Atikokan to Shabaqua

The night before I had asked one of the Atikokan locals if there was any services between Atikokan and Shabaqua. They provided me with a lot more info than what I could find on line. I had expected another day with nothing in between but he assured me three was a restaurant 40km down the road and services in Shabaqua.

The day before, Karin and I road together but she doesn't like to stop until she gets to her destination. Where as I like to stop and check interesting things out and take pictures and swim in the lakes. Different touring styles. So we meet at an arranged destination and if we don't find each other right away a short text works. Karin was down the road half an hour before me to try and beat the heat and humidity we had the day before.

The first four pictures are of the view I see from the bike. Beautiful if not monotonous.

The next picture is the line across the continent where all the water flows into the Atlantic ocean. I guess this means on the other side of the line only some of the water flows there? I did pee on both sides of the sign so I could say I've "Marked"the land between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.

The next two pictures show a thunder and lightning storm I let pass by. Little good it did me as mother nature was lining them up one behind the other and caught me in the middle of two more. I stopped at the bottom of a hill each time and waited for the lightning and heavy rain to move on.

The last picture puts me in a new time zone but don't think this means you will be getting the blog posts any earlier. ;-).

Fort Frances to Atikokan.

One long 160km ride with high humidity and heat. Definitely a taste of things to come. One thing I'm finding in eastern Ontario, no services between towns. That was 150km from the eastern edge of Fort Frances to Atikokan without a store of any kind. What it comes down to is, "No people, no store/no coffee shop/no gas station". On the other hand, lack of traffic has been great.

Rest day in Fort Frances!

We arrived in the afternoon on the 26th of June and was immediately made to feel welcome by Karin's friend, Maranda. Maranda had worked with Karin at the post office in Nelson and had moved back to her home town of  Fort Frances. Within an hour of my arrival, Maranda's returned from a lake they have a place at and started organizing a barbeque for us. After burgers and beer--boy, does beer go down good after a long ride--we all sat down talked about fishing, hunting and the possible flood of the city by the Rainy over-flowing it's banks.

The next day was down to business. I had to find a bike shop so I could use some bike specific tools to tighten my headset and cassette lockring. Sorry, I didn't put in a bicycle nerd warning this time. I was recommended a bike shop in downtown Fort Frances called Taggs. They pulled through with flying colors and they told me how the owner (he wasn't present this day at the shop) had rescued other bicycle tourers stranded with more serious problems than my own. So, "Hats off" to Taggs, the owner and the people who work in the shop, Daine and Billy. The rest of the day was completing the maintenance on both of the bikes and mapping out our route for the next three days. Not that we have a choice of routes since there's only one going East to Thunder Bay. But trying find what or if any services are available on the way. We made sure we had a couple days worth of food just in case. The other unavailable service will be cellular and will put us out of touch for the three days to Thunder Bay.

In the previous post there is a picture with Karin and a German touring cyclist who started in Alaska and was also crossing Canada. He told us he fueling his ride with chocolate and asked us if we had any. Like I would give up any of my chocolate.

The pictures with the totems and the teepee I found a little low on the "PC" scale. Maybe it's just because I'm a West coast boy and see them as having significant meaning to other's.

Two days of headwinds!

I'm combining the two days of riding from Kenora to Fort Frances, June 25th and 26th.

Kenora is like a vacuum for services to all the people who temporally make their home in the huge area Lake Of The Woods covers. So the 225km between Kenora and Fort Frances, the next major center, no cell service (expected) and no grocery stores, not even convenience stores with basics, (unexpected).

The ride between Kenora and Nester Falls is hilly, twisty Canadian Shield poc-marked with a million little lakes. Scenic but the headwind took the joy out of it. We did meet a German tourer named Stephan, who is only the second tourer we have met on this trip, riding from Alaska and across Canada. He said he was fueling his ride with chocolate. You ride as many kilometers as we do you can eat whatever you want.
Upon arriving in Nester Falls, we free camped on crown land that was an old ranger station on Lake of the Woods. During the night hundreds of fireflies made streaks of light above the grass and in the trees. So cool to see something I have only read about.

After leaving Nester Falls the next morning the quiet, almost carless road became busy with with trucks pulling boats with their weekend supplies heading for their cottages. I was told the Canada Day long weekend is the unofficial start to living on the umpteen lakes in the area. The last 10km was the usual urban sprawl with heavy car and transport truck traffic. It felt good arriving at Karin's friends place knowing we were off the bikes for the next day and a half

Our bodies and our minds are getting tired from battling the headwinds over the last several days. With the struggle to move forward the the phone did not come out often to take pictures. Sorry about that.

Winnipeg to Falcon Lake.

This post is for the ride on June 23rd.

We have had a couple of days without cell service, thus the late posts.

It was the usual rush to get our equipment packed and on the bikes. Jo-Ann's neighbor, an interesting Scott with a bit of a brogue, was watching us get us get our bikes together and was asking us a few questions about our rides. I said to him, "I was told you had some fancy road bike" you used for racing.

If your not a "Bike Nerd" like myself, skip this part.  ;-).

The neighbor brought his bicycle over to show me. It was a frame and components
I had lusted after back in the early 90's. I remember going through my bicycle porn, I mean Bicycle Magazine, and reading about this hand laid carbon Frameset when it was still made in the USA. Even though the frame was 24 years old, it sparkled with Trek's own Emerald green paint and clear coat. It was absolute perfection. As I held up the bike, I named off the mix of high end components that made up the group he had selected for his bike. You could see a lot care and attention to detail went into putting it together and he lit up talking to me about even though he new he would never ride it again.

Getting out of the city was the usual stop and go with debris and sand filled shoulders. Once out of the city going was a little slower than the day before without the tailwind to push us. About 80km into the ride it started to rain so the phone stayed in its Zip Loc bag. I saw my first section of Canadian Shield rock about 60km West falcon Lake. Exciting to me because this means we are definitely in central Canada.

The clouds of mosquitos and deer flies (like horse flies) that descend on you whenever you stop moving are the worst the locals have ever seen in years. Just makes the trip more memorable. Karin would say "Not" to that one.

MacGregor to the "Peg"!

We left MacGregor with huge blue skies and a great tailwind that lasted all the way to Winnipeg. Denis, a friend of mine had arranged for us to stay with his sister on the East side of the city. Dinner, Breakfast, laundry done, a place to sleep was greatly appreciated. But wait, there is more. JoAnne, Denis's sister, took us for a tour of the city. I had no idea how much interesting history Winnipeg has. From the voyageurs, multipule ethnicities settling the area, the Catholic Church bringing in families from Quebec. JoAnne's family was one of the original 13 families brought to the city by the Bishop in 1870. And of course Louis Riel, who was brought back to rest next to St. Bonifice Cathedral in this not so suprisingly history rich city.

Oak Lake to MacGregor, Manitoba!

As I'm writing this in my tent, rain is pelting down, wind is buffeting it's sides and rolling rumbles of thunder are clapping one after the other. I'm dry. I'm warm. I'm safe. I did put extra guide lines out to keep the wind from collapsing the tent just in case.

Let's see now. What happened today. The days are starting to blend together and find myself writing about things that happened days ago as if it was today. I do know todays had another beautiful tailwind which carried us over 140km to the town of MacGregor. When we arrived it was 30°C with something I'm not used to. Humidity. I know this is just a hint off what's to come so there will be no complaining from me. That's about it.

Here are some random thoughts of the day.

One should be careful when wading through the underbrush beside the tent. Half an hour later a mother was reprimanding her daughter for doing the same thing while pointing out the three leaved stem of a poison ivy plant.

I left the the suitcase lid closed on the side of the road.

My butt was feeling better, now it hurts again. Expansion joints! Thump, thump........thump, thump!

The morning picture is the picnic shelter we used in Oak Lake. The other picture was my view for much of the day. It was kind off a hammer fest doing 90km after my lunch break in Brandon, Manitoba to MacGregor so the phone wasn't taken out.

Another Province checked off the list!

This post is for Friday June 20th ride.

We woke up in Whitewood to partially cloudy skies. The storm everyone warned us about bypassed much to my relief. The high winds and rain that were to  continue through the morning hours had moved on, too. The plan for the day was to nock 50km off and have some lunch in Moosomin then continue on to Virden and finally Oak Lake, Manitoba. Both of us were complaining a little about how heavy and tired our legs felt coming into Moosomin. The 160km the previous day could have had something to do with it. After a subway lunch, because they're cheap, tasty and can load them up with huge amounts of vegetables, no meat, just cheese so I can keep it squished in my pannier for later.

As I was getting ready to hop on the bike, a man asked if I was one of a pair of cyclists caught in a huge downpore to the West of us and told him it wasn't me. I've herd tell of cyclists in front of us and now behind us. It seems we all travel about the same speed so we don't see each other. Eventually we will cross paths down the road.

The next 80km to Oak Lake, which has no cell service (neither did Virden), was bliss with a big smile on top. The wind, which had been on our right shoulder the first 50kms had changed to a tail wind. Finally a taste of what we should have had all across the prairies.

Arriving in Oak Lake, we set up our tents in the small picnic shelter of the municipal campground since we were the only ones there. Karin discovered the shower and toilet building was locked so I told her not to worry because I would go into town and find someone to open it up.

Oak Lake is another one of those one street towns so it was easy to find some one to open the bath rooms. It was Friday night and there was a parade people getting their beer for the night. The guy I asked about the bathrooms had rode up on a cheep Chinese electric bike with a great big old news paper carrier bailing wired to the back. He said, "Follow me, i'll take to the guy". Two minutes later we were in front of a house knocking on the front door. I told him what I wanted and he said "No problem", then invited me in for a beer. Told him I had to decline because I had to get some groceries. He said he would be right over to unlock the doors. Later I met at the bathrooms and he had the plumbing for the showers all apart. This is when I realize he is mostly three and a half sheets. What he was trying to do I don't know. He gave up after ten minutes and left us for the mosquitoes. Clouds of them freaking Karin out. Quick bite to eat, washed up and retired to our tents to get away from the swarms.

White City to Whitewood

It was a big ride today. 160km from White City to Whitewood. We took a motel due to severe weather warning with possible funnel cloud formation for this area. Tomorrow is going to be a wet day with winds on our right shoulder. There is hope for an improvement in the weather by Saturday as they are calling for sunshine in Winnipeg which we will be closer to.

It's good to see we missed the messy weather in the West such as the snow on the passes and flooding in southern Alberta but strong headwinds have plagued is all the way across the prairies.

One thing I forgot to mention in the last post was what the heck do they make there mud out of here? Yesterday I went to pull off the highway onto an entrance to one of the Range Roads to put a Zip Bag over my leather Brooks Saddle and as I went off the pavement onto the dirt road I came to an abrupt halt. The mud stuck to my tires like glue and jammed in against my fenders filling them up. I tried backing the bike up but it just made it worse by picking up more mud. I had to drag the bike back to the pavement, take my wheels off the bike to get to the inside of the fenders. I scraped as much out as I could to get the wheels back on the bike to get moving again. Note to self, "Never go near wet dirt in the prairies" especially after all the rain.

Random Thoughts On The Road!

This post is for our ride on Wed June 18th From Moose Jaw to White City.

Today started out with very strong headwinds and quite a surprisingly lNeverong hill East of Moose Jaw. I took a picture at the top showing the darkness in the distance. A darkness that translated into hail and stinging rain. Head down, peddling into a 30k wind, your alone with your thoughts.

Cars are afraid to travel alone on the freeway. They always travel in packs.

People driving the Trans Canada Highway only eat bananas. I see several dozen peels on the shoulder each day.

When birds want you to go away they take aim and poop on you. Birds nesting along the highway have done this to me a couple of times now.

I thought rumble strips on the shoulder were annoying until riding on expansion joints in the road every twenty-five to one hundred feet. When moving at a good speed you don't notice them but at 9-13k/hr it's thump, thump.........thump, thump as your two wheels pass over them.

I was hungry at about noon and came upon "Chubby's Bar and Grill". I was tired of doing 9-13k in the wind driven rain and decided to save the two foot long "Fuel Rods" I picked up at Subway for tonights dinner. I walked in and started talking with a group of four young guys at a table all wearing high vis gear having a beer and a burger. I found out they are part of a drilling crew but really didn't find out if they were on a break or just dress that way all the time. The conversation lead into what are you doing with all that money your making. Two of them had houses rented out, one was busy buying "Toys" and the other was just making it payday to payday. They were in their late twenties, early thirties and were doing ok except for the nervous guy with the unlit smoke in his fingers. The other three laughed when they said he couldn't make it to his next cheque. Kind of sad. I asked if they were going to do this the rest of their working lives and they said no "Bleeping" way. All four of them said they wanted to get started on an apprenticeship for a  welding ticket but none had made any steps towords that.

Speaking of the "Boys", as I was riding along I spotted a small suitcase on the side of the road. I turned around to check it out. I opened it up and had to laugh because it was empty save for some toilet paper and the remains of what you would use it for. Made me think of the four young guys heading off to work down the Trans Canada and the driver telling them he's not stopping.

The fairing they put on the underside of the trailers the transport trucks pull sure reduces the push then pull of the air wash as they pass by.