Day18 - Ontari-ari-o!

Not a great night of sleep.  The hotel was overrun with kids attending some diving competition, and their chaperones weren't terribly interested in reigning them in.  I decided *not* to be an ogre, and after moving rooms from a floor completely full of kids to one just half full, I resigned myself to it.  I wonder if the body processes sound differently when you can't understand what's being said?  The kids on my new floor were all French speaking, and really they weren't anywhere near as loud as the others - but for some reason it seemed like they were louder.  I wonder if my brain was "tuning in" because it wasn't easily recognizable?  Whatever.

Up at 06:00 but moving slowly, I finally rolled out at 09:00.  That brutal South wind from yesterday was back, but stronger.  Awesome.  Rollin' rollin' rollin'...  Took a brief detour South to Ste Anne for fuel and I swear that 1.5km jog South took me 15min.  Bought a pile of stuff as I wasn't sure what was up the road, and then flew back to Hwy1 on the back of that South wind.  Yep, it was a strong one...

They're redoing Hwy1 East out of Winnipeg, which is good because all the roads suck - so this is a much needed improvement.  It didn't change the wind, but at least I wasn't getting jackhammered.  The first 70km were HARD.  It probably took me ~3:30 to cover that 70km.  I was leaning heavily into that sidewind, which my lower back and forearms didn't exactly love.  Ah well - you gotta do that sometimes.

There is a wood carving place called Gepetto's that also has a snack bar with lovely looking gazebos covering picnic tables.  I pulled in to have a drink and to fuel up and met some other cyclists - two older French Canadian guys rolling towards Quebec.  We chatted for a bit and then I sat down to eat.  That's where I met a lady with all the charm and grace of a teething gorilla with hemmeroids.  A hatchet-faced woman, she came waddling over barking about how I was not going to eat anything there, that this was not a rest stop, that "you don't take food to a restaurant", and on and on and on (and on and on)...  I was quite taken aback, and told her that I had planned to eat something and then buy some stuff from her snack stand but she didn't care - she just kept going on and on.  So I thanked her for her hospitality and wished her well.  She continued to grouse as I took my stuff and walked over to the highway (off her property) to finish my meal.  I was pretty surprised, and am really curioius as to how her business is in general.  She certainly can't be helping things...  I guess I can't wish her any ill will though as she's pretty miserable as it is. 

Shortly after I left the terrain changed from open fields of canola and nothing, to both sides of the highway lined with trees.  This created somewhat of a wind tunnel effect, blocking out the nasty sidewinds and giving me a resultant tailwind.  I rode that bad boy for as long as I could, "making hay" as it were.

Another fuel stop (where I was charged for water!) and then back on the bike with a little over 100k to go.  The last section of the day wasn't fast, but it wasn't hard - it just was.  Soon the forests gave way to Shield, and then the road started to roll.  I started to anticipate the border, very eager to be done with MB and into ON.  I really haven't taken a fancy to Manitoba (quite the opposite, really) - but unlike most Canadians who don't live there, I really do like Ontario.  Rolling shield, rolling shield, rolling shield.  Trees.  Short steep hills.  Rocks.  Frogs and turtles as roadkill rather than prairie dogs, coyotes and badgers.  Many, many small lakes with gorgeous cottages.  Also, GREAT road!  As soon as I crossed the border the crappy, unmaintained and brutally hacked up roadway gave way to newish ashphalt.  Even when the new stuff ran out the old road was still pretty nice. 

I rolled into the Welcome Center (great place to fill bottles and use the can), and stopped for one last fuel break.  Finally I made my final approach toward Kenora.  The signage was kind of inconsistent, and it was hard to get a good feeling for how much further I had to go.  The road to Kenora dragged on and on.  Finally I got close and was treated to a very pretty little town on a lake.  Kenora is really nice!  I was impressed.  My ankle, low back and right calf were kind of sore, and my forearms had been thrashed earlier in the day - so I checked into a hotel for some ice therapy.  The Best Western chain has a "stay 2 nights, get one free" deal so I went in to check it out.  With the number of hotels I've stayed in this trip, it only makes sense if there's one available.  Funny how perspective changes - I can only find them in "big towns"...  :p

Stats:

Total Elapsed Time: 10:30
Actual Ride Time: 8:45
Total Distance: 221.37km
Avg Speed: 25.2kph
Max Speed: 57.0kph

The "Longitudinal Midpoint" of the country...

SHIELD!  Rolling shield!

Lokit that road...  like butta

Probably the only time I won't be worried about the fuzz...

Lest people wonder, this is what I mean by "recovery fuel"

And this is why: (per 250ml)

Kenora...