Bike Touring Canada. Cycling across Canada from Vancouver to Toronto.: Day 21, June 19th, Winnipeg to Falcon Lake (151km)

Jazz Festival Winnipeg

Ah Winnipeg! It was good to be in the big city. Choosing to stay in the heart of the action, I picked up a dorm bed for $30 at the HI hostel downtown. I've always loved staying at hostels. Settling in a dorm room with interesting roommates always seems to be more fun then a hotel. Last night, a few of us went downtown to grab a few beers a take in the Jazz festival. The music was alright, and everyone was in a really good mood.

Assinoboine River Winnipeg

Heading back to the hostel, I made my way to the central courtyard. In the courtyard, a few of the guys had started a bonfire. The bonfire was attracting the right type of crowd. Two of the guys turned out to be characters. Both were in their early twenties, one fellow was walking across the country with a 60lb backpack while the other guy had decided the best way to see the country was to hitch hike to every town between Newfoundland and Vancouver. The three of us traded stories. Before long, half the hostel had come out to listen. The guy walking across the country was doing about 40km a day. He was free camping in the bush beside the road drinking water out of ditches or preferably moving rivers. In a world of social media, it's good to see young people undertaking real adventures. The three of us just seemed to click. Our trips were far from ordinary.

Legislature Winnipeg

Todays journey started at 5am. Already packed, all I had to do was load my bike and hit the road. Winnipeg in the early morning can be beautiful. It was Sunday and there was no one on the roads. I worked my way past the legislature onto the highway. It took almost half an hour to get through the city. Leaving the city, I worked my way through the endless countryside. At first it was mostly fields with very few trees. As the day wore on, the fields disappeared as trees and wetlands closed in on the highway. After a while, pine trees started to reappear. Pine trees can grow in this part of the prairie when fire burns the underlying grass and splits open the seed cones left on the ground by surrounding trees. In the 1950's, massive wildfires led to the renewal of the forest in this part of the province. After more than a week of prairie grass, it was good to see a real forest.

Manitoba Wetlands

Somewhere along the way, the highway got dodgy. First they took away the massive shoulder. A sign abruptly warns, "Paved Shoulder Ends." Instead of a wide shoulder, you get 18" between the white line and the gravel. Then it got unsafe. To save money, someone decided to take away the 18" of pavement. Now it was white line and gravel. Luckily, it was two lanes each way. Truck drivers out here are awesome. They give you a wide berth and honk to warn you if they need more space. The cars towing trailers are the problem. Even with 2 lanes, a lot of them zoom past you inches from your handle bars. On curves the trailers swing out to the white line forcing you to hit the gravel. The helmet mirror I bought came in really handy. I pulled off onto the gravel a few times when I saw busy traffic coming from behind.

Real Trees Along a River!

Amenities on this stretch of highway are few and far between. I had gone nearly 100km before seeing a gas station & restaurant at Prawda. Not knowing what lay ahead, I stopped for lunch and to resupply. Leaving Prawda, I noticed more and more trucks towing boats. This is Manitoba's cottage country. Lakes are everywhere and the fishing's great. A group of French cyclists on racing bikes caught up with me. It was good to have company and they really pushed the pace into Falcon Lake. Falcon Lake is part of Whiteshell Provincial Park. After spending almost 2 weeks on the open prairie, it's nice to be back amongst the trees.