June 7, 2016
Photos of Winnipeg: He probably wasn't going to kill me
I had to get up very early because everyone in Jason’s apartment had to be up and on their way to work by seven in the morning. That was alright, though, because Jason made me a fantastic egg and cheese muffin for breakfast. It was the greatest of breakfasts and I felt good, especially because I did not have to go to work myself. All I actually had to do was cycle twenty or so kilometres from one side of Winnipeg to the other. Cycling through such a big city might not sound like a terribly nice way to spend a day, but if you were to assume that you would be assuming quite completely wrongly. There were lots of nice bicycle paths for me to follow, many of them besides the rivers that intersect downtown. It was a nice, sunny day and everywhere there were lots of trees and parks and green things. I even spotted some deer wandering around. And at the downtown area known as Forks (where the river forks) I sat and watched a family of prairie dogs. All across the prairies I had struggled to take a photo of them, as they would dart back into their burrow as soon as they sensed a giant bicycle touring bike bearing down upon them. Here, though, they were almost unaware of me as I sat and watched them. One little youngster, the boldest of the pack, would pop his head up. Then another, a third. They just kept coming. Soon there were eight of them poking their little heads out of one hole. The bravest would sometimes venture a metre or so out onto the grass. But as soon as any of them were spooked by any kind of noise or movement they would all dart back into the safety of their burrow faster than the eye could see.
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I spent most of the day making my way gradually through the very pleasant city and arrived at my new host, Ryan, late afternoon. He was a young, straight-talking guy who had cycled across Canada in two stages over the last couple of summers. Having a home-base in Winnipeg, roughly halfway across, was a considerable help with this. Whether that was always the idea, or if he had actually planned to go all the way across the first summer, then got back to the comfort of home and decided to take a year-long rest stop before finally deciding to resume wasn’t made clear. In any case he spent most of the rest of the day working on his car and I was left with the company of Vivian, who of course had arrived the previous day. She told me that she had been to a medical clinic and been diagnosed with a urinary tract infection, so we decided to ask Ryan if we could stop for another night so she could recover some more.
The next day was an overcast day. I cycled with Ryan to find a bike shop as I needed to replace one of my tyres. He had scared me a little bit the previous night when I’d asked him what he learned in the army reserves and he’d answered “To kill people” in a serious tone. Added to that was walking into the front room to find him sharpening a big knife as he sat on the sofa. If ever one were to doubt the security of websites like warm showers it would be in moments like that. Fortunately on our cycle together to the bike shop I talked a bit more with him and decided he was a good guy that probably wasn’t going to kill me.
I managed to get the tyre and back at the house I changed it, and tried to remove my crankset. I had some spare rings I wanted to put on, but the thread on the crank arm was double-threaded and I couldn’t get it off. My chain had started skipping and I worried if I was going to make it to the end of Canada. But I settled for removing a couple of links from the chain and hoped for the best. We’d already lost a day and the next morning we really would have to press on, though I wasn’t sure Vivian was too keen. The house had a hot tub and a massage chair and she had really enjoyed the extra rest day here. Come to think of it, I began to wonder about the urinary tract infection.
Today's ride: 29 km (18 miles)
Total: 51,555 km (32,016 miles)
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