Bikepacking as a Beginner in Saskatchewan
- Posted on
- By Brianne Chapman
A beginner bike packers experience bike-packing to Blackstrap Lake from Saskatoon and back.
So you've seen all the posts, you've looked at all the gear and you live in in Saskatchewan (prime bike-packing territory). It sounds like you're primed and ready to delve into your first bike-packing adventure. Soon you will be looking up the best, most interesting routes. You'll be deciding on which bags to use and how they're going to attach to your bike. You'll be obsessing over packing strategy and hoping that you nailed it, only to find out (mid-route usually) that something isn't working. If any of this rings true... welcome. This is my experience biking to Blackstrap from Saskatoon as a beginner bike-packer.
The Route
50 km from Saskatoon to Blackstrap. When I am route planning, I am always looking for the most interesting route. You're slow traveling so you may as well try and see something worth traveling for. If you are faced with endless stretches of acreages and farmland, as we are, on the outskirts of the city, I like to add turns to break up the mileage. This way if there's not much to look at, at least your brain has something to look forward to. So we right turned our way to Clavet, which we had originally wanted to stop in for lunch, but in true small town fashion, their cafe is only open on weekdays. Since we are weekend warriors, we said a quick hello and goodbye to Clavet and continued on our way. Once we got past Clavet we were treated to scenic views like these:
It turns out there is a massive slough on the road we were on with tons birds. I had seen remnants of this slough on the map when I was planning the route, but because of all the rain we've had, it was even more spectacular than I had hoped. It was truly so beautiful and peaceful. The road is also really good from Clavet to Shields ( our next point of interest). I'm not sure if it stays that way throughout the year but it was a nice fast gravel road.
Our timing couldn't have been better when we hit the town of Shields because we were lucky enough to be able to catch their much belated Canada Day Parade. There were horses, a pirate ship and candy was thrown at us. We stood on the side of the road and accepted our candy fate, cheering as the small parade went by. It's quite a strange experience to ride into a town and be greeted by the people of the town as if they knew you were coming. Obviously this was not the case. They were waiting for the parade but it's fun to pretend.
After Shields, we were a hop, skip and a jump away from our destination. We ended up taking a back door route to get onto the bridge that crosses the lake. Parts of it were bike friendly and others were not. Looking back now, there were definitely better options but hey! you live and you learn. If you find yourself at the top of a steep hill looking down at the lake, congrats! You're exactly where we were and because of that we can sympathize with the descent you're about to have to tackle.
The Setup
This is my current setup, but it seems to be ever changing.
The Bike
Frame: 2021 Cannondale Topstone Lefty 3, Size XS, mostly stock specs
Tires: Panaracer Gravel Kings with TPU Tubes.
Starting at the Front:
- on the bars I have the Ortlieb 9L Handelbar pack. ( this is one I'm considering switching out as I am not really happy with the functionality of this bag for how I am using it).
- On the fork I have my sleeping bag strapped to a Topeak Versacage which I actually have been pretty happy with.
- Also on the bars I have a feed bag that I made myself.
To the Back:
- I have an Ortlieb 11L Seat bag.
- I recently picked up the Old Man Mountain Elkhorn Rack in the short version as well as the 7 L Hemlock Bags with the Flipcages. I am extremely happy with both of these items so far and would definitely recommend them.
How/What I Packed
The following is a list of what I packed and where it got packed. I tried to organize my stuff by category which I find makes packing and repacking easier.
Hemlock Bag #1
- Tent Fly and sleeping pad
Hemlock Bag #2
- Tent, Tent Footprint and Pillow
Strapped to Top of Elkhorn Rack
- Tent poles, Kryptonite Mini U lock and then I did end up strapping my 1L yeti yonder bottle to this on my ride home.
Rear Seatbag
- MSR Pocket Rocket Stove
- one small pot
- one spork
- one dish
- one breakfast & one supper
- snacks to stay fueled
- fuel canister
- Nocs Monocular
- Small First Aid kit
- bug spray
Strapped to Fork
- My sleeping bag and my portable charger
Bar Bag
- clothing
- Bike Tools ( spare tube, multi tool, lube)
- 1 L Yeti Yonder Bottle (going there, moved it to rear rack going home for easier access)
Water - 3L Total
- 2 x 500 ml Bivo Bottles carried on bike
- 2 x 500 ml Salomon Soft Flasks (one carried in my back bib cargo pocket, and one carried in my feed pouch for easy access)
- 1 x 1 L Yeti Yonder Bottle
The Experience
Getting somewhere under your own power is very freeing, and it's something you don't understand until you do it. The feeling of accomplishment is matched only by the confidence gained. The journey is a slow one but the slowness let's you appreciate everything you're seeing. You get to explore parts of your province that you normally would never even think of going through by car, In other words, you get to know your surroundings so much better. If you go with your friends as I was lucky enough to do, it's even better because now you get to have these experiences alongside other people.
50 km is nothing to some bikers, but as the title of this article suggests, I am a beginner bike packer, so 50 km is a distance that is attainable to most people while also allowing some bragging rights. It is a low risk trip because we are still so close to the city so if anything were to go wrong, it's easy to be rescued. The campsite has bathrooms, potable water and showers, so once you've made it to the site, you can relax a little. We certainly did. We hung out by the beach, took a dip in the lake, cooked our suppers and converged around the picnic table, only to head to bed at 9:30 because we were tired and it was getting dark out. I loved every second. 10/10.
