15 August - Remembering to enjoy the ride

Portage la Prairie to Winnipeg 106km (3274km total).

I didn't set an alarm but woke up just before 7 feeling much better. After oatmeal at Tim's on the way out of town I quickly passed through the rest of Portage la Prairie. I would be staying with Jane in Winnipeg and her boyfriend Jared had suggested I could take Hwy 26, about 10km longer but keeping me off Hwy 1. I am so incredibly grateful I did. It was a beautiful road with very little traffic. I could have been riding in the Oxfordshire countryside near my parents house or in the rural roads around West Ottawa with my roadie buddy Treena. I remembered that one of the reasons for doing this trip was to see parts of Canada I hadn't. I really was not in a rush to get back to Ottawa. 

There is a lot of history in this area, especially with the Métis struggles and there were lots of roadside plaques and monuments. There were also a number of beautiful small churches. 

St Anne's Church completed in 1864 and one of oldest log churches in continuous use in western Canada.

Inside St Anne's.

Poplar Point rink, built in 1949 when locals decided it would be better to build something for the health of young people than a memorial to the war dead. It is an ambitious example of mid-20th century community arenas in rural Manitoba.

A memorial to Belcourt a priest and missionary who I think I remember reading about in the citizenship study guide.

Assiniboine River.

When the 26 met Hwy 1 again and keen to avoid the stretch going into the city I actually rode west for a couple of km's so I could pick up a smaller road that would take me through Beaudrey Provinical Park. It did turn to gravel for a while but then led me into Headingley, allowing me to follow Roblin Ave to where Jane is living. With a sign reading 32C I did make a quick stop for a cold drink on the way. After 106km and a few days of trying I had finally made it to Winnipeg!! 

Jane had been doing her PhD at the University of Ottawa when I did my post- doc and is a keen cyclist and triathlete. We had lots to catch up on and chatted away in the car whilst she ran some errands. In another coincidence she had a friend in town who is running across Canada from east to west so we picked him up from his hotel for dinner. Sebastian is a type 1 diabetic (Jane's area of research) and has already climbed Everest and completed ironman's and a marathon in the Sahara to raise awareness of diabetes. He was an incredibly down-to-earth guy and had started in Newfoundland in February, running 40km, 5 days a week with his 1 man support crew and doing public speaking and media engagements as he went. There have been a few times when I have thought that traveling by bike, covering 100km a day was exceptionally slow so I have so much respect for this guy. We went to a free outdoor movie night in Assiniboine Park with Skyfall one of the movies, it was a late night but Daniel Craig kept me engaged!!

Outdoor movie night in the park.