June 14, 2017, Day 24, Moose Jaw, Sask to Indian Head, Sask, 158km

“Ok,  so what kind of hell are you going to put me through today?” I eyed my brand new brown unisex Brooks B17 saddle with trepidation.    Sure, it felt great for the 2km ride the day before from the bike shop to our accommodation. But what was it going to do to me on a real ride. Reputedly Brooks makes the best and most comfortable saddles, but their downside is that they take quite a long time to break in. Well, I figure I couldn’t be more sore than I’ve been on that effing Body Geometry seat so lets go! I’ll break that saddle in sometime over the next 2/3 of our country.

Drizzle. Slow continuous drizzle from the time we left our host’s house at 7:25 and all day. Merciful, welcome moisture. We had overheard the farmers in the coffee shops talking about how much they needed the rain. They got it today. It was pretty cold too. Charlie and I dressed in layers. I had biking shorts, light merino wool long underwear and waterproof pants, a biking jersey, merino wool  long sleeved top, a windbreaker and waterproof jacket, a buff, waterproof shoe covers and full biking gloves. We started off nice and dry but we were assaulted by drenching rain from the sky, rain slammed towards us by the wind and spray misting up as the trucks thundered past us. Eventually, as the day went on the wetness managed to seep through all our layers and our sweat rose up to meet it, thus ensuring a nice thick layer of wet fabric against our skin. But it was a warm wet, as long as we didn’t stop.

The road straightened out. Thankfully we were riding the wind and we made good time. Several people had warned us about the construction to both the west and east of Regina and we briefly considered alternating our route. We decided to take a chance though and it wasn’t bad. It was probably because it was more mid-day. We skirted around those pilons and headed straight to Tim Hortons where we had hot chilli and buns. Graffiti on the bathroom wall inspired me. Take your encouragement from wherever you can get it!    A couple behind us offered to drive us to Grenfell where they live for the night but in the spirit of EFI we gratefully declined. Back on the road again, it took us a while to warm up. We aimed for Indian Head as our destination for the night.

We got there. Charlie struggled that last part as his hands were giving him problems with the constant cold and his right brake had given out. The Indian Head information booth is just off the highway there and we went in.    The woman there was totally clueless. She knew nothing about available accommodation or really, about anything we asked her, but she told us that every day she goes out in her car and feeds all the stray dogs and cats in the area. Frazzled, yes, but she has a good heart.

Indian Head has 2 places to stay and we chose one because there was food available right there. Believe it or not, it is run by Punjabi people.  It is about as basic as you can get  and it was super cold! Fortunately there was heat and we felt much better after our lousy showers. We draped the entire room with our wet items, parked our bikes right in the room and went for Indian food at the pub. It was good, I had a Mikes Hard Cherry Lemonade which I drank too fast and a Bud Light. Charlie went over to talk with some Hutterite escapee boys and I struggled to stay awake, lapsing every few minutes into sleep right at the table over my blog.