In the fall of 2005 and summer of 2006, I crisscrossed (eastbound and westbound) Manitoba’s section of the Trans-Canada Highway; the same stretch just east of Virden, MB, where two cyclists were tragically killed while on their cross-country fundraising tour this past month.

The accident occurred around 300 kilometres west of Winnipeg and around 250 kilometres east of Regina, SK., give or take...

As the news played itself out in grizzly detail over Canada Day weekend, a hushed breath stopped in the throat at what has befallen the family that started its charity ride three weeks ago in Stanley Park.

According to Manitoba RCMP, the group of four cyclists were struck by a Honda Civic just after noon Sunday, June 29.

Two men were killed: a 50-year-old man from St.-Bruno-de-Montarville, Quebec, and a 45-year-old man from Kelowna, B.C.

CBC reported that two teens, the children of the Quebec man, were sent to hospital; a boy has been released, while his sister remains in hospital in stable condition.

And according to CBC, RCMP had not released the names of the cyclists in the crash, but posts on the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s website and the family’s blog identify the Quebec man as Daniel Hurtubise, who was cycling across the country with his son Alexandre, 19, and 16-year-old daughter Sonia.

The family left Vancouver on June 14 on the trip, dubbed the “Ride of a Lifetime”, with a goal of reaching St. John’s, Newfoundland, on August 12. They had hoped to raise $500,000 for the foundation on their journey, according to the website.

This reporter’s trip of a lifetime was a cross-Canada bike trip in stages. Saskatchewan and Manitoba was part three of the extravaganza. In the public library in Portage-la-Prairie, Manitoba, I wrote a detailed e-mail to a group of friends and my diary on October 7, 2005.

The only joke contained in my account of the tour was no joke at all:

Q: How many Manitoba Highways guys does it take to make a decent shoulder for cyclists to ride on in relative serenity?

A: “The crew hasn’t been created that can take that job on, OBVIOUSLY, because Manitoba and Saskatchewan has beautifully-paved shoulders, when they want them, but there are barren stretches where the siding is pure GRAVEL. Now imagine that with full gear and slick tires.”

Sardonic wording notwithstanding, I was visibly shaken by the Manitoba experience. I was not alone. Even before I left for the 2005 trip, touring cyclist and NPA city councillor Suzanne Anton (then an NPA parks commissioner), warned that Manitoba’s shoulders were some of the “worst in the country”, especially the jaunt into Winnipeg eastbound.

Leaving Portage that day, it dawned on me that the cold blast ripping my lungs was from Lake Winnipeg. It should also have served as a warning. No sooner had fall temperatures plummeted (more in part 2 on the Moosomin, SK, snowstorms), I was soon to realise I was dealing in pure gravel siding. It was gravel, with only two lanes of Trans-Canada to its left, and nothing else for a cyclist.

Unless you want to stand still, you have to keep going on it, riding in the slow lane and watching as trucks barrel up behind you, and finally pull out and overtake, some beeping ferociously. Shouldercheck, nothing, shouldercheck, truck, shouldercheck, pass, adrenaline rush, shouldercheck, disappear briefly into the gravel, dismount and shouldercheck to get going again on Highway 1.

And so on this goes until light becomes a problem...and still no sign of Winnipeg...

Part 2 to come on Manitoban cycling stories in light of this latest tragedy.