Native Guides Don and Karen Ryan in Saskatoon

These two native guides, Don and Karen Ryan, cheerfully broke from their morning coffee to guide me first to a local tourist information centre (where the employee cheerfully advised me on the lack of nearby camping options) and then to a local bike shop (where I got a new chain, cassette, and tires).

Gerald from Bike Doctor in Saskatoon

Gerald the sales guy at Bike Doctor in Saskatoon who helped me wade through their trove of tires to find something to my fickle likings.

Dave from Bike Doctor in Saskatoon

Dave, a mechanic at bike doctor, who changed my cassette, installed the new chain, and did the rear tire (but didn’t line up the tire’s label with the valve stem, tsk, tsk). It was definitely worth the money to pay some pros to put the bike in their stand and make these changes. I appreciate them squeezing me in on a busy weekend day. However, lost my 34 tooth rear cog in the process. Saskatchewan is flat so the largest cassette they stock has 32 teeth. Made it through the hills of north Lake Superior with that diminished gearing okay…..so I’m probably fine. Right? Right?

Fraser of Bike Doctor in Saskatoon

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The very Canadianly-named, Fraser, installed my front tire. He has some sort of mystery power. This is the least blurry photo I could get of him.

Maureen, Seeton, and Tom in Foam Lake

Maureen, Seeton, and Tom from Calgary. We shared a couple of bottles of wine at camp in Foam Lake. (Seeton drank all of under the table. Although we had to keep pre-warming his in a plastic bottle with a rubber nipple.) Great company. Maureen and Tom are both avid cyclists (but not the jerky kind). Maureen works in oil contracts and Tom in physical therapy (in a private medical business…they have that too up here).

They were on their way to Mexico after visiting Maureen’s birthplace in Saskatchewan. Really nice couple. We had a wide-ranging conversation about biking, world politics, things to see, the differences between the US and Canada. Toughest question they posed me, “why isn’t Jimmy Carter more highly thought of in the U.S?” Feel free to take a stab.

Adam from Edmonton riding from Alaska to Argentina to raise money for autism awareness.

Adam is riding to raise money and awareness for autism. His website is www.adventureforautism.com. He’s on a very ambitious trip. Started in Anchorage, and unlike me, is trying to hit every major city he can. He’s headed to the States and ultimately to the far tip of Argentina. That’s a long haul, and he’s already lost his riding partner due to injury.

He rolled up behind me as I was entering Winnipeg. I said, “hey, are you Adam?” He was. I was tipped off. A father and daughter had flagged me down the day before in Portage La Prairie because they were aware of Adam’s quest and thought I might be him.

Rennie, Manitoba

If Rennie, Manitoba knew about Rennie Grossman, I’d think they pull this sign down and put up a bronze statue.

Three days and three hundred miles without a shower.

This is what I look like after three days and three hundred miles without a shower. I’m beginning to get that been out in the sun too long hobo-skin.

Dad and I outside the hotel near Heyden

Dad and I parting outside the motel in Heyden. This was one of about five times over three days when we said goodbye not knowing if we’d be saying goodbye for an extended period or just a couple hours. As it turns out, we did see each other later that day. (The library fiasco in Sault Ste. Marie.) And later that night. (Dad came upon me as I was fixing my seventh, and hopefully final, flat just east of Sault Ste. Marie.) And the next day. (I slept off the road in the woods that night and dad circled back in the car to see if I wanted to use the shower in his motel room in Bruce Mines. Was he trying to tell me something?)

Hinton, Alberta
Edson
Niton Junction
Nojack
Cynthia (Cynthia RV Park & Campground)

Saturday, August 29th, 2009 (69.0 miles)

Cynthia
Drayton Valley
Alsike
Breton
Winfield (Winfields Lions Pioneer Park)

Sunday, August 30th, 2009 (0.0 miles)

Winfield

Monday, August 31st, 2009 (73.3 miles)

Winfield
Village at Pigeon Lake
Falun
Wetaskiwin
Bittern Lake
Camrose (Valleyview Campground)

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 (74.1 miles)

Camrose
Kinsella
Irma

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 (72.6 miles)

Irma
Fabyan
Wainwright
ENTER Saskatchewan
Marsden
Neilburg (Museum Campground)

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 (70.3 miles)

Neilburg
Cut Knife
Battleford
North Battleford

Friday, September 4th, 2009 (66.8 miles)

North Battleford
Denholm
Maymont
Radisson
Langham (Riverview RV Park)

Saturday, September 5th, 2009 (60.1 miles)

Langham
Saskatoon
Clavet
Elstow
Painted Rock Campground (8km west of Colonsay)

Sunday, September 6th, 2009 (44.9 miles, brutal headwinds)

Painted Rock Campground
Colonsay
Viscount
Plunkett
Guernsey
Lanigan (Lions Campground)

Monday, September 7th, 2009 (71.1 miles)

Lanigan
Dafoe
Wynyard
Mozart
Elfros
Leslie
Foam Lake (Foam Lake Campground)

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 (67.3 miles)

Foam Lake
Sheho
Insinger
Theodore
Springside
Yorkton
Cherrydale Golf Club & Campground

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 (74.3 miles)

Cherrydale Golf Club
ENTER Manitoba
Roblin
Grandview (Grandview City Park)

Thursday, September 10th, 2009 (82.5 miles)

Grandview
Gilbert Plains
Dauphin
Ste. Rose du Lac
McCreary

Friday, September 11th, 2009 (102.0 miles)

McCreary
Riding Mountain
Neepawa
Gladstone
Woodside
Portage La Prairie (Island Campground)

Saturday, September 12th, 2009 (70.3 miles)

Portage La Prairie
Elie
Winnipeg
Dugald (Dugald Community Center Field)

Sunday, September 13th, 2009 (121.4 miles)

Dugald
Vivian
Ste. Rita
Elma
Rennie
West Hawk Lake
ENTER Ontario
Kenora (Travelodge)

Monday, September 14th, 2009 (16.8 miles)

Kenora
Picnic area a short way outside Kenora

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 (mileage not recorded)

Outside Kenora
Vermillion Bay
Minnitaki
Oxdrift
Dryden (NW Campground & RV Park)

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 (90.6 miles)

Dryden
Wabigoon
Dinorwic
Borups Corners
Ignace
(Pipeline right-of-way about 20 miles east of Ignace)

Thursday, September 17th, 2009 (111.4 miles)

Pipeline right-of-way
English River
Upsala
Shabaqua Corners
Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park

Friday, September 18th, 2009 (81.4 miles)

Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park
Thunder Bay
Dorian
(Birchland Tent & RV about 8 miles west of Nipigon)

Saturday, September 19th, 2009 (38.2 miles)

Birchland Tent & RV
Nipgon
Gravel River Motel (about 10 miles west of Rossport)

Sunday, September 20th, 2009 (87.2 miles)

Gravel River Motel
Pays Plat
Schreiber
Terrace Bay
Marathon (Marathon Campground…and mercury dump!)

Monday, September 21st, 2009 (60.1 miles)

Marathon
White River (Continental Motel with dad and Mathieu)

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 (77.8 miles)

White River
Wawa
(Rabbit Blanket Campground in Lake Superior Provincial Park)

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 (110.1 miles)

Rabbit Blanket
Heyden (Mountain Ash Motel with dad)

Thursday, September 24th, 2009 (40.0 miles)

Heyden
Sault Ste. Marie
(a few miles outside Sault Ste. Marie on Highway 17)

Friday, September 25th, 2009 (77.8 miles)

Roadside on Highway 17
Desbarats
Bruce Mines
Thessalon
Sowerby
Iron Bridge
Blind River
Algoma Mills
Spragge
(Serpent River Campground)

Saturday, September 26th, 2009 (92.7 miles)

Serpent River Campground
Serpent River
Cutler
Spanish
Walford
Massey
Webbwood
McKerow
Nairn Centre
Whitefish
Naughton
Coniston (empty lot outside Coniston)

Sunday, September 27th, 2009 (73.7 miles)

Coniston
Wahnapitae
Markstay
Hagar
Verner
Sturgeon Falls
North Bay (Northgate Inn)

Monday, September 28th, 2009 (39.2 miles, very challenging winds)

Northbay
Rutherglen
Mattawa (Voyageur Motel)

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 (0.0 miles)

Mattawa

It is an open question how much longer my bike will hold up. Here’s the problem in order of descending impact:

NUMBER ONE OVERARCHING PROBLEM: I’ve been carrying way too much stuff. (Hello lotsagear guy!)

2. I’ve been carrying too much stuff, too many miles.
3. I probably shouldn’t have let Kulshan Cycles increase the spoke tension on my rear wheel. (Too tight!)
4. Day before yesterday I hit a piece of iron shaped like a 3:4 ratio railroad spike. (It punched a dime-sized hole in my tire, acted like a door stop to the rear wheel, and knocked the wheel seriously out of true.)

I spent a good hour-and-a-half roadside booting the tire and bringing the wheel back into some semblance of true. But this, really, is the least of the problems. There are small stress-fractures developing in the rim around the spoke holes. This means the rim is on its way to inevitable demise, and that it will be harder and harder to hold the wheel true in the process. Basically, it’s got a deep wobble in it, and the now very tight spokes are fighting a losing battle to hold it true while it crouches full of potential energy, waiting to unleash at the next pothole or railroad spike.

The solution? Really, none. Replace the rim, build a new wheel. Very expensive, special order, wait for the build, time consuming.

In the interim, I’ve unloaded everything “extra” from the bike and will just ride this into the ground. What’s the over/under for it surviving? I’d say one day. I’ve got a half-an-hour of riding on it now. So far so good. If it makes a full day in good shape, I’d expect a lot more wear out of it. If it uncoils in the next twenty-four hours, I’ll have to reassess, but I’m probably done.

Alas.

Alack.