Day 32

6/23/09: Off Segment; Wynyard, Saskatchewan to Yorkton, Saskatchewan; 90 miles.

Wind. We got to know it in a very intimate way today in Saskatchewan. It was kind, it was less than kind and it was cruel. Wind would be the word for the day here on Tuesday.

         Last eve I left you hanging on pins and needles with the chance walk over to the A & dub. Well, rather than the rootbeer I opted for a couple bacon cheeseburgers. Ryan got the large chocolate shake. While we were inside eating the rain began to set in, and it rained lightly for the remainder of the night on and off. I awoke at around 5am and it was raining. Six, it was raining, and 7, still lightly raining. It was then that I just quit looking at the watch, figured we’d get a late start at the very best, and hit the hay for another hour. Finally, just after 8 am, I could see some sun breaking through the clouds. Listened to the local forecast on CBC radio and talk was of sunny with very high winds.

         And I could feel them rattling my tent, almost to the point of picking it and my and all my gear up in one fell swoop and tossing us down the back lawn several meters. It was cruel. Then Ryan comes back from A and dub and his coffee and tells me that it’s a headwind. Now I just heard on the news that the wind would be out of the southwest, so I’m a little skeptical of Ryan’s prognosis. I was pinning my hopes on the local news. Packed up all the gear inside the tent, got all the gear out of it, and then broke down the tent. And once I pulled out all the stakes the thing just about blew away like a giant patio umbrella turned inside-out. I literally had to stand on it while I was packing it up. Yup, wind was the word for the day.

         I’m ready to go and Oscar…….er ……….Ryan is just beginning, so I roll over to the A and dub for a coffee and muffin, parking my bike alongside the big A and dub sign barrier. It was just big enough to park the bike and yak lengthwise. Go in, hit a quick coffee and muffin, glance outside at the trees, weeds, flags, signs, at everything bending in the wind………including my bike, which was tossed to the ground, all 100+ pounds of it. Now that really P-------- me off. So I down the coffee like a double shot of whiskey, and go outside to inspect the damage, if any. Everything looked to be ok, so I went about the gnarly task of picking the whole monstrosity back up, which can be quite tricky.

         We finally get going at about 9:45am, another late start, but what with the rain up to 7am……what can you do? We get a good first stretch of roadway, that’s probably trending to the northeast, so we have an insane tailwind, and we get lulled into thinking that today is going to be some kind of a cake walk. But let me tell you, and this was the case over and over and over again all day long: as soon as you near a town the road takes a hard southerly trend to the right, straightens out, and gradually bends back around again to the left. This is a cookie cutter thing out here on this stretch of road. Town…..road bends to right, straightens, gradually bends to the left. So the riding goes like this: Bend to right = wicked crosswind; straighten out = manageable crosswind; bend to left = a gift from God tailwind where you can reach speeds of 26+ mph. This occurred no less that 8-10 times, depending on how many towns we went through. Again and again.

         So you’d see the road bending to the right you know: A – you were about to go through another town, and B – you were going to be in for a fight with the crosssind. This crosswind was so vicious that you could not one hand the handlebars. I’m telling you, I was leaning to the right, into the crosswind so I wouldn’t be blown out into the center lane of the highway! This is now lie, and to prove it my right shoulder is pretty sore from applying pressure to the right hand side of the handlebars the better part of the day of riding.

         Ryan was actually tacking with the wind as a sailboat does. I mean this was one of the craziest winds I’ve ever ridden in. My ride in Iceland was the only other place where I experienced a wind that was so unending. Now on occation the wind would gust up to say 35mph, and then it was Katie bar the door, because then you’d be thrown violently out to the left of the berm, and into the edge of the actual driving lane. So if I had to adjust my sunglasses, I’d have to time it right so as to do it during a period where the wind was just blowing at say 25 or so mph. I thought back to the people who we had met in BC and Alberta, who were from these parts, and I remember them telling us with a smile on their faces about the winds of Saskatchewan, especially if the wind was in your face. So all of this remember was in dealing with a crosswind and tailwind.

         Now the tailwind part. Totally incredible. You could darned near just sit on the bike and let the wind blow you down the road. Now I’m exaggerating a good bit here but really, this was crazy. We reached a max speed on the flats of 26.7 mph, and this was after one of those bends to the left that I had mentioned. For one glorious half hour we had this straightaway that was trending to the northeast, and we did no less than 24 mph. So about 3 hrs in we were at a 16.8 mph average. And a good portion of that was into the crosswind. There we could maintain anywhere from 12-20 mph, depending how hard the trend was towards the south. More to the south, the slower you go and the more you have to fight the crosswind. More to the left, and you’re loving life.

         We pulled into a little place to snag some lunch, but it more resembled a ghost town, with nothing open or inhabited but a small house that was being used for a commercial business. No food, no gas, nothing. So on we go for another 15K down the road. And I’m having a really tough day fighting this crosswind. My legs are still on the cooked side, the wind is howling in my ears so strongly and so loudly that I think I’m going deaf, and I’m being blown all over the highway, like a rag doll. So we go on riding and fighting, fighting and riding. And we finally come to this little hole in the wall place with nothing but a gas station Coop. Food – nothing but candy and chips. NO COKE. That, was a sin. Only Pepsi. So we snagged pop and candy – not exactly the perfect lunch that I was envisioning.

         I finished my stuff, leaning up against the wall of the outside of the gas station, on the side of the station that was a wind break, in the warm sunshine, and I dozed off for a few minutes. I was so darned tired from the last few days of cycling that it all kind of caught up with me that moment. I just couldn’t fathom getting that raw butt of mine back on the bike again to fight the wind for another 1.5 hrs. But……got to keep moving, so on we went to Yorkton. And when I saw that 43K to Yorkton sign, I just shifted into the automaton mode and hammered it. Putting it at 18-20 mph in the crosswind, and all of a sudden I was there. Waited a few min for Ryan to catch up and we road into town together, tired, hungry, and ready to get out of the wind.

         Ryan had a thing for some pizza, so we did something totally different and hit a pizza hut. We each got a XL pizza. In the meanwhile Ryan had asked our waitress if she know of a church we could camp at. Well, she came back and told Ryan that her pastor would be down to talk to us. And not long thereafter Pastor Steve came down and sat with us. I was on Skype talking to Judy, so he and Ryan talked for a bit. And then when Ryan did his Skyping, I had a great time talking with Steve. We covered a ton of subjects. It was one of those conversations that you could take in a myriad of directions, and we covered some pretty cool ground talking about the value of time, perusing your dreams, and living your passions. So we finish and Steve escorts us to the church, a very pretty brick building in downtown Yorkton. Steve said we could actually sleep in the church basement, which is just wonderful. We have a small kitchen, a reading room, a restroom, and a great big meeting hall area to sleep in.

         The warmth of the people here in Canada is just beautiful. Thanks very much Pastor Steve for your hospitality and generosity.

         Well, when my bike got blown over I think my snap shot camera got broke, because my flash is not working, so I’ll work on that while Ryan gives his perspective for the day. Cheers all…………..Pete

 

Ryan adds:

I slept 13 hours last night. The 118 mile we did left me like a zombie. The last few miles I was swaying back and forth on my bike mumbling to myself. Normally I mumble to myself a lot, but not like a zombie.

I woke up this morning and got coffee. I came back and Pete was yelling at his tent. One thing I have learned after a month is that Pete yells at his stuff. Inside my tent I covered my face with my pillow and I am just laughing my ass off and he has no idea how absolutely hilarious it is. Pete yelling at his tent. Pete yelling at his laptop. Pete yelling at the slow internet connection. Pete yelling at his front derailer. Everyday is happens at least once. Pure comic relief.

         We have finished 1 month of riding today and we just passed the 2000 mile mark on our journey which means we are 1/3 of the way done. I am most proud of the fact that out of the first 30 rides we did I finally finished one of them one Pete’s wheel! Comically the day I rode the whole ride with him we had a big tail wind and a flat ride. Progress not perfection right. All is good. Another great day.