Reverse Gear Blog

Day 27 - Friday, July 3, 2009
The boys once again set out to tackle Canada’s TCH near Regina SK. I took advantage of the morning and went to see a Ted Godwin exhibit at the art gallery. So I only did 7 km while they did 69 km. I was on my way back to the hotel for lunch when the skies opened up so I curled up with a book in hotel lobby and waited for their return. Then half of the BGB tour went to visit Aaron’s relatives while the other half set up camp at Grenfell SK and barbecued a tender sirloin steak to go with baked potato and broccoli and enjoy a bottle of red wine called Il Bastardo (Len’s birthday present).

Day 28 - Saturday, July 4, 2009
The TCH beckoned and the boys responded. I decided a quiet ride up Hwy 47 was more in order. After lunch I set out with a target of 30 km each way and promised to be back at 6:30 pm. At approximately 25 km I got a huge surprise.  A road-sign showed a down-hill grade. As my trike went over the horizon, I had a sudden thrilling ride for almost 5 km to the bottom of the spectacular Qu’Appelle Valley. While the trike careened down the highway at 40-52 kph with me barely keeping control because of the wind gusts (ahh - the sign at the top of the hill was accurate), I did not consider what the full implication of the thrills were. Yes - the uphill to go home!!!  An energy bar, half a bottle of water and an hour later, I reached the summit and could see the prairies again. In fact, I swear it was so flat that I could see all the way back to Grenfell - 25 km away.  Doing a steady pace  (as my legs were warmed up by now), I reached the trailer park at 6:15 pm. After a dinner of steak, rice and salad, I convinced Anna and Len to drive there to see how wonderful this little secret valley looked. At dusk, it was almost eerie. It was worth  the effort and the bonus was an awesome prairie sunset.

Day 29 - Sunday, July 5, 2009
The BGB team continued on the TCH covering the distance from the Manitoba border to Brandon MB. When I arrived in Brandon and finished setting up the trailer with Don, I considered riding into town. Unfortunately I let a few rain drops discourage me and then spent the afternoon sending out press releases to Manitoba media instead. We had just finished our great meal of bbq farmer sausages, smashed potatoes, sauerkraut and Greek salad with a little red cask wine, when Paul, a cyclist we met on the road today, arrived at the campsite. The rest of the evening was spent enjoying the first Manitoba summer sunset, and sharing cycling stories.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 5th, 2009 at 11:28 pm and is filed under Blind-Guy Biking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.