To Portage La Prairie And Beyond

This morning definitely had its share of ups and downs. The upside was that it was a beautiful sunny day, with little to no wind. The downside was that I had to say goodbye to Ian and Sheri who have been fantastic Warm Showers hosts. They were great in all respects – plus Ian showed me a route out of the city that promises to be much more pleasant than the ride I endured coming into the city. And of course, I also had to say goodbye to the kittens. Yes, I’m still a dog person but I found the kittens to be highly entertaining.

With the goodbyes taken care of, I managed to get my things together and loaded onto the bike by about 8:15. I’d like to get into the habit of getting on the road sooner rather than later as the winds tend to get stronger as the day goes on. Unfortunately, I continue to struggle with the “getting up early” portion of that plan. Perhaps I should stop going to bed at 2:00 am.

Ian’s suggested route out of Winnipeg was indeed much nicer than my ride into the city. There wasn’t much traffic, the roads were much better, and there were even some bike paths. By 9:30 I was well out of the city when I found a certain sub shop where I bought some sandwiches for the road.

With no accommodation lined up for the foreseeable future, I didn’t really have a predetermined destination for the day. Portage la Prairie and Brandon are the next big cities along the way. The former is only 90 km away, while the later is over 200 km away, so my goal today was just to head west and see where I end up.

The ride to Portage la Prairie was almost effortless. The winds were very light and they were somewhat behind me – although, probably more of a crosswind situation. Either way, I was thrilled to not have to deal with a headwind to start my ride. It turns out I didn’t have to worry about a headwind for the entire ride to Portage la Prairie – where I arrived before 1:00.

With the weather being favourable and there still being lots of time left in the day I decided I would continue riding. But first, I stopped briefly on the way into town for lunch. And I stopped briefly on the way out of town for dessert. Unrelated, I find it funny that a town this size has two Tim Hortons locations. It must be one for the eastbound cyclists and one for the westbound cyclists.

As I left Portage la Prairie behind me, it was very clear that the weather was changing in front of me. The winds were still cooperating but large dark clouds filled the sky and it looked highly probable that I’d be cycling in rain before the afternoon was over. In actual fact, it only took about 15 minutes for the rain to reach me. Fortunately, I seemed to be right on the edge of the storm. I definitely got wet, and I even stopped to put on my rain gear, but it wasn’t a constant downpour like a couple of days ago.

The on-and-off rain continued for about an hour before the sun was able to reclaim the sky and dry things out. In the grand scheme of things, it was a pretty mild storm – at least, the portion that hit me was mild.

When I left Portage la Prairie I figured if I could do another 60 km today then I’d be happy with that. It wouldn’t be my longest day ever but it would have me 150 km closer to Vancouver than I was when the day began. And I was alright with that.

If I stuck to the arbitrary 60 km limit, the closest town would be Sidney, MB. Generally speaking, the 60 km went by pretty easily. Manitoba really is flat! The winds continued to be somewhat favourable all afternoon but I decided to call it a day when I approached the general vicinity of Sidney. I could’ve kept going. Part of me wanted to – just another 20 km. However, I know myself well enough to know that another 20 km would’ve put me only 40 km from Brandon. A distance that I would’ve undoubtedly convinced myself was doable. So, another 20 km would’ve ended up being 60 km – which really wasn’t necessary. It’s not a race.

As you might have guessed, there’s not much in Sidney, MB. To be honest, I’m not sure if there’s anything in Sydney – certainly nothing you can see from the highway. Actually, that’s not entirely true. Shady Oaks campground is visible from the highway and that’s where I decided to camp for the night. I’m not really sure why I didn’t go with the wild camping option as there were certainly options available. Whatever the reason, I’m here now.

As I was riding my bike towards my campsite, I met Ashley who started waving at me as soon as she saw me. Clearly, I thought this was a bit odd as I don’t know anyone here. It turns out she’s an eastbound cycle tourist who also decided to stay here for the night. Since we’re heading in opposite directions, we ended up chatting for quite a while about routes, roads, hills, Warm Showers hosts, and a variety of other topics that we cycle tourists find interesting. And, in a funny coincidence, we both started our journeys on June 1st and we’ve both done about 2,300 km to date.

And now, I’m sitting in my tent, putting the finishing touches on this update and hoping the campground’s WiFi signal will reach my site. If you’re reading this then I guess it did.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 149.46 km
Ride time: 6:27:55
Average speed: 23.11 km/h
Maximum speed: 32.41 km/h