PEDALers Push Onward - Garrettless!

Posted by Ken Mahy - 29 August 2010

Shortly after reaching Winnipeg, Garrett paid a recommended visit to the PanAm Sports Clinic to have his wounded knee reassessed.  While no major damage was detected, the examining doctor urged that he rest it for 2 weeks to allow any remaining pain and swelling to subside.  As a result, the Fearless Foursome continued westward towards Saskatchewan temporarily reduced to a trio.

Plans call for Garrett to rest for a week in Winnipeg (at the home of an Otesha friend of Kristi and Viera) and then travel by bus to rejoin the others in Weyburn Saskatchewan (the group's next planned stop).

Contacted in Winnipeg yesterday, Garrett reported that the knee is 75% better and improving daily - enough that he has spent parts of some days exploring the city on foot.  He misses his "comrades on wheels" and is looking forward to seeing them again - as soon as he can figure out the bus connections to get from Winnipeg to Weyburn - probably by way of Regina.

PS. Some of you may have been counting heads and wondering "Where's Lucas?".  Back around Thunder Bay, Lucas accelerated his personal pace in order to reach Saskatchewan in time for a friend's August wedding.  From there, he headed home to British Columbia to be reunited with his family - who he hadn't seen since his Katimavik adventure began many months previous.  Lucas is staying in touch with the rest of the group and plans to rejoin PEDAL Across the Americas as they head southward from BC later this fall.

PEDAL Crew Headed for Winnipeg Tomorrow

Posted by Ken Mahy - 22 August 2010

After a fascinating extended visit (and a good rest from cycling) at Prairie's Edge EcoVillage the PEDALers hopped back on the bikes today and headed due west towards Winnipeg.  The ride was made easier by a strong easterly wind - although it did make balancing a bit tricky at times as it was gusting from the side as well as from behind.

By evening the fearless foursome had arrived in the town of Beausejour and began knocking on doors to ask if there was anywhere they could set up their tents for the night.  This technique has usually worked well - but tonight they were rolling snake eyes - until they encountered a fellow on the street who was interested to know where they were from and where they were going.  Upon hearing they were cycling to Costa Rica his jaw dropped - because he had just recently returned from a trip to Costa Rica himself!  Turned out he was Pastor of a local church - and he quickly invited them to set up their tents on the lawn behind that church for the night!

All being well, tomorrow the PEDAL team will roll into Winnipeg - a city of 631,000 - by far the most populous place they've seen along their route so far - and will stay at the home of a person that Kristi and Viera met on their Otesha adventure in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick a few years back.

Update on Garrett's Knee:  The cuts and scrapes suffered when Garrett fell while running up a rock embankment a few days back are healing well, swelling is mostly gone and full range of motion has returned.  He is still getting some occasional sharp twinges of pain but can cycle without any significant discomfort.  Plans call for a quick precautionary visit to a clinic in Winnipeg to let a doctor have a look.

Milestones

Hello all!

Garrett here, at the Prairie's Edge community in eastern Manitoba.  We arrived on the evening of the 17th: a huge milestone for us, as Prairie's Edge is our very first official sustainability model of the tour, and we're now able to dig into this project in a big way: learning and documenting how everyday people have made exceptional strides towards creating a sustainable society.

During our next few days here, we'll be learning everything we can about a few of the most interesting and instructive technologies, skills, practices, and ideas being employed here.  This information will take a little while to organize, and then it will be placed in the presently-still-quite-under-construction Garden section of our website.

Another milestone: Arriving in Manitoba brought me a great deal of personal satisfaction.  Having cycled over 2000 km through Ontario, we were greeted in Manitoba by a small, unobtrusive sign declaring the distance to Saskatchewan as less than 500 km.  Although this tour is about a great deal more than reaching destinations simply for their own sakes, our next milestone seems a whole lot more readily attainable than the Manitoba border was.  From here on, the distances between borders -- and, much more significantly, between sustainability models -- are a great deal shorter than our initial push through Ontario.  The goal throughout Ontario was to get over there, and just as there becomes here in a sudden but subtle transition only evident in retrospect, so too has the project become subtly and suddenly much more active, exciting, and promising.

Passing these milestones, however, posed unexpected personal challenges.  Within a few dozen kilometres before reaching the Manitoba border, I left my bike at the side of the Trans-Canada to retreat into the forest for a pee.  Upon re-emerging, I saw my mount unsteadily pirouetting on its kickstand, bullied by the strong cold winds we've been riding against.  I ran to grab the bike before it toppled (it's a frustrating affair when a fully-loaded bike falls, as the brakes can be put out of alignment and may require an immediate and time-consuming tune-up) but I fell in the rocky roadside ditch and cut up my left knee.

The cuts themselves were nothing gruesome, but the swelling caused a steady ache under and around the knee cap.  Kristi tended to my injury with great care and skill, and I was back on my bike after a short rest.  Fortunately, riding proved a fair bit less painful than walking, likely due in part to my right leg putting in most of the pedaling effort.  This compensation proved problematic the following day, when my right knee also began to ache from overuse.  By the evening both knees were protesting my determination to reach Prairie's Edge.  Turning off of Highway 44 (the original Trans-Canada in eastern Manitoba, now blissfully vacant of traffic), we slogged along a gravel road that stretched towards the horizon and teased us with the constant promise of a destination.  The heavy hungries gnawed at our bellies in advance of dinner time, but my senses were sated by the sight and sound of a flock of cranes: several dozen gliding silhouettes chattered across the linear grass-and-forest landscape.  Fifteen minutes later, and we had arrived!

Speaking of the heavy hungries, I've had no lunch, so I'll end off here, but I have some more post ideas that I hope to get down in the next few days.

PEDAL Coasts Into Prairie's Edge

Posted by Ken Mahy - 17 August 2010

Sometime last Sunday, PEDAL Across the Americas crossed the provincial boundary into Manitoba - a major milestone on their journey considering the sheer size of the Ontario - especially when viewed from the seat of a bicycle.

From there, they pressed onward to their first major stop - Prairie's Edge EcoVillage.  Here they plan to park the bikes for a week or so and volunteer their efforts in the fields and around the village generally in exchange for room and board.  There is a small guest cabin on the property but also lots of space to set up tents - which won't have to be taken down, packed up and then pitched again for the next several nights!


Prairie's Edge is located about 60 km ENE of Winnipeg near the community of River Hills - roughly 50 km from the Ontario border.  Hopefully one of the PEDALers will be able to blog about their experiences here soon - when they reach Winnipeg if not before.

Farm Happenings and Husky the Musky

Hello from Kenora!

The PEDAL crew got into town yesterday afternoon and are taking our first day off in a week before we cross the border into Manitoba. In fact, we've just hit the 2000 km mark in our journey! Only 14 000 km left.

The past few days have been filled with cycling through the gorgeous landscape leading up to the Lake of the Woods area. After a few flatter riding days, the hills have reappeared for one last hurrah. They aren't as challenging as the ones encountered in Lake Superior Provincial Park, but they sure will make the prairies seem easy.

It's refreshing to find fresh food readily available after a few days scavenging for canned food in gas stations. Our recycling pile has been building up, and we will finally be parting with it in Kenora. We never expected it would be so difficult to recycle once we left Southern Ontario, but we are determined not to throw away valuable resources... even if that means hulking bags of cans and cardboard precariously perched on our bikes.

Despite the lack of supermarkets bursting with food, we have found a couple of wonderful farms along our route. Both were demonstrating sustainable practices in some sense and welcomed us warmly.

The first, located in Oxdrift, is Wall's Pork Shop. Bob Wall is very informed about a variety of food issues, including genetically modified crops and the negative repercussions of dependence on artificial fertilizers. He is also a passionate advocate for small, local slaughterhouses like his own. If you're in the area and interested in local meat products, give him a call. He sells direct from the farm. (807) 937-4357.


Honey Mill Farm, located in Vermillion Bay, is a diverse family farm operation. We were impressed with their greenhouses, where crops are grown vertically on climbing ropes to maximize space. There are also a number of animals on the farm, which adds to the farm atmosphere. While they are not organic, the farm uses no pesticides, due to their toxicity and customer concern. They can be found at farmers markets in the Dryden area.

We're approaching the Manitoba boarder with a great sense of excitement and anticipation! Our first official stop at Prairie's Edge Ecovilliage is coming up in a couple of days. Soon we will be sharing all that we learn there with you, so be sure to keep checking the blog!

We are in Vermillion Bay.

When we have more access to the internet, perhaps in Kenora, which is the next major town before Manitoba, we will try to find time to update. Everything is going well, it is hot and rainy here, plus the people are so friendly.

Ciao,
Justin

PEDAL Team Drying Out West of Dryden

Posted by Ken Mahy - 11 August 2010

After camping in heavy rain last night and riding through a constant drizzle all day Wednesday, the intrepid (but extremely damp) PEDALers caught a welcome break tonight!  They are staying in a warm, cozy farmhouse at Oxdrift - just west of Dryden.  Their host is Bob Wall, a friend of a friend of Justin Pape.  Those of us picturing our heroes camping in a downpour and riding through the raindrops all day are probably almost as grateful to Bob for his hospitality as the bikers themselves!

The route to Bob's farm took them off the TransCanada Highway for an hour of peaceful riding through rolling green countryside this afternoon - then up a dirt road to a warm (and dry) welcome.

The scenery the past few days has included vast bogs, thick spruce forests and enormous grasslands mixed in with rocky rolling stretches - definitely different from their earlier experiences and very interesting in its own way.  The 125 km route from Dryden to Kenora which lies ahead promises to be somewhat hillier again after the more level terrain the group has just traversed.  Those interested in getting an idea of the terrain they'll be cycling can do so at the TransCanada Highway website.  Estimated timeline for crossing the Manitoba border is Sunday August 15th if all goes smoothly the next few days.

In addition to drying out after a soggy 36 hours, the night spent indoors at Oxdrift will also provide our courageous adventurers with some blessed relief from the swarms of mosquitoes that have been the bain of their past few evenings.  Bugs don't bug you during the day when you're breezing along the asphalt at 10 - 25 kmh - but they come out in force at nightfall - which is typically when the team drops anchor for the night to set up camp and cook/eat their evening meal.  Acquisition of some eco-friendly insect repellant and a lightweight "bug shelter" is definitely on the agenda!

PEDAL Crew Breaks Through to the Central Time Zone!

Posted by Ken Mahy - 8 August 2010

As Lucas and Justin indicated in their joint blog entry from Thunder Bay, access to the Internet is often difficult to find along the TransCanada Highway in Northern Ontario.  The PEDAL team has, therefore, authorized me to periodically post information on their behalf gleaned from telephone conversations with parents and friends.

Topping the recent news: PEDAL Across the Americas has broken through into the Central Time zone!  Phone calls received Saturday evening were from a campground about 20 km east of Upsala (or 115 km northwest of Thunder Bay).  Or as Paul Gauthier put it into broader perspective - "more than 1/3 of the way to Victoria BC".

For the "time zone challenged", this means that the PEDALers are now an hour behind most of Ontario and 2 hours ahead of British Columbia.  In other words, if it's 3 PM in "PEDAL Time", that's 4 PM in Ontario and 1 PM on the west coast.

Speaking of Thunder Bay, the PEDAL adventure made big news there as the group was interviewed by both the local CBC Radio station and the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal (click to see the article).  Triple thanks Lin, whose farm they stayed at just outside Thunder Bay and Rosslyn Village, as she got them the interviews through her local connections and also drove them back into Thunder Bay to be interviewed!

And more good news, this time from Toronto.  The Tooker Gomberg Greenspiration Fund has announced the following:  "A $500 grant was given to P.E.D.A.L., a 16,000 km bicycle tour and environmental education and media project documenting sustainable living models."

One final thought-provoking perspective for those of us cheering the PEDAL team from the sidelines.  Apparently the group are finding the more level riding northwest of Thunder Bay a bit dull compared to the more hilly terrain they traversed earlier.  They miss the challenge of the uphill climbs followed by the exhiliration of the vistas seen as they reached the top - and the restful glides on the downhill side!