Winnipeg and onwards to the Prairies

I'm woken in the night to strange sounds and two car alarms going off nearby...it appears the strange weather has spouted forth near golf ball sized hail on everything which is inciting the car alarms to chorus at 5am in the morning. Fall back to sleep and then wake later to more rain and my resilience to the idea of an early start crumbles and I turn over and sleep some more.

Finally leave after nine and begin the process of working my way around the city by pass....the wind is side to tailwind coming from the morth east so it helps me except when i ridenorth along the western edge of the city. here i am reduced to low speeds, also in aprt contributed to by no breakfast of note.

Eventually find route 1 and begin a more westerly direction away from Winnipeg and the wind is more in my favour again. I decide to stop, though fearful that the wind might change and move against me. I have had glimpses of the desperation a Prairie headwind can cause but I need some food. the plan is to ride about 140kms today.

Also suffer my first puncture but locate repair tube and tools quickly and also the tyre, when deflated, slips easily from the rim of the wheel and makes the change smoother. No need for Thundercat finger strength to remove over toght tyres this time.

The rain stops and I say a quiet prayer to the RAC God for no more punctures and the next 70kms to portage go really well. The terrain is so open and so flat, the sky is indeed big JZ!! The road is mostly straight again either going ever so slightly up hill or downhill and I make Portage and find a Tim Hortons eatery for soup and bread.

A guy in there asks me what I'm doing and he is concerned for my route choice, he believes the road is dangerous and full of big trucks and also local storms that are coming. There had been a twister tornado that had touched down locally the day before destroying two local houses in seconds and the weather stations are indicating more might be on their way. I kind of veer between ambivalence and concern. I feel like this is the route I have decided to take and I'll have to deal with whatever comes at me if it comes at me. I feel his care though and this is appreciated.

I head off and the next 50km become more of a plod as the wind turns across me and my fatigue builds. I begin to get an empty feeling which nutri grain bars seem to only satiate at this time of the day for about 20 minutes. The clouds cause the light to begin to go early with a cold greyness about everything, fields, a few trees and the road dissappearing off into the horizon. Eventually I reach Gladstone at 6pm, having slowly witnessed various out of town painted signs advertising various amenities on offer from 20kilomteres out. My cold and tiredness and the threat of high winds discourages camping and I check into a local motel happy to have put good ground between myself and Winnipeg.