© Darrell Noakes, for Canadian Cyclist Magazine
Canadian summers are too short to spend dreaming about imaginary cycling vacations. Even if you're planning that one big trip to wherever, you still need to put in valuable "training" time on the touring bike. Weekend getaways close to home can turn the season into one endless bike tour.
Saskatoon is perfectly situated for cyclists packing their panniers for a quick overnighter or extended multi-day tour. Roads fan out in all directions, so there are many choices for getting to the rural backroads that wind among the hills within a day's ride. One tour has become a perennial favourite of members of the Saskatoon Cycling Club. In just three-and-a-half days, we enjoy small town hospitality, camp surrounded by wild berries, and ride where birds, crickets and our whirring freewheels are the only sounds.
The route is ideal for turning a long weekend into a short vacation. The first day's ride is relatively short (55 km), so you can leave Friday after work and still have camp set up before dark. Distances on each of the remaining days allow plenty of time to explore the towns along the way.
Start your tour from Saskatoon's Broadway district. This heritage neighbourhood is a well-known reference point. You'll also find all the services you need before departing: grocery stores, specialty food shops, outdoor stores and two of the city's several expertly staffed bike shops. There are many suitable routes through the city, but the most scenic runs north along Spadina Crescent to Lenore Drive. Leave the city via the Yellowhead Highway, #16 West, heading toward North Battleford.
From Saskatoon to Langham, the Yellowhead is a divided highway with a wide paved shoulder on the westbound lanes. For some reason, the eastbound lanes have no shoulder - a nasty surprise for cyclists attempting the tour in the opposite direction. For cyclists who don't mind adding an extra 10 km to their day, Highway #12 through Martensville and Highway #305 through Dalmeny offer a quiet alternative to the Yellowhead. Services include the usual gamut of convenience stores and gas stations, but local cyclists know the secret delights. Dalmeny has an ice cream parlour on its outskirts and a bakery downtown. The Prairie Cafe in Langham makes a dynamite home-made corn chowder, and the rural atmosphere of this little restaurant instantly dissolves any urban stress that 44 km of cycling hasn't already taken care of. Just 11 km further down the road is the first day's destination: Borden Bridge Provincial Campground, overlooking the North Saskatchewan River. Chokecherries and saskatoon berries (the city of Saskatoon takes its name from the berries that grow along river banks and other sheltered areas on the prairies) grow wild along the hillsides and between the campsites. If you're an early riser, take a walk along the riverbank to look for beaver, deer and other wildlife. An old concrete bridge over the river stands as a silent monument to the labours of relief workers during the depression.
Day two of this trip continues west along the Yellowhead, now two lanes with generous shoulders. First stop is Borden, 8 km away. Foster's Store is a must see. Part general store, part museum, this frontier building is chock full of groceries, produce, dry goods and a collection of curiosities sold in such places at the turn of the century. On a recent trip, we found everything we needed for lunch, then wandered down the street to wait out the noonday sun in the shade of the town's park.
Another 12 km, another town. Prairie settlements dot the landscape at intervals measured by how far a wagon could be drawn in a day. At Radisson, all the major services have moved out to the highway - shining examples of 100-km/hr living. A detour into town takes you back to life at a more human pace. Maybe it's just the relaxed atmosphere, but the coffee seems smoother at the Radisson Cafe than at the places along the highway.
Each year, more of the Yellowhead is upgraded to divided highway. Construction adjacent to the roadway begins near Radisson, and cyclists may encounter work crews along the 25 km between Radisson and Maymont. At Maymont, turn south onto Highway #376. You'll be able to stock up at Munn's General Store before beginning the 10 km descent to the campsite at Glenburn Regional Park.
Day three, continue on Highway #376 over the Eagle Hills to Eagle Creek Regional Park, 55 km south. The route follows the contours of the North Saskatchewan valley before winding over and through the hills. With average traffic volumes below 200 vehicles per day and bright yellow fields of canola for a backdrop, it's hard not to think that this place was meant just for bicycle touring. Sonningdale, 16 km out, is the only town with services. A modest store is open most days. The town's hotel burned down last spring, a fatal blow to a small community. Other towns along the route have already succumbed to economic forces - Struan (28 km) and Arelee (41 km) are ghost towns. If you make the tour at the right time of year, you can pick enough saskatoons or chokecherries when you arrive at Eagle Creek to fill a bike helmet.
For the final leg of the tour, take highways #376 and #14 to Saskatoon. At 71 km, this is also the longest day. Services are available in Asquith (29 km) and at the Sandy Ridge gas station (43 km), so running out of fluids and snacks shouldn't be a problem.
Like all good bike tours, this one ends too soon. A cappuccino or fresh-squeezed juice at a Broadway cafe might ease the transition to non-cycling alter-ego, but sooner or later this tour is just memories. Look on the bright side: there's just enough time to pack for next weekend's tour.
Postscript: The Prairie Cafe in Langham burned down in 1998, but there's a new cafe in the service station at the entrance to town.
Borealis
Outdoor Adventure
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