Technical difficulties

I've been doing great, riding through Northern Michigan. It's cooled off and the bugs aren't too bad. The scenery has switched to rolling hills with trees. It's nice to ride hills again. I stopped by Voyageurs national park.





My gear, on the other hand, is having issues. My iPhone won't charge from the wall anymore. I figured out that it will charge from one of my rechargeable batteries that I can plug into the wall while charging the phone. It's also losing supposedly saved stuff like blog posts, which makes writing my blog really frustrating.

My tire woes have returned. I was in a convenience store chatting with someone when we heard a loud boom. My tube had exploded on a weak seam.


It had even blown part of the tire off the rim. Luckily, the tire (the German wunder tire) was fine but now I am down to riding my one remaining inner tube, which has a slow leak. There should be a bike shop today in Ely so hopefully, I can stock up on spare tubes. Here is the main street in Ely.


I'll reach the shore of Lake Superior tomorrow. I'll turn north towards Thunder Bay, Ontario which I should reach about August 21. I spent some extra time here in the North Woods of Minnesota so I won't have enough time to make Toronto. Instead, I'll fly home from Sault Ste. Marie in the upper penninsula of michigan.

Usually, about this time during a summer tour, I'm feeling about ready to go home but this time, I feel great and wish I could keep going for at least another month. This trip is a lot easier than my Alaska and Yukon rides so that's probably why I feel really great and not tired at all. On the other hand, while pleasant, this trip really doesn't have the jaw dropping scenery of the north.



-- Post From My iPhone

Location:S River St,Cook,United States

Wanna know what riding the plains is like?

Okay, so you might be wondering, "What's it like biking across the Great Plains?" So, here's what you'll need to get to find out: 1. An exercise bike, 2. A big poster of the picture below,


3. A sauna, 4. A good collection of horseflies, mosquitoes, and biting flies, 5. A timer, 6. Lots of water. Got them all? Okay. Now put the exercise bike in the sauna and tape the poster to the wall in front of it. Release the flies. Get on the bike and pedal for 5-7 hours. Make sure you swat your butt and legs on a regular basis so the flies can't take a chunk out of you. Drink lots of the now really warm water. You can stop to rest anytime but that's when the mosquitoes and flies really get ya plus you have to stop the timer every time you do. Repeat daily for about two weeks. For variation, change the sauna temperature every few days.

Is it really this bad? Today it is. Man, the flies are awful and it's hotter than hell. And, there's a headwind. Grrrrrr!

-- Post From My iPhone

Location:S Birch Ave,Hallock,United States

Tour de Flat Revisited

I've been cranking out 60-80 mile days consistently since my last day off in Waterton National Park back in southern Alberta. The riding is pretty easy and I'm feeling good and strong. No, my super duper German tire isn't letting me down, however, Saskatchewan became flat about half way across and Manitoba is looking the same though there are a few very slight rises, I couldn't call them hills, every once in a while. It is pretty with the different colored crops (yellow canola, blue flax, and green wheat) but it does get tedious a bit.


I rode a fantastic tailwind coming off a storm yesterday afternoon. I got to a town with a nice shelter right before it hit so I stayed nice and dry.


The people are amazingly friendly, however, and everyone seems to want to talk to me. I saw the world's biggest Mountie yesterday in Redvers.


There is an oil boom going both in southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, from the same oil field that is giving North Dakota it's boom. There are oil workers in the town campsites and lots of oil jacks and drilling rigs in the fields.


I think the locals are a bit overwhelmed that their very quiet, sparsely populated province is all of a sudden growing very quickly.

I crossed into Manitoba today.


Today is my last full day in Canada for a while. Tomorrow, I'll cross back into North Dakota and head east again through Minnesota. If I'm on schedule, I'll cross back into Ontario and ride north of Lake Superior through Thunder Bay and down to Sault St. Marie. From there, I hope to be able to make it to Toronto to catch a flight home. I obviously won't make the east coast but I already have my ride planned for next summer. I'll fly back to Toronto and continue east through Quebec to the Maritime Provinces and then swing down the coast of Maine.
-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Manitoba, Canada

But it's a dry cold!

Henri decided to stick with the Trans Canada highway and I'm cutting down to North Dakota so yesterday we parted company. It was nice to ride with someone for a few days. Keep in touch, Henri!


I've met a lot of neat people here on the prairie in Saskatchewan and have learned quite a bit about life here. First and foremost, things are quiet. Very, very quiet. Even in bigger towns like Swift Current or Moose Jaw, stores don't open until 9 or 10 and many close at 5 or 6. Even the Safeway doesn't open early. I've learned to pick up groceries in the afternoon and not wait until the town I plan on camping in since everything will be closed by the time I pull in and even the main street will be completely abandoned.

I can tell that I'm approaching a town because there is a grain elevator.


When I ask about winters, they tell me that it gets down to -30 in January but it's a dry cold so it's not so bad. Right...

There are lots of strange looking farm machines being transported on the highway. I think machismo around here is measured in the size of one's combine.


When bicycling in a group, people call out, "car back", if a car is approaching. In this case, "house back", would be more appropriate.


They like to hold the title of world's biggest. There is the biggest teepee.


And the biggest moose.


Hockey and curling are huge. Even tiny towns have ice rinks. Here is the hockey stick display in a bike shop in Moose Jaw... in July.


-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Saskatchewan, Canada

Where in the Hell is Piapot?

Last night, we ended up camping in a tiny, almost ghost town called Piapot, pronounced pie-o-pot. The only business in town is the saloon.


We had a beer and the owner made us their mixed drink specialty called The Paralyzer that included vodka, khalua, milk, and coke. It sounds pretty gross but was surprisingly good.


We met Pearl, a real life cowgirl who makes her living 'riding herd'. I've never met anyone who wears spurs!


Sam seemed to like hanging out with some Harleys.


We camped in an open field by what used to be the library and ate dinner on the library steps. Lionel, the town drunk, came by to chat and gave us a bunch of food and ten dollars. He told us that a house in town had just sold for $18,000 and the taxes were $120/ year on it.

Piapot used to be a happening town but is now falling into disrepair. No wonder houses are this cheap!


There is an ice hockey rink, a curling rink, a veterans' lodge, and an Elks lodge, all of which are seemingly abandoned.

Some people came by and showed us the almost invisible path to the overgrown town cenotaph that we would have never seen if they hadn't shown it to us.


Pretty ironic.

Today, we battled a stiff headwind all morning. It eased off and gave us some showers for a while but it has now cleared up. It was a long 70 miles. Tomorrow, we continue east.
-- Post From My iPhone

Location:11 Ave NW,Swift Current,Canada

Saskatchewan is not flat!

I crossed into Saskatchewan yesterday.


I've been riding with Henri, the québécois cyclist I camped with in The Hat.


He's pretty young and a former bike racer but seems okay with slowing down so I can keep up. It's great for me because I'm pushing my usual pace and am becoming a stronger cyclist. It's also nice splitting the cost of campgrounds and having someone to talk to.

I don't know how long we will continue riding together. I would like to get off of the Trans Canada and go south and either continue riding in Canada or drop back down to the states. The wind needs to cooperate which it doesn't seem to want to do. Tomorrow, there is a south wind forecast that I am unwilling to fight just to head south so I'll continue on the TransCanada for another day. There is a road the heads southeast out of Moose Jaw that I might take.

I thought the plains would be flat but in actuality, there are lots of rolling hills.


It's very pretty but tougher riding than I anticipated.


The wind sometimes cooperates and comes from the prevailing westerly direction but a good chunk of the time it comes from the south or east giving a strong side or headwind that is really exhausting to pedal in all day.



-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Swift Current, SK,Canada

Rollin' on the Northern Plains

I'm still heading east through Canada.


The fantastic tailwind I had a few days ago has shifted into a moderate headwind due to some stupid low that has come in over the mountains to the west. It's been annoying but didn't get really bad until the last stretch coming into Medicine Hat, or 'The Hat', as the locals call it.

The prairie continues to be really pretty.


They grow a lot of canola around here which is currently blooming.


About two minutes after I pulled into camp, another cyclist pulled in so we decided to share a campsite. Henri is from Quebec and is riding home from Vancouver, BC.

I met two other cyclists today outside of Bow Island. Helen and Erika are on their first tour and are riding across Canada. We had a good chat by the side of the road. It's really rare to see women riding so it was great to meet these two.


I guess they grow a lot of pinto beans in Bow Island. They must be really proud of the fact since they have one of these statues on both ends of town.


Tomorrow I cross into Saskatchewan and at some point will start heading south into North Dakota.


-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Medicine Hat, AB, Canada