Powering into Portage

SNM day 24

A bit of a disjointed day of wake up and run, morning meet and greet session at the Brandon Clinic, then cycle for an hour, then back to town for a noon hour presentation at Wheat City Clinic, then drive out and cycle again to Portage La Prairie.  Overcast, cool and windy - but gusting in the right direction today so it was very quick (if not dangerously so) on the bike today.  When we hit good pavement I was absolutely flying with the wind at my back. At other stretches of gravel shoulders and pot holed highway, especially when the direction shifted and we were getting a nasty cross wind, I was white knuckled and hanging on tight as I got jostled and pushed around like a rag doll.

Monique had two scary close calls with truck drivers seemingly not paying attention and having to slow down far too quickly behind her despite the two lane highway, our brightly colored and lit up and obviously slow moving vehicle.  Oh well, hopefully we won't get too much of this, although we are getting accustomed to the daily trials and tribulations of the road they call the Trans Canada. 

All in all, the public forums and educational events to physicians are very well received and I have been relishing them.  The public forum last night in Brandon was particularly interesting with a lot of questions and interaction from the audience which is always a good sign of people being engaged and interested.  For the first time, a question was posed to Monique directly from a member of the audience and without any hesitation she responded.  When she grabbed the microphone, set up her own lap top and power point presentation and proceeded to speak for 30 minutes I became a little worried that she was getting back at me for all the hours behind the wheel covering my back. OK, so I embellished things a bit, but she did answer questions and commanded the attention of the room with her observations and opinion, which I thought was fantastic and showed the comfort of all the participants with sharing freely about the impact and stigma of mental illness - the time is right, the time is now. It happened last night and we had a similar experience of very personal sharing this morning and I really believe I am seeing the tide turn.  There still is far too much discrimination, misunderstanding and ignorance when it comes to mental illness.  If this tour succeeds to change this, even in a minute way, I will be honored to be part of it; to be someone who is finally willing to stand up and speak what should be spoken for myself and all those who suffer in silence.

So to lighten things up a bit, today as I was riding the wind, I thought about how much I used to enjoy canoeing and the very odd day when there was enough wind (and it was going in the "right" direction) and we used to tie a sleeping bag between our two paddles and use it as a sail.  It didn't happen often, things had to be just perfect - but when it happened, it was exhiliarating, fun and crazy. You just hung on and let nature take you.  Sort of like cycling today.  Sort of like talking about depression and mental illness these past few days - WOW!

Day sponsor of the tour, the one, the only Richardsons - thanks Jeanette and Glen

Random quote of the day

I don't think there is a proper way to celebrate something which makes you happy

Matthew Oliphant

Thanks so much to Rob and Lisa for hosting us this evening. A wonderful shower/bath, scrumptous meal and good company was just what we needed - thanks so much.  

A CMHA talk in the morning and then off to the Peg where a lot of media work and talks await - It's our third "home coming" of the tour (Kelowna, Calgary and now Wpg).  I've had lots to think about in these last few days and I think a lot of memories will be flooding back as we weave our way to Winnipeg.  Watch out blog - lots and lots more to come.