G.A.S.P. Part One

G.A.S.P. the Great Annual Saskatchewan Pedal is an event that has been underway since 2005. It is a supported cycling tour that spends a week exploring different parts of Saskatchewan on roads less travelled. Sandy discovered this ride in 2015.  That year, the Border to Border tour went through the middle of the province from the Alberta border to the Manitoba border. Sandy had a blast. Nice people, flat roads, great weather, and prevailing tailwinds. This year, she signed us both up to the do the Blazing Saddles tour that took us on a seven day loop through the south west corner of the province.

Boxy and Bikes

This tour had a support van that transported everyone’s tents and bags to each day’s destination and provided a nutrition stop, or two, along the day’s route. We took Boxy, the RV, along as we have officially ended our tenting days. The plan was that one of us would ride the day’s route while the other would drive Boxy to the day’s destination, cycle back to meet up about half way, then ride in together.

Support Van

Fellow riders’ accommodations

Day 1:  Gull Lake to Cabri.  We met everyone at Gull Lake, the one in Saskatchewan, not Alberta, that is, the night before the ride began. Day one started off with a breakfast meeting at a local restaurant, Lilly’s, that put out a really nice spread for us. The day’s ride was a 61km jaunt to Cabri. Fun fact:  This was the home town of Bobby Gimby, who wrote the song, Ca-na-da.  Those of us around at the time will remember that song being on the radio almost constantly during Canada’s centennial year in 1967.

Sandy rode with the group from Gull Lake while I drove Boxy to Cabri. I noted some fairly substantial hills along this route that I was sure Sandy would be cursing and a patch of gravel about 6km in length that all the riders would curse. After I parked Boxy, I hopped on my bike and started pedaling to find Sandy. Just me and the wide open spaces of Saskatchewan. I sure hoped I didn’t run into any problems as I encountered very few vehicles and the farmsteads were few and far between. 

Wide open spaces

All went well, and I managed to ride through 5 of the 6kms of gravel before meeting Sandy and turning back to Cabri. As much as everyone else complained about the gravel, at least they didn’t have to ride 10 km in it!!!

 Gravel road, tricky pedaling 

Cabri, pronounced kay-bree, is the Cree word for antelope. The area was so named for its large population of the creatures.  At the end of our ride, Sandy and I snuck off to get in a few extra kilometers. As we were riding back, there were two antelope in the ditch about a hundred meters ahead of us. They would run ahead, stop and watch us, then run ahead again, never letting us get any closer. After a couple of kms of this little chase game, they ran off into a grassy field and with their camouflage, disappeared in just a few seconds.  Total distance for the day was 78km.

Cabri town park

Day 2:  Cabri to Leader.  The route travelled north west this day. The weather called for winds of 20-40km in the morning, building to 60km by noon from…the north west. Headwind all day. This was Sandy’s turn to drive Boxy and I quickly took her up on her offer to have me ride in Boxy to Leader then cycle back to the group with her. 

We left Leader with a tail wind out of the northwest which, as promised, was getting getting stronger as we made our way to the half way point. That first part was fun, but when we turned around to head back to Leader, the wind was brutal and kept building in strength.  It took us two hours to ride only 25 km to our snack break and shelter from the wind at Sceptre.  

Headwind battle

The final 20km included a 6km hill up to a radio tower where we had met a local pharmacist on the way out.  She insisted on leaving us two bottles of water by a sign post to pick up on the way back, which we did. 

 Water gift

The wind got even stronger and the crosswinds tossed us around like dolls as the sky darkened and threatened rain. We were more than happy to get off our bikes when we arrived in Leader. That last 20 km took almost another 2 hours! Total distance for the day was 91km.

Day 2 wind

Leader is known for its wildlife statues. One was of Ord’s kanagroo rats, elusive little creatures that are rarely seen.  They live in southeast Alberta and southwest Sakatchewan, with Leader being the furthest north point of their range. These are endangered little good guys; non-destructive and not disease carrying, hence they are not hunted by Alberta’s rat patrol.   

Ord's Kangaroo Rats statue

Links for more information:  

Kangaroo Rat

Alberta Rat Patrol

Close to Leader are the Great Sandhills, the largest active sand dunes in Canada.  In the evening, some of the riders took a van ride to the check out the dunes, but considering we had had enough of being out in the wind, we gave this side trip a miss.

Link for more information:  Great Sandhills

Day 3:  Leader to Maple Creek.  We made the executive decision to drive Boxy to the next destination together and ride back to the day’s midpoint for the rest of the trip. It was just safer not to be alone out on the roads in the middle of nowhere. 

So, we drove to Maple Creek then rode up lots of hills until we met our ride buddies, Heather and Louise, at the entrance of a big Hutterite colony … at the top of a long hill. It was sunny and hot at 29C; we had some head wind until our turnaround point, they had a nice tailwind all day. But we all had lots of rolling hills to deal with that at least provided some spectacular views.  Our distance for the day was 104km.

 Girls of the Lantern Rouge

Maple Creek is a nice town nestled in a very pretty setting. We were greeted by a town councillor upon arrival who thanked us for visiting their town. It is pretty laid back, but has lots happening.  Here are some signs to give you a bit of a feel for the place. They speak for themselves.

Day 4:  Maple Creek to Fort Walsh to Maple Creek.  Many of us elected to take the van ride to the Fort so we would have time to explore this national historic site. “Fort Walsh would quickly become the most important, largest and most heavily armed fort the North West Mounted Police garrisoned during their early years in the West." - Fort Walsh National Historic Site website.

Fort Walsh

Lots of room for cyclists
and their bikes!

  Links:  

Fort Walsh  

NWMP 

While touring the fort, with its period actors, didn’t our Sandy get arrested by the NWMP officer on duty?  Two other riders, Louise and Bernie, were also deemed to be unsavory characters and hauled away to the court house.  Sandy was put on trial for illegally selling whiskey. When she couldn’t pay the $200 fine, she was sentenced to six months hard labour! Lousie was found guilty of hitting Bernie with a frying pan while she was under the influence of whiskey she had purchased from Sandy. Bernie got off as he was found to be an innocent witness/victim to the crimes.

Hasn't yet heard her sentence!

Witnessing the court proceedings 

We rode our bikes back to Maple Creek, but the start of the ride from the fort was the most brutal so far. The road went straight up from the parking lot.  We gained over 1900 feet elevation in 6kms of continuous climbing, much of it between 8 and 12%. The photo doesn’t show all the climb, but trust me, there was lots more than what would fit into this frame!

Partway up from Fort Walsh

After that climb, we descended through a series of crazy switch backs then enjoyed the rest of the ride to Maple Creek through more spectacular scenery and and more rolling hills. There were a couple of long descents where we reached speeds of over 50km which is pretty quick on our touring bikes.  Our distance this day was 55km.

Returning to Maple Creek

As always, Sandy happy to crest another hill

More beautiful scenery

We spent two nights in Maple Creek. The second night we had a lovely catered bbq at the old Jasper Hotel Bar and Event Centre.  

Jasper Hotel
Shouldn't this be in Alberta?

After the bbq, we were entertained by an excellent band, a member of which is a cyclist who has completed many GASP rides. They were great and it was a very nice evening.

Well, that's the end of part one. The next issue of our blog will conclude this adventure and then we are off on another!