Ontario Greets You With Flies

Winnipeg to Kenora - 210 km

I had an awesome two days of rest where I saw friends and family and gave my legs some time to recover.  Thursday I picked up my friend Bill Hunt, who is going to be joining me from Winnipeg to Thunder Bay and I am very grateful to have him along for the next 700 km.  After some running around getting some food and picking up my super clean bike from the guys at Alter Ego we headed back to my parents place where tons of family and friends came over to see me off.  It was so good to see everyone and amazing for the support that they have given me.  My family and friends are incredible and I am very lucky to have all of them in my life.

Bill and I saddled up early Friday morning for the long haul to Kenora.  My mother was driving to the cabin this weekend so she was able to take our gear for us.  So light on weight and with a sunny day that had virtually no wind we rolled out for one of the first dry days I have had for awhile.  The first point of interest was hitting the longitudinal centre of Canada.  Kind of a moral victory here because in actual distance I had about 600 to go before I am half way through my trip but it was still fun to take some pictures by the sign on the highway.

From there we rolled along the flat straight road that are typical around here.  About 50 km into the ride we started to notice a few horse flies buzzing around us.  A few became many, and soon we were basically in a swarm of horse flies.  It was absolutely insane!  I have never seen so many flies on a bike ride.  There was no way to out run them and for the most part they were not landing on us or biting us so it was more annoying.  It was odd because the cloud of flies only occurred when we were on our bikes and the sun was out.  When we stopped we would only notice 2 or 3 flying around us.  If the sun would go behind a cloud all the flies would disappear.  It was just spooky.  We will see if this continues as we get deeper into the Canadian Shield.

After a stop for lunch at a small town called Prawda we hit the Ontario boarder. Four provinces down and three to go.  The size of Ontario however is bananas... and I am going to spend a third of my time in this juggernaut.  I have 1500 kms of Canadian shield to get through before I start hitting the dense population of the south east of Ontario.  I am going to be in this bad boy for awhile!

210 km is the biggest day so far and there is a solid feeling of accomplishment after taking two days off.  Bill and I dominated today with just under 7 hours of riding time.  No gear and sunny skies are awesome! Hopefully we can get more days like this but its going to be hilly from here on out and we will be under full weight.




Today I learned:

- You cannot out run horse flies....we tried.
- Bill is a strong rider
- Manitoba, east of Winnipeg has crappy roads and no shoulder to ride on.
- Even after 2400 km through rain, snow and wind I still really like cycling!

Currently Bill and I have been feed to near bursting by my AWESOME mother and now were are lounging around the cabin. My parents cabin is just north of Kenora on a lake called Black Sturgeon and it is one of my favourite places on the planet.  So I am going to leave you with the more than pleasant view we have to end our day.  I love this place and wish I could spend more time here...

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