Day 22 - I’m in Manitoba !!!

Hard to believe that we have three provinces behind us already, 2,492 kilometers logged !!!, back to back centuries (100 mile ) rides yesterday and today !!! .We are all getting stronger as we go , I have noticed quite an improvement in my own fitness level and I must say I’m quite pleased that after three weeks I’m still going strong. 

Today we woke to clear skies and warm weather, I was up early ( 5 AM ) to get my own stuff all done before beginning with breakfast , we had done most of the preparation last night , boiling potatoes and dicing them , slicing onions and cooking them , so this morning it was easy to cook hash-browns . Once everything was done we headed out , there was to options on scenic 165 km the other a short cut 107 km , I opted for the scenic and was happy I did as the Qu’Appelle valley was well worth the extra distance. We did have to fight 13 km of headwinds to get there and a tough kilometer and a half climb to get out of the valley followed by 17 km of crosswinds before we had a final run home with the winds at our back. 

The valley road snaked around the outside giving magnificent views of both the river , lakes and fields as it did the walls of the valley. Mixed in with that was the yellow of the canola fields and the blue of the flax fields ( they gave the impression of being lakes from far away ) It is a popular vacation spot in Saskatchewan. 

I was ridding sweep today and rode with Ed for the first 104 km , then in the town of Esterhazy we stopped and shared a large!! pizza with all the topping which we actually eat !!, from there Ed went on and I dropped into the interpretation center as this is the center of the Potash mines in the area. I ran into Stephanie there and rode with her until we caught up to John, Mark and Beth and the five of us crossed into Manitoba together, pictures were taken as usual even though we thought the Manitoba sign was a bit on the small side compared with the others . 

The other thing that occurred at the border is that we entered another time zone , so now I’m only 1 hour off Ontario time !!!

Even though I say my fitness level is improving, today I was a bit tiered from yesterdays mad sprints and cooking, so todays easier pace was much needed ,I will sleep well tonight 

Total ridden today : 169.0 km -- Average speed: 24.2 -- Ridding time: 6.57

The flax seed was so blue we thought at first it was a lake.

Day 21 - Blustery , blustery , blustery !!!

Saturday 17 July

Once again we woke to the blustery wind , and when I say blustery I mean blow the paint off a barn blustery !!!. Regardless we all headed out to find that we had a crosswind and progress was a bit slow , but we pressed on and reached the Fort Qu’Appelle after 66 km stopping at the A&W for breakfast . The prairie today changed again , much more trees lined the road and the fields , a mix of pastures and crops and cows with undulating land was very pleasing to the eye. More farm buildings were visible today in good repair dotting the countryside. And quite a bit of wetlands with a variety of ducks , turns , geese and others rearing young.

As the day progressed the heavy overcast broke and sun started to appear , buy the end of the ride we were bathed in full sunshine and temperatures in the high twenties.

I had wanted to visit the historical pioneer village of “ Motherwell Homestead in Abernethy that required a 3 km side trip on a gravel road so after lunch i left my group and powered down the road to get there quickly and spend a bit of time , I was on cooking duty so I had to be in camp early. The village was beautifully preserved , the old stone house immaculate and full of period furniture. They had a blacksmith working shoeing a horse , there were cows , pigs , chickens and horses , a very well maintained barn and lots of machinery. I had a very nice visit. after I had to power down the road again eventually catching up to my ridding buddies of the day. 

Eventually we made it to camp and right away put our tents up and set into our cooking duties , todays menu was sausages with sauerkraut and salad to be followed by strawberry ice cream .

The George ( one of the town councilors of the town of Grayson were we are staying )set of the fire halls alarm as our dinner call and the food was devoured eagerly !!!

Total ridden today: 167.8 - average speed: 25.5 - Ridding time 6.34

Trevor cooking sausages

Dinner is served

With George , he rang the Fire Hall bell for us.

Day 20 - rest day in Regina

Slept in just a bit this morning , but by 7 I was up cleaning the bike as I had made arrangements to go into town latter in the morning and I was just not sure if I’d have time later ( it turn out to be a good move )

Around 9.30 five of us ( Janice, Bob, Murray, Ed and myself ) piled into a cab and headed to the Parliament building. We were very pleasantly surprised by the settings around there , roads lined with trees and flowers everywhere. After a few quick pictures we tackled the first order of business : finding a dinner to have breakfast !!!! , which after a little bit of walking and asking a stranger on the street for a recommendation we managed to locate “ The Mercury cafe & grill” which lived up to our expectations for good hardy breakfast . 

After gorging ourselves we headed back to the Parliament building and had a guided tour of it , we were not able to see the chambers as they were in use but what we did see was quite impressive , the building had been erected in 1908-1911 and is the largest house of government in Canada. The lake and parks surrounding it are gorgeous and peaceful . There were pelicans in the lake !!. And all the surrounding streets where heavily treed .

We ended up walking a fair bit looking for a camera store to get Murray’s camera fixed and to find Willows restaurant as Janice’s husband had given her a coupon to eat there, it was a very fancy place and we just had desert and beer which was again delicious !!

Eventually we got back to camp around three, the day so far had been sunny and warm ( 28 degrees ) so we just relaxed , some cleaned bikes I did some internet stuff and eventually the topic of dinner came up , th joice was The Mongolian Grill just down the road , nine of us decided to go , Murray and I rode there the others took a cab , and once again we feasted !!! amazing food , good beer and delicious desert !!!

It was a perfect rest day , I was left enchanted by Regina.

If there was a dark spot on the day it was that ticks have been discovered on some of the riders and of course a concern with catching Limes disease, so now we have to check ourselves for ticks.  

Day 19 - Regina here we come !

Purple Martin house

Last night we had our most intense thunderstorm so far , it only lasted about a half hour but the night was bright with lightning and it rained buckets , I am now quite confident with my tent so I just rolled over and went back to sleep.

This morning around 5 I was awakened by the singing of the Purple Martins. I had not paid to much attention to the fact that there was a Purple Martin house smack in the middle of our tents which were nestled in a birch tree stand, this morning it seemed that each tree had it’s own orchestra of martins that were serenading us, beautiful way to wake up !!! 

Breakfast this morning , well let me see I started with a bowl of bran flakes, toped with gorp and sliced banana , once that was done I had two slices of french toast with syrup and chased it all with a bowl of porridge !!!, amazing what we are capable of eating!!!

We then got back on the road , today a straight route to Regina and for the third day in a row the wind gods were with us. The prairie today changed from planted fields to pasture land as we followed the river, and cows were scatted along the way. It was not a day for picture tacking as it was mainly overcast and the scenery was the same the whole way through. 

We did stop in Bethune , a very small town off the highway and spotted the little dinner, inside we found Simo charming the locals , it was a very small room with two rows of tables , we had to help ourselves to coffee and I had a rhubarb pie with ice-cream , we had a great time chatting with the locals and fotos were taken of Simo with the two ladies at out table and the proprietor.

After that it was basically a fast ride to Regina with a stop for more fotos at the city sign.

After a long windy ride through Regina we arrived at the campground and found hot showers !!!, the first in three days, got my laundry done , caught up on Blogging , eat dinner ( tuna casserole which was delicious !! and chocolate rice crispy squares , I am happy now !!!, and now as I wright this I am sipping a cup of tea!!

Tomorrow is a rest day and then we have six days in a row of long rides that will take us all the way to Ontario , so resting is key !!

Total ridden today: 130.0 - average : 27.4 - ridding time: 4.43