Mark's Tour du Canada: Day Twenty One

The day started with me repairing a flat on my front tire just after breakfast. I pulled the tube out and filled it with air to put under water to determine where the tube had been punctured. Knowing that I reference the position of the stem on the tube and checked the tire for any foregin bodies. I found what i hadn’t in the two previous tube changes, a small piece of wire.

Sam and I left the camp around 7:15 and about 20 km down the road I got another flat on my back tire this time. This tire was brand new and I didn’t expect a flat this soon. When I checked the tire this time I easily found what cause the puncture. It’s what looked to be a tooth. It turned out to be a piece of skunk bone. The skunk was road kill that was spread out along the side of the road.

Others in the group had tire issues. Kate had 2 flats on her front and one on the back. Chris her husband had one. They both use Continental Hard Shell tires with a special liner to prevent punctures. The liner also was punctured.

Our first rest stop was in Indian Head, see pic below, to visit a bakery that previous Tour members had said to visit. Sam and I found a number of our cyclists already there eating baked goods and soup and sandwiches. I had packed 6 PBJs so I had a cookie and a cold drink. The day wasn’t too hot but a cold drink always is a good thing.

Before we left the trans canada highway we stopped at an ESSO to fill up on water and I ate another sandwich. There were no services for the next 50 km so we wanted to be prepared. Chris and Kate also stopped there and we went in to the nearby information centre to sign the guest book and talk to the ladies named Doreen and Bertie that were attending it. See pic below.

Not too far into the 50 km we descended into the Qu’Appelle valley for the second time on this tour. It was beautiful compare to the rest of the days scenery. We could feel the barometric pressure falling and I could tell that it would be raining soon. I planned to set my tent up ASAP when I got to camp.

Once in camp I set my tent up and 5 minutes later it was raining. The wind was blowing and there was thunder, and lightening. After a quick dinner of sausage and salad I had a shower and got into my tent to relax and rest my legs.

One more day complete. 50 tp go.