A Fool's Errand: Part 4 (The Ride)

Well, I ended up biking by myself.

Jason, my good friend (the best man at my wedding actually) didn't show up. In fact he didn't even call. Instead he texted me to say "it didn't work out." Yup, so here I was attempting a ride of idiotic magnitude by myself. Needless to say I didn't sleep very well the night before. This was made worse by the fact that not one person a) wanted me to do it and b) thought I could do it. My own mother told me "please don't do this" and threatened to steal my bike. Honestly I was tempted not to do it. I had lots of great excuses. But in the end I think it was my sense of adventure (and my own stubbornness) that made me start. Here's a picture of me about to begin:

The first 7 km to Gimli wasn't bad except that there were no paved shoulders and cars kept passing rather close to me. You wince everytime they pass and it takes quite a bit of faith to not pull off the road when you can hear possible death approaching at 80-100 km/hour behind you. When I hit Gimli's paved shoulders I was overjoyed. Here's picture of the high school I went to (Gimli's my home town):


A little past Gimli, Jobina caught up to me. I found out later she was hoping I would "have gotten it out of my system" and come home with her. But I was feeling pretty good and told her I'd call her if I had any problems. I included this pic because Jobina thought she looked good in it (I agree):

Here's me reaching Sandy Hook and attempting to take a picture of myself:

In Sandy Hook I came across a sign saying "Free Stuff" so I stopped and looked through it. I picked up a book of Bible stories for the kids (which later turned out to be JW stories so I ended up carrying them to Winnipeg for nothing):

Here's Salty's, a famous drive in that I planned to eat from the moment I started planning this little bike ride. Unfortunately it was only 11:30 when I stopped in and I wasn't hungry yet:

Just past Winnpeg Beach I got a rude surprise. The beautiful paved shoulders ended! This I was not prepared for. It was Sunday and there was lots of traffic and I had expected the paved shoulders to go all the way to Winnipeg. Silly me. Unfortunately there was nothing else to do but risk riding the edge of the pavement again. This was scarier then you might think. Some cars pass you with only a foot or two of distance between you and them. Here's a picture of the road which seemed to go on forever . . .

I saw lots of these rural mailboxes out by the sides of the road:

By the way when you are drinking so much water (it was 31 degrees Celsius) you have to go to the bathroom alot. I became adept at spotting bush that was not too far off the road to use as my personal latrines. The worst injuries I had were cuts that I got in the bush trying to maintain some sort of modesty as I went pee!

Around 2:00pm I stopped at the Lily Pad restaurant in Petersfield for some lunch. Just before I discovered that one of my brake pads had been rubbing against my tire the whole time (doh)! So I did the logical thing and disconnected it. At the restaurant (below) I had the largest chicken quesidilla that I've ever seen. Delicious. In my sweaty/wide eyed state I think I freaked out my waitress a little bit when I stumbled through the door.

An hour later I stopped at my favorite resting stop: an old Anglican church/cemetery which had lots of shade. Here I called Jobina to let her know I was still alive. This seemed to please her:

Interestingly this church had a miniature of the church right beside it:


In Clandeboye I stopped in and bought Gatorade. The thing about Gatorade is that it only tastes good if you are working very, very hard. Let's just say that Gatorade was absolutely delicious:
On my way to Selkirk I was in a heat induced trance when suddenly I heard my name being called. At first I thought it was just the imaginary people in my head again ("Shoo imaginary people") but then I looked up and who did I see but my buddy Jason who had abandoned me. Apparently he was going camping! The irony of this situation was not lost on me but I couldn't be bitter with him because 1. he was my friend and 2. I was relieved to see someone I knew. He attempted to give me some excuses but I wasn't too hard on him (well, just a little). He offered me ice to put in my drinks but I didn't want to shock my system too much.


Here's the view as I approached Selkirk. It's hard to see but the paved shoulders begin here. I was so excited about this I started shouting. Imagine my dismay when they ended after about 50 meters. Noooooooo!


Taking the "perimeter" of Selkirk turned out to be exhausting work and I started to worry about sunstroke. When I got to Lower Fort Garry I saw a large ditch in front of the main site with shade in it and so I drove over and collapsed there:

Just after I had lay down I got a call from my good friend Jay on my cell and I invited him to come hang out for a bit while I rested (I wasn't going anywhere for awhile). It was nice to hang out with him, see his wedding pictures, and chat. Also, he was able to take some photos. Thanks for stopping by Jay!

In St. Andrews I saw a sign for some sort of heritage site and since I'm a sucker for heritage sites I took a little detour and found myself looking at the oldest stone church in Western Canada. Definitely worth going off the beaten track a little bit. This was one of my goals for this trip: to have the freedom to stop and explore at will. Here's some pics of it:


After St. Andrews two beautiful things happened. The wind (which had been against me since I started) switched and was now with me. Also, the paved shoulders began again. I reached the perimeter and called Jobina again. I think she was shocked I had made it so far and wasn't calling for a pick up:
Here's the view looking down on the #9 overpass overlooking the perimeter highway. I have always looked a the cloverleafs over the perimeter and thought it would be fun to bike down them. Today I got to!

I went west on the perimeter over the bridge and then down the cloverleaf hill (wheeee!) and south onto Henderson Highway. Here's me on the bridge looking over the mighty Red River:


Going through the city took me about an hour and half. I stopped at Turning Point on Talbot and then took Archibald to Fermor and then to St. Anne's. I really wanted to make it home before 8 so I could say goodnight to the kids before they went to sleep. Here's the view as I pulled up at 7:55 pm:

Jobina saw me and said something which she repeated several times that evening "I can't believe you did it!" I was thirsty, hungry, and a little sore but amazingly not in too bad of shape. Here's a picture of me kissing my bike goodnight and thanking it for getting me home:

Yup, so I did it. Amazing. I believe it was God, answering the prayers of my concerned family who got me through it. I think the key for me was just treating it like I was going for a bike ride, just a longer one. I stopped alot and explored along the way. One thing's for sure: If I can do it, anyone can!

Total Distance ridden: 111.84 km.
Time Taken: Just under 10 hours.