June 4, 2016
Into Manitoba: Racing to a meeting in Brandon
As we left from the home of Pauline and Robert, our stomachs full with a hearty breakfast of eggs on toast, I noticed that one of my tyres was rather flat. I pumped it up quickly, rather than going through the embarrassing process of having to repair it on the front lawn of the people who still stood at the doorway waving us goodbye. It was a slow puncture, and thankfully lasted the five kilometers it took to get to the next visitor centre where we stopped so that I could repair it. Vivian watched as I did so, providing her with a tutorial so good that I felt confident she would easily be able to fix her own tyre the next time she got a flat herself.
Just past the visitor centre we crossed the border into Manitoba. It was a relief to have made it to the end of Ssktchwn, a province that I would not recommend as Canada’s finest. Not really the fault of the province, it didn’t seem to have much to work with, to be fair. I was just pleased to be at the end of all the flat boring green grassy prairies. Manitoba promised to be so much more.
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Manitoba was not the end of the flat boring green grassy prairies at all. There was little to get excited about, except for a massive tailwind. That was particularly fortunate because Vivian had arranged to meet a good friend of her brother’s in Brandon, a large town a very long way ahead of us, and we had to be there at 7 p.m. This guy, Jacob, was cycling the other way across Canada.
It was over 130 kilometers to Brandon, but fortunately that tailwind was an enormous help and we were flying along at twenty kilometers per hour for most of the day. We only stopped for lunch at some little town with a lot of churches, but otherwise we pressed on determinedly. Time was against us and Jacob wasn’t winning me over with his constant text messages to Vivian asking us why we were so slow in arriving. I was pedaling as hard as I could.
Then Vivian got a flat tyre, and there was nowhere we could stop to fix it except in the middle of the grassy central reservation. The sun was beating down now, actually very hot, and there was no shade. With the clock against us and such conditions I quickly lost my faith in Vivian’s abilities to repair the puncture and so I did it for her. Now she had had two tutorials in one day, next time she was sure to be a pro.
Finally we made it into Brandon at around 7 p.m. but there was no sign of Jacob near to the Walmart that we had agreed to meet at. We cycled around a bit lost trying to locate him, to no luck. He was communicating with Vivian via her I-phone (she’d got a new one since Banff, obviously) but refused to come and meet us to guide us to the park where he was waiting with his friend. By now I was sure he was a bit of a dick, and I was tired and worn out and fed up as we went around in circles looking for him.
Eventually we worked out where Jacob and his companion Eric were (I believe this coincided roughly with the point at which I took over looking at the map) and found them hiding at the back of a popular riverside park. They were chatting with a beautiful woman. “Ah, that’s why they didn’t want to come and meet us” Vivian said, correctly.
The beautiful woman moved on and it was the four of us who sat on a bench in the park and cooked and exchanged our stories. I soon realized that Jacob was not a dick at all, in fact he was the exact opposite. I mean he was a really nice guy. Tall too, with long surfer hair and sunglasses on his head. He didn’t have much on his bike, especially considering he was actually in the process of moving to Vancouver, but he had a guitar sitting on the back of it. He strummed at this as we ate. It was a really nice evening. Eric was cool too, he was from Germany. As it got dark and the park remained busy with teenagers drinking we decided to move to a more secluded campsite. Luckily there was some place near the river that was perfect for all four tents. I was a little sorry that Jacob and Eric were going the other way, to be honest.
Today's ride: 137 km (85 miles)
Total: 51,303 km (31,859 miles)
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