Kilometres: 620.2
Time: 7 hours, 15 minutes (including gas stops and half an hour for lunch)
Weather:
Regina: Rain, 10 C at 10 AM
Brandon: Cloudy, 16 C at 2:30
Winnipeg: Cloudy, 18 C at 6 PM
The weather is really getting to me. I haven’t been warm since I was in the hotel in Edmonton. None of the other hotels have the heat on, and it is getting pretty darn cold at night. It rained all night and it was also cold. In the hotel room it was 13 C. I slept in my street clothes because they are the warmest clothes I have. The hotel provided an extra blanket.
I delayed leaving in the morning in hopes that it would warm up and perhaps clear up a bit. It had almost stopped raining when I left, but the temperature had not improved.
It was yet another day of being lucky with the rain. I could see the storms, which were only regular grey clouds of rain, and, thankfully, not thunderstorms. I was fortunate to miss the worst of it. A few times I could see the raining coming down and heading southeast towards the highway … and my future path. I just pulled on the throttle harder and tried to beat the storm.
By the time I arrived in Brandon (the wheat capital of Canada) the worst of the storms were over and the sun was trying to poke through the clouds. It also warmed up noticeably. I’ve discovered that I cannot ride when it is 8 C or colder. Or at least I can’t ride in the gear that I have with me on this trip. At 10 C, I am miserable, but still able to ride. At 12 C, it is tolerable and I can almost enjoy myself. At 14 C I am a happy rider, even though I’m wearing two pairs of gloves, five layers on my top half and four on my lower half.
The wind was a bit gusty at times, especially when I went over bridges, which, thankfully, are few and far between out here.
Just east of Portage la Prairie the landscape noticeably changed. There were many more trees and at one point I rode through a spruce forest.
Just as I reached Winnipeg it began to cloud over, but it didn’t rain. I’m staying in the east end of the city and could have taken the ring road, but instead I went right through the city and found the hotel without any trouble. I think I understand the basic layout of the city and if I were here for a week I would be hard pressed to get lost in Winnipeg.
My one regret about arriving late in Winnipeg is that I won't have time to visit the Forthwyte Alive, which has bison (I have been corrected a number of time that they are NOT buffalo) gated in a natural prairie setting. I've only seen bison hides and would really love to seen one of these huge, wonderful beasts alive and in person.
I’m staying in the same hotel, and even have the same room that I had on my trip west. As soon as I arrived, I ate dinner, drank a beer, then changed into my swimsuit and jumped in the pool. As I have a short ride day tomorrow, I may have one final swim first thing in the morning. Next stop: Ontario.
