22 July
Today was our longest day so far and the end of our longest riding session ( six days in a row ! ) , but I am snug in my tent listening to the poring rain out side , with a full belly and I’m now dry so I’m a happy camper !!!
The day started out just fine with clear skies and warm , I was up early and immediately attacked by mosquitos , the worse so far that we have encountered so getting ready and eating breakfast were not pleasant activities today. So I left camp early as did many , five of us ( Bob, myself , Beth, Rhiannon and Janice ) formed up a group the sixth poor John stayed behind with a flat , we soon picked up Ed and that formed our core group for the day. Soon into the ride we realized that the wind gods had abandoned us and that we had a slight head wind to contend with so it was decided that a pace line was the best way to deal with it and since the terrane was flat it worked beautifully , we took turns every two km and arrived to the town of Whitemouth in no time ( km 43 ) to find a charming bakery as we had been advised would be there. As we arrived we noted there was a scattering of bikes all over the lawn and very satisfied cyclist all through the place , I had two !! cinnamon buns freshly backed with coffee and I must say I was in heaven !!! Apparently this was the sixth year the Tour has stopped there and they were ready for us .
Once we managed to pry ourselves from the bakery we headed out a larger number then before and as we caught up to other riders they joined into line so at one point we were near fifteen ( including John ) we stopped again at the last known store on the route ( km 79 ) to top up with water as the temperature was now in the 30s and on we went looking for the Ontario boarder ( minus John with another flat ).
As we neared the boarder thunder started then rain and the terrane changed to canadian shield with ups and downs which made pace line riding hard so we just rode on as a group then , finally about seven of us arrived at the boarder together (km 120 ), Stephanie and I from Ontario with a sense that we were home after a long absence, others marveling at how far we had come. Lots of cheering and picture taking was done as the traffic zoomed by us on the trans Canada with the occasional honking of horns , the rain had stopped which made us even giddier !!!, more and more riders arrived so we moved on as more thunder was heard and we thought maybe we could out run it . Not so !!! about 20 km on it started up again, light rain to start but soon it turned into heavy rain , like cats and dogs rain and it stayed with us all the way to camp, we rode on soaking wet through puddling water, the scenery seemed to be spectacular at times , Ontario rocks and lakes , we went over numerous bridges in Kenora and one could see islands out of the corner of the eye but to take a look would have been deadly as on just focused on the rider ahead, and the rain just kept coming down harder and harder !!!
Finally we arrived in camp , only a handful there and the rain let up just a touch so a mad scrabble was on to get tents up, I had to but my fly up first then crawl under to put the tent up , luckily it ended up quite dry.
We all pitched in to prepare dinner as not all the galley crew of the day had arrived and it was getting late , 15 riders decided to cal taxies and head foe hotels in town so the smaller group that challenged the elements became even closer and we all had a great time cooking and eating Shrimp Jambalya .
Total ridden today: 181.1 - average speed: 23.1 - Ridding time: 7.51
leaving Manitoba 
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