t get away with a full 72 days without rain. SO, on this particular day I tried my very best not to complain and appreciate the fact that I’d been lucky to get this far staying relatively dry. The good thing is that everyone has the same feeling but some people just handle it better than others. And unfortunately I don’t handle it very well.

The rain basically started as we were loading the bags into the truck (part of our Galley Duty duies). Andrew, Brendan and Ian were total sweethearts again (they are so patient with me!!) and came back from their Tim Hortons 2nd breakfast to help load the bags into the truck.

If the rain wasn’t bad enough, about 5 kms into our already damp ride the wind started… from the wrong direction..!! I was not only dealing with rain but also wind from the east. Two completely new phenomena for me on this trip. It was soooooo incredibly uncomfortable and I was sooooo incredibly not happy about it and for the first time on the trip NEARLY had a ‘moment’. The boys shot up ahead with the French Connection who are strong enough to cycle through a hurricane and I stayed back to have a proper ‘fist in the air’ tantrum at the wind and the rain. I will state from the outset that I didn’t cry but was about as borderline as I’ve been yet on this trip.

It took about 3 minutes before the water soaked through my clothes and I was so cold. When the rain stopped it still felt like it was raining as the ‘damp’ was rising up from the flat fields so it was very steamy and humid. The clouds also seemed to go on forever so it was pretty clear that this was not going to be a ‘let’s sit and wait this one out’ type of shower. It was a ‘suck it up buttercup’ type of shower that would inevitably continue on for most of the day. Andrew waited for me and gave me a bit of a pep talk which was pretty brave of him. It’s nice that someone can put up with my moods even though he refers to me as 'Driving Miss Daisy'..!!

We had one of our first stops about 49kms into the ride at Marquette. Marquette is a very small town next to a busy rail line with one lovely little family-run restaurant (looks a bit like a bungalow) which we invaded and steamed up. The eggs were already frying on the stove by the time we walked in and there was a huge pot of fresh coffee brewing. Everyone was tired and uncomfortable but chuckled at the mess of it all. What a dreadful morning and what a frustrating headwind. I was pleased that I was not the only one that was struggling. I devoured toast, eggs, bacon and hashbrowns washed down with a few cups of coffee – a second breakfast has become a bit of a normality for me these days. The problem with the second breakfast however is that it’s so incredibly hard to get up from the second breakfast and get back on your bike. There is always that temptation to get that extra caffeine injection and stay for one more cup… and the locals in these small town are so friendly and chatty and the diners are always so warm..!

If it was up to me I would have stayed at the restaurant and offered to help with dishes, feed the cat, wash the floor, clean the bathroom… make more coffee… cook…. ANYTHING but Andrew sent me back on my bike – I sometimes feel like he is a Russian trainer and is gearing me up for a lifetime of cycling. I felt a tiny, tiny bit better as had changed from my wet and cold cycling jersey to a dry wool shirt that Andrew had lent me. It was a life saver as the next 30kms – although equally challenging – were at least done in a warm, dry bit of clothing..! By the time we hit Warren (incidentally, a wrong turn) the rain had subsided a bit so we popped into a convenience store for a drink… only to exit about 5 minutes later to dark clouds and a torrential downpour. We were able to wait it out for about 15 minutes and continued on our way into the headwind. I was damp and uncomfortable but not soaking wet… and that was definitely a positive. On the negative side however was the fact that the headwind was definitely getting stronger and my patience with it was wearing a little bit thin…. I was peddling as hard as I could and only going about 11kms / hour… ugh. It was definitely not one of my finer moments.

Strawberry farms and Skinners World Famous Footlong Hot Dog

The rest of the day was equally difficult but I somehow found my sense of humour – many thanks to Andrew, Ian and Dennis for that..! We made several pit stops which included a visit to a locally run strawberry farm just outside of Stonewall (many thanks to the locals for the free strawberries..!) and then again at a fabulous ‘hot dog shop’ just outside of Lower Fort Gary. Unfortunately due to the wind and rain we didn’t have time to make a tourist stop to Lower Fort Gary which is famous as the oldest stone fur trading post still intact in North America. Costumed interpreters will take you back to the mid-1800s as they re-enact events of the early days of this Hudson's Bay Company post. Stone walls encircle the fort's enclosure, the largest group of original 19th century fur trade buildings in Canada.

Instead of an educational stop at Fort Gary we stopped at the gastronomic haven of “Skinners” – the home of the world famous foot long hot dog. It was a perfect, much needed break in the afternoon. What a find..!! Skinners is a 1950s style diner with black and white checkerboard laminate flooring, juke boxes at every booth and a hotdog menu that took about 5 minutes to scroll through AND floor to ceiling photos of hockey legends – primarily from the 1950s. I was so hungry and managed to eat a monster-sized hot dog in about 20 seconds… topped off by a mint chocolate chip ice cream. We all sat in the booths with long, tired faces and wet feet and had a good laugh whilst ‘Golden Oldies’ played on the juke box. It was so hard to get up and back on the bike to continue our journey into the wind and into Beausejour.

When we pulled into ‘tent city’ in the town of Beausejour http://www.townofbeausejour.com/info/category/news/, dinner was in its first wave – a delicious pasta dish with loads of salad. A dark sky with huge grey clouds hovered over the campsite and it wasn’t long before the heavens opened and the rain came pouring down. A huge, huge, thank you to BC and the French Connection for putting up my tent for me…! I have never been stressed out about putting up my tent (it’s a bit of a fine art but I have it down to about 3 minutes solo). BUT, having said that, the total luxury of having it done for me for a change was an incredible treat. It was exactly what I needed after 8.5 hours of time spent in the saddle..!!

So, now it’s about 11pm and the rain is once again coming down by the bucketload. Fortunately I am now in my tent, dry, and praying that it is more waterproof than my jacket today. Fingers crossed that it clears up to reveal a gloriously sunny day ahead...

Whilst it was not ‘beau ce jour’ hopefully it will be more ‘beau demain jour’…!

CCR - "Have You Ever Seen the Rain"

Someone told me long ago there’s a calm before the storm,
I know; it’s been comin’ for some time.
When its over, so they say, it’ll rain a sunny day,
I know; shinin’ down like water.

Chorus:
I want to know, have you ever seen the rain?
I want to know, have you ever seen the rain
Comin’ down on a sunny day?

-CCR - "Have You Ever Seen the Rain"

Regina - REST DAY

1882 kms / 1162 miles biked to date

I woke up to the feeling of sun shining down on my tent which was a nice change to the previous evening when we ran from the laundry facilities at the campground to our tents in a valiant escape from the rain. Unfortunately however the sun shining down on my tent lasted all of 5 minutes (from about 7:05 – 7:10) and by the time I poked my head out and emerged from my tent the raindrops had started to fall and the wind had begun to pick up. The campground was actually quite a nice one with a great ‘communal area’ with a tv – so strange to see television again and catch up with world news..!

Brendan soon emerged as well and we decided to walk into Regina to (1) hit a Tim Hortons and (2) run some errands. A group of people headed to the casino (taking advantage of the free shuttle service) however, BC and I, being hard-core walking Londoners, decided to brave the “light shower” and walk down to Tim Hortons. It was only a 2 kilometer walk and we figured we would only get a ‘damp soaking’. About 3 minutes into the walk the wind picked up and the heavens opened to release the water which came down horizontally and in sheets. We were drenched in about 4 minutes… I started to panic as the water started to seep through my socks and into my running shoes. Yick.

We decided to take a short cut through a Winnebago sales lot and discovered that Regina is underlain by a thick, thick, later of sticky glue-like heavy grey clay. The surface area covered by my Nikes went from ‘human footprint size’ to ‘overgrown saskwatch-sized’ footprint as the clay stuck to our soles. After about 3 steps my feet were so heavy I could hardly walk. As you can imagine, we looked pretty rough plodding into Tim Hortons soaking wet and with gigantic, clay covered feet. Lucky Regina is not the fashion capital of Canada and we seemed to fit right in... Plus, the biggest country festival in Canada (??) called, "The Craven Festival" (the country version of Woodstock / Glastonbury) was in full swing so there were a lot of muddy coffee drinkers that morning.

Staring into our coffee cups, Brendan and I devoured our bagels and donuts and contemplated how on earth we were going to check out and make the most of Regina in such dire weather. There was a girl sitting next to our table and she overheard our conversation and offered to give us a lift to the mall about 5 kms away – a total life-saver..!! We gratefully piled into the car headed to a mall and ran some errands (post, haircut, food) and then hopped on a bus into downtown Regina – hee haw..!

I regret to say that we did not experience Regina in all of its potential glory as the rain did not let up for the rest of the day. Brendan and I managed to dodge some of the rain by hiding out in local coffee shops reading the Globe, exploring more malls, libraries, bookstores and several bus shelters. It was a very, VERY wet and windy afternoon and by the time my feet did dry out it was nearly time to have dinner.

We took a bus to ‘Rock Creek’, a restaurant about 2kms from our campsite and in the middle of the ‘metropolis of WalMart / strip-mall city’ which had been recommended to us by one of the locals. There we found a perfect place at the bar and indulged in a fantastic burger and a very, very much needed glass of delicious meaty red wine. It was a perfect way to end the blustery, cold day. There had been an air of ‘the inevitable’ about the day as we knew that we had over 900kms to cover over the coming 6 days – including days of 172 and 169 kms… Given that we were already tired we did the best we could to relish and soak up our final few hours of being ‘saddle free’. I have never appreciated ‘free time’ so much and felt that in spite of the crappy weather we’d definitely made the most of the way.

A slow and relaxing walk back to the campground was in order and the second we arrived at ‘tent city’ the heavens opened once again to let loose yet another prairie storm – this one I managed to avoid by diving into my tent and into the warm reaches of my sleeping bag. Fingers crossed that the rain would let up for the following day 131km journey to Neudorf..!

We had a long, long 6 days ahead... over 900kms from Regina to our next rest day in Kenora...!!

The Madness - "The Sun and The Rain"

I feel the rain falling on my face
I can say there is no better place
Than standing up in the falling down
In so much rain I could almost drown.

It's raining again
A crack in the clouds reveals blue skies
I've been feeling so low(low)
But now everything is on my side
The sun and the rain.
Walk with me fill my heart again

- The Madness - "The Sun and the Rain"

Craik to Regina - 124 kms / 77 miles

I woke up that morning trying to figure out if I’d slept through the storm or if, in fact, Tent City had managed to completely avoid the storm which had sounded inevitable the evening before. Whilst it wasn’t a sunny morning, it wasn’t raining either which was somewhat of a blessing and my tent was only damp from the dew. I’d hoped that my good weather luck would continue. A great breakfast was served by Brendan and Andew’s galley Crew and everyone headed out by about 7:30 for an early start in an attempt to avoid the rain carrying clouds which were quickly rolling in. I’ve learned to ‘read’ clouds and these definitely read ‘RAIN’ and lots of it. Oh dear.

Sure enough, by the time the camp clean up started the heavens opened and the rain started pouring down. The Galley Crew and some of us who’d stayed behind to help with the clean up quickly grabbed the bags, threw them into the truck and tried to get things organised as quickly as possible. This was my first proper encounter with rain on the trip and I wasn’t looking forward to starting the day off cold and wet…! When everything was cleaned up we noticed that some blue sky had begun to peek through the cloud and realised that the storm was only a passing one… in a way, we’d been lucky to have had the truck and the campground facilities to keep us dry (well, me anyway as I hid from the rain in the washroom…).

We headed out of the campground at around 9am and encountered the first of the headwind… Headwind was also new to me as up until today, Day 20, we’ve had nothing but glorious, wonderful tail winds (more or less). So, headwind was a new challenge and Andrew and Brendan quickly enlightened me on the art of spinning in the small cog in an easy gear into the wind (as opposed to the big cog and hard gear which I cranked in for the first 20 kms..!!). It was tough going but I can definitely feel myself getting stronger and began to appreciate the ‘mental’ aspect of biking against the wind. If you don’t think about the fact that you’re working super hard but still going painfully slow then you’re ok. It takes a certain discipline to ‘not think’ about the amount of energy expended compared to the soul-destroying pace that you’re going. I have found that singing Abba songs at a very high decibel definitely helps… (no one can hear me anyway because of the wind although Andrew did call me ‘old crow’ at one stage). Mamma mia…
We took a break on Highway 11 at a very small rural town called Chamberlain. In the cosy little diner I joined the ranks of ‘Double Breakfast Hungry Man’ club. I had my second breakfast here and realised how much my appetite has grown… I eat like a man!! I had 2 pancakes, 4 eggs, 4 pieces of toast, hash browns, 3 cups of coffee AND a chocolate bar… AND could easily have eaten another few pancakes if given the chance. It was pretty crazy and I am again astounded at how much I am eating. The wind was definitely helping to burn calories at an alarming rate.

The route today is a nice one as we pass through a number of relatively small towns of rural Saskatchewan. They’re all spread relatively far apart and are made up of a few relatively small homes, a grain elevator, a gas pump and a well stocked co-op. We took a side of the road break to indulge in a litre of chocolate milk (each) at Bethune and suddenly realised that the sun had finally decided to appear and that it was now actually quite hot as well as windy..! It was already relatively late and we’d not even cycled 60kms. Ugh..! We still had another 60kms left to go.

In Lumsden Andrew and I realised that we’d lost Brendan and Ian (they’d sped off ahead – perhaps frightened off by my singing and rendition of ‘Voulez vous’…) and we decided to make a pit stop in the friendly town of Lumsden where we indulged in a late lunch, a chat with the locals about the history of the Qu’appelle Valley, tips on Regina night life and then headed out for the final kilometres into Regina.

I was sooooo tremendously happy to see the ‘Welcome to Regina’ sign. It made the following day’s rest day seem even closer and I was happy that the clouds had now completely dissipated to reveal a clear blue sky. Unfortunately the wind had only gotten stronger gusting at times up to 35 kms / hour into our faces but by this stage it was about 5:30 and we knew that the camp was only precious kilometres away and were far too tired to complain. We were nearly there and I was really looking forward to seeing Regina – a city I’d always been curious about and had never visited.

A huge round of applause greeted us when we finally pulled into camp officially marking the start of our ‘1 day weekend’. Brendan and I combined laundry, I showered and was socialising with everyone huddled in the laundry room when Brendan came in and warned me of the black sky which was quickly rolling in... Oh dear… another storm..!! I ran to our campsite and put up my tent in record time just as the first drops began to fall. Looking at the color of the sky and the cold feel of the wind I realised that this was more than a local shower and readjusted my tent pegs. It was time to put the tent to the test.

Andrew quickly rounded up the troops (some even pulled from washrooms and showers) for a field trip to an Irish Pub called 'O'Hanlons' http://www.weareirish.ca/dynpage/142 which had been recommended by the Lonely Planet (apparently they have 60 kinds of beer!!) A group of us headed out in 3 cabs ready to rock in rainy Regina…! The atmosphere at our long table of bikers was great – everyone laughed and joked about the challenging day we’d just survived and everyone was looking forward to the coming rest day. As much as we all complain and curse the weather it does give us hours and hours of conversation and many, many laughs. The laughing generally comes once we’re out of the rain, our stomachs are full and a cold drink is in hand.

As we left the pub we had a run in with a celebrity – the cast from “Corner Gas” (http://www.cornergas.com/) – a popular television programme about small town life in Saskatchewan which is filmed in Regina. They wished us luck on our journey as we ran from the pub into the rain and piled into the cabs which took us back to the campground.

I found myself at 12:30am in the laundry room at the campground eating McDonalds fries with the rest of the gang and trying to finish laundry...! We'd accidentally put our dryer on the 'cool' setting so our wet lycra was now cold, damp lycra. Niiiice... thank goodness a few loonies and quarters sorted that out.

The Tragically Hip - "Wheat Kings"

Sundown in the Paris of the prairies
Wheat Kings have all their treasures barried
All you hear are the rusty breezes....

- The Tragically Hip - "Wheat Kings"

Outlook to Craik - 119 kms / 73 miles

I am laying curled up in my sleeping bag, precariously balanced on my thermarest and listening to the rumbling of thunder from inside my tent. Brendan had checked the forecast this morning and it looks like the 60 percent chance of showers has now materialised. The rain sounds quite relaxing from inside of my tent but if the thunder and lightening that I see flash by is any indication of what lies in store then it might be a very long night. To make matters worse, the washrooms are about 500 metres away and there are skunks running around the campground so the combination of all of these factors – rain, lightening, a weak bladder, wild stinkey rodents - may make for an adventurous night. Plus I put my pjama pants in my laundry bag which is in the truck which is now locked. There is a family who have a tent (a palace) that is larger than a Bedouin tent just two sites down from ours… Brendan commented that he saw a camel go into it earlier this evening. If worst comes to worst I’m sure that I can sneak into their tent unnoticed and hide in one of their ensuites. I will have to find some pants first though.

The camp site is pretty quiet even though it is only about 9:30pm. Everyone is bunked down in their tents praying for tailwinds, eating (again) or reading and relaxing to the sound of the rain. Tomorrow we get to Regina – civilisation – and then we have a much needed rest day. Everyone is in good spirits and we all spend a lot of time laughing and joking but a break from the saddle – a collective break – is in order so that we can do laundry, tend to our sore butts, personal hygene (I need to do my nails!!) clean our bikes, restock on bike gear, energy bars etc. and just catch up on things. It will also be great to see Regina, the Capital of Saskatchewan, a city which I have never visited..! I must admit, I’m really looking forward to it.

The day was an enjoyable one – we left Outlook that morning bright and early as Brendan and Andrew were on Galley Duty that evening so we were keen to get into camp in Craik as soon as possible to have time to shower and prepare the meal.

Again, we were incredibly lucky with the wind which was blowing in our favour and breezed into Kenaston, the snow blizzard capital of Saskatchewan at around 11:30, just in time for brunch. Because it had such a strong ‘claim to fame’, we had initially expected Kenaston to be a thriving metropolis (even though none of us had ever heard of it..!). Upon arrival we discovered that it was basically a grid of 4 streets with one diner, a grain elevator and a giant fibreglass statue of a snowman (which was strategically posed next to the grain elevator). A fibreglass snowman statue... is that not the coolest town mascott or what...?!!!

We devoured a brunch served to us by the Chinese family who owned the one diner in Kenaston and then continued on our way.

I like the Prairies – whilst some people think the landscape is boring and there is little to see, I actually really enjoy the flats and the long, rolling fields of wheat and canola broken up by huge farm houses and farm machinery dealerships. We stop every 20 kms or so for a break which gives me the opportunity to take photos and take a break from the saddle. Sometimes we’re joined by some local wildlife. On one short scenic break by the ‘Smiley Church’ we were chased for a few kilometres by a chocolate brown lab (which BC originally thought was a rottweiler!). I was pretty sure that the dog was after my sheepskin saddle... grrrrrrrr....

After the Kenaston stop we continued on Highway 11 onto Davidston. Highway 11 is a busy road but has a nice shoulder. We were joined by Terry and Dave and soon managed to form a double pace line – a new development for me so had some learning to do once again. I put on my ipod and peddled with the wind trying out the new formation. I must admit, I really enjoy pacelining, particularly through the Prairies. I find that it helps to judge the times and distances especially if everyone in the paceline does about 5 kms each. With 5 people it’s easy to cover 25kms with little to no effort and it feels like a bit of a ‘social migration’ rather than a commute from Point A to Point B. We stopped for an icecream and liquid break at a gas station just outside of Davidston where we met up with John and Mick. Davidston’s claim to fame is a giant coffee pot at the main (only) 4-corners of the town… as well as the usual John Deere and Case dealerships.

About 10 kilometers outside of Craik there was a sudden war-cry and a blast of air nearly sent us flying sideways – arrrgh! It was the French Connection..! Andrew and Dave sped off to catch then and race them into camp leaving Brendan with a flat tire and me gasping for air trying to catch up with Yao who had abandoned Team London to try and catch up with the French Connection. I hit about 42 kms / hour on the flats trying to catch up with Yao with Terry drafting off of me and when we finally were neck and neck, made a wrong turn into the thriving metropolis of Craik (a grain elevator) leaving us to backtrack through to a long winding gravel road which led us down to the Regional Park campground. Our home away from home for the coming 15 hours in Craik.

I always have to chuckle when coming into the RV parks / campgrounds as there are generally between 30 – 40 super sophisticated camper vans, winabagos, etc. and then there are the ‘slums’ or ‘tent city’ where our 35 tents are colorfully erected. It is a funny site to see so many little shelters crammed together in a small grassy field, bordered by the large Ryder truck and a flurry of activity around the showers and laundry facilities. It is amazing how quickly the little ‘town’ is set up.

I went through the usual routine – tent, reconnaissance, shower, journal, eat.

Whilst it hadn’t been an especially long day I was tired getting into camp and was very much looking forward to a good nights sleep. Brendan and Andrew’s Galley Crew were cooking dinner - an unusual combination of corn and pancake mix and some veggies. I can’t say it was my absolute favourite meal so couldn’t resist popping out to the local campground store at 8pm with BC to indulge in a gigantic cheery-cheesecake icecream and watch the clouds roll in. By 9pm everyone had bunkered down in their tents ready for sleep as the heavens opened and the rain came down. I was very much looking forward to Regina, the Capital of Saskatchewan and the rest day for the following day..!

__________________

Guest Journal Entry from Ross
Outlook to Craik

It’s not that the prairies are boring it’s just that there is a lot of repetition, of relatively flat land, and farms growing many of the same crops.

Today was spectacular in that there really was nothing spectacular to write about. The wind was not really a factor today, and the terrain was realively flat, and the farms remarkably similar in appearance (see above). We stopped in some place (Kenaston) with a snowman statue and a small restaurant. Our group missed it. We sat with the French Connection and ate PB sandwiches and drank gatorade. Apparently had to go down a dirt road to find this “find”. The ambiance where we sat was small town SK. It was a recreation bldg (curling or hockey) that looked fairly well abandoned. I cleared away the broken glass before sitting down because I didn’t want to subject Graham (the tours personal emergency room physician…for real!) to picking glass from my ass while he is on holiday. Graham did perform some miracle of modern medicine on Laura who fell in the loose gravel. While Graham was busy tending to the wounded, Eric was busy putting pebbles into the back pockets of Grahams cycling jersey. Eric then decided that his helmet looked boring and picked some feathery plant and put them in his helmet. A variation of plume de guerre; more like a plume du velo. Around the corner from the front door was a small alcove that was used as the washroom area. I know this must be just scintilating reading, and is probably more information than you wanted to know about Kenaston. It is certainly more than I wanted to know.

The next stop was in Davidson. Obviously since these place names mean so much to you I shouldn’t have to relate too much about them. This is good because there isn’t much to relate about Davidson. The Co-Op gas bar convenience store seems to be the hub of this thriving megalopolis. After orange juice and a creamcicle, we (John, Mick & R) headed back to hwy 11. We did stop to take a picture of the large coffee pot that is the enticement for tourists to stop….unfortunately we never saw a coffee shop.

Arrived at Craik and there is nothing much to vouch for its existence. We are in a Regional campground across the highway. Apparently the grocery store has 4 isles so the hope of a laundry was dashed. This is 2nd hand information as we were so tired we didn’t bother scoping out Craik…I’m not devastated.

With 4 changes of cycling gear I needed a laundry tonight…no laundry facilities at the campground or at Craik… So tomorrow as I ride in Regina looking for a bike shop, I will be killing everything down wind of me. Not my problem as long as I can stand myself. After setting up my tent and sitting on my camp stool I heard rustling in the grass behind my tent. I was amazed at how calmly I got up and walked away as the skunk waddled its way through the grass and towards other tents. While I was releived that it didn’t decide that my tent was a good place to hang out, I am nervous about this evening. If there are any strange sounds in the middle of the night I’m going to do my very best impersonation of a dead person. I just hope that I don’t have to get up in the middle of the night for a bladder break.

Well that’s it for Ross’s journal for today. See you tomorrow. By the way there is no MEC in Regina, so will have to try the bike shops for a new rack bag. Think I will try to do this on my way through as we are apparently camping 20 km E of town.

PS Heather just showed me a picture of the Snowman, I’m not feeling the need for a return visit to Kenaston to see it…it’s about 12 ft high (4 metres if you are metricized) and is waving good bye which is what I will now say……

Groove Armada - "Super Stylin'"

Enter in the dance, Plug it in and we begin
Crowd up in the center, they watch (be dibidim)
Watch the way we drop it in a mix timing
Rise and amplifying when we come in with the swing
Just following the back an naturally harmonizing
Climb into position wit synchronized things
Live from out the ghetto, We maximizing
Sound of the Groove Armada, We Super styling
We Super styling...[2x]

- Groove Armada - "Super Stylin'"

Kindersley to Outlook – 154 kilometers

I was on Galley Duty so was up and out of my tent knee-deep in breakfast preparation (watching everyone else working while I tried to wake up) by about 6am. It’s amazing how early people get up – I thought I’d be one of the first at 6am but there were already a few people with their tents down and lathering the peanut butter on their slices of whole wheat bread..! Scottish John was working on his specialty – oatmeal. The perfect ballast for the longest day of biking yet..! We all spend a lot of time reminiscing about the ‘good old days’ when we thought a long day was about 85 kilometers..!

Brendan, Andrew and Ian, my partners in crime, headed back out to Tim Hortons for an early morning coffee post breakfast leaving me to clean up with my Galley Crew. They were sweethearts and didn’t completely abandon me as came back about 45 minutes later to help with the loading of the bags so I could get out earlier and join them for the day to perfect our pace line technique and travel as a team. Again, everyone was a bit nervous about the weather – post storm jitters still play a large factor in determining our pace. Brendan has now taken on the role of ‘The Weatherman’ thanks to a strategically bookmarked page on his Blackberry (those who know BC know his affinity for the weather forecast) and everyone consults with him prior to packing their gear for the day. The forecast was especially favorable – north west winds (blowing south east) and at about 10 km / hour. I prayed that the Canadian forecasting is more reliable than the BBC forecasting in the UK..! We were on the road again at around 8:30am and fell into our paceline the second we got onto the smooth shoulder of the Number 7 highway out of Kindersley and enroute to Rosetown.

Again, the pace line did not fail to deliver. The pace we were taking is perfect – start slow in the morning at an easy 25 kms / hour and then steadily increasing in speed up to about 30 - 35 kms / hour. We stop every 20 kms or so for a ‘butt break’ / ‘pee break’ / ‘food break’ / ‘photo break’ to get off our saddles, explore some local ditches (or cemeteries in today’s case!) and indulge in peanuts and bread. As this is our second proper day of drafting we are getting used to each others habits and signals and routine. The rotation is also getting smoother from the lead person through to the last person in the draft. We are a stylish, slick and suave bunch of cyclists..!

We drafted through to Rosetown which was 85 kilometers from Kindersley. We had high hopes for Rosetown in terms of diners and restaurants – and instead found a local convenience store / gas station and indulged in some beef jerkey, ‘nuts and bolts’ and the usual 1 litre of chocolate milk which we devoured sat on the curb of the parking lot. Whilst there were no restaurants there were 2 John Deere dealerships and one Case dealership selling a giant herd of combine harvesters. I could not abandon my rural roots and immediately pulled into the dealership and gave Ian a quick lesson in ‘how a combine works’. It’s nice to feel so ‘at home’ in an environment so near yet so far..! I’ve noticed that most prairie towns are built up around a grain elevator or around machinery dealerships. A coffee shop with free refills of coffee and an AM radio station is guaranteed to be nearby full of weathered farmers wearing faded blue jeans, john deere caps and big leather boots scouring the local paper for the weather reports and grain prices.

We pulled onto Highway 11 out of Rosetown and were immediately met with a road bikers dream come true (I know that I’m turning into a ‘hard core’ as I could actually feel heart palipitations over a piece of road…) – smooth, rubble free tarmac, no traffic, a straight long road AND a tail wind!!!! Rather than taking the pace line formation we decided to ‘go nuts’ and took on ‘born free’ personas, racing down the middle of the road whooping with happiness and seeing how fast the wind would carry us with the least amount of effort. It was fantastic and such an exhilarating feeling. The last time I felt this way was on Day 3 when we hit the downhill off of the Coquihalla – but the beauty of this particular road was that it was flat and still could provide the same rush of adrenaline, aided and abetted by a wonderful tail wind. We raced along taking a few breaks to take in the amazingly flat scenery, photograph the fields of canola and wheat, look at old barns, chat about the tailwind and how lucky we were to have this ultimate weather luxury. There were a few puffy clouds in the clear blue sky and the sun shone like a giant golden disc above our heads. It was bliss.

The road stayed smooth and even for the ride into Outlook. Brendan shot off like a rabbit about 15kms from Outlook on an impromptu race with Andrew against "The French Connection" whilst Ian and I continued on at a comfortable 35 kms / hour to meet up with Ross who had pulled into a field for a food break. The final 20 kms into Outlook went smoothly and we pulled into the campsite at around 4pm. It was a lovely campsite with huge showers and was overlooking the South Saskatchewan River Valley. It was strange to have a huge river valley in the middle of the flat prairie landscape but the views were spectacular.

A fabulous dinner was served by the Galley Crew – a rich and creamy pasta dish which I ate far too much of. Andrew dragged me out of my tent at around 8pm to head down to the Golf Course for a drink with the gang. It was a struggle to crawl out of my tent but well worth the effort. We sat outside on a lovely patio overlooking the greens and had a beer and caught up on the day. It was good fun and laughs were had by all. Yeo (who we suspect is a mole from the French Connection) was due to join Brendan, Andrew and I on our journey the following day. It’s nice to have the opportunity to bike with everyone. It had been a long but enjoyable day and I was happy to be safe and sound in my tent an hour or so later after having witnessed a lovely sunset over the South Saskatchewan River.

The Beatles - "Get by with a Little Help from my Friends

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

- 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 given 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 strawberry 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..!

The Doors - "Riders on the Storm"

Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Into this house were born
Into this world were thrown
Like a dog without a bone
An actor out on loan
Riders on the storm

- The Doors - "Riders on the Storm"

Drumheller – Youngstown – 140 kms / 87 miles

(NOTE: felt like over 14000 kms... uphill)

I felt relatively organized this morning to the point that it was I who waited for BC and Andrew to be ready…! This is a bit of a first as I usually forget some fundamental thing like sunscreen, water... sometimes even my helmet (I have been known to be a bit of a liability some mornings...)

I decided to ‘change it up’ a bit this morning and experiment with my saddle by taking off the sheepskin cover which has been protecting my butt since Salmon Arm. I’m not sure if I mentioned my little secret but everyone and I mean EVERYONE is envious – whilst I was at my Aunt and Uncles’ place in Salmon Arm my Aunt, who is an avid horseback rider, recommended a sheepskin cover for my saddle. She had used one in Ireland on a bike trip and also horseback riding and swore by it. As luck would have it, she had it handy and passed it through to me. At first I was a bit skeptical – sheepskin? How could sheepskin replace my lovely thick gel saddle which up to that point had been relatively good (no need for the butt-cream yet..!!). How could a thin rather ‘wooly’ brown saddle cover (complete with long stretchy elastic to ensure a snug fit!) save my bottom from carnage? Well, let me tell you, it may look a bit funny and have acquired the name of Polly, but the sheepskin TOTALLY works. We have now done about 1250kms and my bottom is in perfect condition (sorry about the detail but everyone keeps asking!). I can’t help but smile to myself when I see my fellow bikers pull off to the side of the road, limping in pain with the ‘butt cream’ in hand… I am the last one laughing and I may start charging people ‘rental fees’ for use of dear Polly.

Anyway, the ‘changing it up’ idea was definitely not one of my more brilliant ideas..! Polly was back on my saddle within about 20 minutes. The ride out of Drumheller was a fairly smooth and easy one as it was a lovely morning and there was a light breeze. We’d checked the weather forecast that morning and it was due to be a hot day so everyone was keen to get out as early as possible. By about km 20 we started to get some headwind. This was a bit of a first for us as up until now we’d had nearly perfect conditions with the wind at our backs. There were some initial nerves about the wind and we managed to beat it until we hit the rolling hills… Well, even on the best of days the hills are not my forte but when trying to draft behind Brendan ‘Speedy Gonzalez’ Clarke it is incredibly, incredibly stressful as I peddle as hard as I can to keep up but the combination of the wind and the hills makes it nearly impossible to maintain the pace so I fall behind… which means that Andrew who is behind me falls behind… and the entire pace line gets blown out of the window – literally..!! BC shot off ahead leaving Andrew to deal with my temper tantrum at the wind. I huffed and I puffed and I swore and the wind kept going and the hills kept on rolling. Ugh..! I thought the Prairies were supposed to be flat..!!

We made a few ‘pit stops’ along the side of the road as Andrew has come to the conclusion that as long as I am fed and watered I am manageable… but when I get hungry or thirsty then I become an absolute diva.

We pulled into a diner in Hanna (the home of the band, Nickelback!) where I devoured a HUGE grill cheese sandwich, 1 litre of chocolate milk, ½ litre of ice tea, fries with gravy, a giant bowl of butterscotch pudding with whipped cream… and then had to hold myself back from eating the Coffee Crisp that I bought on the way out..! It was a bit excessive and the butterscotch pudding did seem to sit quite heavily in my stomach but I felt pretty good to get back on the bike. Unfortunately however, during our 45 minute break for lunch the wind decided to pick up and blow completely against us… for the remaining 60 kms. It was hell. I was already tired, the pudding sat like a giant buttery weight in my stomach and every time I felt like I’d been biking at least 20 kms then I’d look down at my odometer and see it was only 5kms. Ugh.

THEN, just when I didn’t think it could get any worse I started to use my ‘rest stops’ to take pictures of the clouds which seemed to get darker and darker and loom overhead… suddenly I realized that we were biking directly into the eye of a giant storm – against the wind. Andrew and I started to place bets on how long it would take for the storm to hit us…. Soon we noticed that it was more than just one storm – there were actually 3 huge storms all heading in our direction and also into each other. It has been a long, long time since I’ve seen such a dark sky with so much lightning. I wondered if the others ahead of us were all biking into it as well… Some people had left so early that it was quite likely that they were caught in it already.

Andrew and I stopped every 5kms for a gigantic whining and ‘bitching’ session – we complained about the wind, the prairies, the cold, the rain, the overindulgence at lunch, the wet tents we’d have to set up at camp, the distance left to travel, the road conditions etc. etc. It got to the stage when we were about 10kms from Youngstown that we pulled over and just had to laugh about the situation. I checked my blackberry and noticed a message from Brendan,

“Are you guys ok..?!? Did you get caught in the crazy storm?!?”

As soon as I read that I realized that we’d been a bit lucky by pacing ourselves that afternoon.! The storm that we’d seen earlier had apparently been quite a viscous one and I was curious to see what a lucky escape we’d had. The answer came about 3 minutes later when we were cycling into Youngstown – snowdrifts of hail piled up alongside the road and huge lakes in the rolling pastures. Whilst the sun was trying to break through the clouds it was pretty clear that it had been very, very nasty weather there about an hour before… And, off in the distance, more giant dark clouds were forming and the sky was turning dark as night.

As soon as we got into Youngstown Brendan ran out to check if we were ok. He told us what had happened about an hour earlier when a giant hailstorm / thunderstorm had ripped through the area. Apparently there was hail the size of golfballs and the rain came down in sheets – so much so that BC and a few of the others took their shampoo bottles and soap out in the rain for their showers…! THEN, Ian emerged and showed us his ‘battle wounds’. Giant welts covered his back and he looked a bit shaken up. Apparently he had been completely caught out in the middle of the hail without any shelter in sight – quite common in the Prairies… Even if he had been able to see any sign of life (eg. grain elevator) it would likely still have been 20 kms off into the distance. Ian ended up flagging down a van about 5kms from town for shelter..! Poor guy..! I would definitely have been scared especially considering all of the lightening, wind, rain and hail – it was totally ‘tornado weather’. I was led to our campsite which looked like an Olympic sized swimming pool with a picnic table bobbing around in it. Fortunately there was a Plan B for the day to remedy the situation thanks to the wonderful hospitality of the residents of Youngstown. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youngstown,_Alberta

Youngstown is a small, friendly and very hospitable town about 60kms from the Saskatchewan border. It has a population of about 200 people with 1 school, a grocery store and 1 bar. For the past 10 years the residents of Youngstown have a huge annual pot-luck to welcome the Tour du Canada into the town. They also let us use their community centre as our ‘crash pad’ given our campsite was totally immersed in water..! AND they opened their school for us to use the showers to get cleaned up…! The hospitality shown by the people was phenomenal and it was so interesting to ‘meet the locals’ and find out about their lives. Over dinner I sat with a local farmer who has about 6000 acres of land..! This makes my Dad’s 400 acres seem tiny! But, as the farmer pointed out, most of the land is non-arable and used for pasture so essentially whilst there is more land, it’s very well possible that the 400 acres is much more work.

The potluck was amazing – there was so much home cooking – chili with meatballs, about 5 deliciously different salads, sausages with white sauce, pasta dishes, cinnamon buns, marshmallow squares, chocolate squares, chocolate pudding, pies and so much more. Everyone was overwhelmed by the generosity of the residents of Youngstown. On the wall in the hall where we had supper there was even a giant article cut out from The National Post in 1999 which described the TdC..! Apparently the residents put on the pot luck as they feel that it is one of the times that ‘the world comes to them’. I really, really enjoyed it and it was a wonderful way to end one of the most challenging days of the journey so far.

Just before dinner I took a few photos of the sky just before the 2nd wave of storms hit the town – again, the clouds were incredible and seemed to visibly ‘roll’ through the sky like giant waves. There were two clouds which looked like they were about to form into funnel clouds but just as they were about to touch down they broke away and dissipated. The wind and the rain came down in sheets and sheets and the sky was a deep, deep blue color which contrasted to the dark grey clouds. Note that in the photo below there is a bar at the end of the rainbow... on some days this is worth more than a pot of gold..!

I slept really well that night on my Thermarest in the comfort of the community centre – I managed to find a quiet little corner away from the snorers and was out like a light in about 3 seconds flat....

Suzanne Vega - "Tom's Diner"

I am sitting
In the morning
At the diner
On the corner

I am waiting
At the counter
For the man
To pour the coffee

And he fills it
Only halfway
And before
I even argue

He is looking
Out the window
At somebody
Coming in...

- Suzanne Vega - "Tom's Diner"

Drumheller – REST DAY
Distance to date: 1196 kms / 738 miles

It was sooo nice to not feel the urgency to get up at 6am and I had a glorious sleep until about 7:30am. It was a gorgeous blue-skied morning and I was really looking forward to a day of doing absolutely nothing. Brendan and I hummed and hawed about heading down to Calgary but then in the end decided to keep it local and I was so glad that we did as the previous evening had been incredibly enjoyable and relaxing with loads of laughs.

A breakfast was in order so Brendan and I hopped on our bikes and biked about 10kms back to a local diner that had been recommended to us the previous evening by our taxi driver – WHIFS – Waffles, Hamburgers, Ice cream, Flapjacks, Salads (Yes, these Albertians are a clever bunch..). It was fantastic recommendation – huge, HUGE portions of food, great service and great food. I was so hungry..!! I had a clubhouse with fries and 2 cups of coffee for breakfast (this following my 3 bowls of rice crispies earlier that morning..!)...

Eating on the TdC – ‘Oink’

I feel the need to discuss my eating here – it is absolutely unreal.

I have never in my life eaten like I am eating on this trip. There is no end to the food I am consuming – chocolate bars, donuts, pasta, pudding, sandwiches, fries, chicken wings, oatmeal, beer, peanut butter, cereal… etc. etc. etc. Every time I feel ‘full’ I wait about 45 minutes and I can eat the monster portion again. It’s been like this for the past two weeks and I have not gained a pound...

For example, a typical day will start with 4 pancakes and a giant dollop of oatmeal followed by a peanut butter sandwich (or two) about an hour later, followed by two donuts & a coffee at Tim Hortons about 20 minutes after that, then a handful of trail mix and then lunch at noon. Lunch usually involves a huge bowl of chili, two more donuts, a litre of chocolate milk, a Pepsi. About an hour and a half later I eat two more peanut butter sandwiches, drink a bottle of Gatorade, and possibly eat a chocolate bar. Rolling into camp around 4ish I usually set up my tent whilst drinking a beer and then top of my diet with a colossal dinner prepared by the Galley Crew. This is also a monster-sized portion high in carbs – more chili or pasta with a light salad. Dessert is also always served and I never skimp on that either…! Then, depending on the campground, I usually seem to get in a cheeky ice-cream just before bed. I can’t believe that I get to do 72 days of this kind of eating..!!

I spent the rest of the afternoon ‘chilling out’ by organizing my clothes and my tent, reading, chatting with everyone, writing postcards and debating what we were going to do about dinner. It was a great day – the weather was spectacular and I was so in need of a break. I love the biking but every once in a while it feels good to have ‘me time’ when I can put on normal clothes and not feel like a 'biker'. I was teased today as well as I put on my watch and some jewellry and even put on some makeup. I steered well clear of anything with lycra and gel padding..!!

We ended the evening by ordering pizza delivered to the camp and then eating around picnic tables in the campground. It was a great evening and I happily crawled into my tent very content around 9:30pm – ready to brave our last day in Alberta the following day.