Smile

A little off-topic, but kind of a fun and interesting side note of a CAN-BIKE II course I was leading today. As we were returning from our afternoon's ride, the Google Streetview car passed us as we rode through the intersection of 12th St and Clarence Ave. I hope we were looking our finest!

How much traffic is on that road?

That's a question I frequently hear from people who are thinking about touring through Saskatchewan. A few of you are wondering just how much traffic we'll encounter on GASP 2009.

Saskatchewan's highways ministry publishes a map showing average daily traffic volumes for all our major roads. You can download the map from their website. It's a great resource for anyone planning to tour by bicycle through the province. (Note that although the most recent data are for 2007, there isn't a lot of change from year to year, especially on the roads we'll be travelling.)

Here's a brief summary of some of the traffic volumes we'll encounter on GASP 2009:

Day 1, near Asquith: 2140
Day 2, Biggar to Wilkie: 830
Day 3, Wilkie to Battleford: 740
Day 3, near Battleford: 1440
Day 4, on the way to Unity: 1360
Day 5, Wilkie to Kerrobert: 480
Day 6, Kerrobert to Herschel: 150
Day 7, Herschel to Rosetown: 260
Day 7, Rosetown to Outlook: 260
Day 7, near Outlook: 1220
Day 8, Outlook to Saskatoon: 530

Is that a lot of traffic, or a little? It's not like we count the cars that pass us. Well, 150 vehicles per day works out to about 10 per hour (making a rough calculation that they're being driven exclusively in daylight hours, which I know is a simplistic - and overestimated - representation of the highway ministry's very complicated formula) or about one every five minutes coming from either direction. Compare that with highways such as #16 (about 5700 per day on it's quieter sections), #12 between Saskatoon and Martensville (about 12,000) and Victoria Avenue heading east out of Regina (about 23,000).

The U.S. Federal Highways Administration defines traffic volumes below 3000 as "low". By most accounts, cyclists are comfortable on such roads, consider roads with volumes below 1500 to be quiet and those below 750 to be almost deserted.

It's a GASP, GASP, GASP is online today

Westworld Saskatchewan Magazine, Getaways: It's a gasp, gasp, gasp

Slick-tire riders take to back roads and trails during Saskatchewan's annual pedal push along the historic Qu'Appelle Valley.

Full story:
http://caask.ca/assets/pdf/WWonline.Summer%202009.GASP.pdf

Westworld Saskatchewan Magazine Summer 2009 edition is out

If you're a CAA Saskatchewan member, you'll be getting your copy of Westworld Saskatchewan shortly. Don't miss the GASP 2008 story, "It’s a Gasp, Gasp, Gasp: Pushing pedals and making friends along the historic Qu’Appelle Valley", in the Getaways section.

Registrations accepted until June 1

Registrations have been coming in at a brisk rate. There is still space available on a first come first serve basis. Send full payment by by June 1, 2009 to the SCA office to assure your space in the tour. Registrations received after June 1 may be accepted at the discretion of the organizers. (If we receive your registration and there is no space available in the tour, we'll phone or email you to let you know and we won't process your payment.)

Several participants and people considering participation have asked about hotel and motel accommodation. We've planned this year's route so that there is modern, comfortable indoor accommodation available at each night's stop. Participants need to make their own hotel/motel arrangements (sorry, but we simply don't have the resources of a travel agency that is able to make those kinds of bookings). Within the next day or so, I'll post lodging information, with contact details.

There is also a wide variety of restaurants to choose from in each town, as well as services including grocery stores and laundromats.

What was your first tour? Does it still seem like yesterday?

My first long Saskatchewan bicycle tour happened when I signed up for the 1986 Great Saskatchewan Heritage Bicycle Tour. I had heard about this annual event, organized by the Wascana Freewheelers, for the previous three years, but I never got up the nerve to join these cyclists who obviously were so much more "athletic" and "adventurous" than I was. They were riding all over the province like they knew what they were doing, while I was sneaking out of my apartment for rides along Regina's Devonian Pathway and, occasionally, on some of the grid roads around the city, venturing out for an hour or two at a time.

Yet, every spring, I'd hear reports of these travellers and their adventures through the province, while I grew more and more bored with riding the same trail over and over again. By 1986 I had finally decided to join the tour. It took some doing. I wondered how this group would take to a newcomer. I wondered if I'd be accepted, or if would find myself riding alone on the road and sitting alone in camp. I worried that these experienced cyclists would leave me in their dust, abandonning me to fend for myself as I struggled to keep up.

I had been riding a bike all my life, but this tour would be different. Of course I rode everywhere while I was growing up. There was a time when kids rode bikes, you know. I had ridden long trips as a teenager, smitten by my bicycle's ability to take me on incredible journeys and introduce me to new people. But I had also just experienced a long hiatus from cycling, having lived in Vancouver during a time when cyclists faced unmitigated discrimination and animosity. Cyclists were all but forbidden from riding to the university campus. Occasionally, newspapers would publish reports of fistfights between cyclists and motorists. Who could ride in that kind of atmosphere? I gave up cycling for nearly a decade. One of the first things I did upon reaching Saskatchewan was buy a new bike and begin riding again. It was a wonderful feeling, but it wasn't at all like riding in the mountains.

But I had made up my mind and was determined to go through with the tour. I went to the participant meetings, where we learned about the route and what we need to do to prepare for the trip. I packed nearly two weeks in advance, checking and double checking my gear each night to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything important. My employer had approved a day's vacation.

Early on that Friday morning preceding the Victoria Day weekend, I packed my bike and gear into my car, and drove out to the Moose Jaw Western Development Museum. The temperature was just around freezing and a fierce northwest wind was blowing a late-season snow horizontally. Yet, we departed on schedule, headed for Assiniboia. I gritted my teeth, pulled the zipper on my jacket tight up around my neck, pulled on my warmest cross-country ski gloves and pushed off into the wind. The snow had stopped, but it was still cloudy, when we reached the Sukanen Ship Museum. It felt good to go indoors for a spell. Back on the road, I looked up from the pavement as another snow squall hit us, near Ardill, to see a line of cyclists ahead of me, all tilted fully 45-degrees so they could maintain a straight line into that unrelenting wind. We stopped for a snack at the Mossbank turnoff, and at that point the tour magically changed.

While we munched our snacks, the wind blew the clouds away, then shifted around to the north. The sun finally came out, feeling warm and welcoming. The wind pushed us swiftly toward Assiniboia. We pedalled at amazing speeds on a highway almost completely devoid of traffic. With the wind at our backs and the sun casting a golden light on the spring prairie, we quickly made up for lost time earlier in the day. For the rest of the trip, each day was warmer, reaching 35 degrees Celsius on more than one occasion.

As much as I'll never forget that first day of my first Saskatchewan tour - or the sight of all those cyclists hunched over their handlebars, tilted 45 degrees into the wind near Ardill - what I'll always remember about that trip is the friends I made. Each evening, we'd sit in camp, sharing stories, talking of places we'd visited, discussing the museums and people we encountered. It was an eclectic group, teachers, bankers, doctors, civil servants, business people, all brought together by the common bond of their bicycles and a love for adventure. Most amazing of all, the friends I made on that trip are still my friends today. Some of those cyclists, those who still live in the province, will be with us on GASP 2009.

Do you remember your first bicycle tour? What was it like, your first solo adventure, club trip or GASP tour? Post your comments to tell us about your first tour.

Outlook has a bike shop?

Yes, Outlook has a bike shop. Roy Fielden, who called to provide an update on camping in Outlook Regional Park, mentioned that he operates a small bicycle shop, Roy's Cycle and Repair, out of his home.

• Roy's Cycle & Repair, (306) 867-3488