UNITY — Another group of bikers arrived in Unity July 16 and 17, only this time there were no loud motors roaring, only the whispers of pedals moving. Sask. Cycling (saskcycling.ca) made Unity one of their stops on a weekend excursion.
Gail Todd, a former Unity resident, was one of the group’s participants. There was a total of 80 riders, with 40 arriving each Saturday and Sunday of their tour. While the group’s participants are from all over the province and beyond, Todd herself lives in Ottawa.
Todd is the daughter of Irwin, known as Toddy, and Menella Todd. The family moved to Unity from Manitoba with their three girls, Carol, Gail, and Angela.
Todd’s mother, Menella, wrote for the Unity Herald and wrote articles for a TV station in North Battleford. Their move to Regina when Gail was in Grade 9 was a result of mom getting a job opportunity with the Leader Post.
Sport was always a part of Gail’s life as while teaching, she coached high school sports, mostly basketball and volleyball, in the Queen City.
She was the Executive Director for the Royal Life Saving Society of Saskatchewan before serving as an Executive Assistant to the Minister of Sport, Culture and Recreation. She also served on the board of directors, and is past president, of the Saskatchewan Team Handball Federation. She is the past president of Sask. Sport Council as well is a past board of director and past president. In 1989, Gail moved to Ottawa, continuing to work in sport and recreation as well as serving in senior management positions with the Canadian Wildlife Federation, Canada's Fitweek Secretariat, and SMC Management Consulting Group. Todd also was a volunteer with fundrasising for programs like the YMCA, YWCA and the Kidney Foundation. She became involved in sports there. She began working at the YMCA and also started rowing. Her working career ended as a realtor before retiring.
Gail’s first bike tour was in Croatia with a friend from Regina who is joining her on the cycling tour that made Unity an overnight stop.
“Unity is my hometown, so when I saw the route stopped there, I thought I would give it a go,” said Gail.
The Croatia tour was to celebrate Gail’s 70th birthday, which required a decent bike and training.
“I moved to Ottawa 23 plus years ago and I love Ottawa, but I love opportunities to get back home. And yes, I am a die-hard Rider fan,” says Gail.
Todd notes that the July 16 ride group that arrived in Unity had ridden 85 kilometres upon arrival in town, and she acknowledged all of the encouraging honks they received along the way.
Programming director, Don Cook, made mention that Jeff Bridgeman has ridden with the group in years past.
Sask. Cycling Association
SCA say they often get people returning to tours year after year.
Sarah, from Sask. Cycling Assoc., says, “We try to go to different parts of the province every year. It has been a while since we were this way so decided it was time to return as it is such a beautiful area to ride through. We also try to find places that have nice roads to ride on.”
The cycling tour groups have a couple of vans and trailers that follow participants, stopping every 20 kilometres for food and water and such. If needed, cyclists can get into vans. People pack for all conditions and SCA notes that many of the riders just ride though most weather events. The organization does provide an emergency plan to participants on where to seek shelter in case of inclement weather that should not be ridden through.
SCA says they have been doing tours such as this one since the early 2000s.
“It was originally brought along to introduce people to the idea of tour cycling and it has grown leaps and bounds, now resulting in breaking into two tours, leaving on different days of the weekend to fit in more participants,” says SCA
The tours are enabled because of volunteers who work year-round to plan and execute the summer cycling tour, as it takes many man hours to bring the event together.
The tour is known as GASP (Great Annual Saskatchewan Pedal) and introduces cycle touring in a supportive manner. The tour that is making Unity their overnight stop will be travelling over 600 kilometres.
You can learn more about the Sask. Cycling Association on website https://saskcycling.ca/ or follow them on their Facebook page, (1) Saskatchewan Cycling Association - Great Annual Saskatchewan Pedal | Facebook
