Winnipeg is cool. I have come to that conclusion.
We are staying with amazing hosts (again) in the Sanders family. Mr Sanders is a social worker, and Mrs. Sanders works for CBC Winnipeg- and they have treated us like kings (again).
We got into Winnipeg yesterday, after battling our second day of bad head wind. The night before, we slept in McMunn Manitoba (just after we crossed the border out of Ontario!).
When we arrived at the Sanders' home, we were greeted with beers (Labatt Genuine dad!), each took a warm shower, and sat down for a great spaghetti dinner. After that, we headed downtown and spend the night a bar called the Toad in the Hole- it was great fun. I played a wicked video game called Buck Hunter, we had a few drinks, and our server Ainslin (spelling is wrong) gave us a shot of jagermeister on the house, and also brought TROUBLE (the 80's boardgame) to our table to keep the fun going.
Today we took our bikes in for some repairs, and headed downtown to buy tickets for a concert, explore the city and to tour the CBC headquarters with Mrs. Sanders.
The tickets we bought are for Girl Talk, an amazing DJ that Brad and I like a lot. The show is part of the Winnipeg jazz festival.
Our tour of downtown was brief, but fun nonetheless...but the best part was our tour of CBC. We got to sit in on the afternoon current affairs radio show- which was great to watch from the perspective of a communication student. And wouldn't you know- there was a hole to fill in the show...and we were asked to go on!
So, we spoke about our trip and CANFAR...it was a great experience that we all will remember. Hopefully our media exposure will help with the awareness of CANFAR, and of our ride.
Tomorrow we will be the start of 4 demanding days of riding, averaging around 150km per day. Turns out we won't be able to reach Regina for Canada day either- we will be arriving there on the 2nd of July. Ah well. You win some, you loose some.
I am really pumped for the concert tonight- hopefully I don't tire myself out too much!
I think the next time we will have acces to the net will be in Regina- so you can expect another update in about 5 days. Thanks again for reading!
-Mikey
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Avoiding the rain in DRYden...(get it!?)
We are in Dryden, Ontario right now at the home of the wonderful Collins family. Mrs. Collins is friend with Alexandra Erikson's mom- who went out of her way to conact Mrs. Collins after treating us so well in Thunder Bay.
Some of you may have heard about the crazy weather that the prairies saw over the past few days- and I am glad to say that we have not seen any tornadoes here in North Western Ontario. Although the 400+km winds would be interesting to handle our our bikes.
Last night we slept in the garage of a beautiful couple in Ignace, Ontario. Bob and Pam treated us very well there, after we asked to set up our tents in their backyard during the beginning of a large downpour. They had us in for coffee, sandwiches and beans (our favourite), and also set up their garage for us to sleep in, so we didn't have to deal with the 7cm of rain that was supposed to fall that night!
PLUS- Bob made us an amazing breakfast of bacon, sausage and pancakes in the morning to send us on our way. Our ride today was great- 94km in 3h and 28 minutes- really really fast.
We were a pretty funny sight on the road today for most of the time- four guys on bikes with only our bike shorts on. That's a lot of skin for the Trans Canada highway. It's like we were traveling chip and dale dancers...haha!
Right now we are basically right between Thunder Bay and Winnipeg- and it feels great. Soon we will be out of Ontario, and we will even be able to celebrate Canada Day in Regina.
I met one of my trip goals today- I got to put around in a paddle boat! And let me tell ya, if you want to get around quickly in a paddle boat- you should ride halfway across Canada to train for it. Rainer and I FLEW out on the water today.
Tomorrow we have a pretty big day- about 150 km to Kenora Ontario. From Kenora, we have 2 days until Winnipeg (which means another OFF Day!!!).
Things are still going great- and we have been very lucky to avoid the terrible weather that has hit the area. Here's hoping that continues!
Cheers
Mikey
Some of you may have heard about the crazy weather that the prairies saw over the past few days- and I am glad to say that we have not seen any tornadoes here in North Western Ontario. Although the 400+km winds would be interesting to handle our our bikes.
Last night we slept in the garage of a beautiful couple in Ignace, Ontario. Bob and Pam treated us very well there, after we asked to set up our tents in their backyard during the beginning of a large downpour. They had us in for coffee, sandwiches and beans (our favourite), and also set up their garage for us to sleep in, so we didn't have to deal with the 7cm of rain that was supposed to fall that night!
PLUS- Bob made us an amazing breakfast of bacon, sausage and pancakes in the morning to send us on our way. Our ride today was great- 94km in 3h and 28 minutes- really really fast.
We were a pretty funny sight on the road today for most of the time- four guys on bikes with only our bike shorts on. That's a lot of skin for the Trans Canada highway. It's like we were traveling chip and dale dancers...haha!
Right now we are basically right between Thunder Bay and Winnipeg- and it feels great. Soon we will be out of Ontario, and we will even be able to celebrate Canada Day in Regina.
I met one of my trip goals today- I got to put around in a paddle boat! And let me tell ya, if you want to get around quickly in a paddle boat- you should ride halfway across Canada to train for it. Rainer and I FLEW out on the water today.
Tomorrow we have a pretty big day- about 150 km to Kenora Ontario. From Kenora, we have 2 days until Winnipeg (which means another OFF Day!!!).
Things are still going great- and we have been very lucky to avoid the terrible weather that has hit the area. Here's hoping that continues!
Cheers
Mikey
Thursday, June 21, 2007
8 days of THUNDER!
So here we are, in Thunder Bay at the end of our first rest day in 8 days.
here is a log of what we have done for the past while-
june 13- espanola to blind river, on - 96km
june 14- blind river to sault ste marie- 148km
june 15- sault ste marie - montreal river- 108km
june 16- montreal river- wawa - 119.8km
june 17- wawa to white lake prov. park- 138km
june 18- white lake prov. park- outside terrace bay- 95km
june 19- outside terrace bay- outside nipigon, on- 131.4
june 20- outside nipigon- thunder bay on 137km
so many highlights- i'll name a few to keep it brief.
1) the beauty of northern ontario
-lake superior is incredible. it's huge, its beautiful. if you haven't seen it, you have to come up here and check it out. the huge hills (mountains) and trees are breathtaking- at some points you feel like you could be anywhere in the world.
2) how generous people are (again).
-in sault ste marie, a family friend of adrian's put us up in a beautiful hotel for the night and had us over for an amazing dinner. a total stranger paid for our lunch one day out of the blue. alexandra and her family have treated us so well, and have given us a great day off in thunderbay.
3) hills are huge.
-we have gone up hills that have taken us 20 minutes to climb at 10km per hour. we are masters now, and are barely out of breath when we get to the top.
4) there ARE a lot of blackflies in northern ontario.
-they don't seem to want to bite us that much, but they love swarming us.
5) we are still having fun, and still like each other a lot.
it's true, the days can get long...and the tent small- but we are still loving every minute.
we will be in manitoba in less than a week, and our next rest day will be there.
it has been a great time in ontario, but we are excited to get out and see a new province. ontario is really big. check out a map- it really is really big.
enjoy the pictures, i wish i could put more up.
cheers!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Our Days of Rest
We are still at Adrian's place on Manitoulin Island- enjoying the amazing scenery, living, and company.
I'll just update on the last few days we have had.
I haven't written a long update for a while- so please excuse me if I repeat some small details I mentioned before.
I'll go back to our time in Sturgeon- where we stayed with Christine.
We arrived in Sturgeon after biking about 136km, at about 8pm and we were greated by Christine...she was ready to take us to her nearby cottage for some much needed relaxation. Once we got there, we hung up our tents to dry from the rainy morning we had...went for a dip in the lake, and we were greated with a beer (the trend continues!).
Christine's mom cooked us an amazing dinner that night- a huge roast, pasta and the works. We all at more than we should ( I actually ate the least amount), watched a little television, and called it a night. Just as I was going to be though, I was hit with a crazy bad stomach ache...I still don't know what from. So, all night I was hurting. I didnt' get much sleep.
We agreed to sleep in, and leave late the next day. So we slept in a lot, ate a great breakfast and went back to Christine's house to use the internet at get our bikes ready for our bike to Sudbury. After checking our emails and updating our blogs a little bit, we went outside to get going.
But once outside, and all packed up- Christine's neighbour drove infront of her driveway and said "NO BIKING THIS AFTERNOON BOYS...there's a big storm in Sudbury...golf ball sized hail".
So, we decided to stay another night in Sturgeon. I cooked everyone's burgers for dinner on the BBQ at the cottage, and after we watched Crash- one of my favourite movies.
No stomach aches that night! We then woke up at 6am that morning and started our 165km ride to Espanola On, where Adrian's mom was to pick us up and bring us to their house on Manitoulin island. The ride was a long one, but fun. Brad stopped after 100km- his knee was acting up...so Adrian's mom picked him up in Sudbury.
The rest of us continued on...and eventually finished our 165km ride at about 8pm. LONG DAY, but it was a great feeling to finish such a great distance.
From there, we macked on some burgers from Wendy's, and headed for Adrian's house. I slept the whole way in the car, with my head being supported by Rainer and Brad's shoulders, depending on the way the van just turned.
We have been at Adrian's for a few days now- this is our 3rd. The highlights so far are Adrian's parents, his house powered entirely by solar and wind energy...and our sailing afternoon.
HERE IS A VIDEO OF US SAILING!!!! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSACfJ98zgw
That's about all for now. We will be heading to Blind River On tomorrow, and after that I do not imagine that we will have access to the internet for a while, but we will do our best to keep in touch.
Thanks for reading, hope all is well!
I'll just update on the last few days we have had.
I haven't written a long update for a while- so please excuse me if I repeat some small details I mentioned before.
I'll go back to our time in Sturgeon- where we stayed with Christine.
We arrived in Sturgeon after biking about 136km, at about 8pm and we were greated by Christine...she was ready to take us to her nearby cottage for some much needed relaxation. Once we got there, we hung up our tents to dry from the rainy morning we had...went for a dip in the lake, and we were greated with a beer (the trend continues!).
Christine's mom cooked us an amazing dinner that night- a huge roast, pasta and the works. We all at more than we should ( I actually ate the least amount), watched a little television, and called it a night. Just as I was going to be though, I was hit with a crazy bad stomach ache...I still don't know what from. So, all night I was hurting. I didnt' get much sleep.
We agreed to sleep in, and leave late the next day. So we slept in a lot, ate a great breakfast and went back to Christine's house to use the internet at get our bikes ready for our bike to Sudbury. After checking our emails and updating our blogs a little bit, we went outside to get going.
But once outside, and all packed up- Christine's neighbour drove infront of her driveway and said "NO BIKING THIS AFTERNOON BOYS...there's a big storm in Sudbury...golf ball sized hail".
So, we decided to stay another night in Sturgeon. I cooked everyone's burgers for dinner on the BBQ at the cottage, and after we watched Crash- one of my favourite movies.
No stomach aches that night! We then woke up at 6am that morning and started our 165km ride to Espanola On, where Adrian's mom was to pick us up and bring us to their house on Manitoulin island. The ride was a long one, but fun. Brad stopped after 100km- his knee was acting up...so Adrian's mom picked him up in Sudbury.
The rest of us continued on...and eventually finished our 165km ride at about 8pm. LONG DAY, but it was a great feeling to finish such a great distance.
From there, we macked on some burgers from Wendy's, and headed for Adrian's house. I slept the whole way in the car, with my head being supported by Rainer and Brad's shoulders, depending on the way the van just turned.
We have been at Adrian's for a few days now- this is our 3rd. The highlights so far are Adrian's parents, his house powered entirely by solar and wind energy...and our sailing afternoon.
HERE IS A VIDEO OF US SAILING!!!! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSACfJ98zgw
That's about all for now. We will be heading to Blind River On tomorrow, and after that I do not imagine that we will have access to the internet for a while, but we will do our best to keep in touch.
Thanks for reading, hope all is well!
Monday, June 11, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
PICTURES AND VIDEOS...yes!
Us with ED, the 70-some year-old man that biked from Victoria Island...he was a wicked dude.
Because of him we yell YEEEEHOOOO whenever we start biking now.
rainer tan is always sexy. always.
that's a biiiiiig nickel! (go sudbury)
Us infront of Parliament, just before we were interviewed by the CBC (thanks Celeste!).
two strapping youngens.
rainer and adrian in deux rivieres.
_______________________________________________
We are at Adrian's place now, with his parents (and dog zoey...and cat tiger).
I will write more of an update tomorrow hopefully.
More videos are ready too!
check them out here, and here.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Sturgeon Falls
Quick Post-
We are in beautiful sturgeon falls, on with a beautiful host in ms.christine anawati.
We got in last night around 7pm after about 140km- and Christine took us to her cottage for a great dinner with her mom and dad. we also managed to go for our first swim (in clear lake).
we will be taking off for sudbury very soon- we wanted to enjoy a bit of a day in sturgeon, so we are biking in the afternoon and evening. it should take us only about 4hrs, so we will get in around 8pm.
last night we camped out behind a general store in Deux Rivers, which was nice. accept for the horseflies.
i have some videos i will post in the near future
cheers!
We are in beautiful sturgeon falls, on with a beautiful host in ms.christine anawati.
We got in last night around 7pm after about 140km- and Christine took us to her cottage for a great dinner with her mom and dad. we also managed to go for our first swim (in clear lake).
we will be taking off for sudbury very soon- we wanted to enjoy a bit of a day in sturgeon, so we are biking in the afternoon and evening. it should take us only about 4hrs, so we will get in around 8pm.
last night we camped out behind a general store in Deux Rivers, which was nice. accept for the horseflies.
i have some videos i will post in the near future
cheers!
Saturday, June 2, 2007
video time!
here is the first of many hillarious videos care of mike anderson and brad armitage.
check it out here.
check it out here.
On The Road Again...
Lots to write- let's get going!
The Train
May 29-Wednesday
I took the train to Dorval QC to meet up with the boys and continue the trip. The day before I rode 80km at home in Waterloo, so the knee was a bit sore- but I had a good feeling it was ready to go.
The train was pretty boring- I reached Dorval (just outside of Montreal) at about 4:30pm. From there, I got my boxed up bike and put it together in record time (much much quicker than our first bike assembly in Halifax, NS). From there, I went on a ride of my own, biking along the st.lawrence for the afternoon as I waited for the guys to get to our home for the next two night- Brad's Aunt Lynn's place.
After getting a call from Brad, I headed to his aunts place and I was greeted with burgers, a beer, and hugs from all the boys. It was great to be back. That night we ate as much as we could (it was really hard to keep up with the guys), chilled out in Aunt Lynn's basement and played some wicked super nintendo.
MTL
May 30-Wednesday
We slept in the next morning- at a nice breakfast, and we hung out with Brad's cousin Britt all afternoon- she was really cool and a great host. We went for some MTL smoked meat at Smoke Meat Pete's (and smelled like it after, too), and took a nice drive down Lakeshore Road. That area of the island is so nice- it would be a great place to live one day.
After that- we had one of our MTL highlights- dinner with gaggy and grandad- Brad's grandparents. They were two amazing characters with great hearts and a knack for humour that many don't have. It was great to see Brad's family.
After dinner- we headed to one of our favourite Montreal Bars- Fou Founes Electrique. After the bouncer made fun of us for wearing flip flops (we don't have enough room in our bags for real shoes), we headed in and watched a free concert featuring one of Montreal's finest- the Saint Catherines. It was a great concert- the perfect way to spend a night out in Montreal.
After drinking a great amount of water when we got home, I fell asleep.
My first biking day since the injury
May 31-Thursday
The next morning we woke up around 9:30, ate an AMAZING breakfast of bacon and pancakes prepared by Aunt Lynn, we showered, packed up, and waisted a few minutes doing nothing before we took off.
We left the house at about noon to start our ride to Alfred Ontario- about 120km. And boy did we fly that day- average speed was over 25km/h. My knee held up really well- at one point I was leading the group for a half hour at over 30km/h and it didn't hurt at all. I think that's when I knew it would be good for a while.
We made amazing time getting into Alfred on account of our speedy-ness and set up camp in the side yard of a nice couple. After eating a ton of chili and bread, and treating ourselves to a donut and a game of frisbee- we jumped in our tents for the night. Brad and I played poker and listened to music...I'm out $6.50. haha.
Ottawa Day!
June 01-Friday
The next morning we woke up early, around 8:00- ate our regular breakfast of bread, peanut butter and bananas and took off for Ottawa. The ride was 80km and we covered it well, arriving in Ottawa just after noon. About 3/4 of the way through, Brad took a spill along the way, got a little 'road rash' on his hip and arm. But that just makes him look more hardcore. He's hopped right back on his bike, and we continued on.
My knee felt great yesterday- like really, really good. Which makes me really happy.
When we got into Ottawa, we parted ways- Brad and I headed to our friends Becca and Nat's place. When we arrived, the girls treated us so well, with cold beers ready (seems to be a growing trend). They made us lunch, dinner, and made us very happy. Me and Brad love our Nat and Becca.
We also saw the article written about us in Metro - check it out here!
http://www.metronews.ca/uploadedFiles/PDFs/20070601_ottawa.pdf (it's on page 3).
At night- we had our fundraiser pub at the Great Canadian Cabin in the Market. I had worked out a deal with France, the bar's manager, allowing us to get the $3 cover from anyone who handed in a little Speak with Spokes ticket.
The night was an absolute blast. So many of our friends came to support CANFAR, and to see us during our Ottawa stop. That was probably one of my favourite nights out in my entire University tenure.
At the beginning of the night Brad and I were greated by France and one of my friends Nat Carrier. Nat bought us a drink, and introduced us to the people at her table- including a few people from A Channel... we may have some more Ottawa press coming our way soon!
And the night just got better and better as time went on. This trip has made me realize how giving people really are- and last night was no exception. People saught us out to make donations all night- it was incredible.
But it wasn't only that- seeing everyone again was so great. Everyone had great stories and accomplishments to talk about- I had some great conversations. Thanks to everyone who came out, we really appreciated it. And to top it all off, we raised $400 for CANFAR last night- incredible stuff.
Today we will be getting our bikes tuned up, and heading to one of our favourite Ottawa places- Chateau Laff for Lucky Ron at 4pm. Should be a great day.
We will be in Ottawa till Monday, and I think we will love every minute.
Friday, June 1, 2007
OTTAWA!
Hey Everyone
We are in Ottawa after 2 great days of riding. Tonight we have our fundraiser pub at the Cabin on York street- we hope to see everyone out.
If you are planning on coming, please print off the logo above. If you present the logo with your $3 cover, the money will go to CANFAR. If not- the $ goes to the Cabin.
I'll have a more indepth update later...but for now I'm going to enjoy being in Ottawa!
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