Day 17. North Battleford to Saskatoon. May 14. 147 km.

After yesterday, I thought that today should be a short day, then I saw the forecast for winds from the west. That changed our plans to start thinking of Saskatoon as our target. As it turned out this was our best riding day of the trip. It was warm but not hot and the wind was behind us all the way. Even with negotiating the Saskatoon traffic, we were in a motel by 3 PM in the south east corner of the city.  We are at the Colonial Motel.

 

Lunch stop. Tortilla with peanut butter and banana. 

We stopped for lunch at the bridge across the North Saskatchewan River and had a pretty easy ride today. Today we covered 147 km and considered it a short day.

For dinner, we dropped into the local Save On and got a bunch of wings, Greek salad and a pasta salad to go with a bottle of merlot. This was probably the best travel meal we have purchased along the way. The Greek salad was particularly good.

Day 16. Lloydminster to North Battleford. May 13. 141 km.

The distances today could be either very short or very long. Th next town with accommodation was Maidstone at 55km and then it as North Battleford at 141km. Although there was a significant headwind, we choose the latter and paid for it. We spent all day pushing into the wind. By the time we pulled into the Canadian Motor Inn, we were tired and later than we had planned.

We saw lots of evidence of the economy beside the highway. There were ample numbers of livestock and many granaries and grain elevators. Add to that many well heads and sidings full off tank cars, you get the picture of a busy economy.

 

A typical siding with train forming. 

 

Farmers with big equipment do multiple tasks in one pass. 

 

Oil train in preparation. 

Day 15. Mannville to Lloydminster. May 12. 83 km.

The first thing that got my attention this morning was the beeping cell phone. When I went to use it, all it would do put me a loop. Finally I changed the the SIM cards around called Simply Connect and spoke to someone who who got me going again. What frustration.

Today it was above zero when we left Mannville in bright sunshine. The ride was on good shoulders all the way to Lloydminster. Clearly this is is farm and gas country. We saw lots of well heads and cattle today. It was also a short day because Lloydminster was only 83km distance. Lloydminster didn't strike me as being unique because the main drag was littered with chain stores of various stripes such as Super Store and Canadian Tire. Our motel, Econolodge is off the main street but is spacious and clean. To avoid another restaurant meal we picked up food from the local Super Store and ate in our room, with a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. We are literally steps from the Saskatchewan border. In fact the markers are on our side of the street and are shown in an attached picture. I've also shown one of many well heads and some impressively large grain elevators.

 

Grain elevators 

 

Oil and/or gas storage at well heads

 

Alberta-Saskatchewan order running through Lloydminster 

Day 14. Sherwood Park to Mannville. May 11. 158 km.

Today turned out to be a 158km day. We started with a hot breakfast at the Super 8 then went directly to the Yellowhead and pedalled eastward. Fortunately it was a bit warmer than it has been so I didn't have to wear socks on my hands to keep them warm. The traffic was lighter than it was west of Edmonton and the paved shoulder was in better condition making it nice for biking.

The most abundant wildlife was birds, mostly geese and ducks. There was a surprising number of horses in the fields by the highway. Probably three times as many horses as cattle. Also some of the farmers must be doing very well because some of their houses were impressive.

We were in Vegreville before 1 PM so we decided to carry on after booking a room in Manville. By the time we got to Manville it was after 4 PM. The motel is basic but clean. Dinner at the restaurant was similarly simple. The staff are very pleasant and helpful. During dinner we had chat with a local senior, who said that she had moved to Mannville from a farm near Viking. With that I mentioned the Sutter brothers of NHL game. She told us that her husband's sister was their mother.

 

This is a farm house east of Edmonton.  Not small. 

Day 13. Wabamun to Sherwood Park. May 10. 69 km bike, 25 km bus, 94 km total.

I hoped that today would start differently from the previous few days but it wasn't in the cards. It was below zero and snowing lightly when we awoke. So we dithered and didn't rush to get on the road after a basic continental breakfast at motel. We got back onto Hwy 16 and cruised along toward Edmonton until we veered onto Hwy 16a because it took us through Stony Plain and Spruce Grove. We stopped at a bike shop (Mud, Sweat and Gears) and picked up another inner tube to replace the one that gave out yesterday.

We continued on into the city where we found the bus terminal at the West Edmonton Mall. There we loaded our bikes on the bus bike rack for the first leg to Clairview. Then we changed to another bus boundary for Abbotsfield. From Abbotsfield we took some bike paths, which took us across the North Saskatchewan River into Sherwood Park. Once we cleared the river and were securely in easy reach of Hwy 16 East we took a room at Super 8. Today we biked 69km and covered about 25km on bus.

 

Snowed last night in Wabamun. 

 

Bikes on a transit bus

 

 

Bike path across the North Saskatchwan River to Sherwood Park 

Day 12. Edson to Wabamun. May 9. 137 km.

As we ate breakfast, we knew that we were in for another cold day, hopefully our last. It froze last night as evidenced by the fresh ice on ponds beside the highway. Nevertheless the conditions were good for covering ground. There was a good but cold tailwind.

About 6 km from Edson my front tire went flat. Working in the just above freezing temperatures, it took 25 minutes to replace the tube. We stopped in Niton Junction to warmup at a Subway restaurant. Our next warmup spot was Entwistle. Then we continued on to Wabamun for the night.

We went 137 km today.

 

Wabamun Lake 

Day 11. Hinton to Edson. May 8. 90 km.

Cold is the operative word as evidenced by the flakes of snow that we saw at breakfast. By the time we left the motel, the temperature was about 2C and in Edson it was 6C on arrival.  We made good progress going up to Obed summit, which is the highest point on the Yellowhead highway at 

1162 metres.

 

 

Although it was cold, fortunately it wasn't wet and the wind was blowing from the west and pushed us nicely. On arrival in Edson, we had chili at St. Timothy's; we decided to stay in Edson rather than going further. As we were in Edson by 1 PM, we could have gone on to Wildwood but the cold made it less fun.

While warming up at Tim Horton's, I booked a room at the Travel Lodge less than half a km towards Edmonton. They gave us a spacious room with a sitting area and breakfast for $87, our best value on the ride.

I plan to check out Sobey's for deli food that will have fewer carbs and more vegetables. Restaurant meals tend to be higher in carbs and lacking vegetables. Yesterday we ate a tasty meal at a Japanese restaurant but it was high in noodles.

We went to Sobey's and got a big salad and their roast beef.  It was delicious. I would so again. We also picked up a bottle of wine, which went well with the beef.