Falling For The First Time

“Anyone perfect must be lying, anything easy has its cost

Anyone plain can be lovely, anyone loved can be lost

What if I lost my direction? What if I lost sense of time?

What if I nursed this infection? Maybe the worst is behind.”

No, I didn't fall off my bike. This song came on the radio when I stopped at a restaurant and now it's stuck in my head. It was actually a near-perfect couple of days of cycling, good smooth roads, a nice tailwind and pastoral scenery. Hand it to the Barenaked Ladies to inject some humility and levity into the situation.

Since leaving Saskatoon the Yellowhead Highway has been much quieter and down to two lanes of traffic. Most of the volume has turned towards the provincial capital Regina and the larger TransCanada highway. Sometimes it feels like I have the road to myself, there are ten minute periods where I won't see a car or truck.

This is where farmers amuse themselves

Some hearty Prairie fare

Trying to look badass with a spare tire hanging off the side

The area around the Quill Lakes is really pretty, it reminds me of the seaside. This is a big bird watching area, with millions of birds migrating up here to breed along the vast salt marshes — Big Quill Lake is actually Canada's largest saline lake, right in the middle of the continent. It is interesting to see so many shorebirds like plovers and sandpipers. This is definitely more scenic than riding down in southern Saskatchewan, it is almost reminiscent of cycling in Flanders.

 

People here are really chatty, they like to tell you about things in Saskatchewan and they're curious about who you are. It's common to be greeted when you pass someone on the street or going in and out of a shop, often with a lead-in to more conversation. It makes for long stops just talking to people,  sometimes half an hour or more.

I spent the night in a rather rustic campground in Foam Lake that had two showers and only one men's toilet for 30 sites, but it was interesting that they had a movie night with a projector casting against the side of a shed. The town had a really good laundromat, though, and I left with nice clean clothes in the morning.

This is how all highways should be: well marked lanes for motorists with rumble streps when they stray, and shoulders for trucks with extra wide loads and, of course, cyclists :)

Great tailwinds, I was sometimes hitting over 40 kph especially on the newly paved stretches. But to say that things were perfect is a lie — 25 kilometres from Yorkton, a thunderstorm rained on my parade.

On "Melon"-choly Hill

“ 'Up on Melancholy Hill is a plastic tree,

Are you here with me?”

I used to be teased and called "Melonhead" when I was a kid because my head is so round. Had I grown up in Saskatchewan, I could have taken that moniker much better. Out here, they don hollowed out watermelons on their heads with pride to show their spirit during the home games of their beloved Saskatchewan Roughriders. I'm far from a football fan, but these melonheads' support for their team is impressive — one of the rare publicly-owned professional sports teams.

I spent two days in Saskatoon for a few reasons. 1) I needed some rest; 2) the wind switched direction and I was not about to ride in 35 kph headwinds with 65 kph gusts; 3) I had work to do; 4) my bike needed a good cleaning and maintenance; and 4) Saskatoon is a great little city with so much energy.

I certainly got my rest, the University of Saskatchewan offers up its well-kept dorms for summer accommodations. For $47 a night I had a decent room to myself and included a fantastic all-you-can-eat breakfast of hot and cold cereals. The university campus is huge and sprawling, taking up almost one sixth of the city, and its grounds are impeccably well cared for.

The main buildings in uSask are all sandstone which look pretty in the  Prairie sunset

Saskatchewan Hall, the dorm I stayed in

The cafeteria had a great breakfast buffet

The first morning I mostly slept in and did some work inside as the wind howled outside. In the afternoon I went in search of a bike shop for some parts. I completely overhauled the drivetrain, changing my chain and really cleaning out the gears and derailleur — the bike runs better now than when I started. I also changed my brake pads and my rear tire, which have gotten so worn down from the ride through the Rockies. Great bike shops in Saskatoon, they have stock on hand for tires I usually have to special order in Ottawa. The Bike Doctor rocks.

There were a few events going on in town like the Dragon Boat Races and another water-based festival called River Lights. Saskatoon does a great job of animating itself, there's even a stage downtown where local garage bands can play on. I stopped by a free bike valet parking run by the local cycling advocacy group SaskatoonCycles.org and had a nice talk with several of their members. They are doing a valiant job of promoting the local cycling scene, which despite the city's flatness can sometimes be a bit of an uphill battle. I bought one of their cool t-shirts.

I was impressed with the gentle-handed touches in presenting Saskatoon's heritage throughout its public spaces. Often they did not require lengthy explanations.

Tree grates had snippets of aboriginal traditions

I had a similar proposal to interpret the Ottawa River a few years ago but it never got anywhere 

This water play area is a great way for children to learn about their river and its watershed

On the third morning, the wind had turned favourable and it was time to leave. Saskatoon was starting to feel like home, and it was an effort to wrench myself from my digs. After chatting it up with a fellow Eastern Ontarian staying in the dorm, and searching in vain for spare inner tubes on a Sunday ( I'm kicking myself for forgetting to buy them yesterday), I actually did not leave the city until 2 pm. However, it took all of a few minutes being out in the open prairie to get back into the swing of things. While the Rockies can be like a blaring fanfare of mountains, the Prairies are all about rhythm. It is a place where time seems to slip by quietly, yet its repeated patterns remind you of the constant ticking of a clock.

One big mound of potash, one source of Saskatchewan's new wealth.

Made it 125 kms to Lanigan by the end of the day, found the nice campground there and pitched my tent in the golden light of the prairie sunset.

“ 'Round the world we'll go,
does anybody know
if we're looking out on the day
of another dream?”

The Geeks Were Right

“I get to grind these teeth and peek through timeIf I could bring things back, they'd feedback wildWhen I saw the future the geeks were right.”

I had a great sleep  at the motel in North Battleford, crashing out at 8:30 pm after having a good dinner. I woke up just before midnight for a glass of water but fell back asleep again until 7 am. I left a good tip for the cleaning staff to cover any mess I made.

There was a cool north wind blowing, which was like a grazing sidewind that was not too offensive. The road continued flat along the North Saskatchewan RIver, relatively featureless except for the signature grain elevators breaking the horizon. It's sad how they are tearing the old traditional wooden ones and replacing them with concrete industrial structures.

These old grain elevators are disappearing...

...replaced by these concrete monsters

Sometimes the landscape looks like a giant flag of Saskatchewan

After 50 kilometres, I turned off the highway at Maymont in search for something to eat. I found a dusty old village that was barely hanging on, and out by the railway line, a faded century old hotel and bar.  This was obviously a local farmers' hangout as they seem to all know each other, and eyes were all on me as I walked in as an outsider. Super friendly place though, and I had a great soup and sandwich that could not be more homemade. The bar keeper even threw in some free rhubarb  cream pie she had bought from the Hutterites in the next village.

The sign on the door was shabby chic without even trying

Awesome chicken and bacon soup

And what were these farmers watching on TV? Top Chef on the Food Channel!

My free pie!

Most of Saskatchewan's main highways are built with wide shoulders. Not because they are trying to be cyclist-friendly, they are meant to accommodate extra wide farming equipment, sometimes a lane and a half wide. It's often overwhelming when these combines pass me but they go along slowly barely twice my speed with enough warning from behind.

Another 50 kilometres later, I stopped at another town for some refreshments. Radisson is one more small town in obvious decay, its main street toothy from empty spots where buildings used to be. I walked into a general store/flea market that had a sign for soft ice cream, and when I told the woman I was biking across Canada, she wated to return my two dollars I had paid her for the cone. I insisted she keep it, as not only had I had enough of charity last night, I told her that one of the great benefits of cycle tourism is that money gets spread out to small communities along the way instead of just gas stations and bigger centres that drivers tend to favour. She said Radisson used to have everything from flower shops to book stores and now they were all gone, along with the six grain elevators they tore down. The only people left in town were retired farmers who rented out their land to larger mechanized farming corporations. <cough> Monsanto drones <cough>

Crossing the North Saskatchewan River for the last time

Something tells me this is curling country

These chatty stops plus two flats made my day longer, and in the end I was racing towards Saskatoon in order to catch the check in desk at the University of Saskatchewan's summer residence which closed at 8 pm. I caught the woman shutting off the lights in the office as I rushed in loudly saying, "Oh shoot". She was cheery enough to reopen the wicket and turn on the computer to register me in. Whew.

There was a Sci-Fi camp going on, and out on the leafy campus grounds some kids were running about with clipboards on some sort of scavenger hunt, while others were carrying mats, likely to go star gazing.

“Predator skills, chemical wars, plastic islands at seaWatch what the humans ruin with machines.”

The Last Saskatchewan Pirate

“And it's a heave-ho, hi-ho!
Comin' down the plains;

Stealin' wheat and barley and all the other grains!

It's a ho-hey, hi-hey!
Farmers bar yer doors;

When ya see the Jolly Roger on Regina's mighty shores”

Arrrr! I was in a nasty pirate mood last night and this morning. I had gone to the municipal campground in Lloydminister, and the heartless woman there refused to let me pitch a tent, saying that the place was only for RVs. "City policy," she said, So, a room, a room, my kingdom for a room — absolutely every room was booked in town, even the most expensive ones, by oil patch workers. There must be something big going on, because every motel and hotel had big white utility pickup trucks in front of them like sets of false teeth. The only choice I had in the end, was to take a shower at the Husky truck stop and find a spot behind some trees to stealth camp in the dark.

My camping spot

I realized in the morning it wasn't so hidden

I had less than a 4 hour sleep, folding up my tent before it got light enough to be seen. Luckily it did not rain, but the skies were cloudy and grey, promising a good amount of precipitation. I was at a coffee shop right before they unlocked the doors at 5 am. I had breakfast and looked around town, then went to the tourist information office when they opened to give them a piece of my mind regarding the campground. Pointless. I am firing off a nasty email to their city hall. I can see a privately owned campground being that exclusive, but a city-owned one?

It was raining lightly when I left, but it got progressively more intense over several hours. I was barely staying awake while pedalling, and with my glasses fogging up I was so tempted to close my eyes at times. I got to Maidstone for lunch completely soaked and cold. I went into a restaurant dripping wet, occasionally nodding off while waiting for my order, and downed 3 cups of coffee along with some soup and spaghetti.

The sky lightened up after lunch and later the sun actually came out to warm me up. Still groggy but with only 40 of the 135 kms more to go by 2:30 pm, I decided to pull off the road, spread out my tarp and take a power nap and dry off. I must have looked weird to passing motorists, a cyclist passed out just beyond the shoulder. There's just no hiding in the open prairie.

my napping spot

It's amazing how the landscape has changed since crossing the provincial boundary, Saskatchewan really is so much flatter. I almost miss the pine-scented logging trucks in BC, they've given way to smelly livestock carriers out here. Especially when I'm getting splashed in the rain.

I get into the Battlefords in the mid-afternoon and crossed the river into North Battleford to find a decent motel to crash in and make up for last night's fiasco. I come up to one and asked what the rate was. The guy says to me, "For you, travelling on a bike, zero." Puzzled, I said, "That's impossible, don't you have to make money in this business?' He replied that they were doing very well, and that I should just enjoy the room and have a good meal. Wow, I am flabbergasted by his generosity.

Yar! I still feel like a pirate, one who's found gold.

One Step Ahead

I dilly-dallied in Vegreville in the morning, cut my hair (brought along a mini hair buzzer) and gorged myself at al local bakery. I was getting close to breaking one of the commandments of cycle touring: Thou shall not squander a tailwind.

And what a tailwind it was. I left after 1pm, but made the 90 kms to Vermillion in under three and a half hours including a short break. There were times I was cruising over 34 kph, which on a loaded bike feels like flying. I spent an hour in town fuelling up with a burger and a large root beer.

This part of Alberta is actually really interesting, with its soft undulations. Interspersed with the hills of crops are small lakes and wetlands, often described as "knob and kettle" landscape. The sky and land interact, and on a day like today, it seems alive and dynamic — the fluffy white clouds dappling the sunlight on the bright yellow fields of canola. Sometimes I feel like I am chasing the clouds as they cast fleeting shadows on the highway.

Looks like it's a bumper crop of pipes for Enbridge!

I made the 150 kms to Lloydminister  in full sunlight, all thanks to the tailwind. Lloydminister is an odd town as the provincial border runs right down its main street. Unlike border twin cities (Ottawa-Gatineau for example), Lloydminister is one single city shared between two provinces.

So one step ahead and I'm in Saskatchewan.

“One step ahead of youStay in motion, keep an open mind”

The Split Enz... how much more of a pun is that?