Time: 6.5 hours
Kilometres: 511.5
I was so tired that I just didn’t want to get out of bed this morning. I slept a solid nine hours and really would have been happier with another hour. As it was, I didn’t drag my tired little self out of bed until 9:08. Last night I took a shower to get the grime of the road off of me, so I didn’t bother with one this morning. I quickly packed – well, I’m getting quicker, but it’s still not quick – made coffee and ate a chocolate Power Bar. I was on the road my 10:15.
It was a lot warmer than it has been for the last two days. By 10 am it was already 28 C. I didn’t feel the humidity (but then again, I rarely do), but I heard some other people complaining about it. I knew the stretch of road ahead is sparsely populated, so my plan is to gas up at every opportunity. Some of the communities up here in the north are over an hour away from each other. To be on the safe side, I get gas every 225 km, so that means if I miss a gas station out here, I may well be stranded.
I started the ride wearing just my mesh riding jacket and riding pants, but I didn’t get far before I realized that riding the highway was much colder than the temperature on my thermometer. I pulled over and put on my Gore-Tex rain pants and jacket. I left the polar fleece jacket in reserve.
The weather was bright and sunny, which was a pleasant change from the last two days. But it also presented a problem I thought I had fixed weeks ago. I had noticed that when I ride south between the hours of 11 AM and 1 PM, the sun strikes the fake chrome (a.k.a. shiny silver plastic) that surrounds my speedometer and reflex back into my eyes. I fixed the problem by bandaging all the way around the instrument panel with black electrical tape. City riding is a lot different than highway riding, because in the city I turn a lot more corners. Today I was riding straight-a-ways. And this time the sun was hitting all around my ignition and headlightds and bouncing directly into my eyes.
Just as I reached the 90th longitude, I’d had enough. This is also the time zone change from eastern to central time. It was the perfect opportunity to wrap the front of my bike in electrical tape. Here’s a pic of the 90th longitude with my bike in the background.
By now I was riding on very straight roads where I could see for kilometres ahead. And people told me the Prairies are boring to ride! After the last couple of days, this was a piece of cake and kinda monotonous. I’m really glad I have my iPod.
It was just straight roads and forest on both sides. I did notice that unlike what I’m used to in Southern Ontario, there isn’t a fence a few metres beyond the road ditch. With all the moose warning, it’s so easy for them to just wander out of the woods and away from the blackflies. So now I know that the fences are there to keep people out and not to stop the wildlife.
As I left Dryden, the landscape changed again. It was not rolling hills with farm land. I hadn’t seen rolls of hey in the field in a long time. The area reminded me very much of the farm land just north and east of Toronto; however, every now and again it becomes rocky. After an hour, the landscape changed again, this time into forest and rolling hills made of rock surrounded by swamps and lakes. (Here’s a pic. The road to the right is a gravel road that truck can turn into the check their loads. As it was gravel, I just quickly pulled over on to the hard shoulder to take the picture before quickly moving on.)
As I got closer to Kenora, the roads again had many more curves in them – some with spectacular drops into inky water. Not a place I’d like to wind up. I kept think about those poor people who built the railroad through here in 1870s. It’s all forest and rocks and swamps and bogs. I’d read once that a locomotive went off the track when the weight of it sank the tracks. The bog/swamp just swallowed it right up and it was never recovered. Before that, there was the great march out west by the Northwest Mounted Police (a.k.a. the RCMP) who took the train as far as they could and then set out on foot to Winnipeg. Having seen the landscape, I now really pity them.
With the roads much more interesting, I began paying too much attention to it and not enough to the changing weather. Very dark ominous black clouds were quickly replacing the blue sky. I didn’t have my weather alert gadget out, but I knew I was in for a pretty good storm and I didn’t want to get stuck in it.
I pulled the throttle a bit harder and tried to stay at a steady 115 kph, but I had to slow down periodically for some tight turns. I spent about 45 minutes racing the storm to the hotel. I pulled into the driveway (yippee, without getting wet) and promptly stalled the bike. I know I was red-faced inside that helmet.
As I came out from the lobby after checking in, I overheard a local say that he was just in the Canadian Tire and the power had gone out. He also said that he’s been watching the radar and we were about to get clobbered.
I rode my bike up in front of my room, and as the wind picked up, I almost literally tore everything off the bike and threw it through the doorway. The weather didn’t stop the flies. They descended on my bike. It must smell really good to them because it’s covered in bug splatter. The wind kept catching the bike cover, so I had a bit of wrestling to do to get it over the windshield. I cinched it on tight and then pulled the python lock through two grommets and the front wheel. I wasn’t inside my room for more than 10 minutes before the storm hit. The rain came down horizontally, and the thunder and lightning were continuous. I was very lucky. If I had dallied longer for lunch or stretched a bit more when I stopped for gas, I would have paid for it.
I caught up on a few emails while the rain came down and after the storm I walked across the parking lot to the hotel’s restaurant. No Guinness and no fish and chips. Well, I can’t have everything. I least I’m dry.
All in all it was a good riding day. I didn’t feel rushed like I had for the last two days, and the weather was almost perfect. And now I’m off to re-read the instructions for my weather alert radio. I’m sure the Prairies will be interesting and I want to be prepared.
