6/29/09: Segment 36-37; Selkirk, Manitoba to Rennie, Manitoba; 78 miles.
Last night was some kind of change in the weather. The wind continued to billow the tent, pull and push at the side walls, and shoot jets of air gusts through my open vestibule vents. And then there was a light drizzle and falling temps. That crazy front was still working it’s gloom and doom over the whole area. And the greater Winnipeg area had seen flooding and rain amounts that are pretty unheard of for this time of year. Records were set for rain in 24 hours.
Oh yea, and the 4 mm I was talking about a couple of blogs ago. It was not 4 mm that was forecast for Saturday night…….but 40mm!! And I was wrong about the winds yesterday. Heard on the news that near Lake Winnipeg the gusts reached 96 K. Yup, about 55+mph gusts! No wonder we were being thrown all over the roads. This created power outages all over the areas we rode through yesterday. Man, I’ll tell you, Ryan and I were exhausted from the mental anguish of trying not to get blown into the middle of the roads, and working to “manhandle” the bikes during these violent wind gusts. But the news this morning out of Winnipeg really put this whole storm weekend into perspective.
So with the high winds just hanging on through the night, the damp drizzle and the falling temps, getting up this morning to get on a bike and fight for another day was not a very inviting prospect. Now we’re doing this because we love to bike, that to be sure, but sometimes it’s hard to put on the happy face and hum oh do da day for 5-8 hrs as you’re getting your arse handed to you by Mother Nature. In fact that’s the ultimate challenge of doing a trip like this – dealing with Mother Nature in all her glory – good and bad – with fresh legs or tired legs – day in and day out.
Ryan had to get up at 5am to do some computer work at the library wifi hotspot before we left. So he was out there freezing his ---- off from the wee hours of the morn. I on the other hand, stayed put like a bug in a rug to 7am. And even then, when Ryan yelled from his vestibule that coffee was on, I was less than enthusiastic to get out of the sleeping bag to receive my java. Finally coaxed myself to go over and get a cup, rushing back to my peeping slag and digging in deep while I sipped piping hot coffee. It just took so long to get it all going, as I was putting on my garb inside my sleeping bag, and doing all my packing while in my sleeping bag. Then there was the tent to pull down with the winds still howling. It was a major pain to get all the gear stowed this morning. So we big farewell to the Father, thanked him and his caretaker friend for their hospitality and got it rolling down Rt 9A south to Lockport, and to the junction with Rt 44.
The wind was crazy as we rambled down the middle of Selkirk towards Lockport. The ride south was good, as we were darned near with a dead tailwind. And the wind direction had changed slightly from yesterday as today it was way more from the north than from the northwest. Good we had hoped. UNTIL we turned on Rt 44 east in Lockport on Rt 44. And then it hit us – the crosswind from the north. And man, what a difference a day makes. Today we were struggling to maintain a 14 mph average. No running and gunning with 30 mph pulls on this day. The gusting continued with some goodies in the 25-30 mph range, but nothing like the hammering we took yesterday. Give a little of this for a little of that. And we ended up giving up the hard gusting for a gnarly crosswind.
About 1:45 hrs in we entered the city of Beausejour, having covered a whopping 26 miles. OUCH. We know then and there that this was going to be one of those very tough days in the saddle. It was cold, very cold as the local bank temp. sign said it was high 50’s. Couple that with the winds and you just had to seek shelter as soon as you got off of the bike. We dipped into the local breakfast hourse called the Cook Pot. This was a great little breakfast hangout, and we just happened to stumble upon it. Both of us ordered out hot chocolates, and followed that with the breakfast special of eggs, toast, hash brown and sausage. Now we’re not normally breakfast stop guys, but on a day like today, that was darned near a pre req for getting through this day – stopping every couple of hours to warm up and psych up for the next 2 hrs of cycling.
The food was awesome, the hot chocolate was just what we needed to warm the blood up. There we met a couple from Kenora. He asked us about our trip, and where we were staying once we got up around Kenora, and we told him we just camp at campgrounds and/or ask permission to camp at churches, and truck stops. He just invited us to his farm, right like that. Said to come on down and we could even have breakfast the next morning. Well, we told him that we had intended to make Kenora today, but with the wind the way it was , just getting half that far today was a victory. So he said, come by the next day if we wanted. Well, I’ll tell you, that sure made us feel good about continuing through the cold, wind and drizzle. He gave us his number and then he and his wife left. We finished breakfast, had another cup of hot choc and then I went up to pay the bill and the waitress said, “this is on me, you guys have a great trip in Canada.” And I’m like, “excuse me.?” “Yes,” she said, “this breakfast is on me, you guys have a great time on your trip.” We were floored. After a million thanks, we insisted that she take a 5 dollar tip, and thanked her several more times.
Walked out of there and, I’m like, “did we just get invited to stay at someone’s farm AND get breakfast given to us in a diner?” We did indeed. And the surprised just keep on coming here in Canada. I think that the Canadians really respect the fact to two Yanks are taking three months to travel across their country. Truly amazing. So back on the bikes to battle the winds of the north. And we knew we had this long 20+ mile stretch straight line due east. So the cross wind would be a real Be ach! Then we would have a little trend to the south to the town of Whitemouth. Off we go, and Ryan is just not completely there today, and falls off after about 10 min. So I’m on my own just me and my thoughts. And my though today was to get through this 20+ mile section and then rest in Whitemouth in prep for the last 20+ mile section.
And this puppy was long. Long and straight and with a crazy crosswind. Then the mind games begin, as I try my best not to look at my trip timer because the min pass as if I’m in a state of suspended, time-warped, slowed down, minutes last forever mode. Feels like you’ve been riding for a half hour……..oooopppppsss….nope that was just 8 min of riding. And so it goes. DO NOT LOOK AT THE TRIP TIMER. Just look around, feel the place, listen to the wind, watch the road because there’s no berm here. And oh yea, the road is a crust old, broken thing, with cracks every 6 feet. So you just don’t have a smooth ride as YOUR’RE FREAKING RIDING SO SLOW. The bad road just magnifies the whole situation. And it goes and goes for what seems like 4 hours. But it’s just 1:50 hours. And finally I hit that trend south, and I get the tailwind. But I’de been fighting the cross for so long that I just didn’t have the push to hammer with the tail. So I soft pedaled to Whitemouth.
I waited for Ryan. And finally dude rolls in and it’s like, “dude, I do not have in me today. I’m toast. We need to talk.” And I know that he’s not going to want to try to make the Ontario border today. Which at this point was another 42 miles of fighting the wind. So I suggest that we eat lunch and talk about it. We pick a little hotel diner, again, because we can sit in a warm place away from the cold wind. Ryan gets the fish and chips and I get the hot soup and sandwich. And things are good. So I throw out the 64 thousand dollar question: “How much further do you want to go?” And he pauses, for a while. I sense that he could bag it right there in Whitemouth, just 55 miles into the day, and 4 hours into the ride. Now I was not in the mood to do the next 42 miles to the border either, but I was hoping to get just one more 20-miler in to make it a day of 70+ miles. So while he was in though I suggested the town of Rennie, about 22 miles further to the southeast.
And after getting some food in our bellies the thought of going for 1.5-2 more hours seemed palatable. So we agreed to go for it. We were told that the town of Rennie had a store and camping. And off we go, one more time, into the cold and wind, for our final jaunt down the road for the day. No, we wouldn’t make the line, but we were very close, and the forecast for Tues was much better than today. Plus, we’d have just 70 miles to get to Clayton’s house, the farmer we met in the breakfast diner.
Now as soon as we got out of Whitemouth I noticed something major, something very big indeed – at least for us. I was seeing these big exposures of rock outcrops. It looked like igneous or metamorphic rock. And then I see more, and then I see rock cuts through this stuff. And bingo…….we have just hit the Canadian Shield. WE WERE OUT OF THE GREAT PLAINS. And more and more of this exposed Canadian Shield rock appears on the roadside, and off in the distance. And some of it is becoming hills and high points. And the trees were changing. Now there was much taller stands of fir tree. And the creeds were turning to that rusty tan color I was so used to seeing up in Ontario and Upper Michigan. We’d done it. It took us exactly 2 weeks to pedal through the prairie lands of Canada. I was really proud. As proud as I was when we had done our last climb in the Rockies.
And this really took my mind off of that last bit of riding. I was just so stoked that the landscape had changed that dramatically in such a short span of miles. It was truly amazing. So I was charged, and I just cranked it for the last 10 miles, taking in the rock outcrops, and marveling at the fact that we were on the verge of going through our fourth province, and getting into Canadian Shield country. Awesome!
I make it into Rennie, and the mosquitoes are just incredible when I stop – another strong indicator of getting into the bush country of Ontario. I’m swatting as I wait for Ryan. So I finally go to the store, a small market just off of the road. I go inside and inquire about camping. They tell me that the place in Rennie is not open yet, or full, not quite sure. I ask is there’s anywhere close to camp. The owner, Connie, say we can just camp there, in the back yard behind the store, and grab a shower in the morning. Again, I’m floored by the generosity. So now I’m really stoked. Ryan rolls in and I tell him of our good fortune. It’s awesome. So we fly out to the back to set up before the mosquitoes get terrible.
Ryan is smacking and cracking at the things like he’s never seen mosquitoes before. And he’s like, “you’re right dude, these things are terrible out here.” And I tell him he ain’t seen nothing yet! Wait for the no-see-ums. We get the tents up, swatting and smacking. Ryan even puts on his jeans and wraps a shirt around his head. I was chuckling all the time I’m setting up. This guy is wrapped up like a mummy for gosh’s sake, and I’m in my cycling kit. I tell him not to fixate on the things.
We get set up, go in and buy our dinner and then I go out and use the gazebo as Connie said we could use, while Ryan was tucked in his mosquito cocoon Hotel Hille making his mac and cheese. I even sported for a bottle of wine. So I’m sitting here now, quite full, very happy we got our day in, and finishing this blog. Life is good. Life is crazy. And the people in Canada has been so great to us. They make us feel like rock stars for sure.
So tomorrow we enter our fifth province, and head to Kenora, to Clayton’s farm for the destination. The week’s forecast is very good for the greater Winnipeg area, so I hope that that carries over to Western Ontario.
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