What an awesome way to end the week. We woke up to it being wet outside - around midnight a thunderstorm had rolled through, I didn't hear it! We got ready and set off. Today we rode with Anita, she is typically faster than us but today I think we sped up to stay with her and she may have slowed a bit for us too. We had a TAILWIND!!!! We were flying along on the long way to Winnipeg instead of the highway. We were on a quiet road and it was relatively smooth. We hit the first rest stop 26.6km in at exactly an hour. We arrived in Winnipeg by noon and were biking down beautiful bike paths along the Assiniboine river. We biked past the legislative buildings where we took pictures and then went off route to MEC (Sara and Anita needed some things, and I bought some more riders cream as well). As we stepped outside again, it started a sudden downpour! We hurried across the street to Starbucks and had a coffee and croissant. We wanted to wait it out but Sara had to go to the bank so we hopped back on our bikes. We got drenched. At one point we accidentally rode through a 6" deep puddle on the side of the road and if our shoes weren't already drenched, they were now. We missed an arrow and went too far and had to turn around, but we got back on track. All was good until we stopped seeing arrows and were getting confused. The arrows had been washed away in the rain ☔️!!! Finally, a man in a red van (like the rhyme 😜!) told us to follow him (a few other cyclists were already following). He guided us to the Calvin Christian Collegiate school. We put our wet bikes in a hallway on tarps and took off our wet socks and shoes! I walked around barefoot because it was so wet on the ground. Sara was lent a vehicle and she drove to the bank. I had a shower and then relaxed. I also today opened up a card from my younger sister Elizabeth that she had given before the trip, she is a very talented card maker. She also wrote out about 30 Bible verses for me to be encouraged by. I had read the card at the very beginning of the trip but hadn't since, saving it for when I needed a pick me up. Well today was mail day and since a lot of people were reading cards, I decided to as well. I enjoyed reading her encouragement and the verses as well. Although I discovered one of her quotes were wrong, she had written "with every uphill there is a downhill", and I have realized that is not true! We have done a lot of uphills through the prairies and they are not always followed by a downhill!!!! Thankyou Elizabeth for the card, I miss you!
At 5pm, the cyclists were all picked up to go to dinner, but Sara and I were picked up by our cousin Crystal and her 2 year old daughter Brooklyn! She had graciously invited us over for dinner, and to do our laundry!!!! We had a delightful evening with them, playing with Brooklyn who took a little bit to get over being shy ☺️. We had a delicious homemade meal, which was very much appreciated, camp food is good but there's something about a homemade meal. We had dessert and then Denley, her husband came home from work. We had a nice chat with them after Brooklyn went to bed. They also passed on a package. Crystal's Mom, Our Aunty Margaret, had given them a care package to pass on to us. Aunty Margaret had come to White Rock at the beginning to send us off. Now she gave us a card, siroop wafels, king peppermints and zout drop!!! We are so thankful, Aunty Margaret, what a wonderful and much appreciated treat!!! We now have peppermints for church!!! It was nice to get our own care package from an aunt with direct delivery.
What a good day!
124.3 km
5H 30min
22.4km/h Avg speed
237m Elevation