Day 23, the end of this trip

Day 23, June 16, Portage La Prairie to Winnipeg, km 2603-2717, 114 km today.

We left Portage a little after 7 and made our way through town via 1A to 1. The TCH had a nice wide shoulder all the way into Winnipeg. There was no wind and it was sunny with temperature going from 11 to 27C in the afternoon. The road was so straight and so flat that I spent time trying figure out how far it was to the visible horizon. The crops by and large seem to be planted and doing very well. The canola gets yellower by the day. We also saw potatoes and sunflower. One thing that was unusual was a few fields that had rows and rows of large rectangular bales of hay just rotting away. There had to be thousands of them. Got to Nicole and Curtis' around 1 pm. We made from Nanaimo to Winnipeg with 19 days of cycling on our route, a side trip to the Cypress Hills, and three rest days.

Average speed for the whole trip 18.22 kph; through BC it was the slowest at 14 kph, and from Banff to Winnipeg 19.32.

Day 22

Day 22, June 15, Brandon-Portage La Prairie, km 2471-2603, 132 km today.

We left Brandon around 8 this morning, going up the hill to the TCH. On the way, we filled the tires at a gas station. One of the people at the motel told us that there would be a hill(s) around Carberry otherwise, when we got there we found a few minor ups and downs but nothing like we have been over already. Today we encountered the first roads that did not have a paved shoulder; some of this was east of Carberry and some west of Portage La Prairie. Fortunately, this was not problematic for us. Almost all the drivers gave us lots of space, especially the long haul truckers. An indication of the light level of traffic was the fact that they still have a railway crossing the TCH in this section. There was a lot of highway work going in today's section with both west- and east-bound lanes being repaved. This was great for us because we had two full lanes to ourselves while the trucks and car were diverted to the left lane. Another thing that we noticed was the maturity of the crops and grasses beside the road. The roadside Brome grass was well over knee height, and if it had been in a field, it probably would have been harvested. Just before getting into Portage La Prairie, KN had another flat rear tire.

Day 21

Day 21, June 14, Moosomin to Brandon, km 2312-2471, 159 km today.

Got up very early and left by 6 in an effort to beat the wind which was forecast to be 10-15 kph from the SE- right in our faces. It was a warm sunny day and made for pretty easy riding. The major excitement of the day was in Brandon when we tried to find a motel. We went to about 5 before the clerk told us that the construction workers have them tied up. We finally found one after making a loop of the city which is slower on a bicycle than by car. This is first time that we have had difficulty in finding a motel room at this time of year. In any case, we plan on Portage La Prairie tomorrow and Nicole and Curtis' place the next day.

Day 20

Day 20, June 13, Regina to Moosomin, km 2080 to 2312, 232 km today.

We had a very nice breakfast in the university residences this morning- fruit, cereal, eggs, bacon, blueberry pancakes, orange juice and coffee. The sun was out, it was warm but not hot and the wind was negligible. The road was excellent with a good paved shoulder all day; in some places it was a bit rough but it was a safe place to ride. Much of the wild life we saw today was lifeless, being hit by highway traffic. Nevertheless we saw a coyote and muskrat in addition to the usual prairie dogs, prairie falcons and other birds. With no wind the ride was quite easy so we found ourselves passing Indian Head, Wolsely, Grefell, Broadview and Whitewood before stopping for the night in Moosomin. Had the riding conditions not been so ideal, it would have been difficult to cover 232 km. The book says that Regina to Moosomin is 222 km, so I figure that the extra 10 km was due to getting from the university to the road plus the fact that I don't ride in a straight line. Susie pays more attention to the road surface while I (KN) like to gawk at everything, which takes me from one side our lane to the other. Most of the TCH has a shoulder that is a full lane wide.

Day 19

Day 19, June 12 Regina 0 km today.


Got up at 4:35 to get Nicole to the race course for officiating. After getting back Gabriella wanted only Gramie; so guess who was the babysitter? At 8 Gabriella went down for her nap. It was a nice day for the regatta- with no rain and little wind. We didn't make to the course for Nicole's first race a heat, but we did get there in the afternoon to watch her in the quad and double finals; her boats won both races. We got to talk to some nice people while watching the races; one couple's daughter is now a coach but filled in to complete a double and rowed against Nicole. Nicole was busy the whole day with her three races and doing umpire duties from a motor boat. Nicole, Gabriella and two of Nicole's team mates left for Winnipeg around 7 pm.

Day 18

Day 18, June 11 Regina 0 km today.

Today we are waiting in Regina for Nicole and Gabriella to arrive. Nicole is booked into the University of Regina residences, so that is where we are staying too. The University is beautiful and new. The buildings are modern and interconnected so that you can move from building to building without going outdoors. The room we have is one of four in a grouping, which also has a common area with two bathrooms, a sitting area and kitchen with range, microwave, fridge and chest freezer. It is very clean and well laid out. This morning we started walking the Wascana Centre which includes the university, legislature and the area around Wascana Lake. It has been well designed for people with lots of areas for activities such as jogging, walking, cycling, baseball, soccer, rowing, paddling etc. they have done a great job of landscaping. The only thing that is a little out of kilter is the population of Canada Geese; you really have to watch where you are walking because of their droppings everywhere. We saw families of over a dozen goslings. After walking to the far northwest end, we spent hours in the Royal Saskatchewan Museum; it is really well done. The displays are perfect with so much attention to detail. It starts with geological history, then goes on to fossil records, animals, the first humans up to the present. It is really interesting and kept us occupied until lunch and for an hour or so after lunch. After that we walked through Wascana Centre on the south side of the lake, and ended up at the former Campion College, now Regina Christian School.

Campion is where Kanji went to high school for grades 11 and 12, prior to going to the University of Alberta. Susie took a picture on the front steps and then the principal of the Christian School, Rod, took us on a tour. While much of the building has been altered by various iterations of purposes since it stopped being boys high school, there was a lot that was familiar. Even after 49 years, some of the classrooms looked a lot like they did way back when.

Nicole and Gabriella arrived at about 8 pm.  Since then she has kept Gramie busy walking around our unit.  She is not so sure about Boppa yet.  Nicole is out helping with the boats, and dropping two other rowers off where they are staying.

Day 17

Day 17, June 10 Moose Jaw to Regina km 2007-2080, 73 km today


Today is a different day. We need to slow down so that we can meet Nicole and Gabriella in Regina on Friday evening, and babysit Gabriella while Nicole rows in a regatta on Saturday. So we took in the Tunnels of Moose Jaw this morning. The Al Capone tour was entertaining and the story of Chinese immigrants was educational. They were treated really badly- poor pay, poor living conditions and the hated head tax. After the tours, we picked up our bikes and bags from the motel room where they had let us have a late checkout. The city is clearly doing its best to rejuvenate its downtown. Many buildings are being redone, and a new arena/convention centre is under construction. The road out toward the east is nicely landscaped and attractive.


The ride toward Regina started out sunny and warm with no wind to speak of. That did not last long as the predicted 25 kph head wind materialized and stayed with us all the way into Regina. It really slowed us down because it took almost 6 hours to cover the 73 km. When we turned north off the TCH in Regina, it felt as if we were flying because it got so much easier. Today we didn't see much in terms of animals; the fields adjacent to the highway were recently worked in many cases so there wasn't much grass for wildlife. Interestingly there was a lot of standing water in the fields, indicative of a wet spring. West of Regina there is a large industrial operation with large pile of white material adjacent, and spur line filled with hopper cars. I'm assuming that this is a potash operation because the road leading into it is called Kalium Road.

Day 16

Day 16, June 9 Swift Current to Moose Jaw km 1828-2007, 179 km today

We had the complimentary continental breakfast at the motel, the left for Moose Jaw at 7:15. The sun was shining, there was no wind and the temperature was about 10C- perfect biking weather. In a little while we started to feel the wind in our faces but not enough to slow our progress. Then about 10 a.m. the wind picked up and was about 25 kph directly from the east. It blew like this until 5 p.m. and made it difficult to move forward. As a result it took us almost 12 hours to cover the 179 km to downtown Moose Jaw. Other than the wind, it was perfect biking weather. Along the way we encountered more rolling hills than we remembered from driving this road a year ago. Maybe it was the wind, but it seemed like we gained a significant amount of elevation from Swift Current to Chaplin.

Our sights for the day included the country side, which is beautiful with it lush grass and horizons that go on forever. We also saw more antelope, making it 36 in total. We also saw a coyote and a live jack rabbit. There we re several dead jack rabbits on the road amongst the hundreds of prairie dogs. The majority of the cattle were black Angus, quite a few Herefords and some Charolais. Near Reed Lake, we saw many hawks, light brown with with very bushy legs. Near Herbert, we saw a herd of alpacas.

Day 15

Day 15, June 8 Maple Creek to Swift Current km 1685-1828, 143 km today

We left at 7:30 in dry cool air. The wind was strong and from the northwest making the jaunt from Maple Creek to the TCH slow being into the wind and uphill. The initial part of today's ride was really fun with the wind at our backs and not gusty. We saw lots of prairie dogs, cattle and a single antelope. They have also installed a wind farm south of the highway. About 50 km from Swift Current it started to rain, got colder, and the wind started shift toward the northeast. When the wind was directly from the north, it was very gusty and every time a truck passed, it blew us around. It wasn't the fault of the drivers because they shifted over into the left lane as they passed to help us as much as possible. We also saw some huge grain elevators today; rather than being made of wood they seem to be all concrete or steel. By the time we got to Swift Current, we were very hungry and cold; it felt great getting into the motel and having a warm bath.

Day 14

Day 14, June 7 Maple Creek- visit to Fort Walsh, km 1571-1685, 114 km today

Just as we were ready to have a nice dry ride to Fort Walsh, it started to rain. So we waited until the shower went through and then left. The road to Fort Walsh rolls a lot, and is quite rough where they have added tar and gravel. We thought from the brochures that the vertical would be only 200 m but it felt like more so I checked on the internet after getting back. The net vertical is 700m from Maple Creek plus all of those ups and downs, and drop into Fort Walsh at the end. On the way out we saw lots of cattle, including a herd of bulls that look like they are set to sell as breeders. We also saw herds of steers and heifers. Most of the cattle were black angus, which makes sense because they command a premium now. We also saw a shot out of the movies- a herd of cows with calves was being moved for branding, shots, tags and castration (we learned later) by three cowboys; in the background were two antelope. We also saw 9 deer today. There were lots of birds including great little blue bird; beside the road we saw many prairie dogs. At Fort Walsh, we had our lunch and then lucked out with our visit to the Fort. It was meti day, so there was a series of special activities including dancing, NWMP drill show, canon shot, singing, Louis Riel speech and Red River cart drive by. Other than the shower in the morning, the day was dry with a mixture of sun and overcast with temperatures in the high teens.

Day 13

Day 13, June 6 Medicine Hat to Maple Creek, km 1393 to 1502, 109 km today. Plus side trip to Cypress Hills Park Centre Block. To 1571 for a total of 178 km.

We left Medicine Hat around 8:30, and very quickly had to shed some clothes.  As the picture shows, there wasn't a cloud in the sky this morning.  Today was dry and warmer than the previous days. Along the way we saw 6 more antelope. The TCH had gentle rolling hills with one longish hill after the Saskatchewan border. We continued to have the wind in our favour along the highway. We stopped at the visitor centre just before Maple Creek and got information about accommodations and Cypress Hills park. After checking into the motel and getting some supplies, we headed south for the Centre Block of the park. This time the wind was against us as were the hills. After getting into the park we made a loop around the lake and had a bit of a look around. As it was around 6 pm we thought that we should head back to Maple Creek. The trip back which was downhill with the wind took us about 50 minutes.

Day 12

Day 12, June 5 Brooks to Medicine Hat, km 1278 to 1393, 115 km today. 5 hours.

The day started out cool and wet, but dried out and warmed up as we went along. The ride was as easy as you can get with flat roads (gentle rolling hills) and a wind at our backs of up to 25 kph. About 25 km east of Brooks we started to see antelope beside the road. We saw 20 in total including 3 babies. We also saw a red large deer; from a distance we thought that it might be a horse but when it raised its head, it was clearly a deer. It's red colour was unusual as was its size. As we entered Medicine Hat we saw lots of dead prairie dogs on the road. After getting a motel, we showered and will walk downtown to be tourists. There were lots of people around some event right down town.

Day 11

Day 11, June 4 Calgary to Brooks, km 1078 to 1278, 200 km today. 11.5 hours.


Monica made us a wonderful omelet for breakfast; she made sure that we have the necessary fuel for our ride today. We left via their back alley and got on 29 St NW which we followed down to the bike path that runs along the Bow River. The bike path was quite busy as there were a number of other cyclists using it to commute to work. We stopped to take pictures in the city and got some of turkeys at the zoo. We got on 17 St SE and headed east. It was quite comfortable because it is 4 lanes for long way and when it became 2 lanes there was a paved shoulder. We followed 17 to 1 through Chestermere. The ride down 1 was very pleasant; we could see the Rockies from well past Gleichen. The animals we saw today were mostly cattle, birds and prairie dogs. As hard as I looked for antelope none appeared. This area must be full of gas and oil because we saw lots of “nodding horses” and gas well heads. We arrived in Brooks a little after 6, so our ride today was about 11 and half hours. There was no wind at our backs or in our faces.

Day 9

Day 9, June 2 Banff to Calgary, km 942 to 1072, 130 km today. 7-8 hours.

We booked our flights home before leaving Banff, then headed down Banff Ave to #1. On the way to Canmore we saw a nice healthy buck elk by the railway tracks. We went through Canmore and stopped at Shoppers for tome carbolic acid salve. Then we stopped at the Borrowman's pottery shop. Katie and Lynnie were there so we had a nice visit, and ordered a French butter dish and coffee mugs. They will bring them in September. The ride into Calgary via 1A was easy easy. With a gentle grade down and a tail wind we were going 25-30 kph often without peddling. The only work of the day was the climb out of Cochrane about 2 km and 20 minutes of slogging up an 8% grade. We entered Calgary on the Crowfoot Trail, which became quite hair-raising so bailed out at Shaganappi. From there it was a matter of winding our way to the Nicholson's through the University of Calgary. It was so nice to see Stu and Monica again. We had so much to catch up on. After looking at the maps and our schedule, we accepted their invitation to stay longer. The extra day will be good for our bodies.
 
Day 10 spent in Calgary visiting with the Nicholson's and taking it easy.

Day 8

Day 8 Golden to Banff, km 799 to 942, 143 km today.
Left Golden via the eastern access road at 7:45 MDT; this was the steepest hill of the day as it turned out. Temperature 9 C and overcast when we left. It didn't rain until about 2 today. The first hill out of Golden is called 10 mile hill for a good reason; it is 16 km long and gave us the largest vertical of the day. They were working on the road- part of the project to make it 4 lanes all the way through. This is a massive undertaking 10 Mile hill is actually a hill up then down and up again. The Upper part has been moved well above the old road with a few large rock cuts and two bridges. As we approached the first bridge, there was a single sheep standing by the road. We stopped and saw a flock of about 8 or 9 including one lamb. Later on I saw a cow elk by the road. We stopped in Field to pickup an accommodations guide for Alberta and a map. The mountains are just beautiful. Then we went up the big hill as far as the spiral tunnels viewpoint. It was perfect timing because long freight train came along very soon thereafter allowing us to watch it enter the lower tunnel. Our next stop was at the continental divide which was not marked well. At the Jasper interchange, we had to wait about 30 min because they are blasting for the new road. The road the rest of the way into Banff was an easy, albeit wet, ride. We arrived in Banff 5-6 pm; we were wet and hungry but not tired like on other days. We should have taken pictures on our arrival but the rain and cold made us postpone them until later in the evening. The views of the mountains from downtown are just spectacular.