Day 1. Brutality in the form of a headwind.

What a day to start off my bike trip!

After a long 5 1/2 hr drive from Regina to Winnipeg in a borrowed SUV, a visit with friends of my brother and an alright night of sleep I awoke early to face the day. Packed and ready to go!

The weather forecast promised a warm day and a strong gusty wind from the south, which just so happened to be the direction I was headed in... I can't say I was thrilled at the prospect.

By 6:45 am I was ready to ride and saying my farewells to my kind hosts (having said goodbye to my brother and his wife 15 minutes earlier).

It was a lovely morning despite the wind. No need to layer up, it was comfortable temperature, promising to be a warm day. Wait... A HOT day.

A ways in I got on the Duff Roblin Pkwy trail. It was gravel, which is not my favourite, but it beat being on the side of a busy highway. (Maybe).

The wind was crazy, and it only got worse as the day progressed!

Avoided the city of Winnipeg. Not really in tourist mode.

Thought about how my parents immigrated there from Holland when I was three months old... We moved before I was old enough to really remember it.

Rode across and by the Red River (which looked rather brown to me). And before getting on highway 75 South I stopped to have a break. 40 km down. I dared not linger too long though with the wicked wind growing stronger.

The Hwy was when I rode with upbeat music playing from my Bluetooth speaker. I call it a crutch because it helps me cope with life. The wind. The cars. Helps me focus on something other than the fact that the kms were crawling by. I'd glance at my Garmin from time to time and see I was going 9.5 Km's. I think my first hour was a 13 km average. The second, a 12 km avg, third, more like 10. 42 Km's of Hwy before I got to Morris, where I promised myself a Timmies break! It was closer to 1:30 than lunchtime when I did stop in. By then things were heating up outside and the air conditioning felt like a huge contrast. Ice water and a cheese bagel, quick email break and, before I got too chilled I headed out again feeling refreshed, ready to face the remaining Km's. Or so I thought.

The heat and wind didn't let up. And the roads I ended up on (thanks to Google maps, which doesn't seem to care), were gravel. At least they weren't busy. The wind got pushy though and I had to stop just to drink so I wouldn't go down. And I had to keep drinking! Good thing I filled up a couple of my bottles at Tim Hortons!

I think a small taste of hell is an unrelenting, fierce, gusty and strong headwind. I'll admit I yelled at the wind a couple times. Not that it let up.

I tried looking for grace, trying to take my mind off of the struggle to endure.

Grace looked like the fact I had energy since it was day 1. Grace looked like time, time to do nothing but cycle for a change. Grace looked like a woman who stopped to ask if I was okay and offer a bottle of Powerade. Grace looked like people, particularly truck drivers giving me lots of space when they passed. Grace looked like the occasional cloud covering the sun. Grace looked like the man at the mechanic shop who provided water when I was almost out (he was straight out the 70's with an orderly and clean service garage in Rosenfeld). Grace looked like hope to keep pressing on. A place to stay, to shower, to enjoy a meal, to rest at the end of the day! (Visiting with family of former housemates in Altona tonight!)

That would probably be ranked one of the top 15 most difficult rides I have done. Maybe knowing I've done harder gave me an awareness that I could, not to say I didn't long to call it quits many many times during the 10 hours I was on the road! So maybe it was by the grace of God that I rode all 130 Km's!

And tomorrow is another day. I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to get on my bike though after today!

--

- Eritia