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Saskatoon A wonderful small town in the prairies. Nothing is very far away and the traffic isn't intense or fast. I wouldn't describe it as bike friendly yet though. Most drivers are unaware of other cars, let alone bikes. The weather is what really makes Saskatoon a different place for biking. The summer is warm and dry with big winds. The winter is VERY cold with big winds. And unlike hills, the winds always seem to change around and become headwinds. I only bike about 5 or 6 kilometers to work. It isn't much. In the summer, I have taken as little as 14 minutes (flat out, almost dead on arrival) and as much as 55 minutes in a -35 degree blizzard(-50 something with windchill). Yes, I did have to get off the bike and push it through some of the deeper snow drifts... Spring Summer Fall I am blessed with the perfect ride. Fall is a wonderful golden colour here. First I have an easy and bumpy ride through the Meewasin Grasslands.
You can just see our house in the middle. Then through the park, and a kilometer of paved bike trail
Then wind through some residential back streets for a few kilometers, and then out into open fields and along the railway tracks. There is a pleasant little path along one side, but in winter it fills with snow, and I have to bike along the gravel alongside the railway tracks. The wind tends to keep the tops of hills clear of snow.
The only way over the highway is the railway bridge. Then through the wheat fields, and a not so pretty power sub-station.
Through the wheat. SED Systems is under the 10 meter satellite dish that can be seen on the right side of the photo. The dish is the Telemtry, Tracking and Control for RadarSat, a former project of mine. |
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Email me! warren.long@shaw.ca Click on photos with a border for a bigger one! ******* |