After the ride finished on June 24 I spent 5 days in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick with Family. I returned to Calgary June 29 and back to work on June 30. The ride was the most challenging athletic event I have been involved in. What made it challenging was not really the daily distance, but the pace of the ride to meet the schedule and the fact it was very difficult to get a good nights sleep. Each Team shuttled ahead at night the distance the other two teams rode that day, about 500 km. This put us in our location to start the next day’s ride any where from 1 to 5 AM. One of the top questions I am asked is “would you do it again”; and my answer is no not under the current format. If the ride was extended from 12 days to 15 or 16 days it would be less demanding. I understand the 2010 ride will be in September which will allow training through the summer months which will be a huge advantage.
The ride was a great accomplishment for all the National Riders and the funds raised will greatly benefit the childhood cancer cause. The best thing about the ride was being able to contribute to this cause through the 237 sponsors who have donated $43,200 on my behalf. I would like to thank everyone who made a contribution on my behalf. It will be appreciated by the children with cancer and their families as well as all the medical staff across the Country who are helping treat these children. One thing I learned was the treatment rate is now over 80% for childhood cancer but there are still many types of childhood cancer that require further research.
I will never forget all the people I met across the country and how much they valued our ride. We were thanked three or four times a day by kids with cancer, families of kids with cancer, doctors, ride along riders, volunteers, Sears employees, police officers who assisted us through their towns, interested citizens, and many other people. I met a lot of great people - National Riders/volunteers from all the Teams and the dedicated SNKCR staff.
I am glad I could contribute to this great cause, it was a physical challenge but also a very gratifying experience I will never forget.
Thank you again to all the people and corporations who donated on my behalf and if you know anyone that would still like to contribute, donations can be made on my fundraising page until November 30.
All three riding teams arrived in Sackville after Day #11, we had a barbeque dinner and just got to sit around and talk. After a full night of sleep in the bunk truck we prepared for our 30 km ride into Halifax. We had some liquid maritime sunshine and a grand police escort all the way into the Sears Store in Halifax. I was excited to get to Sears and see my Wife, Colleen. After being away for two weeks it was great to see her and get some well needed hugs and kisses. I then turned around to get a huge surprise and see my Son Scott, his Wife Samantha, and my 5 month old Granddaughter Ruthie there to greet me. I now find out just about the whole world new they would be there but they some how kept it a secret. To top that off on Friday I will get to see My Daughter Lindsay, her Husband Jamie, my 6 year old Granddaughter Sydney, and 5 month old Granddaughter Keira when we travel to New Brunswick (by car not bike).
While at Sears I was told there were some other people asking for me and it was relatives of Wayne Sudds who I work with in Calgary. Thanks to Wayne for asking them to stop by and many thanks to Phyllis, Keith, and Tammy for taking time to come and see me. Hopefully we can get more time to visit if the East Coast Sudd’s make a trip to Calgary.
Our police escort then took us to the Halifax Hospital where we all went into the Hospital to be greeted by staff and some Ambassador Children with Cancer. After a short ceremony we proceeded to Point Pleasant Park to dip our wheels in the Atlantic. It was a grand finale with lots of pictures, champagne, and celebrating. I got pictures standing in the Atlantic while dipping Granddaughter Ruthie’s feet in the water.
We weren’t quite finished riding as we had to follow our police escort to our hotel. On the way to the hotel we had our last incident as two fellow cyclists hit the pavement to avoid a short stopping police cruiser. I was immediately behind the incident and escaped another near miss. To all my friends and family I did made it across the Country with out any mishaps even though I had a number of near misses. All the Riders that were involved in the incidents across the Country are ok with only a few minor injuries. It is fantastic that everyone made the trip with only bumps, scrapes, bruises, and a few stitches.
I will follow up with another posting to summarize the trip and post some pictures. Thanks for following my travels.
Team #1 arrived in Moncton about 5 AM and directly from the RV to the bunk truck for another 1 hour of sleep. We awoke at 6 AM to pouring rain in the parking lot of the Moncton Sears Store. We got our rain gear on and had another great breakfast supplied by the staff at the Sears Store. The local MLA, Chris Collins talked about the loss of his 13 year old Son to cancer. He talked about how the treatments for about 45% of childhood cancers need further research. At this time adult treatments are being used and tested on children, these treatments need to be refined for children. He stressed how much our ride will help fund further research into these treatments for childhood cancer.
The ride started in the rain and we proceeded to Cape Pele. After the 5 km mark I took a short break as I had my first flat tire since Kitsilano Beach in Vancouver. At Cape Pele we had a great snack put on by the staff of the local Dollar Store. We were all presented with Acadian straw hats with a small Acadian flag. The rain had stopped and we continued on to the Confederation Bridge. We were shuttled across the Bridge into Charlottetown for a barbeque lunch at Sears. This was the first time the SNKCR had rode in PEI and Team #1 got the honour. We were met by an excited group of people as we rode into the Sears Store in Charlottetown. They had members of the Canadian armed forces present and a barbeque lunch. There were a number of touching presentations by local rsidents on how cancer had affected the lives.
Our riding day was over and we shuttled back across the Confederation Bridge to Sackville, Nova Scotia where we arrived before 5 PM. It was great to look forward to a full nights sleep in the Sears Long Haul Bunk Truck.
We arrived in Quebec City about 2:30 AM this morning and had a few sound hours of sleep in the bunk truck. As usual we woke up in the parking lot of a Sears Store, it will be a shock when this is over and we wake up some where else other than the parking lot of a Sears Store. Breakfast was hosted by Sears Place Laurier in downtown Quebec City. After breakfast we had a short ride to the Quebec Hospital for presentations by one of the Doctors and a Marie, young girl who is currently being treated for cancer. Afterwards we presented her with a SNKCR cycling jersey signed by all the National Riders.
We headed east into a strong headwind to Sears at Levi where we had a rousing welcome from the staff and a snack. We were joined by Jerry, a friend of Laurie’s who toured us along bike paths for 7 km and was a nice change to get away from the traffic. Jerry has competed in 7 double iron man competitions. I believe that is an 8 km swim followed by biking 360 km and running two marathons. Jerry also holds the world record for age 60 competitors in the double iron man which is very, very impressive.
At the 80 km mark we stopped at the Sears in Montmagny for lunch. After a close to 200 km day yesterday and going into the wind today my tired legs gave out and I decided to rest them for Day #11.
Three of the National Riders and our RV crew made an unscheduled stop for an ice cream cone in rural Quebec – it should be ok to break the diet with only one long day remaining. After the ice cream, Janna and I had to try out the teeter totter in the nearby playground – that was even hard on the legs. The Team was still working very hard into the strong east headwind and on to St Alexandre de Kamouraska for Dinner. We had pizza for Dinner and snacked on Marianne Whitten’s muffins that she supplied us when we went through Ottawa. It was then a quick shower and on the road again to Moncton.
We arrived in Kingston about 12:30 AM and straight to the bunk truck after our busy day in the GTA. We started the day at a Sears Store in Kingston with a great crowd of supporters and ride along participants. Kingston is the home of Ken Cross, our Team #1 team mate and the leading fundraiser for all National Riders. Ken’s Wife Colleen gave a very emotional speech about their 5 yr old Daughter Megan’s battle with Cancer and how their family has dealt with the challenge. We had a routine 191 km ride into Ottawa and are now shuttling into Quebec City. Team #1 has two long days of riding left and then into Halifax on Wednesday. A number of other people waiting to blog so I am signing off. Some of you know how I type and in a moving RV it is a real challenge.
Good night
Woodstock is the home of two of our Team #1 National Riders as well as three of our crew members. It was a real homecoming for all of them. All three Teams were present for the ride into Toronto’s Sick Kids Hospital. We had the usual festivities to start the day including a very touching story by the Mother of a little girl presenty battling cancer. We made our way to Brantford in a steady rain and had a great reception there and we had a large contingent of ride along riders join us. The next stop was in Burlington with more festivities and ride along riders joining us on the ride to Oakville. At Oakville another reception and some great food, as we left Oakville I had a mechanical problem - my left crank arm fell off. I rode in the support van to Sherway Gardens Mall and my problem was fixed there by Darren, their bike mechanic. Many thanks to Gears Bike store and Darren for getting me back on the road.
We then headed to Toronto, Sick Kids Hospital as the rain stopped. We had another police escort into downtown Toronto and the biggest reception yet along our Journey. I had a conversation as we rode through Toronto with Ride alog Rider Scott about the event. I may have recruited a 2010 Rider, I hope Scott applies and gets accepted.
We are now on our way to Kingston for our 210 km ride to Ottawa tomorrow.
From the SNKCR Home Page, click on photos and then double click on any photo and you will be redirected to the Picasa website where you will be able to view all the photos from our trip.
We started the day off with a bit of a rain and half of us put on our rain jackets to start out. As we travelled through the city the rain jackets started to come off and when I took mine off I felt like a greenhouse - very hot and humid. It never did rain as we headed to Thessalon for our first stop of the day. I did not make it to Thessalon and took a ride in the RV, as I am feeling very tired today. We have a couple of Riders who are feeling a bit the same today, the schedule is wearing a few of us down. Janna, one of our riders who was hurt in the crash outside Winnipeg is ok and back travelling with us today.
In Thessalon we stopped at the Lakeside Park Campground for a snack and were met by Chris, the Manager of the Campground. Chris is a childhood cancer survivor who had some very inspirational words to the Team about how valuable our ride is to Kids with cancer. Our second stop was in Spanish where we had a great lunch hosted by the local Sears Agent who is also the Mayor.
I am in the RV on the way to Espanola and it is getting way to hard to type so I am signing off. Talk to you all soon.
