Day 34

6/24/09: Off Segment; Dauphin, Manitoba to the Narrows of Lac Manitoba, Manitoba; 73 miles.

First: Caveman Kenny…….any other email address I can get you at. Your email address will not work when I send you a reply to your emails through our contact form. And thanks to everyone for your emails. We try to answer most all of them, but with the hit or miss nature of getting wifi in some of these places…..it’s not always a for sure.

         Funny how a trip like this ebbs and flows. I’ll have to say that this day was reserved for the “Bulldog”. The bulldog, as some of the locals call it, is that eternal harpy, that incessant creature that I described to you yesterday, the horse fly. Today was something I’ve never experienced, and to a certain extent it was an exercise in unpleasantness management to say the very least.

         First let me digress to this morning and work into the Bulldog theme. I woke up way too late today, sometime around 8am, and I reiterated to Ryan afterwards, “WAKE ME, I DON’T CARE, WAKE ME!” I hate getting on the road that late in the day. But for some reason I just overslept, and Ryan has been too good natured to wake me in the midst of my oversleeping. Probably, since I work late at night on my coaching stuff, I’m just not getting my fill of sleep. Oh well, that’s my cross to bear. Could be a lot worse I suppose. So I rush to get a grip on the day. By the time I clear out the tent, Ryan is totally ready to roll. And now I’m the Oscar Madison!

         We roll our of town and I don’t even want breakfast, as I just want to make up some time and get a jump on the day since it’s was forecast to be  a hot one. Today, we have a light headwind, and maintaining 14 mph is the goal. Our goal was to make the Narrows and put in about 74 miles, a light day by the past week’s standards. With a 80 mile ride today we’d have gone 700 miles in one week, so a “mellow” day was in order, plus, I don’t know about Ryan, but my legs were just toast today – probably the hammer session I did yesterday into Dauphin to beat the storm.

         So we’re rolling along, and it’s just a fantastic day – cloudless, clear blue skies and temps in the 70’s. And the legs aren’t there but what the hell, it’s wonderful our, I’m riding every day, and this is a fantastic landscape to ride through. So we get about 1:15 hrs in, and we pass this little church that’s been converted into a coffee house/ice cream parlor. And it’s just too perfect to pass up……plus I’m just our of my realm with no breakfast in me. So we do a U turn and head for The Heavenly Scoop. Pure ecstasy! This little gem out in the brush of Manitoba was so wonderful. We pull in and the owner comes out and asks if we would mind her taking a picture of us – are you kidding, as disheveled and stinky as we are, we’d be proud to be in print! So she goes to get her camera while I get a dark roast coffee and 2 tea cakes – home made – and head out onto the patio for some sun and grub and get fuel. It felt just marvelous. I mean I even joked to Ryan that we should just stay in Ochre River and bag it right then and there.

         Well, the owner came back, and we exchanged picture opps, and then she told us about her quest to get this little business going. It was quite a stroke of many things falling into place – it was her dream and passion. I love when things like that come to fruition. So I’m munching on these tea cakes and they’re just out of this world, a mix of crushed nuts, fruit and SUGAR!! I ate two of these beautiful things and with the coffee I was feeling like a dragster ready for take-off. The owner’s husband pulled in, and they had to leave, so our conversations were cut a bit short, but it was so much fun listening to her tell us about all it took to buy this little church and turn it into a coffee house. I really hope the best for them, as it’s a great story of perseverance.

         Now we get rolling again, and the wind seems to be at our backs. But slowly, insidiously, the wind works it’s way into our face. And suddenly, after two days of flying like hell down the roads, we’re reduced to a mere 13.7-14 mph. And right about that time came the “Bulldogs,” those insane horse flies that follow you like a plague of bugs sent straight from hell. Now you thought I was crazy yesterday…….well, I went over the edge today. I am not exaggerating here, but the flies would be 50-100 thick surrounding us as we’re riding. Now you could go 12 mph or 21 mph. Doesn’t matter. They’re there every inch of the way.

         They were a massive swarm around us as we rode, me more than Ryan, and I don’t know if that’s my more pungent PU than him, but he was right, they surrounded me as if I were the last guy in the Battle of Little Bighorn. At times I was concerned that I’d inhale one of these nasties, as they’re about as big as a dime. So my kill game began again, and soon I had surpassed the measly 9 from yesterday. I would hit one on my front pannier and it would bounce down onto the road and Ryan would see it as you passed by the “kill zone”. Plenty of laughing from him as I was like the Bloody Red Baron up front whacking flies.

         Just around three hours in we stopped at a little gas station/store for cooking gas and some sodas. And the flies were on us like stink on you know what. We parked and there was this swarm around us, and coming into the gas station after us. We were greeted by to ladies, and we commented on the fly situation. The owner said that the “Bulldogs” had just come out, and they are really bad. They’re bites can send some people into a kind of allergic reaction, she said. She said that the damned things follow patrons into the store, and she pointed to the window which had tens of flies buzzing against the pane of glass.

         So we chatted for about 20 min while Ryan gassed up the fuel bottles and we guzzled a couple of cokes. They were amazed at our trip, and how far we had ridden thus far. And to us, we’re still a bit embarrassed that we have to say we’re going to Newfoundland. I think once we get through Ontario the reality of the goal will be much closer. Right now it seems a world away. We bid them farewell, and back at it, for the final 40K, into the wind, and with the Bulldog harpies. My kill count was a mere 20-something at the gas station, but this last stretch, they were surrounding me by the hundreds. I would look down at the road and see they’re shadows, and it would be tens and tens of these little black shadows following me. And then it happened – one of those buggers got me in the back……..real good. I swatted hard and smashed bug guys across my back. Ok, we’re 26 and 1!

         The road did these massive curves north and south, and despite the turns we always had a headwind. I mean we could turn 180-degrees in a long sweeping curve – and the wind was still in our faces. As the day grew hotter and flies got thicker, and thicker, and thicker. It was out the the movie “Birds” where the birds in a certain town go crazy. Well, same thing here, but it was horse flies. I had to laugh several times at how insane this was, these massive swarms of flies just never letting up. So I got my WWII game going again, and my gosh, I was nailing them by the tens. With 15 miles to go to the Narrows, I was up to 40 kills, and I’m talking hitting them on my handlebar bag, my front panniers, my handlebars, you arms, my legs…..everywhere.

         Got to a point to where I was just done with the headwind, which was getting stiffer by the minute, and those damned flies, which were like a bloody cloud of locusts behind me. I put it down and kind of dropped Ryan. I looked back two times to see if he was in distance to where if I slowed just a bit he could get back on, but when I looked back, all I saw was this cloud of flies behind me. I mean it was a sickening sight to say the least. From then onward I did not look back, and I just put myself in the zone and worked on my kill count. Five K outside of the narrows I was at 46 kills. It was there that I began to talk to the cloud of harpies, pleading with them to land on my luggage so I might up my count to 50 for the five hours of riding with them – 10 kills/hour.

         And on the last stretch of road, a straitaway that went on for as far as the eye could see, the headwind was just relentless. I was in and out of the saddle for a half hour, just trying to maintain 14 mph. If the headwind would die for just a short lapse, the flies would be so thick in front of me that they’d be bouncing off of my face, my ears, and getting tangled in my hair. So the kill count just exploded. I was able to nail 6 more by the time I got to the Narrows. I stopped and waited for Ryan, and at the stop I nailed 6 more. Ryan rolled in and we joked about my kill count.

         We got a campsite, set up our tents, and went straight to Lac Manitoba to hit the water, and dag gone did it feel great. We went in with all our cycling garb on, just to get the wash done at the same time. This is a very beautiful area, with lake stretching to the north and south as far as the eye can see. The Narrows has a lodge, a campground, store, restaurant and the beach area. It was the perfect way to end a very crazy day. So we get out of the water and the damned flies just continue to swarm, and my count is going through the roof, up to 60, 65, then 70+ and I just don’t count anymore. Just sitting in a chair on the beach these things are like a hive of bees around you.

         A lady down the beach must have seen my compulsive slapping and whacking, as she came over and gave me a bottle of Off’s kid’s bug spray. Said it really worked against the bulldogs. So Ryan and I both put this stuff on. It worked in that the flies would just fly around you, but not land on you. So we were good for a while. Then we went into the pub and I had several well deserved beers – I think so – and some great food. So we’ll sit here and I’ll let Ryan take over, and then we’ll post this bulldog of a blog. Thanks everyone, and talk to you tomorrow………..Pete

 

Ryan Adds:

 

Pete Gladden is a mad man. What I witnessed today confirmed all my worst fears about Pete. That his mind has left him and gone to a galaxy far far away. With 50 miles to go I was listening to some Broken Social Scene on my Ipod. Beautiful scenery around us. Rolling hills and farms everywhere. Just scenic beyond belief….And Pete yelling at flies and screaming at them and flashing his kill count.

 

I now realize that Pete can’t stand it when anything albeit a person, computer, tent, or a horsefly gets the best of him. He will march the gates of hell with a water pistol just out of principle. Those little flies were zipping around his head for hours today. I swear it looked like an Old School Atari video game. They didn’t really bother me which I found all the more funny. How was it that a cloud of Flies hand engulfed my friend and left me untouched? You ever read the part on the Old Testament when The Israelites were in Egypt and the flies struck Pharoah and the Egyptians but they left the Israelites unscathed. It was kind of like that. Me safe. Pete surrounded by a cloud of unruly devilish horse flies. Well I was safe Pete dropped me with 20k to go. Then my biblical analogy blew up in my face and I had hell to pay for a while. I only killed a few, but I did see 2 of the fly into my spokes. Pure joy.

Anyways. More tomorrow.