Broken

Stop location: Outside of Elma

lat 49.93799N
lon 95.90592W
alt 305m
110km
4:36
23.9km/h

Our stop location was supposed to be another 20km up the road and we were feeling pretty good, so it wasn't going to be a problem. Unfortunately, as we got past Elma, I noticed that I was getting some rubbing from my back wheel. I looked down and could see a pretty serious wobble as I rode.

Stop, lift up the rear wheel, hit the pedals, yep, wheel's damaged. Broken spoke, which was pretty much the only real mechanical I wasn't setup to handle. Alas.

Given our location we drove on to Kenora knowing that as a tourist destination it should have a bike shop. So now we're sitting in a coffee shop waiting until noon to see if the bike shop can fix the wheel within a day or so. (or even if they are open) And if that fails, we'll drive on back to Winnipeg as they have far more options for repairs. Good thing we have a support vehicle, simplifies this quite a bit to say the least.

The ride itself was great up until that point. We hit the outskirts of the shield and got to ride over a nicely flooded road. That was awesome. I've uploaded a couple of pictures of the road and one of Hillary riding through the shallowest of the three 'creeks' that were crossing it. None were too bad, but one was probably 3 inches deep.

Following that we were chased by some gigantic bugs for about 20km. They were obviously sitting in our draft trying to land. Fortunately, they didn't actually manage to do that, it was still creepy turning around and seeing a dozen or so of these things swarming behind you. I don't think they were black flies, but I really don't know. They sort of looked wasp-like, but not quite the right colour.

So yeah, we should be riding again Tuesday. Perhaps tomorrow if we get really lucky. We shall see.