DAY 28: DEPARTURE FROM REGINA... ALMOST

29 June 2007

Having two days off just makes one lazy and slow. We slept in till (gasp!) 7, had some eggs, and kind of lounged around in our hostel. We were on the road by 10. A few blocks away from the hostel, one of my front racks had broken off. Actually, what had happened was the bolt holding it to the fork snapped, and there was no way to replace it with a new one. So, we headed to a bike shop to get it fixed. What an ordeal it all was! They told us they'd be able to remove it if we went to a hardware store and got them the appropriate drill bit (they didn't have the right size on hand). So off we went, to Home Hardware, the nearest store. They didn't have what we wanted, and so we moved on to Home Depot, where we met Steve, an employee who used to be a pro cyclist. Apparently cycling is as dirty as they say: Steve had to quit because he was addicted to steroids.

The drill bits in Home Depot were quite expensive, and we were told that we could go to Sport Check across the street to get it fixed. So, off we went. But, again, the staff at Sport Check didn't have the tools to help us out. We were starving, and frustrated. We decided to have some pancakes and waffles at a pancake and waffle house, and moved on. We went to a different bike shop where, after two younger mechanics tried what they could, the older, more experienced owner of the shop showed them how it's done. It took him five minutes, and my rack was back up. When he finished, he said, "why don't you give me $5 and we'll call it even." That's it, just as if it was nothing. According to Dan, that guy was a real man. Indeed, he was.

So, this day was not all that exciting. In the end, we decided not to even try going anywhere, as it was 4 by the time we finished with all that, and the wind was an easterly one, blowing at speeds of 40 km/h. We were not about to battle that this late. To save some money, we checked into a campsite just outside Regina, where we'll be spending the night.