Moose Jaw
We've put in two days of biking since Swift Current, and they have been doozies. If the Rockies were the most physically demanding days of the trip, the prairies have turned out to be the most mentally demanding. An example:
Today, we were biking 82km from Chaplin, Saskatchewan, to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. The entire trip was more or less in a straight line, directly into yet another 40km/h headwind. We made the trip in about 5 1/2 hours, with an average speed of somewhere around 16km/h (4km/h lower than our average over Kicking Horse Pass).
To put that into perspective, it took us 5 1/2 hours of grinding away at the pedals, eyes squinted against an onslaught of dust and grit, burning through thousands of calories of gas station mayo, and struggling to stay out of the ditch to make it safely to our destination. A tumbleweed, travelling in the opposite direction, would've made the trip in about half the time. And it probably wouldn't have even broken a sweat.
Ah well, what are challenges for if not making you stronger? We are now going to be ten times as appreciative of tailwinds, and the hills of northern Ontario will be no problem at all! That is, of course, as long as we're not biking into a hurricane.
Also, as a side note: the Trans-Canada through Saskatchewan has been pretty solid for biking. The traffic's significant, but not super heavy, and the shoulders are (for the most part) nice and wide, and relatively well maintained.
Tomorrow, Regina!
Today, we were biking 82km from Chaplin, Saskatchewan, to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. The entire trip was more or less in a straight line, directly into yet another 40km/h headwind. We made the trip in about 5 1/2 hours, with an average speed of somewhere around 16km/h (4km/h lower than our average over Kicking Horse Pass).
To put that into perspective, it took us 5 1/2 hours of grinding away at the pedals, eyes squinted against an onslaught of dust and grit, burning through thousands of calories of gas station mayo, and struggling to stay out of the ditch to make it safely to our destination. A tumbleweed, travelling in the opposite direction, would've made the trip in about half the time. And it probably wouldn't have even broken a sweat.
Ah well, what are challenges for if not making you stronger? We are now going to be ten times as appreciative of tailwinds, and the hills of northern Ontario will be no problem at all! That is, of course, as long as we're not biking into a hurricane.
Also, as a side note: the Trans-Canada through Saskatchewan has been pretty solid for biking. The traffic's significant, but not super heavy, and the shoulders are (for the most part) nice and wide, and relatively well maintained.
Tomorrow, Regina!
posted by Bryce at
8:36 PM
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