Last night felt the full furry of a Manitoba storm. In fact it was just like the Saskatchewan storm with a little more thunder and lightening but no tornado or hail. It was hard to sleep but I think that was really because I ate a chocolate bar before bed. I am really eating a of food these days. No idea but full breakfast, pre lunch, lunch, afternoon splurg, dinner and about 6 bottles of water and/or Gatorade. Sometimes I wake up in the night and eat as well.

At around 8am (I am on Central time now) I was woken by loud thunder again. Outside there was lightening and torrential rain. I got up and jogged passed literal streams of water to get to the Clay Pot Cafe to get my “Donated breakfast”. Breakfast was excellent and waitress wanted a picture so after getting ready I came back with the bike for a proper picture. By then the rain had stopped and it was nice and cool to start.

Back out on the highway I hit a 500 meter gravel patch where the shoulder should be and grumpily road in the gravel to the other side where I complained bitterly on Twitter. It was unnecessary and undeserved since the road was good except the last 6 kilometers into Portage la Prairie. And who can complain when they have a slight tailwind anyway?

Today’s first stop was in Sidney where I downed a cranberry juice and two klondike bars. I am treading into “any calorie is good calorie” territory very quickly. The unfortunate thing about Canada is that it is easy to find tasty things that are bad for you. My next stop was on the side of the road beside a beautiful, giant but majestic Oak tree. I ate better at that point. I am now seeing more trees and the hills are back but today was a good ride.

My final stop was a nice little commemoration site of an old school from the late 1800’s. This is where the shoulder turned to gravel and shortly after my rear tire seemed to get a little wider.

I checked it out and it seemed to be losing air but I was close to town so I tried to see how far I could go. About a kilometer down the road I had to change the tire: inconceivable! As I sat on the ground fixing
the tire a van pulled up with two guys who offered help. I was fine but managed to pinch the inner tube when mounting the tire on the rim. I figured I would just go with it. A women in a new pickup and kids in tow stopped asking if I wanted a ride into town but pride made me decline. The road is paid for so I should be riding it. I hope I don’t eat those words.

Off I went pumping up the tire every kilometer until I broke the valve and had the change the tire again. This time I got it right but I found the local bike shop “Two tired guys” where Shawn pumped up both my tires and gave me directions to the campground. I rode off, checked into the campground for $10 and placed my tent under some oak trees before cleaning up.

A little while later Shaun showed up with some water and ice tea and ask if it was okay if he brought me some chicken enchiladas. Umm yes! It turns out he lived closed by and his wife had made some dinner. About 20 minutes later he came back and we ate dinner together. We had a great conversation about cycling, water , poverty and people helping themselves versus people who receive handouts and do not improve their situation. This is a big reason I chose water.org because the community being helped has to put down %10 through a micro-credit loan. He had been in the Canadian military and had seen parts of the world with real poverty like me. I guess the flat tire was really a blessing in disguise!