This
is the story of how my big mouth can get me into things that otherwise might be
passed off as a bad idea....
In November 2015 I was
thinking it would be fun to have a Fat Bike to ride over the winter. Needing to
convince my wife (Leah) that it was a good idea to buy another bike seemed to
need some supporting usage plans. I started
by telling her that I was going to ride my new Fat Bike across the lake from
Warroad to Kenora sometime during the winter.
This was not a
commitment by any means but seemed like a good supporting conversation for the
purchase of a new bike!
Shortly after this
conversation was the Fall Lift party in Winnipeg which also made for a good Fat
Bike shopping opportunity. At the party I was talking with Keith Holm about the
bike dealers in Winnipeg and the subject of the Lake Ride came up. Keith said “Warroad
to Kenora, I’M IN”!
This was now a
commitment even though I didn’t own and had never even ridden a Fat Bike yet.
I bought new bike
within a week or so and started collecting the needed gear for bike packing and
winter camping. Tents, cold weather sleeping bag, sleeping pads, cooking gear, down
layers, merino wool everything and much more…
I did a couple of
rides and campouts near home in some cold weather to shake everything down and
replace the stuff that didn’t work. Keith and I were both riding and getting
into shape for a long couple of days.
The plan was to cross
Lake of the Woods on Jan 1st and 2nd but the ice wasn’t
going to allow that plan this year. I was able to do a 50 mile ride on the lake
with an overnight camp near Rocky Point but the crossing had to wait.
From early January to
early February I was travelling for work and not able to ride.
Once I returned, Keith
and I started working on the plan again and picked Valentines weekend to give
it a shot.
Keith drove to Roseau
and stayed with us on Friday night, 2/12.
Leah dropped Keith and
I off at the point in Warroad about 10 am on 2/13. At the lake it was up to
about -26 degrees, after the morning started off from -36 degrees. We packed
the last few items in our bags, poured hot water in our camelbaks and set off
towards the North. We stopped after about 100 meters and turned around, heading
back West on the groomed snowmobile trail instead of random snowmobile tracks
that lead to who knows where. The groomed trail runs to the West towards
Springsteel Island then back to the NE and around the tip of Manitoba onto a
straight North course about 12 miles out from Warroad. The riding on the south
end of the lake was good and firm. We were averaging about 10-11 kph for the
first 4-5 hours. The wind stayed light and we were dressed well for the
conditions. At the Northern end of Buffalo Bay the trail turns Northeast and
the wind picked up a bit but still less than 15. This slowed us a little and
increased the effort but it was still pretty good going. We stopped for a bit
at the snowmobile warming hut at Driftwood point. This left about 15 mile to
Young’s bay. We left the warming hut in the dark heading to Young’s Bay for
customs.
We planned to make it
to Young’s Bay to check into Canadian Customs and then head into the islands to
find an adequate camp spot. As we got closer to Young’s the signs for Jerry’s
bar and restaurant seemed to become more prevalent and the thought of a hot
meal and some clothes drying near the heaters sounded really good. After about
9 hours in the saddle we arrived at Jerry’s and settled in for a hot meal and
some drying out. About an hour later we geared back up and headed out to the
customs phone. Keith called in and seemed to be taking a long time on the
phone. I later found out that without a license # or registration to file they
had to fill out a special form since we were on bikes without a vehicle
registration number.
We were checked in and
heading north at about 10 pm. The ice road from the NW angle to Kenora is like
a superhighway, plowed down to the ice and about 50 meters wide! We rode another
few miles into a strong headwind on the bare ice. Keith didn’t have studded
tires on his bike and was nearly getting his tires blown out from underneath
him by the wind. We started looking for
a spot out of the wind. After exploring one spot off the road by pushing our
bikes through knee deep snow we needed to find a sheltered spot quickly and
close to the road. We walked into the second spot that looked ok and that’s
what we found, ok, but not great. Still windy and it was back down to – 20. The
snow and ice was slushy nearly to the shore but we had a few feet of dry snow
the set up camp in. We both got our tents set up, bags and pads in place and
crawled in. The wind, cold and 10+ hours of pedaling kept the party to a
minimum but we both stayed reasonably warm and comfortable overnight.
Day 2 started with a
little snow and the SE wind that was still blowing. I made oatmeal in my tent
with a little butane stove and the water that I slept with in my sleeping bag.
I think Keith had cold breakfast of a Clif bar and few other snacks. We packed
up our bags and tents, got geared up and headed out through the slush to the
ice road. We only needed to make about 10 miles of Easting riding before
turning North for the run into Kenora. The ride up the ice road was interesting
and it was really fun to see the lake in this condition. We rode up French
Portage Narrows, passed Rope and Crescent islands, rode over 12 mile portage
and we’re nearing town. The Brewery was “calling us on”! We arrived in Kenora
at about 1:30 pm after about 4.5 hours of pedaling on Valentine’s day. It was a
fast pace and pleasant ride in lots of lake traffic at the end of two days on
the bikes.
Day 1 was made up of long stretches white
ribbon snowmobile trail while focusing on pedaling and not thinking about how
far we had to go to the next landmark. Day 2, on the ice road, was quite a bit
faster and more interesting, looking at the changes to the landmarks when
everything’s frozen and covered in snow.
The total ride from
the point in Warroad to the Brewery in Kenora was 144.5 kilometers, averaging
about 11-12 kph for the trip.
We had good luck with
the weather, didn’t get any frostbite, both ate and slept well, which is a
testament to the work that went in beforehand. The planning and preparation was
extremely important.
The fact that you’re
on your own out there and need to be well prepared is the same summer or
winter!
This was a Great
Adventure and many thanks to Keith and Leah for participating and helping out.
I can’t wait to see
what my big mouth gets me into next!
Marty
