Day 15: July 13 Drumheller to Youngstown  87 miles (141 km)
Picture: Dave enjoying the sunset in Youngstown (note that he is not sticking his tongue out)

Dave has had 14 flats so far.  That's more than one for every riding day so far.  We heard that the TDC record is 44.  He could have a shot at the title.

Well, I've found out how tough the prairies can be.  It was 95F (35C) in the shade this afternoon.  And shade was hard to find.  Jon, Jules, Alan and I rode a paceline the entire way.  Our heads were down and we still didn't miss any scenery (yes, it gets a little boring after you've seen 25 miles of farmland).  We were on the road by 7:00 a.m.  By 9:00 a.m. we had a headwind that stayed with us all day. Instead of a fast flat day, it was rolling, hot and slow.  The only real towns were the start and end points for the day.  The others were barely more than crossroads.

I'm already eating my words from Day 13.  Riding wasn't easy.  My butt was sore.  Nearly everyone complained of the same problem today.  It may have been the heat or it could have been the day off.  Either way, I don't think I sat still for more than two minutes between fidgets.

Youngstown, Alberta (population 200) was a tiny town.  As in Beiseker, the town came out and fed us a pot luck dinner.  Pasta salads, baked beans, green salads, and lots of desserts.  We ate well.  Dinner was held in the town rec center, which also housed the curling courts. (They tried to explain it to me, and occasionally broke into chants of "sweep, sweep", but I just smiled.)  The ice was gone, so we spread our mattresses and sleeping bags right there in the rink  The concrete floor where the ice would normally be didn't draw any of us.  We spread out sleeping bags on the wooden floor around the edges.  Snoring was minimal and we were sacked out early.  Alan, Jules and a few others decided they'd be sleeping indoors again soon enough (at the end of the summer) so they set up their tents outside.

Day 16: July 14 Youngstown to Kindersley  96 miles (155 km)
Picture: The mother ship at dinner time.  This wasn't taken in Kindersley, but I had requests, so here it is

Hot, scorching, searing, hellish, like an oven, insufferable.  For the second day in a row we baked in the prairies.  Jeff and I were sweeps for the day and got out by 7:00 a.m. -- pretty early for this group.  The last person usually leaves camp around 9.  The winds blew steadily out of the southwest so the ride was fast.  We arrived at camp by 2:00 p.m.  The route for the day was Route 9, all day.  The road changed it's number to 7 when we crossed the Saskatchewan border.  I guess they couldn't afford a 9.  The road didn't curve very often.  When it did, they cut rumble strips in the shoulder.  That should tell you something.

Since we were riding sweep we stopped to help Keith, then Craig, fix flat tires.  None for us, thank you very much.  We took frequent breaks so that we could ride faster when we did.  One of the breaks was at the gas station/bakery/restaurant (the combination doesn't surprise me as much any more) in Oyen.  I highly recommend the cinnamon buns.  We also visited the buffalo rubbing stone, a big rock left behind by a glacier that buffalos used to rub off the last of their winter coats.  They used it so much that they wore deep grooves around it.  This warranted a "point of interest" sign on the highway and a metal plaque describing it.

The weather forecast for tomorrow is 68F (20C) and 19-31 mph (20-50) winds!  I'm looking forward to it.

Day 17: July 15 Kindersley to Outlook  98 miles (158 km)
Picture: The weeds that grow at the side of the road are precious for telling us which way the wind is blowing.  When they're leaning straight left/east, we're happiest

Odd facts:
1. My hair is starting to get a permanent wave in it from my helmet.  It goes up where there are vents and down where the helmet touches my head.
2. We have awesome farmer tans.  And the right side is darker than the left due to the position of the sun.
3. Alan is keeping track of the number of bananas and PB&J sandwiches he's had.
4. Most of us have mascots on our bikes as we ride.  I've got my dog Sparky on the handlebars (he also rode in Colorado with me last year).  Bliss rode with Marge Simpson (12" tall plastic, with BIG blue hair that he found on the side of the road a long time ago) in his rear saddlebag and Kelly rides with Adventure Bear (an eastern black bear, with Taiwanese jeans).  Everyone now either has one, or is searching for one.  Here's some of the tidbits about our furry and plastic friends:
- Adventure Bear had a traumatic day recently.  While Kelly was resting at an abandoned building the other day, a bird flew over and emptied it's digestive track on her helmet and A.B.  It took quite a bit of scrubbing to clean him up.  
- Marge Simpson was kidnapped and had to be ransomed with chocolate early in the trip.
- Scottie (Jules' wolf) jumped out of his rear saddlebag on the bumpy gravel road on the way to Nokomis (foreshadowing to 18).  He was sighted by one of the riders who didn't stop, thinking it was roadkill. We hope he's ok, back in the wild.

Back to the semi-serious diary:
It was a racing suit day (That means I wear my Italian biking outfit.  Thanks again Myers and Phelps families, the ones who gave it to me.).  I'd decided to ride out hard and fast.  The only stop of interest all day was supposed to be the Rosetown Bakery at 52 mile (83 km) mark.  I put my head down, used the profile bars, and pounded out the distance.  There wasn't much in the way of scenery after the first few farms.  As usual, I left early.  By 8:00 a.m. the winds started picking up, by 10:00 a.m. they were strong.

The bakery in Rosetown had closed two weeks ago.  So much for the cup of coffee and cinnamon bun that I'd been hoping for.

The wind pushed even harder for the second half of the trip.  "I ran out of gears" was how John put it.  Towards the end I was doing 25-30 mph (40-50 kph) without trying hard.  My average speed for the day was 23 mph (37 kph), far beyond my normal ability, let alone for a century (a 100 mile ride)!  The others started arriving in camp and I found that those who left later had as good or better speeds, because they had more wind.  Maybe I'll change tactics for tomorrow.

All of us were very happy with the day.  I think everyone made it to camp by 12:30 p.m.  We laughed that we could have made it to Nokomis, the next stop, by dinnertime.

Our big find of the day was the bakery in Outlook.  Dave saw a few of us walking in town and came over to rave about the fresh, from-scratch, apple fritter he'd had and told us to go try them.  John, Jon, and I took his advice.  We got caught up on all the local gossip in the bakery.  It didn't take long to hear it all, population 500.  After we each tried one, the women at the counter suggested we buy the rest of them so they could close up early.  We did, but I think they stayed open anyway.  At dinner Bruce McCormick said "they're better than sex, but not as good as a tailwind."

Day 18: July 16 Outlook to Nokomis  92 miles (149 km)
Picture: Kenaston skyline

This was my day to break 40 kph (25 mph).  The winds felt strong and the day wasn't going to be too warm.  I left a little later than normal to catch as much of the wind at my back as possible.  The locals in Outlook had warned us that the road to Nokomis was pretty bad.  I asked how far it was and after a pause one woman said "I don't really know, I try not to go that way because of the roads".  Also, there's nothing after you pass Kenaston, about 37 miles, (60 km) into the trip.  The map notes for the day warned us to take lots of water if it's hot, because there was no place to refill.

I started out well for the first 19 miles (30 km) then I saw the big orange sign.  It said "Highway construction next 19.6 km.  Cost $1,700,000" (about $1.07 million USD)."  Now, my memory may not be perfect, but I seem to recall that road resurfacing in the US costs about US$1 million per mile (sorry Canadians, my brain isn't working well today, you'll need to do the math).  I found out what you get for $1.7 million -- gravel.  Much of the road was still potholes.  The highway department had put up red signs to mark the worst spots (they need to put up more).  And this was supposed to be a primary highway, not a secondary one.

The tailwind was strong so I kept up the pace.  I was dodging potholes, doing a slalom technique through the loose gravel, and generally feeling good. The bumpy ride was the only problem.  I figured it was only going to be 20 kilometers and it would be just as bumpy going slowly, so  I just plowed ahead.

Kenaston was little more than a crossroads with grain elevators.  The highlight of the town was the 18 foot snowman.  The claim to fame of the place is that it's the Blizzard Capital of Saskatchewan.  A group of riders stopped in the cafe for a second breakfast.  The breakfast plate was 3 eggs, four sausages, toast, hash browns, and coffee for $3.75 ($2.50 US).

Day 19: July 17 Nokomis to Fort Qu'Appelle 100 miles (161 km)
Picture: Self-portrait with canola in the background

Today was going to be a social day.  After two hard, fast rides I was ready to slow down and rejoin society.  The day didn't quite turn out as I expected.  The tailwinds we'd had were replaced by strong winds out of the southeast.  Our path for the day was 50% south and 50% east.  We were given a changed route for the day.  Word was that Route 15, the road that was so bad coming into Nokomis, was even worse east of town.  The alternate route was still bad, with several gravel sections.

I started out in light winds, thinking that I'd be lucky to average 15 mph (25 kph) for the day.  As the wind picked up I realized it was going to be a long slow grind.  I struggled to catch up with Ron and Sue a short distance from camp and rode with them most of the day.  What a cheerful couple.  Ron kept saying "I love wind."  Sue led us in singing Christmas carols.  It didn't matter that we didn't know all the words.

What a tough day.  The distance was about the same as the prior day.  It took me four hours to do the ride yesterday, but seven and a half today.  Ron and Sue showed me how to slow down and enjoy the day.  We had a morning break (black forest pie with whipped cream) in ??, ate lunch in Earl Gray (a big, disgustingly wonderful bacon cheeseburger with fries),  and stopped in the afternoon in Lipton (Gatorade and potato chips).  The 7 1/2 hours of cycling took 11 hours to complete with all the breaks.  My backside is sore from too much time in the saddle.

This was my day for wildlife.  We saw a coyote about 50 yards from the road. The more impressive sight was the goshawk that was flying next to us into the wind and going much faster than we were.  I knew it was a hawk but not the type, so I memorized some of the markings and looked it up in Bruce McB's National Audubon book when I got in.

On a normal day groups of 2-5 show up throughout the afternoon.  Today 12 riders merged into a big pack and came in together around dinnertime.  Jules and Alan were on sweep duty.  They helped pull the group together and kept it in a tight pack so that some could draft while the stronger ones pulled.  They arrived exhausted but in high spirits.  The last riders came in around 8:30 p.m. Everyone shared a sense of accomplishment for the day.  I went to bed early.  Thank goodness tomorrow is a rest day.

Day 20: July 18 Fort Qu'Appelle  (rest day)
The rest day was just that, restful.  I did laundry, ate, cleaned my bike, ate, had a massage, and ate.  How much simpler can you get?  Lunch as Bubba's was good, but dinner at the Bistro was wonderful.  Monique, the owner and chef prepared a buffet for 18 of us -- turkey with dumplings, pork and gravy, meat pie, pasta, cream of broccoli soup, red wine, spice cake and after dinner drinks.  The Bistro was recommended to us by the group a day ahead of us.  Although the place was closed on their rest day, Monique told them she'd make them dinner.  Next year she asked for advance notice so that she could prepare some regional specialties

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