Pilgrimage to Rouleau

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Pilgrimage to Rouleau

Thursday, 21 June ‘07

Today we all went to Rouleau. Rouleau, Saskatchewan is the site where “Corner Gas” is filmed, at least the outdoor scenes. Corner Gas is a Canadian comedy show, about life in a very small rural town called “Dog River”. It could really be almost any small rural town, in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, or any such place where agriculture is the mainstay & those who aren’t farmers have a pretty minor role in the general scheme of things. It’s one of our favorite shows.

Anyway, it certainly seemed like a reasonable distance for me to cycle there, and Bob & Panna would probably pass me about 3/4 the way there & we’d meet & take some photos. Even if there was not much to see there, how many of our friends could say they’ve been to Rouleau?

It started out well enough for me, the first 8 kilometres or so on the TransCanada Highway, with its paved shoulders wide enough for a car in places and kind transport drivers who gave me a wide berth. But then I turned onto the road to Rouleau, and began what was a climb of 40+ kilometres. Or at least that’s how it felt with the combination of cross- and head-winds. Plus there seems to be a bit of an optical illusion when riding on a flat road, that it’s got a slight incline ahead. I kept waiting and waiting for the descent to begin - no such luck! Whereas on Tuesday & on Wednesday I was able to pace my rest breaks at intervals of 15-20 km, today I found I was stopping at 8 km intervals, after the first 17 km. It was insane, because were it not for the wind the ride would have been fantastic. Saw four long freight trains, got passed by many transports, again giving me wide berth (maybe because of my wide berth??).

Anyhow, when Bob passed me I was only about halfway to Rouleau, so I told him to just keep going & I’d get there when I could, probably in a couple more hours, and maybe he should check back in about an hour in case I did have to “give it up”. He came back to tell me the “construction - watch for flagmen” signs were not true - in fact they were shooting an episode, & he got a chance to observe some of the performers on the set before they broke for lunch. The security folks, mostly young college-age guys & gals, really seemed to get a kick out of Panna - well, doesn’t everybody? So I kept going & decided to call it a day when I got there, even if I’d only gone about 50 kilometres - I hope to make it up on another day.

Once we loaded up the bike in the van we took a bit of a drive around town to see the other spots which are used as sets, the police station, the grocery store, & the hotel. It must be weird to live in a town which is known mainly as the set for a TV show.

DAY 3: Moose Jaw to Rouleau - 49.7 km, in 3:58 hours, ave. speed 12.5 km/hr, max speed 22.3 km/hr - not the best set of data...

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