Into the Prairies - Drumheller, AB to Regina, SK

Today, I'm enjoying a rest day in Regina after a long five days of riding across the Prairies.  I'm still feeling a bit of withdrawal after leaving the mountains, although the Prairies - and the winds that come with it - feel quite like home.  To be honest, though, Chatham-Kent is flatter than what I've seen in the Prairies so far!

Of the last five days of riding, we've had three good days and two fairly arduous days, all owing to the wind we've had on those days.  Since leaving Drumheller, the first three days we were lucky enough to have the wind at our back, which made for some pretty easy riding.  In the last couple days, we've fought very strong headwinds and have led me (very quickly) to the conclusion that climbing mountains is way more fun - and scenic - than fighting the winds!

As for the days with wind at our back -- AMAZING!  In those three days, we rode from Drumheller, Alberta to Outlook, Saskatchewan.  Each day was 130-160 km long and I was able to cruise through them with incredibly little effort.  During the ride from Youngstown to Kindersley, me and a friend started the day crusing at about 40 km/h, then realized we could actually travel at over 20 km/h without even pedaling.  We ended up riding about 7 km without pedaling, a clip of which can be seen in this video:

Despite the lack of mountains, the Prairies are actually quite beautiful and we had a number of highlights from Drumheller through to Outlook.  Leaving Drumheller, we enjoyed the amazing rock formations, then through the Prairies, we had beautiful weather (just a bit of rain) and saw endless fields of canola and other crops.  We even passed through and ate lunch in Hanna, the home of Nickelback!!!

Just outside Drumheller

More Drumheller

Pretty fields once the prairies begin

Home of Nickelback, eh??

We spent a night in Youngstown, a town of 170 people (as of 2006...).  Tiny, but the people living there are phenomenal!  For over 20 years, the Tour du Canada has been traveling through this town and joining the members of the community for a massive potluck dinner.  The meal was incredible - TONS of food - and as a double benefit, it was my galley team's turn to cook so, aside from making a massive pasta salad, we had the night off of cooking for the team (though we did help clean up the meal and still did breakfast the next morning).  It was also nice to have indoor facilities available to play cards, chill out and escape the mosquitoes for one evening!

Youngstown

FOOD!!

During the next two days, with the glorious tailwinds, we cruised across the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, saw a lot of fields (pretty, but the scenery gets to be quite the same as you go along!) and of course puttered along with lots of stops along the way.  Stopped for lunch in tiny Rosetown one day, and while chatting with the locals, I gathered that they're not too used to seeing cyclists on the road when one kind old lady told me, "When I see a bunch of of bikers on the road, I don't know whether to hit them or go by them!"  Luckily, the drivers have been much more respectful than that!

We're in Saskatchewan!

Bought the friendship of this little guy with some bread pieces

Rest stop!!

More pictures from the days of beautiful tailwinds:

The road ahead...

More fields.

Panorama as rain loomed above (click for bigger version)

The last two days of this little stretch were pretty tough, cycling-wise.  We were pummeled by headwinds, with the exception of about a one-hour stretch before the town of Craik.  With much of the scenery looking the same, these were days that I really just kept my head down, tried to make myself aerodynamic (ha!), and just kept on pedaling through the wind.  Yesterday, it took 7 hours of riding time to travel the 130 km from Craik to Regina... with no winds, I could make that ride in just over 4 hours!  Oh well... the winds gave us the incentive to make plenty of stops along the way, and I've been finding that people in Saskatchewan are incredibly friendly and welcoming.  Outside of a small, rural restaurant yesterday, I chatted with a local farmer for a while about our trip.  I was wearing my sleeveless UWO Triathlon jersey and, as the conversation died down, the gentleman asked me, "So, are you an Olympic athlete as well?  You have the build for it!"  Well - that's the first and, I'm sure, the last time that I'll ever be mistaken for an Olympic athlete, but it was very nice of him anyway!

One thing I've found along the way is that many of these small towns have some sort of "claim to fame."  In just the last five days, we have stayed in the site of the longest pedestrian bridge in the world (Outlook), the "friendliest place near a dam site" (Craik), and we rode through the blizzard capital of Saskatchewan (Kenaston).  The bridge was actually really nice, and Kenaston had a cheesy giant-snowman statue, though I didn't meet any locals in Craik to hold up their claim.  I guess you have to believe the sign, no matter how ridiculous the statement is!

SkyTrail in Outlook

Atop the bridge in Outlook

(Underwhelming) giant snowman!!

Dam straight!

Also, here are a couple pictures from the Royal Tyrrell Dinosaur Museum in Drumheller.  The place was as cool as I remember it being when I was 9!

After our rest day today, our next stretch will take us across Manitoba and into Ontario.  This will be our longest stretch yet - 6 days and almost 1000 km - but with all of the riding so far, my muscles, butt, and mind are ready for it.

Hope you're all enjoying the summer! Take care!

Drumheller, AB to Regina, SK Riding Stats
5 Riding Days
717 km

Overall Riding Stats
18 Riding Days
2109 km

Peanut Butter Sandwiches consumed, to date: 36