This morning I got up 5:30 took one look outside and went back to bed. It was raining and was still very dark. Smoke from the forest fires was bad all day. So I felt it was the right decision to not cycle today

Cora is a gift from one of my daughters for a past birthday. She now joins me on my cycling tours. She usually travels in my pot set, so doesn’t come out too often when cycling. But she hangs out with me on days off.

Smoke is not improving tomorrow as the North winds continue. I would be fighting the wind and the smoke on a very long cycling day. Plan is to take Thursday off and leave on Friday when there should be a south wind and the smoke should clear.

So another day off in St. Martin Junction with Cora. I wonder what adventures will we enjoy together.

First day on my own and I wanted to get an early start. Got up at 5:30, it took me an hour to pack everything up. Eating breakfast at a restaurant took another hour. Finally got cycling by 7:30.

Campground in Ashern was interesting, doors to the bathroom were bolted shut. I turned this into a free night again, if they don’t open the bathrooms what was I paying for. It was leave money in the envelope kind of place, except I didn’t.

This was a planned short day and it was the perfect plan. It was close to 30 degrees by noon, way too hot to ride. In total I did 69 km’s today.

Checked into the St. Martin Junction Hotel after lunch. A time to relax, clean up and organize.

Debating about taking Wednesday off or not. It will be the longest ride of this trip, most of it in bush country. Plan is to ride as they are calling for scattered showers throughout the day. This could be very helpful to bike in the rain. Hopefully I don’t need as much drinking water. My goal is to ride 180 km’s to Grand Rapids. I don’t think I have ridden this far in one day since I was in my 20’s. See what happens.

I am not really sure when the music ended from the night before. But it was loud for a long time, not a great way to spend the first night. By the time we left the campsite at about 8:30 it was very quite. One more highlight from this campground are the outdoor showers. I would call them semi private.

It felt good getting back on our bikes, well at least for 20 km’s. After this you start feeling the pain at different places in the body.

It was a tough day of riding because of the amount of traffic. For the most part there is no paved shoulder. So you really had to watch traffic going both ways.

Chantel and I did see a bear cross the highway about 100 yards in front of us. We stopped for a minute to make sure other bears would not cross. Once we started cycling again she rang her bell on the bike and I was singing “You are my sunshine”. That was a funny sight to hear and see.

We made it into Ashern by late afternoon. Stopped at a restaurant for supper and set up my campsite for the night. This is where Chantels portion of the trip ends. We did 98 km’s for this day. It was time to repack as I would now be on my own in getting to Thompson. It was hard saying goodbye to Chantel and Cheryl. It was such a pleasure biking with you Chantel. Cheryl you provided such wonderful support during these two days. I look forward to meeting up on Saturday again. Not sure where I will be by then.

Hopefully this will be a quieter night so I can sleep. Tomorrow will be a hot day but I only plan to cycle 60 km’s. So my day should be done by noon.

Over a month of planning and the day finally arrived. This is an attempt to cycle to Thompson. With smoke everywhere in the province it is hard to know how this will go.

Chantel expressed an interest in joining me for part of the journey. Cheryl agreed to provide van support to make it easier for the two of us. So on August 1st close to 8 am we left from our house in Winnipeg.

Once we left the city it was very obvious to see the smoke in the air from forest fires. But we just kept going. It did clear up later in the day when the winds picked. So now we were fighting the winds.

We made it to St. Laurent by late afternoon. We set up camp at Stony Ridge campground and enjoyed supper at a restaurant. At the campground I was informed that it was an adults only weekend due to a music festival. She apologized for the loud music we were about to hear all night and said because of that our stay was free. Well that was a pleasant surprise.

So ends day 1, 101 km’s celebrated to the beat of a drum that lasted all night.

I am a strong believer in riding with wind when training. In one week I plan to leave for Thompson and I needed to get in a full day of riding. Strong winds from the west helped me reach speeds of 30 km’s an hour.

Whenever I would take breaks at different spots I always had people stop to talk to me. That is the beauty of riding a bicycle. Of course if I was in a fancy sports car I guess people would stop and talk to me also.

I concluded that the reason people would talk to me is they were wondering what an old guy like me is doing on a bicycle.

Shortly after 8 in the evening I made it to the Ontario border. A total distance of 171 km’s. This is where Cheryl met me with the van to take me back home.

It would be great if everyday you ride the wind was at your back. Some days you can just make it happen by deciding to go with it. Most times you have a place in mind in where to go despite the wind. That will be me next week. Strong south winds would be the best.

Today started at 5:30, was on the road shortly after 6. Goal was to get to Austin for breakfast at 7. It was a 16 km ride. When I got there the sign said it opened at 8. Website said it opened at 7. At 8 I found out it opened at 9. So sitting around waiting another hour was going to be a waste of good riding time. So I went to Subway just down the trans Canada. That turned out okay, except they didn’t allow me to sit inside. I had to sit on the cement outside the restaurant. They couldn’t even provide a chair to sit on.

After my delayed breakfast I was back on the road by 9. By this time things were really starting to heat up. I got to Carberry by 10:30 and had a full lunch at Subway. But again I had to eat outside. At this point I really needed to cool down inside, but that wasn’t allowed.

Leaving Carberry shortly after 11. It was about 45 km’s to get to Neepawa. Winds were coming from the south, so that helped push me. But the heat was getting very intense. It made for a very difficult ride. I would stop every 2 or 3 km’s for a break. I had to push myself really hard to keep going. By the time I got to Neepawa it was 34, I arrived just before 3. On this day I did 100 km’s, for a two day total of 239 km’s.

Cheryl was waiting for me in Neepawa and we drove back to the city together. Got home before 7.

This was a great training ride. I learnt to never ride in the heat, it is not worth it.

This two day trip was planned as a training ride for my bigger trip for later this summer. On August 1st I plan to cycle to Thompson from Winnipeg.

Tonight I am in McGregor for night. I did 139 km’s today. When you consider the heat is great mileage. It got to 31 and never cooled down much in the evening.

Plan for Friday is to leave early and try to get to Austin for breakfast at 7. It is about a 45 minute ride. I need to beat the heat of the day. Hope to have an early lunch in Carberry and get to Neepawa a couple of hours later. Cheryl will meet me in Neepawa.

I met two cyclists today. One going from Vancouver to Halifax, the other going from Toronto to the BC border. I wish my trip could be longer also.

Dreaming and planning for a bicycle trip over 800 km’s long comes with a lot of variables. How to plan and what to take comes with experience. My 865 km trip to The Pas now comes to an end.

Packing rain gear is a must for any cycling journey. I was very fortunate to not have needed any of it. Thunderstorms were forecast for the evening last night. This is why I got to the campsite at 4 in the afternoon. By 10 in the evening some very wicked thunderstorms passed through the campground. I was safe as one can be in a tent, staying dry.

I was told last night there was nothing between the campground and The Pas. Today I can confirm that to be true. Trees are something and there was a lot of that. I kept looking and listening to the trees. From what I could tell the trees were speaking words of pain. Telling me that the earth is hurting and that the people on it are also in pain. To me this reaches to the core of why I wanted to do this cycling trip. I wanted to connect my family with a bicycle. So that they may know that no matter where they find themselves in life, the joys and struggles. That I as there Father wishes to walk with them in there journey. When it comes to healing in the bigger world issues. I feel that raising money for MCC helps bring healing to the world. As I travelled through 100 km’s of just trees today. This voice of pain became very clear to me……..this is where I cried.

I got out of bed before 6 this morning. I packed and had a quick breakfast and got on the road by 7. I soon noticed I was being cheered on by the cars passing. Many waved and some cheered by giving friendly honks for this stranger on a bicycle. I was in constant communication with Kimberly all morning. Kimberly went to the edge of The Pas to meet me. First a wave, than a hug….and this is where I cried…….tears of joy.

Mileage today came to exactly 100 km’s, all done before 1 pm. Total mileage for the entire trip came in at 865 km’s.

If you wish to donate to the work of MCC you can do so by going here: https://donate.mcccanada.ca/registry/bike-winnipeg-pas-100-x-8

This concludes my Winnipeg to The Pas journey. Dreams of future trips are always there, as long as my health allows.

Starting the day with these wonderful breakfasts is really amazing. Thank you Darlene and Byron for hosting me and looking after all my needs and wants.

Traveling to Swan River and than North was wonderful. A south wind was pushing me along.

Traveling north from Mafeking to The Pas was the part of the trip that concerned me. Being alone with only bush for miles around gives a different feeling. As I slapped myself from the bugs biting me and stopped to listen to the trees. It was as if the trees were talking, but what were they saying???

Tonight I am staying at the Overflowing River Provincial campground. 60 km’s North from Mafeking. I would have kept going with the wind blowing me. But I was told there is nothing between this campground and The Pas. I will believe them and leave the remaining 100 km’s for Saturday. I hope to get to The Pas before 2 on Saturday.

Total distance travelled today is 149 km’s. For a total distance for the trip at 765 km’s

This morning I was looking forward to seeing something I have never seen before. My sister at 6:30 in the morning. I thought this might be picture worthy, of course a picture that would be shared. But to my surprise she looked her normal self. Thank you Dan and Evelyn for getting up early and providing an excellent breakfast.

Starting out at 7:15 was such a pleasure. It felt great to be biking when it was still cool out. Last time I cycled down this road was in 1985. That summer I did a tour around Manitoba.

I was about to discover another interesting part of Manitoba. Bugs, big ones that like stinky old men, and don’t know how to social distance. It did not ruin the ride, it just made it interesting.

This was the first day that all parts of my body were clicking as one. It was like I hit the sweet spot of motion with no pain.

I pulled into Cowan by noon having done 90 km’s. Had lunch and a two hour break before cycling to Minitonas. Got there at 4 and will be staying with Darlene and Byron. Darlene is a cousin to my wife Cheryl.

There may not be an update on Friday as I may not have cell service.

Mileage update for the last two days. Day 5 was 64 km’s. Day 6 was 124 km’s. For a total of 616 km’s for the trip so far.