Day Twenty Nine - Taylor's Cove

Before I went to sleep last night I checked the forecast and it called for rain at 3 am. As the tent was so hot I took off my fly and set my alarm at 1 am to wake me up to put it back on before the rain came.

There were so many bugs you could hear  a buzzing noise throughout the night, until the rain came. There were some bugs that I was familiar with but hadn't seen in BC called May Flies. I asked Ken about a bug that I didn't know and he said it was a Fish fly. The bathroom had thousands of May flies that frightened most until they found out that they didn't bite. 

When I was putting my tent fly on I could see the sheet lightening in the distance. The wind was starting to blow pretty hard. The Mosquitos still were trying to bite me even in the strong wind.

After a few more hours of sleep I wa awoken by the wind shaking the tent and the sound of rain pelting the tent. Inside it was still dry and I was happy not to be i  that storm. At 7 am it was still raining lightly and by the time I was ready to leave camp I was one of the last to leave. 

The first part of the ride we were fighting a cross wind from the west as we were headed south. Once we turned East our average speed increases to 30 km. Our first stop was in Emo at 60 km. There was no services before that and we still had 30 km to go before Fort Francis. 

At the Fort we had a quick lunch and decided to check out the city a little bit before we headed back on the highway. The waterfront in Fort Francis is on Rainy Lake. It is quite beautiful except for the smell of pulp because of the mill is also in the lake. 

All riders got into camp fairly early and most had their tasks completed before dinner was served. Dinner was chilli and salad and it was quite good. 

Campsite at Taylor's Cove

Fish flies between fly and tent at campsite in Caliper Lake

Nice view on the causeway just outside of Fort Frances ON

Day Twenty Eight - Caliper Lake

This morning my galley crew and I created the most delicious pancakes.  Well really it was just the no name pancake mix but we had left over raspberries from a desert from a couple of meals ago, some chocolate chips, powdered sugar, and maple syrup (really Aunt Jemima).  The same pancakes in a posh restaurant would be $30.  We did it for pennies and it tasted very very good.

Today’s ride was126 km and was supposed to get easier the farther along we got but it didn’t seem that way for most of us.  Our first stop was for lunch at 75 km into the ride as we didn’t see any other option but some found some ice-cream sandwiches at 25 km.  Before we stopped for lunch we crossed a bridge that once used to be the longest single-span wooden bridge in North America.  The new bridge that opened in 2007 re-used some of the timber from the old.

The temperature today peaked at 35 and the head wind was a factor in our slower pace.  We are still in the Canadian shield here and it is rocky and hilly.  The route is way more interesting than the prairies but today our elevation gain was about 600 metres so we aren’t in the flat land anymore.

We stopped a couple of times to cool ourselves in the shade and to eat.  In the pic below John is eating a sausage his wife’s cousin the butcher made.

About 20 km from the campground I spotted a boat launch adjacent to the road we were on and I took the opportunity to cool my feet for a couple of minutes.  The rest of our riding group caught up and Ken was the only other one to cool his feet and more.  Ken took off his socks and shoe and wadded in and then laid down on his back.  He said it was the best thing that he did all day.  See pic below.

Once I got to camp I set up my tent to dry and air it out.  Most mornings we don't have a chance to do this so it is the first thing I do when we get to camp.  After my tent was set up I head to the lake for a cool swim.  The water had a lot of silt in it but the temperature was nice and it cooled me off.  Dinner followed soon after.

Tomorrow we will be very close to a city in the US called International Falls.  Some people are considering going over to the US for lunch.  International Falls is close to Fort Francis.  I hope to meet a college roommate to see if he would like to get some lunch tomorrow as we will be there at that time.

John with his wife's cousins sausage

Taken from the bridge made of reclaimed wood from the previous bridge at Souix Narrows

Ken cooling off on a hot day near Caliper Lake ON

Day Twenty Seven - Rest Day Kenora

It was 8 before I opened my eyes and emerged from the tent. It was a rest day and I had plans to go to the bike shop at 10. Matt also needed to go for a derailure adjustment. When we left Duncan joined us as we were going for lunch afterwards at 1.

The bike shop said they had seen a few wheels like mine in the past year. They were all different brands of bikes. Common problem I guess. My wheel can only be replaced by another Trek wheel as it uses a through axel that only Trek uses. My next touring bike should have common parts that are available anywhere. 

Lunch was at the Lake of the Woods brewery. Wednesday is the only day that it is busy there because of the farmers market. We waited a half an hour to get a table for six as other riders were joining us there. Lunch was good and we had a lot of laughs. 

It was 3 when we decided to go back to camp before we fell a sleep. Once back at camp a couple of us headed to the lake for a swim but I opted for a nap on the grass in the shade. 

Dinner was leftovers shrimp jambalaya. It was good last night for dinner and good today too. Really quite an uneventful rest day but very relaxing. We have only 4 days to the next rest day where we will be staying inside for the first time since Vancouver. 

Lunch at Lake of the Woods Brewery

A welcome sign after 100 miles of horseflys

Day Twenty Six - Kenora

This morning it took a while to get up.  I still feel like I’m running on Pacific time and we are now two time zones away in Central.  Even though it didn’t rain everyone’s tent was soaked from the morning moisture from the grass.  John’s wife came at 7 to bring bagels, cream cheese and salmon.  Thanks again!

Today was the last of 6 days that we will be biking in a row.  Tomorrow is a rest day.  In the past six days we have travelled close to 1000 kms.  We did 172 kms today and it was supposed to be an “easy” century ride.  Some people did find it easy but my legs were very tired.  

As soon as I left camp today I noticed that my rear tire was rubbing on my fender.  I rode for a while like that until the group caught up to me and encouraged me to look at it closer.  I eventually took the fender off and it was ok for a while.  About 30 km after that the tire started rubbing on the frame.  I stopped and checked the wheel to find that a spoke broke away from the rim of the tire and the portion of rim was also gone.  No chance to replace the spoke.  I loosened the spokes around the missing one to balance out the wheel and that worked to Kenora. The wheel was still very unbalanced for most of the day.

Our first stop was to be at a bakery in Whitemouth.  One of the veterans had gone there four years ago but when we arrived there it was not there.  We opted to go to the hotel restaurant close by.  Most people enjoyed the apple, cherry, or blueberry pie.  At that point it was 11 and we were not very far into the ride and most people made it a short stop.

The terrain changed today from very flat prairie to undulating short hills.  It was a welcome change and for most of the day I found the scenery to be interesting.  One very notable point was the horseflys that were swarming around us.  There were about thirty around the five of us.  A couple of people got bit more than once but I didn’t thankfully.  We noticed that they were so big that they cast their own shadow. 

Our next stop was in Rennie for a cold drink.  A woman and man came up to us and asked about our travels.  The man said that he had completed a fund raising trip from Niagara Falls to Winnipeg.  People are interested in why we are doing this tour, where we are going, and where we came from.

The last stop was for some ice cream in ice Whiteshell.  We were told by other riders that we should stop but we didn’t find anything special about it.  I had a “fresh” pineapple shake.  It consisted of 3 rings of pineapple that had been quartered and then added to a vanilla shake.  Not really what I had in mind.  Cold and refreshing non the less.

Once we finally got into camp it was the normal rush to get the tent and sleeping bags dry with the remaining sunlight.  I asked the galley crew how long until dinner.  Then Matt reminded me that I was supposed to be on tonight.  It seemed that I just did it a couple of days ago.  The days seem to blend together and its hard to separate one place from another.

The hilight of the day was listening to a folk band practice for a performance while I was waiting for my laundry to complete.  Matt went back to the campsite to tell the group about it and two more people joined us to enjoy the music.  Tomorrow is a rest day and I plan to sleep in and then late morning make my way to the bike shop to see if they can help me with my wheel.

Manitoba done! Now only three weeks until cross through Ontario

Hills and more hills.  Come on rest day!

Panorama on bridge just before Kenora ON

Listening to musicians practice their folk music while waiting for laundry to finish at the campground in Kenora

Day Twenty Five - Beausajour

This morning I planned to get up early and leave with Sam to get into Winnipeg early to get to a bike store to get my shifter looked at and my derailures adjusted. Sam was feeling a little sick so we didn't leave at 6:30 but soon after 7. 

At the campground there was a little wind but not enough to keep the mosquitoes from bitting us non stop. On the highway the wind was pretty strong and from the west. A tailwind helped us make great time into Winnipeg. There was some construction like yesterday but it seemed not as bad.

We followed the transcanada into Winnipeg which became Portage Ave. it was a busy road so at Assiniboine Park we crossed over and followed a very nice residential street. I was surprised to see huge mansions lined the street. Houses that were much larger and extravagant than the real nice houses in Victoria. 

We arrived at Woodcock Cycle and a brought my bike right to the mechanics and they looked at it right away. I got six more tubes and some chamois butter. The mechanic said that my shifter was missing parts but they made it work. 

We met all the other riders at "The Forks".  The Forks is a lot like Granville Island but it is situated at the intersection of the Assiniboin River and Red River. It is quite beautiful and green. 

While there waiting for the group to explore the area I made some calls and arranged for a bike shop in Thunder Bay to get me a new shifter and rear wheel.  The rear wheel has developed cracks around 5 spokes. Bill at the Trek store in Victoria said that the parts should be covered by the warranty. 

We left The Forks around 2 and cycled the 20 Km to John's house. He was nice enough to invite us to his house for some drinks and snacks before we continue the 32 km to the campsite. Then at the camp John's family prepared a delicious meal with desert for us. Everyone ate too much and very happy. Thanks John, Teresa, and Madeline!

A very very good end to the day. 

Thanks John for the dinner.

Bridge over highway to John's house

Assiniboine Park

Day Twenty Four - Portage la Prairie

This morning  I was in no hurry to leave the tent as during the night the temperature dropped to 12 degrees.  I woke up to close both my fly at about 3.  Earlier I was awaken from the sound of fireworks.   Other tour members were woken up by some drunk women that started speaking with Australian accents.  Such excitement at the campgrounds.

Before I left camp I checked the weather.  The temperature was going up to 25 and the wind would be coming from the south west.  That was great news as that would be a tailwind for us.  Any time we weren’t travelling east the wind slowed us right down.

The first stop of the day was in Neepawa.  It is the hometown of Margret Lawrence.  Nobody in the group decided to visit her home but it was in the cue sheets.  Most of us stopped at a Tim Horton’s for a drink and a snack.  

Just after Neepawa there was highway construction.  The pavement had been stripped from the road and what was left made my bike vibrate so much I thought that it would fall apart.  We left the road and rode on the packed dirt/sand that was on the shoulder.  The road was still heading east but the packed sand slowed us down considerably.  Once we hit pavement again our speeds topped 50 kmph.  We talked to a construction worker and they said there was still more construction just past Gladstone.

Gladstone was the next stop.  We went into the town but everything was closed because it was a Sunday.  I didn’t realize what day it was.  To me it’s day 3 of a 5 day leg of the tour.  Our days off really feel like Saturday or Sunday.  We found a gas station that was on the highway to get a drink.  As we got there the other riders were leaving.

Before we left two other riders joined us and we contemplated taking a different route than highway 16.  We tried the alternate route but the wind was so strong that it would have taken a considerable more time than the suggested route.  We added an extra 11 km onto our day in the attempt to avoid the construction.

Before Portage la Prairie there was more of the same construction but the wind was still at our backs.  We did ride on some fresh pavement that was really nice especially with the tailwind. 

Once in Portage I noticed the town looks a lot like Peterborough, my hometown.  Most of the streets are tree lined and the some of houses in the downtown are brick.   The park that we are staying in is very nice and has a lot of grassy areas and trees for shade.  Tomorrow is a long day and I will be getting to be early.

Rough road very hard on bikes and bums

Pic doesn't show it well but the headwind was brutal

Crescent Lake in Portage La Prairie

Day Twenty Three - Minnedosa

Last night I woke up numerous times to the sound of rain on my tent. A wet 136 km day is not too much fun. My group was on galley duty so it was up early in the rain to prepare pancakes for the group.

Even though we lost a hour, because we are in the central time zone, we had all left by 8:45. The rain was still coming down and we had a headwind for the first coupe of kms.  Once we turned south, Sam and I, made really good time. 

We stopped in Birtle at a store for a hot drink and to warm up out of the wind and rain. Just when we arrived all the riders that were ahead of us were leaving. We spent 20 minutes getting warm and headed uphill out of town. 

Our second stop was for lunch where we met everyone again at the local hotel in Shoal Lake where there was a restaurant attached.  When the bills were being paid Matt explained to the waitress that he had a "cheese toastie".  He was referring to the grill cheese that he had for lunch. I really enjoy hearing how the English have different words for everyday things. 

Just before Minnedosa I saw a van that had pulled over and notice bikes on the back on being a Cervelo TT bike. I asked him if we could buy any tubes off of him and he gave me two free. Tyler and his wife AJ, from New Westminster BC, were on there way back home from vacation.

Tyler had an Ironman sticker on his bike and asked about it. He explained he had completed the Ironman in Whistler BC in 2014. It was the same race that I completed in preparation for this tour. I can't believe that I met an Ironman in the middle of nowhere and I was lucky enough to get some tubes from him. Thanks Tyler and family. See pic below. 

The rest of the day was about getting to camp to dry out our gear and refuel. Once at camp there was a nice wind and some sun that was able to dry out all our wet gear. A very nice end to a day that started out very wet and cold. 

Arlen using a Safeway bag to keep his helmet dry.

Prairie storm clouds moving toward us.

Tyler and AJ to the rescue with bike tubes.