Another solid week of driving. Added many hundreds of KMs just to hit as many “World’s Biggest X” as I reasonably could. Even extended how far north I went. Fall is in the air up here in Northern Alberta, with nights hitting lows of 10c. Nice change from the 20c+ of the last two weeks that made car sleeping humid and sweaty.

No purpose to this ride/detour other than visiting big stuff and cool statues!

First stop: Dominion City, home of the largest Sturgeon.

Like the Squid in Newfoundland, this is a life-size replica of a real fish. It's huge.

Parked in Altona to start my ride.

Home of the World's Largest Painting on an Easel. It towers over everything around it, it's great.

Now we begin our long windy rectangle ride... Typical Manitoba green fields all around.

I bike faster then tractors. Superhuman.

City of Morden, Manibota! They scattered a few big dinosaur statues for tourists to find.

This is Bruce, a lifesize replica of a large Mosasaurus skeleton that was found.

Dino museum. No time to go in. Besides I know everything about the past already.

Archelon, another life-sized replica, this time a prehistoric turtle.

Found this little guy guarding a truck.

Life-size prehistoric fish!

Sadly that's all of them, just three :(

Really quite a happening region as you can see. They had corn mazes too.

Stopped at gas station to get water in the heat wave and saw this ad. Couldn't say no.

This was the last one! Needs more cheese, Nelly.

I was damn tired at this point but had to stop and see what the hell is in a potato store.

Sadly it wasn't just potatoes.

City of Winkler, where I was looking for the largest Monarch but found this arena...

With a giant Hockey stick. Sadly not the largest.

Little creepy tricycle robot hanging out in the doorway. Why did you make this, person? Why?

Finally found it! They kept bragging about how it weighs 500 pounds.

500 pounds of metal isn't that big I guess. OK I CAN LEAVE.

Back to the wind and the green screensaver fields.

Had to take a pic of this cool city sign. No large plums though.

Shit, plum fest. Next year.

Endlessly flat and straight.

Back on the road with still a lot of driving to do, due to many more large things!

Largest pumpkin! 5/10 could be larger.

Largest ( non-functional ) fire hydrant. There's a largest FUNCTIONAL one in the USA.

Largest smoking pipe in St-Claude. Maybe turn it into a vape now.

Final stop and where I spent the night: Portage la Prairie, home of the largest Coca-Cola can! It's huge

Had planned a 100km sort of crappy out-and-back ride in Riding Mountain National Park but the weather forecast was for heavy rainstorms so I just decided to drive 10+ hours that day to visit as many large things as I could and bank up hours for future days.

Noticing that bagels have more calories then donuts...

First stop: The Happy Rock, in Gladstone! How could you not stop to see this?

Largest crocuses. It wasn't even labeled as "largest" on my map but there was a sign making the claim...

Largest "Purple Martin" colony. I had no idea what the hell this was from just the name.

You can't get too close but turns out it's a ton of birdhouses... Oh I know what that is!

In French they are called "Black Swallows". People build these multi-level nests on their yard hoping to attract small colonies of them. Well that city wins I guess.

Viking boat in a small Swedish theme town. Swedish bakery was closed. Robbed.

Me looking like a dying leukemia patient.

This is where I had planned to ride that day, but it was raining hard shortly after taking this pic.

I do believe this is the largest Elk.

Hah funny name.

Ok well this one sort of sucks. Guy built a giant swing on his yard.

Then it was eventually moved to this tiny city. Can't swing on it either because lawsuits probably.

Drove really far out of the way on this dirt road to see the next thing.

Drove so far it wasn't raining anymore. Just that dusty arid yellow field landscape.

Quilly Willy, mascot of a town called Porcupine Tree. You really gotta want to see him.

So this is the largest HONEY bee, because there's a largest BEE in Alberta.

This town, Tisdale, is apparently the honey capital of Canada. Well the bee proves it for me.

Boy this was underwhelming. Saskatchewan doesn’t have a whole lot going on so just having a bunch of trees is enough to make a park I guess. They promise you bison and bears galore but it’s just duck ponds and empty beaver dwellings.

Big wolf statue in Prince Albert, the city I stayed at the previous night.

It's pretty far north and has a huge native population from what I could see at the Wal-Mart.

That's pretty much the only thing to see in the park. This lake.

It has... fish in it? That's cool I guess.

If you live in Saskatchewan, this is blowing your mind right now. A hill higher than 10m and pine trees.

There's a resort town around the lake, and a huge gold course.

Bear-theme children's playground.

It's definitely not a bike-centric area. Just a summer camp really.

Big lake at least.

Their chinatown.

There's a ridiculous amount of bugs up here btw. This windshield goo is from one day of driving.

Every car in the northern prairies has a bumper covered in yellow bug goop like this.

Perk of being back in Anytime Fitness land is I get to foam roll if I'm not too lazy. Legs really getting tight.

My new favorite way to visit a city is to map a course around big statues and landmarks and to cross the river as much as possible.

Witnessing a boomer circle, a typical sight of Tim Hortons.

This junkyard had a JunkaSaurus. Easily one of the coolest statues I've seen on the trip.

It's gigantic and just sitting right in front of the scrap yard as people unload trucks of junk into bins.

Look at the intricate detail and care that went into this! 10/10

Also have a large globe.

And these two piles of trash that Michael Bay was trying to pass off as Transformers.

As with all towns, there's a river snaking through.

Some of these riverside mansions were really getting out of control.

All the larger cities have these mansion areas.

Section of the path with the dumbest design I've seen, forcing you to make like 4 sharp turns to keep going straight.

Canada staying at the forefront of the beef tech

Windmill on top of a garden center.

Little sad flat buffalo sitting all alone on a street corner : (

Another one

Wolf howling next to a business center.

His name is Rusty.

This dog is the Sakatoon University sport team mascot or something.

I'm not reading that much info about a sports team, ever.

Under the large bridge that crosses the river downtown.

From a distance I thought it was another Terry Fox statue

But it's just a generic great guy statue. Life goals right there: Get your town to build you a statue.

More river

There's a very nice bike path that follows the river and connects a bunch of parks.

Don't feed them, eat them.

Gazebo near the river. Must be a popular wedding venue?

Sitting on a roundabout downtown.

Wire Tiger, again along the bike path. Bike paths are slow garbage for getting around but they're great for taking pictures of cool stuff.

If I lived there, I'd go.

Onward with the driving afterwards. First stop: North BattleFord

Home of the largest Mountie! That one is safe.

They have a little wire bison there as well.

Then to Cut Knife, home of the largest Tomahawk! That one's real badass.

This is as representative of Saskatchewan as I can get. Blue skies, flat, yellow fields.

Next up: Largest Bunnock. What the hell is a Bunnock, you may ask?

This explains it. Enjoy.

Chauvin, tiny town home of the largest softball. Still no budget for a large bat.

Loydminster: The largest Sundial. It's more just a bunch of logs in a park but I guess it counts...

Dewberry: Largest Chuckwagon. I'm guessing it was used and not just a joke statue? Kind of just weird.

Last one, as the sun was starting to set: The Largest Perogy! Lot of Polish/ Ukrainian heritage around Alberta apparently.

This giant St-Bernard was barking at me while taking pics of the perogy. He was so mad. I win, dog.

That's the rest stop I slept at. Alberta definitely a different landscape, now with large rolling hills with views on the plains.

I had high hopes for this one. The entire thing has fences and cattle guards and the animals have nowhere to go since the forest ends and then it’s just fields.

Started the morning in Vegreville, home of the largest Pyanka. Some kind of Ukraine thing I dunno.

They have a very nice little park around the egg and whatnot.

Next up: Mundare, home of the largest sausage!

Big Polish community around there bragging about their big sausages.

Also this blue bison that some students painted on. Where else were they going to put it but next to the sausage?

Andrew: Largest Mallard! Bigger and goofier then the one from Manitoba I saw last week.

Across the duck this badass classic car for sale.

Last one: Largest Oil Derrick. Once functional, now just sitting there for tourists.

The history of Derreck.

Starting the ride at the park. Look at how much they hype the wildlife.

At the visitor center. This has fuckall to do with Elk and Bears. Please stop.

First went to this Ukrainian Historic village but the lady said bikes aren't allowed on site. I'll keep my 15$ I guess.

Urgh a line to get into nature.

On a trail. Looks like we found a new loophole to install cameras in showers. "Just monitoring wildlife madam".

Lady at the gate said they have 30-40 black bears living in the forest. Saw zero :( She says they're afraid of people.

Ah yes Alberta strength cattleguards. Bison are going nowhere, these things would break them in half.

All I saw is just these endless duck ponds and lakes. Sigh.

Oh yeah, sure, sure. Swarms of bison everywhere, yeah yeah.

Oh look, a bison. No wait, it's a lake again.

Is this one the bison? No just a swampy lake with no beavers.

Got a flat again from a metal needle/pin that was left on the road. Here's a horrible picture of it :(

Was quite annoyed at changing a flat in the heat with my GP5000 tyres. They are way too tight and will shred your hands on hot days.

Had time to eat at a pub in Edmonton. Bison burger! Bison is a prairie thing so that's why.

It may not look like it, but Edmonton is a pretty amazing city as it is the home of the world’s largest boot :O :O :O :O

Was hearing a bunch of scratching and pecking on the car when I woke up that morning, thought seagulls were dancing on the roof.

Turns out it was half a dozen magpies eating the crushed bugs on my front bumper! They're all over the parking lot doing the same thing with other cars. Recycling.

The World's Largest Badminton racket. Almost missed it. A little underwhelming...

Passed through the St Albert's farmer's market that was going on. So many stalls. So much beef jerky.

Some wheat stalks made out of ...ducks

Largest boot.

Oh wait no, THIS is the largest boot!

Largest boot.

Right over. There.

World's Largest Boot, at a biker store.

Your typical river + city view.

Edmonton really looks like a rough place to live honestly.

Large Stanley cup.

Imagine the size of the team you need to win one this large.

Was tricked onto the bike path. It goes up and down along the river's edge and you get semi-nature views like this.

There's like 10 bridges crossing the North Saskatchewan River.

Went pretty far outside the city in the end.

Ended my ride close to the Edmonton West Mall! Formely the world's largest.

Now not even in the top 10 :( But what's inside?

The city of Edmonton itself is pretty industrial/bland with hordes of hobos roaming about. Had to wonder why the hell anyone would live here. Fortunately they have this giant, badass mall that has everything you could imagine. It’s just fun to walk around it and discover everything. It took me about 3 hours to walk the entire thing.

The mall has two levels and lots of very cool things. Of course half of the stores are just generic clothing stores.

Almost 60 year old Port at the liquor store :O

First store I went into.

Really cramped and just full of collectibles of all sorts.

Buy literal money that's worth more money then money.

"No you don't understand babe, these are investments!"

More "investments" here. Store full of investments for single men.

They really have everything in there.

Next: Lego store!

They decorated it with several large sculpture of Lego made out of Lego

Kickass helicopter on the 2nd level of the Lego store.

Even a life-sized version of their Lego lambo model.

Just over 1000$? Worth it. Remember: This is an investment, not a really cumbersome decoration.

The store had tons of the largest Lego models produced. I'd have killed for this as a kid. Many with nearly 10 000 bricks.

Gah why didn't you make this in the 90s, before they ruined Star Wars? My dad would totally have spend 1000$ on one Lego set for Christmas...

There's a huge marine park with a pirate ship in the center of the mall. It's quite a sight.

It was fun to walk around and stumble on new random things like this all morning.

You can go under there and explore a marine museum/cave with tons of aquariums and fish. Costs money though.

It smells like cinnabon there too, instead of sweaty pirates and seaweed. What an age we live in.

You can rent little swan paddle boats and go around the ship as well.

Another of the cooler stores. A mancave garbage store! It's got everything a woman thinks a man would love.

Pretty accurate for the most part. Muskets for home defense are a must in these uncertain times.

In-your-face versions of the same sugary stuff everyone else sells. Hell yeah.

Place to get an old timey western photo taken of you and your family ( if you had one )

Luxury car raffle.

There's a few of these "cute Japanese things" stores in the mall.

Oh yeah and a full-sized skating rink of course. There was even a hockey game going on.

Black light minigolf, always a must.

One of several candy stores.

Yes

Possibly unsanitary.

They have a goofy packaging version of regular candy for everyone in there. Hey it works, I'll buy anything.

There's a big play park for your kid's bday parties. Had some rides as well, like a little roller coaster.

Seemed to be a Japanese import store for electronics and plush dolls. What goes on in Japan exactly?

A cool Right Whale sculpture.

A dollar store "and more"??

Here, let me fix that for you.

A "kitch stuff for grandmas and cat lady" store in there. The female version of the "These are investments, babe" store.

Imported British food store! Got some Marmite chips. Not they are not good, but they are different! Still a win.

Casino!

There's a fancy wing with some upper scale stores, like this Rolex one.

Mall is so big it has its own Chinatown.

With 19th century "Ching" vases. They are very cool and detailed up front though.

Oh yeh, a legit Asian market! Has that familiar freezer burn fish smell. That means quality.

Why are you like this, asia?

When they hear about the New World Order "You'll eat bugs" conspiracies, people here just go "Nice, an upgrade!".

Live fish and seafood area. Always a must.

What on earth are these made-up fruits?

There's always a huge section of Asian cookies/candy. Matcha Oreos! And peach! Too bad I'm so fat.

A sort of Old Europe wing of the mall.

Another minigolf course, this one of the "Big Goofy Sculptures" variety.

There's even a legit shooting range in here! Seems to be in a different building though.

Gargoyles watching over the mall from the Cineplex.

A perfume store? No that's too specific, stop.

These are "Persian Size" bottles. Like a gallon each. You physically can't ever run out of this.

One of like 10 toy /gaming /hobby stores.

Probably the big attraction: The huge indoor waterpark. Must be PACKED in the winter.

This is a huge wave pool. This place is badass.

Sometimes you don't need to sell any actual product, just have a cool name and then go bankrupt a few months later. Ride the wave.

Go-Kart track!

Had some kind of zoo/ pet store area too? It's not a lazy people store.

Just eat more fiber, Canada. It doesn't have to be this way.

After Edmonton I was originally supposed to head strait back into the Rockies and to Jasper, but my quest to find all of Canada’s largest roadside attractions FORCED me ( yes ) on a two day detour way up north. Terrible riding but it’s worth it, trust me.

Largest Dragonfly, in Wabamun lake.

Largest "Tractor" Weather Vane, an hour north of Edmonton.

At this tractor museum. All these tiny towns with their "museums" are just too lazy to clear out old rusting relics aren't they?

These ones you get for free. Tractors used to be pretty fanciful.

Then a 3 hour drive north to Slave Lake, for the largest Walleye!

Further north still, the actual largest bee. It's just made out of mesh, this one sort of half counts honestly. Fill it with with foam for next time guys.

Another "museum". Was really windy and chilly at this point. Had that "You're the last person on earth and about to die" vibe here.

The point of this "ride" and detour for today: The Largest Railroad spike, in Hine's Creek!

It's a solid 4 hours north of Edmonton, very far out of my way. Worth...?

I couldn't imagine living in a place like this.

The area is still mostly flat farmlands and ranches, but I'm getting much closer to the mountains now.

Was treated to a double rainbow! Little patches of rain were going on/off in the region all day.

Look at this boy. He's beautiful. Started walking towards me as I got close to the fence.

Very Alberta thing right here. There's oil pumps all over the place in the most random areas. Suck that sweet go juice.

Another one in the books. Next week: Camping, Jasper and back to Calgary for a final “World’s Largest X” stint. Really enjoying the 1.50$/L gas now. When I started 3+ months ago, gas was over 2$ in BC with no sign of the rise stopping. I’m also saving a ton of gas from ditching that stupid roof back.
Full tank used to say about “680km to empty” now it’s at 780km and with the headwind. Those rooftop bags/boxes are more expensive to bring on long road trips then people think.

If you made it this far, feel free to join my Instagram and/or Strava!

Touring Canada Week 15 - Prairies: So Many Statues