Day 21 Sept. 3/02
Broadview SK - Virden MB
Route: Hwy#1
Dist. 137.68 km
Odom. 2345.9 km
Tm. Riding 7h 18m 55s
Avg. Spd. 18.8 km/hr
Max. 25.2 km/hr

I had a great breakfast, eating till I was beyond stuffed! Myrita packed a nice lunch for me including Swedish flatbread, cheese, boiled eggs, chicken, garden fresh tomatoes, yum.

Myrita drove me down to the town of Broadview (where I left off yesterday). I was on my way! Saddlebags bursting with goodies! The stats can speak for the rest of my day, pathetic.

I cycled into strong headwinds for over 7 hours. I became a riding zombie. My eyes were dry and half focused on the blurred pavement, which moved by at a painstaking pace, the wind blew loud in my ears. I arrived in Virden at ten to 6, bought some pasta, found a campsite, ate and went to bed.

I cycled toward the city of Brandon in the AM. Still battling winds, cold dark skies threatened a shower but I rode on, not knowing how long I could wait if a shower were to hit. Sure enough a massive downpour struck just outside of Brandon. I was soaked before I could reach any sort of shelter; I stood under someone’s awning for a few minutes waiting for the rain to subside.

Went on into town. In Brandon the first restaurant I saw was a Robin's Donuts where I found a 1/2 dozen donuts and coffee. This improved my spirits so I got back on the bike. There was no shoulder to ride on for most of the day. I had a flat as a shard of glass pierced my front tire. Late in the day, weary I arrived in Sidney. There was no sign of any services; the only store had closed for the day moments before I arrived.

I rode along the main street of this tiny little town wondering what to do. Tired, hungry and out of options I reached the end of the road. To my right was a nice little white house many lawn ornaments occupied a well-kept garden suggesting friendly inhabitants. I decided to knock on the door and ask if I could pitch my tent in the back yard.

After gaining permission I set up my tent in the yard and got ready to cook supper. Before I got started Warren suggested I come inside to wash up. Warren and Betty are a friendly retired couple with grandkids in Vancouver among other places! After washing up, they insisted that I stay inside for some food. I was served fresh veggies (from the garden), pork chops, steak and potatoes. Soon the day's suffering was forgotten with good conversation and good food!

I woke up a little late, forgot to set my watch fwd an hour. In the night I heard trains pass a number of times, I am growing used to this and tend to nod off quickly after they go by. Warren and Betty treated me to a nice breakfast, hot oatmeal, eggs, toast and coffee. All my stuff is damp as it rained during the night. I cycled to the town of Portage where I went into Tim Horton's for a bowl of soup. It is amazing how friendly people are here. I asked a person sitting near me about the weather. Within moments I had 4 people sitting at the table around me asking questions! It turned out that one of the people had a daughter in Courtenay (near my hometown) and another had a sister living in Campbell River (my hometown). A small world it is.

After my break at Tim's I continued on towards Winnipeg crossing the Assiniboine River a number of times. For me the nicest part of Manitoba was the sand hills, it was near the SK border and I was suffering from headwinditis therefore no photos. It was a lovely section of rolling hills with deciduous trees all around, very green!

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Province of Manitoba on being the winner of the "Jim Meldrum’s All Time Worst Roads Award". I was somewhat prepared having read the accounts of other cyclists. It is incredible, there is NO SHOULDER, and the white line runs along the very edge of the pavement, then soft gravel and sometimes even a drop-off into the soft gravel. On a few occasions I ended up in the "soft gravel" either by fault of my own, or from the wind of a passing semi. It was very difficult to keep the bike upright in this stuff! However I managed to get through it unscathed.

Continuing on, I intended to spend a night at the Hostel in Winnipeg, giving me a chance to explore the town, I was looking forward to seeing a movie or something. I went in search of the hostels, there turned out to be two in town. One was closed for the summer and the people at the other one were very un- accommodating. They refused to offer me anywhere to keep my bike. I could have locked it outside but this was a rather seedy area of town.

In general Winnipeg was not very hospitable; I went into the Holiday Inn to ask for directions and the Lady there was rather curt, I told her what I was doing and she replied something about hearing about "lots of people doing that" or "another one of those" she sounded as though she'd read about it in the Enquirer or something. It’s not that I expect everyone to be totally excited about my adventure but she seemed to make a deliberate effort to make me feel bad!

So after a failed search for accommodation in Winnipeg I decided to forget it! In rush hour traffic I left town! A bike commuter suggested I follow him to find the quickest way out of town, keeping up with this fellow was not easy, I was tired from the 150 kilometers riding already but had to ride 35-40 kilometers to keep up (I guess he was in a hurry!). I went to a Mosquito infested campsite on the east end of town. I think I have the West Nile Virus; I have a tummy ache. In retrospect I should have been more persistent at the hostel and at least had them help me find a cheaper motel/hotel to spend the night.

Tired and sore, I felt ill all day. I was happy for a change in scenery as I saw more rolling hills, a few signs of the Canadian Shield, rocks, trees etc. Falcon Lake is a pretty spot; I think it is a popular weekend destination for people from Winnipeg. Many cottages line the lakeshore. Finally there are no mozzies! It is nice to relax outside for a bit in the evening without having to walk around flapping my arms at bugs!

Some people in camp saw me riding this afternoon and gave me a donation, I chatted with them for a while. Around 7 PM, RVs started to arrive and they continued to flow in until about 9 PM. Again, I think this is a popular spot among the folks from Winnipeg. It was so comical, with my little bike I was surrounded by all of these enormous RVs. It is fun listening to them park, someone will come out and give directions, there is usually confusion about the directions, lots of shouting, trees and branches are brushed and broken. Soon after parking out comes the green grass (Astroturf), then the poodles, yapping away well into the evening. There has been a problem bear in the area perhaps this will put an end to the yapping poodle, or me? I am the only one sleeping on the ground tonight!

Traffic

People often ask me about the traffic. Its really not that bad, it seems to come and go at times during the day it’s gets busy. The big transport trucks are very gracious and often give me a lot of room as they go by. Bikes are treated much the same as slower farm vehicles I guess. Some of the RV’ers don’t understand this concept, some think they own the road, others are probably just nervous and honk at me from behind which is probably the most dangerous thing you can do to a cyclist. As far as I can remember, drivers are supposed to yield to slower traffic passing when it is safe (I don’t recall anything about blasting your horn).