|
August 13 Saturday Bicycle touring from Asquith Saskatchewan - Esk Saskatchewan Today was a hundred miler bike ride. One hundred and fourteen point six miles to be exact -- within a hair of 200 kilometres. We stop in Saskatoon. I buy some aquarium air tubing to try and make by water bottle hands-free. I stick it down my water bottle then wrap it around my handlebar stem and handlebar bag which keeps it sticking up within easy reach. It takes strong suction to get the water up though. I bought new elastics for my pannier covers, too. The old ones have no stretch left and they keep getting blown off at inopportune times. I have the covers hooked under my pannier clips to keep them from blowing off. We buy a ton of groceries at a Superstore and then decide to eat at a Bonanza Restaurant. Gotta love those all-you-can eat salad bars. There is a lot of construction on Hwy 16 on the way out of town. The lane is narrow and it is difficult for traffic to pass us. We had a motorhome and a long line-up of traffic behind us as we crossed over a bridge. In Clavet we take a break from bicycle riding and make pancakes. The first one comes out perfectly, so of course I crank the stove up a notch higher and scorch the next several. Ah! That's more like it! We are outside a school. The sun is directly on us. With the tailwind we have been making good time. The shoulder has varied from smooth to extremely bumpy. One section was so bad I couldn't even tell where the bumps were. I just kept jarring every which way I turned. At this rate it won't take long before all the fillings in my mouth are loose. I hope the Loctite on our bikes' nuts and bolts is enough to keep them secure. I have padding in the bottom of my camera case and it is taking a beating. We get off the bikes at the pool in Lanigan to have a shower. The water is cold, but I emerge a whole lot cleaner. We ride a while longer until we came to a town named Esk. It has no services. There are a couple of houses that are very ritzy, but the majority are ramshackle. I stop to ask a chap if we can camp in the field and I point across the road to indicate where I mean. He corrected me, "Ball diamond." Okay, then. We camped on the ball diamond, behind the backstop (?) and no more than twenty feet from the railway track. I hear the train whistle and see one coming down the track. The engineer waves as he goes by. I wave back. Hoo boy. Pass me those earplugs. |
