A little more about day 42. At the campground I met two Americans who had rode their motorcycle from Florida – what a long haul. They were circumnavigating Lake Superior and were going to be state side in a day or two. What a wonderful way to see the largest fresh water lake in the world – at least by surface area which is what matters to yours truly! I also met a family from Marathon who were just driving by my campsite and had a few questions. I love conversations like that were it starts as just a hello and you talk for 15 minutes or more about cycling, the area and kayaking!

It was a warm night for sure and I slept outside of my sleeping bag for most of the night. The night sky was again crystal clear and if I had the knowledge of why the 7 sisters ( Pleiades) sat on the shoulder of Taurus I could appreciate it more. I will learn in due time young Albatross (inside meaning).
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Started 8:15am ended 8:30pm

It was a little warm last night and I had trouble sleeping even though I relaxed all day yesterday. I had been waking up on and off all night and thankfully Margie rang a bell at 7am to wake me up. We chatted while I ate breakfast and I packed up reasonably quickly which included some leftover chicken from the night before.

Back on the road I was feeling lethargic and it took me a while just to get to 40 kilometers. The hills are deceiving here and there is a lot of steep grade between 6 and 7 percent. Near Rossport the Trans Canada wraps closely along the lake so I decided to take a break on a piece of Canadian shield on the lake shore. I ate the rest of the chicken and grabbed a 5 minute nap.

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Today I blogged,kayaked, swam, sat on the beach and had a wonderful dinner with the Evans crew!

140 kilometers of wild road!

Global Hydration website

It was pretty warm last night and I put in an extra effort to catch up on the posts so you are entertained. I woke up around 5:30am which is good because this will generally allow me to avoid some heat and traffic in the first part of the day. Today would be different as my host Andrew was taking me for Finnish pancakes at the Hoito Restuarant. I got dressed and tucked back into my sleeping bag and quickly fell into a deep sleep. I think around 6:30 I heard Andrew and Anson mention my name and I popped up. They were ready to go so I got up and we went to the Finnish Labourers Temple where people were already gathering outside.

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195 kilometers of heat!

Other than the trains going by I had a good sleep and woke up on my own at 5:30. I managed to get out by 6:30 but had no food until I reached Upsala which was 40 kilometers away. Of note there is a tiny little gem of a place called English River which was only 20 km up the road that had lodging – oh well!

I had low energy but made it to the Upsala which is just a general store and two restaurants. There was a familiar looking bicycle outside and low and behold Mark was sitting inside! I couldn’t believe he was ahead of me based on his previous pace but he picked up some skinnier tires and was very persistent with riding most days. Unfortunately work called and he was taking a bus home but he really did awesome considering he never really biked before.

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July 10th. map my ride posts need fixing..

Today started early about 6:30am as the guy on the motorcycle tenting next to me was packing up. The other cyclist had already left by this point but I wanted to start the day with a shower. Everything was going fine until it was time to leave. There is a distinct wobblyness and crumply sound when the bike has a flat and this is just what I had. I figured it was a good time as any to change the tire and the tube outright to get rid of some unnecessary weight.

Surprisingly I found more of the metal from the previous day but this one was embedded in the tire liner itself. It should have already caused a flat by now and explains the problems from the previous days flat in Portage la Prairie. The new tire was really hard to put on but eventually I got it on there. Too bad I put it on backwards: the tread pattern has to go a certain direction. No matter I was going to Canadian Tire anyway to see if I could use a floor pump where I could change the tire properly there. When I got there I changed the tire no problem and the manager let me use a pump off the shelf. He was super nice about it and we talked a little about my trip. When I came back out the tire was flat – what?
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Ride details pending

I got up around 6am and as quietly as possible packed up my things but I couldn’t find my Ironman Switzerland hat. Of well, this will make a good parting gift for Craig. I couldn’t resist one more photo of the lake though!

It was warm already even this time in the morning but this was to be expected so I just got on with it. I rode about 20 kilometers into Kenora. On the approach to this gem of a town you cross a bridge or two that appeared to be part of an island. In town the highway cuts through the middle but I decided to ride along the waterfront which is spectacular. It is like Gibson’s BC except not on the ocean.


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Today was even more spectacular than yesterday. I spent the morning catching up on the blogs then I went down for a swim in the 76 degree Fahrenheit crystal clear water of Clear Water bay! I was a little out of swim shape so I only swam about 400 meters and turned around. Then I preceded to lay down on a cot that was partly submersed on the sandy shore. I feet hung off the sides so I didn’t overheat as I worked on the cyclist tan or rather lack thereof tanned skin on my torso up to my neck. It was also pointed out that I have tan lines where me chin strap goes on the side of my neck.

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180 kilometers!

I headed out this morning along the road to Lorrette since it eventually meets up with the Trans Canada highway. The wind was against me early and I was a little concerned because I was expecting to ride 190 kilometers today.

On the Trans Canada it was a little and before long I was averaging a pace in the high 20’s. This was when I noticed the shoulder disappearing 500 meters ahead so took a casual look around and saw a cyclist coming up the road with no gear. I decided to let them pass since there wouldn’t be any room to do so very shortly.

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After Roberta set me up with some breakfast Ray and Pam showed up to take me to Winnipeg Folk Festival which is running from Thursday through until Sunday. It has be running for over 35 years and though there is not so much folk it is a well organized event with great musicians from around the world. The festival is held in Birds Hill provincial park which is a very large park and campground North East of Winnipeg.

Entering the park I was so warmed seeing young evergreens mixed with the birch and oak trees. I really miss the forests and mountains of BC. We parked and headed over to the gate where we met two of Pam’s friends who knowingly brought tarps to sit on in front of the main stage. After staking our territory we grabbed some food and walked over to a smaller stage to watch a little country and western. Normally not my style of music but this guy, Jimmy Lafav, had a great voice. The first part of the set was sad songs but when the piano guy finally showed (must have been in the beer garden) they cranked it up a notch.

Off to the beer garden we went for a cold one in the roasting hot sun. The ladies wanted to shop so Ray and I staked out some ground to watch “you gotta fight for your right” workshop which included Billy Bragg, Atomic Duo, Natalia Zukerman, Willy Porter and Emmanuel Jai. They were all very talented musicians and were the closest thing to folk music with the exception of Emmanuel Jai who had a reggae style hip hop.

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