Left turn? Right turn? Straight ahead?
Loading ...
Facebook
Twitter
Delicious
DIGGLast year I told stories about the beaches and rural excursions in Manitoba, but here is an urban thought.
When I was a teenager growing up in Winnipeg my friends and I would cycle everywhere. Being out on our bikes was freedom and adventure. Sometimes we would have a destination in mind, but often a journey would thrive on the ‘unknown’. Ken, my best friend, loved to lead the journey. We never knew where we were going, but that made the trip all the more exciting. Winnipeg isn’t a huge city, so there really was no chance of getting lost. We let fate guide us. Left turn? Right turn? Straight ahead? We became Urban Pioneers, discovering buildings, bridges and ice cream stores we had never seen in days and years gone by. Our continuing mission: To explore strange new worlds..To seek out new life..To boldly go where no one has gone before..The possibilities were endless.
Then and now, I think, this enlightened experience of free form cycling is an important balance in our busy lives. For a short while we can forget about some of the day to day challenges we all face. So pack a picnic, put on your helmet and go for a ride.
In Winnipeg, the awesome Trans-Canada Trail is approximately 81 kilometers long. It meanders through forests, parks, historic neighbourhoods and communities and along old railway lines and creeks.
Our ‘discoveries’ would never make it into National Geographic, but cycling along the shores of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers did give us a feeling of how the true pioneers must have felt when they first came to this land.
Check it out.
Bon Voyage
Fred Penner
