Day 26: From town to town to oil well. Pedaling Feat pedals on.

Day 16: Moose Jaw to ???

We set out from Moose Jaw the next morning. We had been having such a great ride on the small country roads that we made a last minute change to our route to avoid riding on the Trans Canada. The route we chose took us south along highway 39. We weren't sure where we would be stopping that night, or where exactly we were going in general (other than East), but in true Pedaling Feat fashion, we pedaled onwards, ready for whatever came our way.

The road was still flat, the fields were vast and increasingly frequently, we were noticing oil well pumps! Being from Ontario, and loving the renewable energy era, I was amazed at the countless number of oil wells there were in the middle of farmers fields throughout Saskatchewan.

That being said, this view became the norm as we rode on and soon I was distracted by the small towns we passed through. Two of my favorites that day: Drinkwater and Rouleau.

The first, Drinkwater, a village with a population of 80, was a reminder to do just that. Drink water.

The second, a bit more exciting, was Rouleau. This town is the former home of the TV show Corner Gas. Lois was in all her glory as I parked her right next to the set and went crazy with the camera.

Rouleau, SK. Hometown of Corner Gas.

My final memory of the ride that day... The route we had chosen followed the Canadian Pacific Railway. Every half hour or so, a train would pass by, the conductor would open the window, give a wave and toot the horn. As with the deer (Roo), I would try to keep up, but without fail, would fall behind. If nothing else, it gave momentum to a rather uneventful ride that day.

We ended in the small town of Yellowgrass, SK where we set up camp at the local campground. There we met an interesting character, who we refer to as Falcon man. Mel and I had gone for a walk around the village when we spotted two, what I originally thought were turkeys, sitting on the front lawn of a home.

Mel, riding towards Yellowgrass, SK.

We soon learned, from Falcon man, that they were (drumroll), Falcons! One of the falcons had a hood on (hence the turkey confusion) so that he was not threatened by the other male who had

just been bathed and was drying his feathers.

Falcon man uses the falcons for hunting small rodents and other birds during the fall and spring seasons. The rest of the year he keeps the falcons tied up on a stoop. While this was a bit shocking to the both us, he seemed to take very good care of them - bathing them regularly and feeding them often.

Feeling as though we had taken up enough of his time, we returned to Lois for the night!

Day 25: Pedaling Feat sails onwards to the Big City!

Day 25: Lucky Lake to the Big City (Moose Jaw!)

Everyday of our trip, Mel and I learn something new about Canada. Today's lesson? Saskatchewan has pelicans!! The sky was clear and endless as Mel pedaled her way from Lucky Lake to Lake Diefenbaker. Once at the lake's edge, Mel, myself and Lois hopped onto the ferry. We were the lone soldiers to sail the open waters of Lake Diefenbaker (...all 10 minutes!) and along the way we spotted large, white, low-flying birds crossing the lake. We asked the local ferry conductor what they were. Sure enough, he informed us that the lake was home to pelicans. Just north of the lake lives the second-largest pelican colony in all of Canada! We reached the shore and bid farewell as Mel made her way onwards and upwards (a hill, hoorah!).




Mel on the road, heading towards Lake Diefenbaker.







Mel and Lois on our ferry ride across the lake.






We made our way through several small Saskatchewan towns. Along the way, we passed Elbow and Eyebrow, SK. After a bit of research, we learned that Saskatchewinians like to name their towns after landmarks that resemble body parts. The village of Eyebrow was named such because there is a hill next to Eyebrow lake which resembles an eyebrow! Unfortunately, we did not get to see this hill. We will just have to take their word for it.




Riding through the town of Eyebrow.





We ended up in Moose Jaw that afternoon where we visited the Superstore to stock up on groceries, interviewed with the local Moose Jaw Times, and stopped in at DQ for delicious blizzards! Once settled at our campground, Mel cooked up a scrumptious salmon dinner while I gave our bikes a good clean.





Bike maintenance time!




The weather the following day predicted 100% chance of thunderstorms. So, rather than riding throught the floods and tornados, we drove to Regina to do a piece with CTV news and rode around the city getting stuff done. That night we met up with Sheenah and Miriel, old high school friends of mine, at the Bushwakker Brewpub, before retiring at the Delta Regina who had sponsored us for the night! It was a very productive day off, and we enjoyed a very restful night at the Delta.

Days 23 and 24: Pedaling Feat in small town Saskatchewan.

Days 23 and 24: Eston to Lucky Lake, SK

A stormy day in Saskatchewan kept us in Eston, where we were fortunate to find the local mom and pop bakery shop. There we met Adeline and Larry (referred to as mom and pop from here on) and were surrounded by the delicious scent of homebaked treats! We spent the afternoon chatting with mom and pop and learning about the history of Eston. Mom also called up the Eston Press rep, Loreen, who (while on holiday) got dressed to come and meet us! It was a fun and productive afternoon.




Eston's mom and pop bakery shop.





Worth mentioning is the World Gopher Derby held each year in Eston on Canada Day. Folks come from all over to race gophers and bet big bucks on the winner. Biggest frustration? When a gopher, having run part way down the track, decides to turn around and go back - or worse still, sits down in the middle and refuses to move!

After our day off in Eston, we were back on the road bright and early. The sun was shining, the wind was at our back and we were feelin' lucky as we rode towards Lucky Lake, SK.
With no volunteer, I started off the ride while Mel drove behind me in Lois. The morning was filled with wildlife sitings. The most memorable - Lisa vs. Roo the deer (appropriately named, because they hop like kangaroos!). I ambitiously took on a deer who was running next to me in the grass. Needless to say, he was a rocket and had me beat, and without warning he shot across the road right in front of me!



Lisa and Roo share the road.





We stopped at Kyle, SK on the way to meet Amy of the Kyle Times newspaper. While chatting, Pat, the town councillor, invited us to a luncheon at the local museum with a group of 32 cyclists who were riding through Kyle that afternoon (on a week-long SK tour)! Since we were already there, we popped by for tasty homemade sandwiches and sweets and met the crew. We were very touched by the generosity of the locals. We had several people come by to meet us and donate whatever they could to the foundation. We also met a cancer survivor that afternoon - a reminder of why we get on our bikes each morning!


Pedaling Feat and team, after a great afternoon in Kyle, SK.






Two hours later, Mel set out on her bike with the group since they were heading in the same direction. While they got a head start, I stopped by the town park to visit Wally, the local woolly mammoth. His bones were discovered back in 1964 just outside the town of Kyle.





Wally the Woolly Mammoth in Kyle, SK.







Today was one of the best days so far, filled with fantastic people, amazing wildlife encounters and beautiful sunshine. We ended the day in Lucky Lake at a small campground with a clean bathroom and free shower, yeah!

Day 22 - And Then There Were Two

Day 22 - Destination Eston, SK

Mel: We crossed the Saskatchewan border mid-morning, and headed East on HWY 44, a very low traffic route through farmland with little infrastructure. I biked the first 70 km, then Lisa finished the ride.

What is coined as being "dull scenery" in Saskatchewan ended up being oddly action packed with animal sightings along the way, such as deer, hawks, and gophers. Lisa even caught site of a huge owl! We passed through some small communities (3-4 houses), and made our way toward Eston, SK.

We hopped in Lois when a massive thunderstorm cloud threatened us near Eston. We camped south of Eston at a Riverside campground where there was golf, swimming, a cafe, and more fun stuff that we couldn’t participate in due to the rain. Instead, we hung out in the Club House and watched the Bachelorette for 2 hours like zombies.

Above: Lisa, right before I picked her up!

A friendly farm dog needed to say Hello in Mantario. (Mantario? Really?)

Days 20 and 21 - Dinosaurs, Badlands, Prairies and Hot Dogs!

Day 20 - Beiseker through Drumheller and on we go....

Mel: Up at the crack of dawn to make up for some lost kilometers! We biked the 50

km to Drumheller, feeling great the whole way because Lois was h

ealthy, the sun was shining, and the prairies look

ed beautiful! The badlands were quite the site as well, with their moon-like terrain.

We heart HWY 9 (except for the construction bits)

Dream

Team in Drumheller, before the volunteer swap

Badlands on the way into Drumheller

Up at 6am, ready to go after coffee.... do we look awake?

Prairie skies, blue all around!

Meg (a co-worker of mine at Filterboxx) and her man Nick met us in Drumheller - t

he town where, in my opinion, there are more papier-mâché dinosaurs than people. We said goodbye to Tiff (what a trooper of a volunteer, who roughed out “Gong

Show Days 1 and 2” with a smile), bought some supplies, and were off on our bikes for another 45 km to Handhills Hideaway Campground, between Michichi, AB and Delia, AB. The campground owners, Barry and Glenda, were very accommodating. It was Nick’s first time camping and he decided that his mission was to roast 20+ hot dogs on the campfire. He literally sat and ate hot dogs the enti

re night like a champion! We enjoyed our time with Meg

and Nick, and ate more pasta than we could h

andle (well I did, anyway).

Nick holding Meg in one arm and hot dog # 19 in the other!

Day 21 - Blue Skies and Cows Galore -

Onward to Cereal, AB

Mel: The day started out sketchy with rain clouds looming, but we avoided every drop and biked a total 115 km, our biggest distance so far! Meg and Nick were our mos

t confidence boosting volunteers ye

t, always acting surprised at how “fast” we rode between breaks. There were plenty of cows to moo at, some ran away in a stampede fashion, others stared as we rode by. Meg and Nick left us in the village of Cer

eal, AB in order to get back to Calgary that night.

Waist-high in wheat, getting my bike out of Lois.

Since Cereal was lacking in the campsite department, we continued East to the town of Oyen, population 1100,

where we got ice cream at the local convenience store. The locals say that farming wheat is the main industry of the town, and there is a surprising abundance of “well-to-do” people in Oyen. It was apparently suiting to see a yellow mustang convertible slowly driving

up the deserted Main St. of the town that afternoon as we ate our ice cream. We camped at the regional site next to some ball diamonds and enjoyed campfire-cooked pizza.

It was the first night of the trip without a volunteer.

Lisa with her yummy pizza!

Oyen, AB

Days 18 and 19- We’ll call them “Gong Show Days”

Day 18 - Calgary, AB to .... Chestermere?

Mel: We were joined by our driver, Tiffany (my sister), and the Gillingham brothers (John and Eric), both of whom had not ridden bicycles in a “very long time”. Luckily, they remembered how to pedal and kept up without any issues. We rode a nice 30km just beyond Chestermere, AB then took a snack break in Lois. We started off on our ride again when my cell phone rang. Tiff couldn’t get Lois

to start! We circled back, thinking Lois was just having one of her many mood swings, but quickly realized that the machine gun-like sound coming from her was not a good sign. We called trusty CAA (aka AMA in Alberta), and a tow truck promptly showed up in about 1.5 hrs (by the way, it was 30 degrees out). Lois started after a battery boost, and the tow truck driver left us all feeling happy and confident. We got our bike shoes back on, water bottles filled, ready to go, then Lois died again! We boosted her with Bryan’s Jeep with the help of John and Eric, only for her to die for the third time within about 10 minutes. Bryan diagnosed the problem over the phone (while at work) and determined that we needed a new alternator.

We drove into Chestermere in the Jeep, leaving Lois behind, to get coffee and wait for Bryan to show up after work with the necessary parts to rescue Lois.

Tiff and I waiting in Chestermere, with our companion Arwin (Tiff was dog sitting for a friend).

"Mr. Fix-It" aka Bryan.

Bryan was able to trouble shoot over the phone with his dad, while two local farmers stopped to “help” us out (mainly to chat)... at one point we had 3 guys tinkering under Lois’ hood. With a replaced alternator and regulator, a boost was all we needed and Lois was back in business! All of us, however, were starving so we went to Chestermere for food, then back to Calgary for the night.

What a day.

Day 19 - Chestermere, AB to Beiseker, AB

An early start in Calgary got us to Chestermere to pick Lois up at the Shopper’s parking lot where we had left her the night before. We took her to Lube X to give her some TLC, then tied up the Jeep on the dolly and we were off again! This time, we had gone about 3 km when Tiff noticed that one of the straps holding the Jeep tire had come undone! We stopped to check it out, and sure enough, the strap was ripped from having gotten caught (somehow).

Back into Calgary we went to buy a new strap at the nearest Princess Auto... then back to Chestermere again (this time we had left Lois in an Elementary School parking lot). Long story short, it ended with a bang and a scream and me thinking that Lisa had gotten run over by the Jeep that had fallen off the dolly un-announced. This was officially the “breaking point” where we decided to leave the car dolly behind us, for good.

We got to our starting point that we knew very well, having spent 9.5 hours there the day prior, got on our bikes and started riding against the wind North on HWY 9 toward Drumheller. About 30km in we had to call Lois back because there was a rain storm with small icy hail pellets that kept us from cycling. We waited out the storm and were off again, this time deciding to call it a day in a little town called Beiseker where the campground owner, Jack, was happy to sponsor us for a free night’s stay.

Things were starting to look up!

The never-ending sky is definitely the highlight of riding through the prairies so far!

July 12-14 - Rest in Calgary

Mel: We took a three day rest in Calgary, much to our bodies’ relief.

This short stint consisted of:

• Going for massages on Monday morning;
• Hot yoga class on Tuesday morning;
• 1000 km Party at Meghann’s on Tuesday night then taking in the Stampede fun downtown;
• Catching up with old friends;
• Sorting out other Pedaling Feat administrative odds and ends.

A much needed rest!

Days 16 and 17: Yoho National Park to Calgary, AB

Day 16: Yoho National Park to Banff, Alberta!

We were up early on Day 16, the weather was great (again!) and we headed out on our bikes with a climb to Kicking Horse Pass. Along the way we stopped at the Spiral Tunnels to watch a train snake its way through the mountain. In the past the trains would use a route that followed the trans Canada, but it was too steep a grade (4.5%) and so the grade was cut in half by weaving the railroad into and out of the moutain!

That morning was the highlight of my trip so far... Just before reaching the Alberta border, we passed a big brown Grizzly bear!!!!! He was about 20 ft away, and as we were riding along we both spotted him eating berries to our right. Mel did not want to reply as I whispered/yelled "Mel, do you see it? Mel, there's a bear. Mel, DO YOU SEE THE BEAR? MEL!!" We rode along and he looked up briefly while eating his berries. It was amazing.

Shortly after, we left BC, and passed into Alberta. One province down, seven more to go!





Pedaling Feat crossing into Alberta!



We arrived at Lake Louise that morning and from there we left the Trans Canada highway and took the Bow Valley Parkway to Banff. The route was fantastic with very little traffic and lots of bikers.

Mel's family: Tiff (sister), Jeff (brother-in-law), Lauren (cousin), Craig (cousin's fiance) and a truckload of adorable pups (Ollie, Heidi, Arwen and Nova!), met us in Banff for the night. We set up camp and headed into the city to visit with Bob and Lynne Hancock, friends of the Ranken family. They spoiled us with a delicious spaghetti dinner - of which I ate way too much! - and we shared stories of our Pedaling Feat adventures. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing around the campfire before we passed out for the night.




Team Arsenault around the campfire.




Day 17: Banff to Calgary

Today was a sleep-in day as we didn't start riding until 10 a.m. Mike Garrett (another Ranken family friend!) joined us on the ride, along with Bryan (man in tights!) who were very excited to have join us.

Mike had warned us ahead of time that he had a mountain bike and he wasn't very quick. We assured him that we went at a steady and slow pace, and that he would have no trouble keeping up. Well... not only did he not have trouble keeping up, but he was a Speedy Gonzalez and WE had trouble keeping up with HIM! Mike later informed us that he does not believe in using his brakes on downhills. Since most of the ride was downhill, he picked up speed like a madman and clocked his maximum at 57 km/h!! Speed demon.





Bryan, Mel, Lisa and Mike - ready to ride. Banff to Canmore.




Once in Canmore, Mike left us to watch the World Cup and we met up with te crew to go hiking in Grotto Canyon. The hike followed a creek up into the canyon. Unfortunately the puppies all had to be on leashes (there were 4 of them!) which proved to be a challenge and so the hike was kept short and sweet.



Hiking through Grotto Canyon.






Shortly after, the Arsenault clan and Bryan left for Calgary and we hung out in Canmore eating ice cream and sitting by the river. We then headed to Mike's place for a tasty home-cooked steak dinner, with pudding for desert. Mike did a GREAT job getting it all ready - Margie, you would've been impressed!

That night we headed back into Calgary for our days off. We were very excited because it meant we had all the comforts of home, and Mel was back with her family, but at the same time it felt wierd being back in a big city.

Our bodies are definitely in need of resting. Our legs have been doing well, but they are quite sore, tired and stiff. Other painful body parts? Our shoulders, from being bent over in the same position for such a long time. And our butts - for obvious reasons!

Days 14 and 15: Revelstoke to Yoho National Park

Day 14: Revelstoke to Glacier National Park

After a day off and a luxurious night of wining and dining at the Hillcrest hotel in Revelstoke, we were up early the following morning and on our way to Glacier National Park, via Rogers Pass. The weather was hot (30C!) and sunny. We were expecting the clouds to roll in as Meghann was our riding buddy, but they stayed away and we enjoyed a wonderful down hill to kick off the ride.

We've decided over the last couple of weeks that the best way to see Canada (or any country for that matter) is by bike. The views of the rockies as we biked along were incredible.

Kirstin, Mel and Lisa roadside, enjoying the views of glacier-fed waterfalls.

We passed through the gates to Glacier National Park and began the climb to Rogers Pass, a 1,330 meter summit. The climb was much less treacherous than we had anticipated (relative to all the other passes we had completed so far). once at the summit we took our time taking in the snow-capped mountains all around us.

Pedaling Feat at the top of Rogers Pass!

That night we found a hidden gem of a campground called Kinbasket Lake resort, owned by Rick (a former NHL player for the Habs). The campground faced a glacier-fed lake surrounded by mountains. It was a very hot day and so, we decided to take a dip in the lake. As we walked towards it, we passed a couple who warned us that it was way too cold for a swim. They may have been right. But we went for a dip anyway. A very quick one.

Mel and Lisa in the ice cold water of Kinbasket Lake.

As we lounged on the beach, our rest and relaxation was rudely interrupted by a horsefly appropriately named Adolf (by Karin). We quickly became avid fly swatters that afternoon and eliminated Adolf and his two followers. That night we enjoyed a scrumptious dinner of fresh corn, veggie burgers and smores, followed by a competitive game of Taboo. It was a doozie of a day!

The ladies hanging out lakeside, after a long bike ride through Rogers Pass.

Day 15: Glacier National Park to Yoho National Park

The next morning we were up bright and early and rode 50 km, mostly downhill, into Golden, BC. The good thing about down hills (other than the obvious!): It gives you time to really take in the views. The small glacier-fed waterfalls, the wildlife, the rivers, and the lush valleys. That and the fresh warm air made the ride a ride to remember. Western Canada is so beautiful!

Once in Golden, we met up with Lois and our awesome crew, and stopped for lunch at Subway. Leaving Golden, there was a section of our route that was under construction which we decided to drive (in the name of safety!). Once clear of the construction, we hopped back on our bikes and rode all the way to Field, a small town in Yoho National Park with the Kicking Horse River flowing through it.

The best part of the ride that day were all the avalanche tunnels we got to ride through! As we rode down the mountainside, we passed through covered sections of the highway which are dark and awesome, especially when you have a motorcade with you to control the traffic! We had Kirstin's SUV in front and Lois behind us. After each tunnel, we pulled off to the side to let the traffic pass and wave at all the drivers we had held up along the way!

Sadly, this is where Kirstin, Karin and Meghann left us. They were a dynamite team who represented Pedaling Feat well and not only got us through the toughest part of the ride, but helped us collect a lot of donations along the way!

We spent the night in Yoho National Park where Bryan and Nova joined us once again.