Day 31

6/22/09: Off Segment; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to Wynyard, Saskatchewan; 118 miles.

         Well, Grace cooked us a dinner last evening that was epic. We had home made mashed potatos, a fresh salad, grilled zucchini and mushrooms, and a steak on the grill. I mean these are two dudes who have been making Subway a way of life now for a month, and when we get a meal like that, that totally registers off of the scale!

         The rain finally died down in Saskatoon last evening. But wow, what a day of rain they had. Numerous people told us that it just does not rain like that up here. But what with several weeks of drought, it was a pretty good thing to get that much rain. We hit the hay and I slept like a log. It was great.

         In the morning Grace insisted on making us some home made pancakes with berries. And again – a homerun. I must have hat 6-7 cakes slathered in butter and syrup. The weather outside this morning looked pretty foreboding, and what with the massive slap in the chops we got yesterday dealing with the rain, we were both gun-shy to get out there under the steely grey skies and the ferocious winds. You could just feel that is was about to open up again and slap us around like tiny matchsticks. But we had to make time here in the Great Plains, so we packed it all up, bid farewell to Grace, and took to the streets of Saskatoon and back to Rt 16 east.

         Once we got on 16 we were at least slightly relieved that the wind was out of the southwest, so we had a cross tailwind whenever we were headed in a due east direction, and then anytime the road twisted or curved slightly to the south……nasty cross wind or cross headwind. So you’d just pray that the road stayed on the straight and narrow to the east, really to the northeast! For the first couple of hours it just looked like it could rain like hell at any minute, and I would consistently glance back to the west to look at the skies, just to reassure myself that things were ok. We had several long, gradual ups to do, and with a slight curve in the road to the south, this would turn into a grunt into a cross wind, and slow us down from our 17-18 mph to a gnarly 11-13 mph. I mean it was that drastic. We were told about the winds out here, and they can be crazy hard – now not as bad as what I experienced in Iceland, but these could be a distant second.

         We put in about 3 hrs, by noon, and again, it was one of those days where you could feel that it just wasn’t there in the legs, but………no choice but to keep it moving and cover some ground. So we took a short food and drink break in Viscount. It was a very small town, and the grocery was connected to the tractor parts store, and inside were three gents playing cards and drinking coffee. We bought some cookies and coke, and joined them at their card table to talk and eat, as it was still a bit nippy outside what with the thick cloud cover and the ferocious winds. And it was fun talking to the fellers about our trip. One of the guys had said that it rains so hard in Saskatoon yesterday that manhole covers were spit out of the streets! Now that’s flashflooding by gosh. This storm even made the Saskatoon daily newspaper today, front page. So it was a rip snorter for sure.

         Done in Viscount, we kept it going, just hoping to keep gaining ground on our 2-day deficit and stay ahead of the ominous weather pattern we’d just ridden into. Again, same story, just hoping that road would stay in an east-northeast direction so we could catch the cross tail wind. And we were fortunate, because by 4 hrs in we had just about a 16 mph average.  Our next stop was Lanigan, and that was about 4:48 hours in. Guess where we went…………come on now…..Subway. I had 2 12-inchers, but only ate one there and stowed the other in my rear manbag for later consumption. I just did not have the gremlin going full bore what with the enormous breakfast we had eaten at Grace’s. I swear, those cakes could fuel me for a good century of this kind of riding. Ryan just had a coke, and then on we went, trying to eek out a 100 mile day today.

         For a couple of guys whose legs were shot today, I think we did one heck of a job just persevering hour after hour and K after K. About 5:40 hrs in we get to a T in the road where we have to go south for about 6K, and damn, that cross wind was just killer. The wind had changed to a flat out westerly, and was so bad it was as if I was holding my brake levers down while I was riding. Thankfully it was just several miles of that. Then we turned back on 16 east and enjoyed a killer tailwind for the remainder of the ride. Now I have to say that I attempted to cajole Ryan onward by giving him a throwdown: “I’ll sport for a motel if we ride to 8pm,” I told him, hoping to ignite some demon in him which would send him down the road like a formula 1 race car. At this time it was 4pm, so that would mean nearly a 10-hour day in the saddle were we to ride to 8pm. Well, he was at least thinking about it.

         But as fate would have it that was just about the time we began to hit some little hills, and these were unusual for the terrain we’d been riding in up to this point in Saskatchewan. These were more of the short and steep variety. I guess after 100 miles, anything that’s remotely climbing is hard, and that could well be the case here, but I do know that I was out of the saddle a good bit in that section, and it proved to be the proverbial last straw for Ryan’s cycling for the day.

I do want to say that Ryan has done an outstanding job so far in the Great Plains. He’s only been cycling for two years compared to my thirty, and he’s knocking down triple digit days left and right. I’m used to just grinding it out for hours on end, and that’s my MO, but this is totally new territory for Ryan, especially carting 75 pounds of gear down the road. So a major hat’s off to him for what he’s been able to accomplish thus far. With that said, I was not the least bit disappointed in our not riding until 8pm. Hell, we rode to 6pm, and nailed down 118 miles on a day that looked like we may not even ride, and on legs that said no from the first pedal stroke out of Saskatoon. Good day indeed.

I pulled into the Wynyard Subway and waited for Ryan. He rolled in about 10 min later, and said no mas. So we went inside and he doubled up on 12-inch subs while I stayed with a single 12-inch – seafood salad this time just to shake things up. Now this guy is really starting to catch up to me in the eating dept., because he had one sub totally gone as I had just finished my half. I really believe that there’s going to be a day when one or both of us are hungry enough to manage 3 12-inch subs in one sitting. We’re on the cusp of this right now, and when I pass 2.5 subs – I’m in new territory!

I’m in my tent right now, and Ryan is crashed hard in the hotel Hille. We’re camped behind a church in Wynyard, and it’s a nice, quiet little community. I’ll shoot this onto the blog via my air card, and maybe take a walk over to the A & W Rootbeer place for a Rootbeer float. Yea……that’s sounding more and more like a great idea. Tomorrow we’ll shoot for Yorkton or further, which should put us within spitting distance of the Manitoba border. Take care and have a great evening………..Pete