The Great Saskatchewan Heritage Bicycle Tour

In 1982, Virginia Hatch and Bill Stewart, inspired by bicycle tours they had seen elsewhere in Canada, formed the Wascana Freewheelers Bicycle Touring Club. By 1983, the couple, along with Noreen Hetherington, Sue Bland and a handful of friends, began work on a novel Saskatchewan bicycle tour.

Virginia's work at the Saskatchewan Museums Association inspired her to organize a tour that featured visits to the province’s museums. From that gathering of cyclists and their ideas sprang the Great Saskatchewan Heritage Tour, an annual trip during the Victoria Day weekend that continued into the 1990s.

“There is so much history out there that it was just sort of fun to be able to go to all these museums and talk to people,” Virginia told members writing a history of cycling in Saskatchewan. “Many of the cyclists are interested in history. They weren’t aware of all the museums we have. Saskatchewan has more museums per capita than any other province. There’s over 200. We tried to organize a break stop at a museum and try to get the local people that work in the museum to contribute chocolate bars and that sort of thing.” (Source: "Riding with the Wind: The history of cycling in Saskatchewan," by Pat Rediger, 2001.)

The first Heritage Tour took place in 1983. More than 30 cyclists showed up on a spring morning in front of the Regina Plains Museum and joined a police escort out of the city along Highway 11. The group overnighted at Strasbourg, some camping and others in the hotel, then continued the next day to Watrous before finishing at the Bessborough Hotel in Saskatoon on the third day.

Batoche or Bust

The 1985 Heritage Tour commemorated the centennial of the Northwest Rebellion, cycling from Regina to Batoche. Doug Hendrickson began a short story entitled, “Batoche or Bust: Or How I Learned to Stop Crunching and Learned to Spin”, later completed by Robert Stedwill after Doug died suddenly in a skiing accident. Doug described spending several days packing equipment that included a tent, sleeping bag, extra clothing and rice cakes.

The tour began at the Saskatchewan Legislature in Regina and the scene upon Hendrickson's arrival was one of “organized confusion”. Equipment was being placed in trucks and then taken out as riders wanted to take out or add a few things to their packs. Bikes were leaned against trees and light standards, television crews were interviewing organizers and groups of cyclists could be spotted talking to each other about the upcoming trip.

Members of the provincial government offered to prepare and serve breakfast to the thirty-one participants. The riders listened to speeches from various dignitaries and collected their red T shirts and tour packages. After several false starts to satisfy the local media, the group pedalled out of the Legislative grounds with a police escort. . . .

Craven marked the first stop of any duration. The local bakery had just finished producing a batch of donuts (four for a dollar) and numerous cyclists stopped by to feed their sweet tooths. . . .

Strasbourg marked my first introduction to what was to become a familiar experience as the tour progressed; most small Saskatchewan towns have a museum of one form or another, of which they are rightfully proud. The good people running the Strasbourg museum laid on coffee and fruit for us out of the goodness of their hearts. . . .

At breakfast the next morning, Hendrickson’s tour leader Phil Klein encouraged the group to get to know one another. He took the initiative by introducing himself to other cyclists by saying, “Hi, I’m Phil.” It was not long before other riders began mimicking him and introducing themselves as Phil. It was a joke that would continue for the rest of the tour.
(Source: "Riding with the Wind: The history of cycling in Saskatchewan," by Pat Rediger, 2001.)

The tour continued on through Cymric, Govan, Nokomis, Lanigan and Humboldt, over gently rolling hills and breathtaking scenery through Dana, Cudworth and Wakaw, before rolling to its conclusion at Batoche. All along the way, they visited each museum, camped or stayed in hotels. At Wakaw the riders enjoyed a banquet in the local hall, followed by presentations of awards to riders. The camaraderie of the trip made close friends of people who mostly had been strangers just three days earlier.

That was a busy year for touring. Fourteen cyclists took part in a Lake Diefenbaker Heritage Ride later that summer, departing from Central Butte for an overnight stop in Elbow, where they camped at the school yard and used the school facilities. From there, they crossed Gardiner Dam, stayed at Coldwell Provincial Campground, crossed the ferry at Riverhurst, where Kathy Saunders met them with watermelon and beverages. After a brief rest, the group finished their tour back in Central Butte.

The Perogy Pedal

In 1987 the Saskatchewan Heritage Ride celebrated its fifth anniversary with the Perogy Pedal. A record 51 riders left Yorkton after a tour of the Western Development Museum and St. Mary’s Ukrainian Catholic Church and lunch at St. Mary’s Cultural Centre. They spent their first night at Good Spirit Lake, then continued through Canora and Mikado, enjoyed lunch at the Doukhobour Museum in Veregin, rested at Kamsack and then camped at Duck Mountain. Day three took the cyclists to Benito, Manitoba, then on to Arran, Pelly, Norquay, Hyas, Stenan, Sturgis and Preeceville. The last day of the weekend trip took the cyclists through Buchanan, Springside, White Spruce, Orcadia and finally into Yorkton.

Each Heritage Tour was memorable in its own way, adding to the lore of bicycle touring in Saskatchewan. The 1988 tour, with 43 participants, continued the journey from Batoche to Waskesiu and back, via Prince Albert and Shellbrook.

The 1989 tour took 43 riders from Craven, starting with a breakfast of cinnamon buns and a visit by Mayor Art Wolf, to Watrous and back.

Some riders stopped at Duval, which featured a pool hall, bowling lane and general store all in one building. This group enjoyed nineteen cent popcycles and bowled for only sixty-five cents a game. The riders camped at Govan that night and many ate at the local hotel. . . .

The wind had picked up the next day and the sky looked ominous. The first stop was at the Nokomis museum, where they also enjoyed muffins and juice. Lunch was provided further down the road by the sag wagon. The riders then braved the fierce winds to the Manitou District Park, where they had supper and set up their tents. When supper was over, most riders walked or rode to the nearby mineral spa for a dip in the waters. They finished the evening by dancing up a storm at Danceland.

The riders ate breakfast at Paul's Place in Watrous and then headed to the Simpson museum. Riders ate lunch at the museum grounds and then rode to the campground at Arm River. The riders were responsible for their own supper that night, and many enjoyed a helping of spaghetti prepared by Brian Fergusson and Jeff Niebergall. After warming themselves up at a campfire, the riders hung a tricycle shaped pinata filled with candy to the rafters of the cook shack.
(Source: "Riding with the Wind: The history of cycling in Saskatchewan," by Pat Rediger, 2001.)

At the start of the eighth annual Great Saskatchewan Heritage Bicycle Tour, in 1990. The group gathered at Chaplin, where they toured the sodium sulphate plant, learning how the salt was captured and refined. The group continued through Central Butte for a picnic lunch with the wind pushing them to an early arrival at Douglas Provincial Park

The tour committee whipped up a hot stew with fresh bread and Ron Keall added a bit of his Louisiana hot sauce to the mix. Jean Louis Desrosiers managed to get a roaring fire started in the middle of the campground and this was where most of the group spent the evening. Some people got a little too close to the fire and their shoes started burning!
(Source: "Riding with the Wind: The history of cycling in Saskatchewan," by Pat Rediger, 2001.)

The tour continued on to Outlook, returning to Chaplin via the Riverhurst Ferry and an overnight stop at Palliser Regional Park.

Heritage Ride celebrates 10th anniversary

The 10th Annual Great Saskatchewan Heritage Bicycle Tour celebrated its “Return Trek to 'Toon Town”. The tour retraced the route of the first ride from Regina to Saskatoon, with some of the original club founders along for the trip.


Too much of a good thing

The 1993 Heritage Tour started in Tisdale, and looped through Nipawin and Choiceland before returning south through the Wapiti Valley and Melfort. Eighteen riders took part in this event, which would prove to be the last one of its kind.

Although an annual weekend tour early in the season had fallen out of favour with cyclists, there was growing interest in longer tours during the summer. We'll take a closer look at those tours, the next stage in the evolution of the GASP tour, in a later post.

For more information about Saskatchewan's long and colourful cycling history, check out Pat Rediger's 2001 book, Riding with the Wind: The history of cycling in Saskatchewan (ISBN 0968196543 / 9780968196540 / 0-9681965-4-3), avaiable from the Saskatchewan Cycling Association or your local library branch (in Regina, in Saskatoon).