GASP 2009, July 18-25 By Don Wilson
Day 1 – Saturday, Well, the 2009 Great Annual Saskatchewan Pedal was supposed to start from the parking lot of the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon at nine in the a.m. of July 18th. And it did. Many of the participants had arrived in the Bridge City the evening previous, and many of those had camped at the Gordie Howe. (A few of us had made our way up to Amigos for supper that Friday evening and bumped into Colleen and Darrell Noakes on the patio with whom we enjoyed a refreshment or two.) At a few minutes after nine Bob Cochran called a general meeting at which he handed out day-trip maps and reviewed procedures for handling the threat of lightening and tornados. With those reassuring admonitions driving our imaginations into overdrive, we cautiously followed Don Cook on a twisty route thru the western neighborhoods and out onto concourse of Highway 14 west-bound outa ToonTown. It was a warm day, complicated, as we found out after we were out of the urban sprawl, by a testy wind which never seemed to move off 9 o’clock no matter how the highway ran (which, in truth, was never far off due west). Not 20 Kay out, near the town of Asquith, Curtis impressed most with a fine demonstration of the rare and fading art of the full face plant, smack in the middle of the, thankfully, wide shoulder. Unfortunately, he chose a time and place where there were no witnesses, and as he himself has but a fragmented recollection of events, no one knows what happened. We would certainly like to thank the man in the car driving the near-by service road that hustled over and dragged the unconscious bikie off the pavement. Ken and Gabriella in the sag 1 were summoned and they whisked who we have since concluded to have been the victim of heat-stroke into St. Paul’s for a quick patch up. Thru some lucky happenstance, no teeth were lost, no eyes were gouged, just some ugly roadrash, a wounded knee, and some manly stitches in the eyebrow. The excitement, if not the concern, abated, the day stretched its 105 kilometers past Perdue and the rest was just a joyous grind up and into Biggar lying on the green out-riding hills of the Missouri Coteau. While the hotellers hotelled in the Westwind, the 25 or so campers found themselves waiting anxiously in line outside the door of the sole toilet/shower facility in the campground. Not really well prepared is Biggar for as many visitors such as us. We managed, many of us even getting up town to the Snow White Café for supper.
Day 2 Several of us had slept soundly, lulled into slumber land by the rumble of freight trains on the nearby rails of the CNR mainline. Up early in the morning to seek out breakfast, we welcomed the still air and its promise of a relaxing 70 Kay day to Wilkie. At 0700, however, the air bestirred itself, sensed our intentions and set itself in our teeth. Stalling over breakfast at Kelly’s Kitchen brought no relief, and after Arleene dined and dashed away in the confusion of our exit (oh, relax: she says she paid her bill later), we awayed into the rising gale. Now, not all of us lingered over breakfast, and in fact, day 2 screened the ride participants into the categories they would inhabit most of the week. Folks like Jane, Joan, Theresa and Arnie were mere rumors, so far ahead were they so early in the morning. The rest of us sort of strung out along a roughening Highway 14 as it struggled past Landis and Reford and up into Wilkie. The hotellers repaired to the Homestead Inn and the campers trickled into the Wilkie Regional where a shower house with twice the capacity of Biggar’s welcomed us. Many dined at the Homestead and even stayed there that evening while Bob and Curtis transported the “weekenders,” Doug and Doug and Ian and Clem, back to S’toon.Day 3.Wilkie saw us into Battleford in good time for lunch, despite the attractions of the world’s biggest tractor boneyard at the foot of the Eagle Hills. The campers eventually cycled down to the Eiling Kramer Campground near the old N-WMP post and set up on the expansive lawns. The six-stalled segregated showerhouse cleaned up everyone pretty fast, and the crew spread out into the big city of North Battleford to attend to chores and buy bike parts. After re-uniting at the Pennydale Junction for a pretty pricy prandium in an old train station, some of us raced off to a re-enactment of the 1885 siege of the fort complete with cannons and black powder, while others repaired bikes (Wayne replaced Barbara’s leaking hydraulic disk brake system with a cable-operated cantilever is under 3 minutes!!) or perambulated the town, happy to ease saddle-punished posteriors.
Day 4. Heading back west 90 K thru Wilkie and on to Unity, whence the wind blew? Out of the west, naturally. At least us breakfasters were able to tank up at My Friend’s Place before the ordeal. Hump day, right? Across the Battle did we scoot, goggled again at the amazing tractor boneyard and noticing a matching repository for other farm implements on the opposite side of the road, and up the ‘scarp of the Eagle Hills. Wayne, unsatisfied with the duration of the ‘scarp’s ascent, did it twice. Happy to merely surmount the obstacle, most of us noticed the ancient stone barn foundation before arriving once again at the Timmermans,’ Theo and Josephina, they of the stone pyramids and windmills. They were ready for us this time. Josephina had pulled us a bushel of young carrots to devour, and Theo was walking individuals and groups thru his garden to watch his electric trains and see the sites. And sites there were: what those people have done with the abundant rocks that complicate the husbandry of the rich neighborhood soils, awesome. No, really. Awesome. Yeah. The old meaning of the work, not the trite flipword that it has become. Awe-inspiring. Amazing, but I’ve already used that word, and I didn’t actually stagger, but I was sure impressed. Theo says U can see their yard on Google Earth, and U can. Anyway, many of us went on to lunch in Wilkie after bidding the drifting Josephina a sincere “fare well.” As the lesser and meaner gods would have it events conspired to keep Curtis in hot, gritty Wilkie that afternoon. Between losing (and finding) his wallet, blowing up a twisted tube or two and discovering that his brand new spare tube had a hole the size of a silver dollar manufactured into it, the poor man spend hours laboring alone in the shadeless lot of the town’s only service station, willing the materials from his aged patch kit to seal at least the smallest hole. He was, of course, the last to arrive in Unity where Don Cook had arranged with the Town for us to shower in the swimming pool change rooms and camp right in the park in town as the facilities out at the regional park are somewhat crude. As in no running water. Fortunately, the plumbing in the showerhouse malfunctioned and the Town felt obliged to open up the nearby rec centre with its numerous shower rooms. Nice of the Town to do that. Thanx, Unity.
Day 5. Tail winds! Darrell calculated it at 60.13 km from Unity over hill and dale past the huge Muddy Lake to Kerrobert. If U could be more precise next time, Darrell, it would be appreciated. I mean, c’mon. Let’s have it at least to the metre, huh? Most arrived in plenty of time to do laundry, wander the picturesque little community, eat. After failing to find the site of the old roundhouse, Velda and Don joined Bob and Curtis to beg a few balls and play a twilight round of golf. The Wild Goose sheltered the indoor riders that night, while the campers fought the slope on the terrain de camp behind the motel. No one actually rolled out of their tent, but there was much involuntary cuddling and curling in corners as sleeping bags slipped off inclined mattresses.
Day 6. Another perfect day. Winds (what there are) from the north-west and we are heading south-east. Because there are scant services in the 87 K twixt Kerrobert and Herschel, participants had been encouraged to pack comestibles of the picnic variety and stash them in one of the sags. We southed down highway 21 for some 14 K and then hung a hard left onto highway 31. Of varying quality of surface, 31 was an interesting ride. Some of the area drought damage could be seen firsthand in the bordering fields with at least on farmer engaged in ploughing under his written-off crop as we sailed by. Dodsland appeared to be a sizeable settlement, but was recently deprived of its food store when Bannerman’s shut down. Some cyclists tried the fare at the hotel, but many pushed on to Plenty where Harry got busted in the museum by his former Grade 1 teacher, 63 years after the fact! Harry was reticent to describe his misdemeanors, but they must have been pretty outrageous for the grand old lady to still be keeping an eye out for the little miscreant. The country store in Plenty is everything a country store aficionado could ask for: oiled plank floors, ancient artifacts and modern goods in great variety, friendly staff, tin-plated ceiling. At the picnic patio by the store several of us chowed down before heading off to Herschel, 38 km on, across the railway tracks that taught Donna all about acute intersecting angles and bicycle wheels. (Did I mention Donna and Karen who rode the whole way on fat-tired, cushy “sit-up-and-beg” beach-cruiser bikes? No? Well, they did, and heroes they are, and Donna wasn’t seriously damaged by her encounter with the tracks. Remember, Donna, attack tracks at the rightest angle U can manage.) The picturesque hamlet of Stranraer lies about halfway between Plenty and Herschel, and delayed a few of us enough so that we missed the walk and talk of bison kill sites and coal mines conducted by Dave Neufeld, the head honcho of the Ancient Echoes Interpretive Centre at the latter place. It was hugely fascinating, participants report. After a fine meal at the Herschel Hotel (literally the only diner in town) and some birthday cake, the hotellers repaired to the Interpretive Centre’s hostel, and the campers made their way to a camping grounds in an old farmyard at the edge of town to listen to the coyotes sing for awhile before dropping off into slumber.
Day 7 started for most riders with an enormous country breakfast in the hotel, and then it was off down highway 31 towards Rosetown, ignoring the outraged hysterics of the culvert crew who had clearly posted the road closed, but needn’t have, for there was easily enough of a path across the construction for bikes and even sags to traverse, provided the workers screeched their machinery to a halt so’s not to incorporate any one into the roadbed. Thanks, crew. Some people lunched in Rosetown, others bought picnicables and pushed on, enjoying the warmth of the day and the helping breeze that eased the 71 km. At Outlook it was discovered by the town’s recreational director that we were not, in fact, pulling trailers, and that being the case, there was space aplenty at the lovely valley campground to accommodate us every one in the common area, rather than have us stake out at the rec centre as was originally intended. Further, while Bob drove the hotellers to a B&B at Kenaston because pipeliners had booked every room in town, the Outlook boosters set up a fine hamburger BBQ for us and engaged Ross Herrington to speak on the conversion of the old CPR viaduct into the world’s longest pedestrian bridge. Many of us took the opportunity to walk the bridge after the delightful repast on a balmy summer’s eve, and it’s true: U can see China from mid-span.
Day 8 Last day. 80 Kay on the button from Outlook to the Western Development Museum in S’toon. Started out with a breakfast feast was laid out in the picnic shelter in the campground by sag driver Ken and his family. Thanks, folks: it was excellent. Broderick, maybe 15 K from Outlook, tempted a few bikies to wander in, but there was no coffee to be had. Many investigated the eatable offerings of the Dakota Dunes casino, while others opted to ride on in the scorching day, escorted by Léo Côté and Julian Kinash who cycled out to meet the crew. We had all arrived at the Museum by 1400 hours, and after handshakes and thanks, we concluded our GASP 2009 and dispersed.
It was a great tour. Special thanks to Darrell Noakes for the route and much of the planning, and to sag-wagon driver and organizer, Bob Cochran, and sag driver Ken Achtymichuk and his lovely assistants, Gabriella and Isabella, for their attentions and dedication. A job well done, guys: we could not have done it without you. Thanks.
UPDATE - APRIL 24, 2009 - here are a few links you might find intersting:
UPDATE - MARCH 10, 2009 - GASP now has it's own blog!!! http://gasptour.blogspot.com/
GASP 2009 registration information
Pack your panniers for GASP 2009
We’re taking GASP around West Central Saskatchewan this summer
Saskatchewan’s annual bicycle tour is heading west, and we want you to come with us! The Great Annual Saskatchewan Pedal (GASP) takes place July 18 – 25. Mark your calendars now. The 2009 tour route begins and ends in Saskatoon, and passes through Biggar, Wilkie, Battleford, Unity, Kerrobert, Herschel, Rosetown and Outlook. The eight-day SCA trip explores a different area of the province each year. This is the first time we've had an organized tour through this part of the province.
The annual tour is designed around opportunities to experience the scenery, culture and history of Saskatchewan. The pace is leisurely. The itinerary includes visits to local attractions and events. A support vehicle carries cyclists’ gear.
Among the highlights of this year’s tour, cyclists will arrive at Fort Battleford in time to take part in Parks Canada’s “Siege of Battleford”, one of only four evenings throughout the year when the cannon is fired at the national historic site. The group will visit archeological, paleontological and historic sites at Herschel, where there will also be an opportunity to stay overnight in tipi lodging. The cyclists also hope to get a glimpse of Biggar’s historic railroad roundhouse.
Touring veterans will love this tour. But, then, we never pass up an excuse to be out on our bikes. More importantly, if you've never been on a bicycle tour but have always wondered what it's like, the provincial tour is a perfect place to start. The SCA has done all the organizing and planning, arranged all the overnight stops, found all the interesting places to visit, and has a van and driver along to carry your gear — and even to carry you if you get tired. Plus, you won't be all alone out there on the road, struggling through your first bike tour. There’ll be lots of other cyclists along for the ride, to make the event fun and keep you company. You get to learn from their experience. Next thing you know, you'll be packing for your first round-the-world tour.
GASP 2009 Itinerary:
Day 1: Saturday, July 18, Saskatoon to Biggar.
Day 2: Sunday, July 19, Biggar to Wilkie.
Day 3: Monday, July 20, Wilkie to Battleford.
Day 4: Tuesday, July 21, Battleford to Unity.
Day 5: Wednesday, July 22, Unity to Kerrobert.
Day 6: Thursday, July 23, Kerrobert to Herschel.
Day 7: Friday, July 24, Herschel to Outlook.
Day 8: Saturday, July 25, Outlook to Saskatoon.
Total distance, about 660 km.
Supported road tour of West Central Sask
July 18 – 25, 2009. 8 days/7 nights. Camping (optional hotel/motel accommodation available each night). Route: Saskatoon – Perdue – Wilkie – Battleford – Unity – Kerrobert – Herschel – Outlook – Saskatoon. Cost: $300 for 8-day trip; $100 for two-day options. Cost includes camping accommodation, support vehicle, snacks; does not include cost of meals, hotel/motel accommodation.
GASP 2009 organizing committee: Bob Cochran, Regina, Don Cook, Saskatoon, Darrell Noakes, Saskatoon, John Oneschuk, Saskatoon, Ted Quade, Regina, Don Wilson, Regina.
Tour Website: www.saskcycling.ca/GASP/gasp.html
Tour Blog: http://gasptour.blogspot.com Subscribe to get all the latest updates.
