Bryan Duguid

The Ballad of Team #1 - National Ride 2009

This poem was created by team member Heather Jager, in a couple of hours while bouncing down the highway in the RV, on our way to Lower Sackville, on Day 11: Each journey began long ago. to cross our great land by bike. One on a team, a common dream, a cure for kids cancer we’d like. “Were you dropped on your head?” “You want to bike how far?” 250k, average per day. “I can’t do that in a car!” Seven long months of hard training, oh would spring ever come? Cadence and speed, eat, drink! You need! The seat became one with our bum. And then of course the fundraising, 25 grand was a lot. Though funds are tight, the cause is right, kids cancer just has to be fought Finally June has arrived, Vancouver bound and unite. Jeff Rushton guides, group practice rides, June 12th a short sleepless night. 7:45 sharp on our bikes, was our timing ever that specific? Toast of champagne No hint of rain We dipped wheels in the Pacific. The ride has officially begun, 34 National Riders embark. A spastic crew, a downtown zoo, somehow we escape without mark. The mountains fly by in a blur, ‘til bang, bang, we awake in dismay. RV has a flat, Al can’t fix that. Who needs sleep? Today’s just 305k! Headwinds push back on the prairies, where the deer and the antelope roam. Thank you to Dene, the man, the machine, way past dark when he pulled us home. We were gelling well as a team, finally up to some speed. Signal miscues, chaos ensues. Call 911, an ambulance we need. Four riders down, four bikes to repair, We forge on a quieter team. Learn to relax, staying on track, Janna and Laurie okay, it would seem. Ambassador kids are inspiring, strength, courage, wisdom we borrow. Smiles in with tears, hope conquers fears, never give up on dreams for tomorrow. As a group our tan lines demark us, long distance cyclists gone nuts. Skin shorts built in, grown as we spin, from the spandex stretched over our butts. Power bars fuse with their wrappers, food on the road is a chore. Patience is thin, to get them in, but to ride on we must always eat more. By day three our best friend is butt butter, need more cream where the sun doesn’t shine. Love in a jar, helps us go far, bet yours isn’t as sore as mine. At times we rode with great speed, but we may have been overambitious. Ride 401, must not be done, toss bikes over fences and ditches. Directions are a bit of a problem, Wilma’s not always our friend. Do a u-turn, Linda’s tires burn, but we made Halifax in the end. No small thanks to our great volunteers, driving, laundry, and hours take a toll. Best support crew, getting us through, they are crucial to achieving our goal. Special thanks to our team leader Michael, for keeping all our ducks in a row. Hugs and high fives, he owned our lives, And not once did stress fractures show. It’s hard to believe it’s all over, Seven months of our lives at an end. Newly forged team, continued dream, as a family our message we’ll send. Coast to Coast brought us together, united we travelled the distance. Across the lands, It’s in your hands, go forward and make a difference.

Finale - Day 12 (June 24) - Lower Sackville to Halifax

While it was difficult to capture the other days of this Ride in words, it is impossible to come anywhere close for the final day.

In the late afternoon on Tuesday June 23, we arrived in Lower Sackville, NS by RV from Charlottetown, PEI. As always, we found a parking lot, this one belonging to a rec centre. Team 3 was already there, Team 2 would arrive later.

This scene and experience was much different than all of our other stops. Not only were we meeting up with the other teams, but we would actually have some time to shower, eat, talk, reflect, and share experiences and stories. We did that.

Knowing that we were only 30 km from the finish line and that we would not need to wake up until 7 am, we also began to wind down in many senses.

The constant charge of adrenalin, generated so that we could honour our commitment to meet the breakneck schedule, began to slow down. Music played, some of it loud, some of it cheesy, while a number of Riders let loose on the “dance floor” in a stream of consciousness-way of dancing. Most of us have had no or virtually no alcohol since training began in November. Most of us had a drink in Lower Sackville.

In looking at the schedule previously, I had wondered whether the breakneck pace of the earlier parts of the Ride could have been reduced if we had used, to cycle, the time that was set for this evening. However, as we all talked and let loose a little, I realized that this opportunity was an important part of winding up the Ride.

We began the process of saying goodbye in respect of relationships formed so quickly but intensely.

To the bunk trucks we went, to catch some sleep in anticipation of the day that lay ahead. Laying there, it was notable how quickly the snoring and sleep began for my teammates.

In the morning, we woke up to the sound of “Halifax sunshine” pounding on the metal roof of the semitrailer. However, this ended soon, and all that was left was a humid fog, as we busily began to do all that we had to do. There was laundry in many places, the RVs needed to be emptied and organized, the same with the bunk trucks, and of course we ate and got in our uniforms and cycles ready for our final ride as a team.

We had a tremendous group of Halifax police arrive, who served as our escorts all the way from Lower Sackville to our stops in Halifax. The lead officer took a few minutes to tell us how he and the Halifax forces had been affected directly or not by cancer, and how glad he was to be part of our convoy.

We began amidst the blare of the sirens and flashing lights that we have been so fortunate to have as escorts to guide us safely through the major (and many other) centres across the country. The peloton was tight in all senses, as the procession unfolded through the fog.

Our first stop was at the Sears in downtown Halifax. The speakers included Hannah, who I think is 13 years old, and who is doing better now. She purposefully kept the focus of her words away from her battle with cancer. She said that cancer wasn’t bad or scary. She spent most of her time talking about what we were doing on the Ride and what an impact this created on the children with cancer, knowing that someone was out there helping.

One of my observations throughout this Ride, not having had much previous exposure to kids with cancer, was how selfless, brave and strong these kids are. Awe-inspiring and gut-wrenching, all at once.

We continued from the Sears to the Halifax Childrens Hospital. Hannah was again asked to speak. This time, she did speak a bit more about the battle with cancer, but it was not about her own battle. She gestured around the colourful surroundings of the Childrens Hospital, and talked about how brave the other kids had been, and how a place like this makes it easier for children to face the countless needles, treatments and procedures. She thanked those at the hospital responsible for creating that kind of environment. This fine young gal has an outlook and manner of conveying herself that is well beyond her handful of years.

After Hannah and others finished speaking, as we had done in other locations, there were a number of SNKCR t-shirts brought out, along with colourful paint. I joined a number of Riders in a line, holding tshirts up against ourselves while Hannah and other kids affected by cancer “got us” with handprints of paint on the shirts.

After my shirt got “decorated”, Hannah said: “Are you serious?” when I asked her if she would like to have it. Revealed was the fact that this confident and thoughtful speaker was indeed a young girl. I also asked her if she would mind putting a handprint on my face, telling her that I was going to see my daughters soon, and that they might think that was kind of neat. Hannah was happy to oblige.

From the Childrens Hospital, we continued in our large peloton to Point Pleasant Park, on the ocean. As we came close, the cheering erupted among the large crowd, the bagpipes fired up, and there was an incredible wall of emotion as we rolled in toward the beach.

To say that I was happy to see Sheila, Aislinn and Kaeleigh underlines the power of understatement. It was amazing to be able to pick up and hug the heck out of them, in the midst of that incredibly emotional moment.

We had a champagne toast to this journey. We dipped our wheels in the Atlantic, our front wheels this time, compared to our back wheels in the Pacific.

Of course, there were a number of photos, of the entire National Rider and Volunteer Team, and other shots as well. These included a shot of the Alberta Riders, being Heather Jager, Tim Whitten, Gord Drummond and me, along with Egbert, Heather’s husband who had volunteered his time to drive the RV and do so much else as we crossed.

The day was foggy in more than one sense. In a literal sense, the humidity was so welcome to a Calgarian accustomed to such dryness. There was also the more figurative fogginess, generated by the overwhelming magnitude of all that we experienced. Yes, there was some cycling. Much more important and notable were the many brave and strong kids that spoke to us.

Throughout this trip, we were treated like rock stars. Police escorts, people honking and waving, thanking us for what we were doing, shaking our hands, reading our blogs, feeding us, applauding. All of our needs were attended to by the National volunteers. Almost always when someone from Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation spoke at one of the 163 community events that we covered in these 12 days, they would say that the real heroes are the children that are battling or have battled cancer. I now know how true is that.

From the beach, the Riders all rode one final time together back to the hotel. The remainder of the afternoon was busily spent getting cycles disassembled and into travel cases, collecting and organizing all the scattered gear, and visiting.

The evening was filled with a celebration. The whole National Rider and Volunteer team, friends and families saw videos already developed of the 2009 Ride. We heard about the experiences, laughs and challenges faced by the other teams, and talked about ours. We heard that this event has been a great success, for instance, without knowing yet the total funds raised, it is clear that well in excess of $1.5 million has been generated. We heard more statistics about the difference that efforts like this make. While kids cancer used to be a death sentence in many cases, now, there is an 80% cure rate. People made commitments to continue in the efforts to reach the ultimate goal of the Sears National Kids Cancer Ride: “Destination: Beyond Cancer.”

The evening was overwhelming.

In the banquet room was the banner that all the Riders had signed at Kits Beach in Vancouver at the beginning of this adventure. Sheila and the girls found where I had written: “I wish that with whatever strength I have I can help these kids.”

It came time to say goodbyes. This was difficult. I know that we will keep in touch.

I thanked Jeff Rushton for the experience and opportunity. I am immensely fortunate to have had the chance to do this.

Day 11 (June 23) - Moncton to Charlottetown

Well, we arrived at Moncton at 5 am, and then got the wake up shake (literally) at 6 am.

It took a little while to clear the cobwebs this morning, especially because there was a huge downpour going on, peppering the metal top of the semitrailer. That disoriented feeling continued a bit because, when we stepped out of the semi and walked into the Sears store for the send off event, there were two women dressed and made up as clowns, on tricycles.

Again, we had a great breakfast and speeches at the Sears store. A local MLA and his two sons rode with us, because he lost his son to cancer a couple of years ago, after a long battle.

It stopped raining fairly soon after we started riding. We actually had a tailwind too. It was a neat day for riding. We were all in a bit of a fog both mentally and literally, as we flew along New Brunswick.

We had a stop in Cap Pele, before we hit the Confederation Bridge over to PEI. The hosts in Cap Pele here were so friendly and outgoing. It was a real treat.

We were unable to cycle the Confed Bridge. This is always prohibited, because of the high winds. We shuttled forward over it, and then to a point ten kms out of Charlottetown. We got on the bikes, to roll in to an event. The motorists in Charlottetown were really supportive, honking away. There had not been as much of this over the past couple of days, and it sure was a welcome boost.

When we got to the Sears store in Charlottetown, there was a huge welcome, with dozens of Sears employees, other people, and some of the military had even come to greet us. Here, there were two relatively impactful parts.

The first notable piece was something that the Sears store manager said at the end of his speech. He thanked us for the twelve days that we had given up for this cause, but then contrasted that to the years by which childrens’ lives will be extended as a result. That was a valuable perspective, as we get close to the end.

The second particularly memorable portion was the dedication that had been read out to us for the ride that day earlier, which was read again at the event. It was a dedication to a child named Michael who lived in Charlottetown. The parents of Michael are friends of Laurie, on our Team #1. Michael lost his battle, and this dedication included a poem. As it was read out in the Sears store at the end of the event, all of the Riders got in a circle and put our arms up on each others’ shoulders.

In the end, we cycled a total of 110 km today - an easy day, as we wind it down.

For once, I am doing my blog before late evening. We are being RVed forward to Lower Sackville, NS. There, we will again meet up with Teams 2 and 3.

As I write this, Sheila and the girls are in the air, eastbound. I hope they enjoy their (relatively quick) trip across.

Tomorrow is the day. It is supposed to rain. That doesn’t matter.

Day 10 (June 22) - Quebec City to St Alexandre

Today we woke up in Quebec City. The Sears store had a big gathering of employees and a really nice breakfast. Speeches at the end were translated into either French or English.

We then cycled 1 km over to the Children’s Hospital, where we met Marie, a young girl who has been stricken with cancer and has been living at the hospital for the last seven months. She gave a speech in French, sharing her experiences and insights on life. This was translated for us by one of the CTCACF reps who, at times, had a difficulty speaking because of the emotion involved. Marie was very slight and had on a head wrap, but her eyes were so sparkly and she seemed so strong.

When Marie was done speaking, we gave her one of the small jerseys that all of us had signed with a Sharpie. She looked quite slick in it. We then all thanked her for sharing her story and we wished each other luck.

We then started our ride. This was a challenging day for sure. We ended up doing 201 km. What made it particularly challenging was that we had, yes, you guessed it, a headwind. We estimated that it was about 35 to 40 kph, and it was constant and directly in our face all day, except for the last half hour.

Laurie Vanderhaeghe had invited her friend Jerry to meet us at the Sears store in Levi. There, we had a very lively and warm reception. The French are great.

We then rode with Jerry. He is 61 years old, and just started doing endurance events when he turned 50. He has now done countless of them, including seven double-Ironman competitions, that take approx 27 hours to finish.

Jerry was great, and a real highlight to the day. He had such a positive outlook and infectious good humour. He was in awesome shape, and trucked along with us for 100 km. He also acted as a great tour guide, pointing out landmarks and detouring us on better road surfaces and more scenic vistas. He also suggested that we stop at a fromagerie, where he was kind enough to buy us a number of packages of fresh cheese curds, which we all gobbled and enjoyed.

We cycled along the St Lawrence, and saw so many quaint little towns and acreages along the way today.

We had some directional challenges today at times, but never got too far off the route as we trucked along.

We felt rather elated as we passed the St Alexandre sign, reaching our finish. At this point of the day, the sun broke through for the first time, and the wind finally subsided a bit.

Pizza was waiting for us as we pulled in. After gobbling that down, we jumped in the RVs and then descended on a motel in a town down the road. We rented eight rooms and used the showers, so that we could hit the road for Moncton. ETA is 5 am, with a 6 am wake up.

Christian, the 18 year old on our team, has taken to calling me “Gramps.”  I might have brought this on myself, by calling him “Youngsta” or something like that. In any case, I think we are going to need to settle this once and for all, on the bikes tomorrow.

Day 9 (June 21) - Kingston to Ottawa

Well, it turns out that I submitted my blog prematurely last night. After doing so, we all had quite an experience, a first for many of us. Our showers were in a truck stop in Napanee. It actually wasn’t as bad as expected - hot water and quite clean.

In any case, we carried on to a parking lot in Kingston, and then hit the pit in the semitrailer for a few hours.

We woke up to a great morning. We all wished each other Happy Father’s Day. There was a great event in Kingston, put on by the Sears employees. There were some speeches and a large turn out for riders to ride along with us - 26 of them. We wound our way through the scenic and historic streets of Kingston, and Ken Cross played tour guide, as Kingston is his home town. The oldness of the brick and stone structures was appealing, especially compared to the newness of Calgary.

We rode to Fort Henry with the ride along riders at a pace at which we could chat and visit. Then, for those that were interested in riding at our regular pace, we carried on to Ganonocque, which was about 60kms total. It was good company. Many of the riders were from J&J Cycle Shop, who were kind enough to provide mechanic support to the ride along. A father and his son joined us too.

The scenery included lush surroundings, well-kept acreages, and lots of horses and cattle. It sprinkled some rain on us, but just a bit.

From Ganonocque, we carried on to Brockville. Unfortunately, there were some rather irritable drivers. Seemed strange for a nice Father’s Day Sunday, but no real concern arising from their antics. Also, we had our fair share of wrong turns and uncertainty with the schedule today.

But, overall, we cruised along with the team firing on all cylinders together. We covered 193 km today, and were actually joined the whole way by “John” from Kingston. I would guess that he was in his early sixties, but he did well in keeping with us for most of the way. We were “working on him”, to get him to apply as a National Rider for 2010.

Near the end of the riding this afternoon, we all started to get a little giddy. Teasing each other, stunting a bit on the bikes, and generally goofing off.

We ended up at Sears in Ottawa to a real treat. Homemade stew, pasta, buns and desserts. Touching personal stories told by the key employees involved with the organizing and fundraising. One of them had been told as a child that she had a 5% chance of surviving her cancer. She was telling us this 10 or 12 years afterward. We gave her a standing ovation when she was done speaking.

Another great benefit of the stop in Ottawa was that I was able to have a (whirlwind) visit with my old friend Ian, who was able to swing by for when we arrived.

Shortly after the speeches, we were advised that the showers at the U of O were 10mins away, and were closing down for the night in 25 mins. After riding in the sun all day, we did not relish the idea of all being stuck together in close quarters in the RV for our five hour drive tonight, without showers. So, we quickly thanked the good folks at Sears, and hit the showers at UofO and then got in the RV for our ride to Quebec City.

I am glad that I had the chance talk briefly to my dad today for Father’s Day, and also to call home to talk with all my girls.

We are all getting excited about hitting the Atlantic Ocean in three days from now.

Day 8 (June 20) - Woodstock to Toronto

We woke up to our first day of rain. Not bad at all for our eighth day.

And it didn’t matter anyway. For starters, it was warm, so it was nice for a change compared to some of the scorcher days that we had. But, more importantly, despite the weather, we had a series of succesful events along the way of our 178 km journey.

We started in Woodstock, went to Brantford, then to Burlington, then Oakville, then Sherway Gardens, and then the grande finale in Toronto.

At each stop, we had great speeches, including from cancer spokeskids. The largest impact on me was from Josh in Burlington. He spoke about how he has been affected physically, such that he cannot eat, walk, or do much by himself. He was a smallish figure, with a freckled face. His voice was rather distinctive, and he talked slowly, perhaps as a result of the brain tumours. But it was such a strong voice somehow.

You could tell that it was a lot of effort to form and speak his words. He spoke slowly, but especially at the end of his speech he spoke so deliberately and clearly. He said: “Ride for the kids who are battling cancer now. Ride for those who will be diagnosed in the future. Ride for me, until I can ride with you.”

Also in Burlington, I was walking and talking with Keith Smith. He is the only repeat rider from the National Ride last year. A gentleman came up to us (in our Rider jerseys) and introduced himself as James. He said: “I want to say thank you for what you are doing. My daughter was diagnosed with cancer and became familiar with this ride last year. She committed to herself that she would become well enough to ride the stage ride with you guys this year. She died on January 10. So I instead will be riding with you guys. I just wanted to let you know, and to say thank you.”

As we travelled from city to city, we picked up more and more ride along riders. It kept accumulating, so that by the time we hit Toronto, we had probably a couple of hundred riders streaming with us in a pack down the road.

The scenery was different again than we had seen previously on the trip, but also enjoyable. It was lush (especially because of the rain), with nice hills and farmland. Some of it reminded me a bit of Alberta.

The speeches at the various events were quite informative. I heard firsthand stories of how children’s lives have been affected by the advances in research and treatment. Overall, the day was an ideal reminder of why we are doing all of this.

We rode together as a full team of 36 today. That gave us a good opportunity to compare experiences on the different legs of this trek.

At one of the stops we had a coffee cup full of blueberries each, that we were piling back to try to get enough calories in - a constant challenge. We started playing a game, tossing them up in the air for one another to try to catch them in our mouths. There seems to be a decent amount of childishness interspersed amongst the riding and the seriousness of the events and cause.

On the subject of eating enough, I think I have mentioned that we were told that we burn between 7,000 and 8,000 calories per day on this trip. So, it is just very difficult to eat that much, especially because we cycle for many hours each day. I thought I was doing an ok job of this, until this morning. Louisa Cantelon, co-founder of Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation, had not seen us since Vancouver. She came up to me this morning, and asked in a fairly pointed way: “Have you been eating?”. Another signal was that, a couple of days ago, a couple of the other Riders pointed out that my cycling helmet straps were (now) quite loose. I am going to try to eat even more for the rest of this trip, so that Sheila and the girls recognize me in Halifax.

On one leg of our ride today, Steve Bauer joined us. As you probably know, he was one of the first internationally top-rated cyclists, and he competed in a number of the European Classics including the Tour de France. He won a number of stages in the Tour, and wore the yellow jacket. I had the chance to ride and talk with him a bit and to thank him for riding with us to help support this cause. He seems like a good down-to-earth guy. We raced up a hill, and I won. (I might not have told him that we were racing, but still…)

The day’s ride ended in Toronto. We had a police escort for almost all our ride today, including the last leg from Sherway Gardens to Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. Roads were actually closed off for us too, leading into downtown. I looked back at one point and just saw a sea of cycling helmets flowing along behind the pack of National Riders at the front of the giant peloton.

When we arrived at Sick Kids, there were a couple hundred people waiting to greet us, hooting and hollering, clapping and carrying on. It was quite something.

After the speeches there, we ate juicy burgers (I had three - please see above), and then hopped into our RV. We are now driving toward Kingston, in search of showers, and then we will sleep in our bunk truck in Kingston. Tomorrow, we ride from Kingston to Ottawa. I am told that this is quite scenic, and that the rain is supposed to stop with good weather tomorrow.

Day 7 (June 19) - Sault Ste Marie to Espinola, ON

Would you believe another day of headwinds? Ok. That is not completely accurate, but we only got about 30 mins in total of a tailwind, and all the rest was in our face. I thought that this cross-country thing was going to be a challenge, even if the prevailing winds were at our backs…

We started out in Sault Ste Marie, in the parking lot of a convention centre that was kind enough to give us a great breakfast to get us rolling. We had a team meeting while we were eating, to brainstorm and develop a consensus on how we were going to tackle the day, keeping in mind our desire to ride as a whole team together, to make all the scheduled events on time, and to cover the distance on our assigned leg.

A few Riders were out today. The lack of sleep and the distances are cumulating and showing their effects. This manifests itself in a few ways. We learned from our endurance athlete coaches that signs of overtraining include:
-irritability
-higher resting HR
-malaise
-excess perspiration at night
-sleep patterns changing (more, or less, sleep; fatigue)

The “sweats” seem to be visiting many of us at night, and many of us have a persistent sore throat. However, by far the majority of us were out there. We fired on all cylinders as a team in the afternoon, compared to the morning. We really hauled along and made good time in the afternoon, and while not all the same length of time everyone took a turn pulling at the front.

I may have already mentioned how considerate all the drivers have been in terms of sharing the road. Of course, it helps that we have a support van riding behind us with a light flashing on top, but there are circumstances when it is not there, for instance, if a cyclist flats out, or some other issue. Regardless, everyone has been great. With one exception.

Yesterday, on our way to Terrace Bay, there were four of us trucking along at a great pace. There was the white line on the side of the highway, but unfortunately only a couple of inches to the right. So, as always in circumstances like that we were all in a perfect line behind each other, exactly on the white line. We could hear a semi truck bearing down on us - again, nothing unusual. There was a clear view for a kilometer or so ahead, and no oncoming traffic, so we thought that he would fade to the left at least a bit to pass us. No such luck. He hugged the white line tightly and it may have just been my perception but it seemed like the truck was just inches from my left arm as he barrelled on past us.

We had three stops today - Thessalon, Spanish, and Espinola.

Spanish, Ontario was neat. Of course, great food, again. We feel quite spoiled at times with all the trouble that local folks have gone to for us. We cannot thank them enough. But, in addition, we had four fellas from the Spanish River Motorcycle club to visit with and then as escorts. We compared “cycles.” It was fun watching their expressions when they went to lift our bikes to test the weight. They had some real cruiser bikes, and one of the motorcycles was apparently 22 years old, but you wouldn’t know it to look at it. He has put 130,000kms on this bike. I also enjoyed my chat with Lyle, with whom I share Saskatchewan roots.

The scenery has been enjoyable recently (as well as throughout, really - so diverse, already). I have never been in this part of the country, but there is a lot of water from my perspective as an Albertan, as we cycle alongside the vistas of the Great Lakes. Yesterday was Lake Superior, today Lake Huron.

We saw two moose on the side of the road yesterday, but only after we started in the RV.

We covered 165kms today, short of the 220kms scheduled, because of needing to make the event in Spanish. Clearly, the events are key. We do, however, need to give feedback to the Foundation for next year’s ride, in terms of what is achievable per day, not physically (because we have all been chomping at the bit to finish the distances each day), but just to ensure that we do not show up late to see the people that have taken the time to come out to support the cause.

We had a fantastic homemade dinner (including bread pudding for dessert, still warm) at a beach in Espinola. But, before we ate, a few of us hit the swing set overlooking the lake. I was looking for competitors, to see who could launch off the swings the farthest. I had no takers, but went for it anyway. I cleared some pretty darn good distance in the air if I do say so myself. On my third try, I actually made my goal by sailing out to the lawn, clear of the sand surrounding the swings. Although our nurse/medic was smiling at this, there was something about her at this moment that seemed to suggest that I should end the game.

We were all in very high spirits with the meal, the lake and beach, and the feeling of accomplishment of a great day pulling together as a team.

Then we got in the RV. After a short drive, I was able to get service for one of the sporadic and few-and-far-between telephone conversations with Sheila and the girls. It would have been nice to be home in Calgary today, as Kaeleigh is having her birthday party early, before her buddies leave on summer. Actually, the next couple of days will have my thoughts back home, as the girls have their piano recital on Sunday, being Father’s Day.

In the RV, our massage therapist worked us over. She is the best. Plain and simple.

We are all looking forward greatly to the next few days of the Ride. We are driving currently to Woodstock ON. When we start there tomorrow, there will be a series of Ride Along events with tons of people supporting the cause. Also, for the next couple of days starting tomorrow we will be together again with the other two teams, with all 36 Riders together, which has not been the case since Day 1. Finally, we will be getting to the hometowns of some of the other Riders on Team #1. They have sure been missing their families, especially as we were fortunate to see ours earlier on.

It is now getting closer to the end of this adventure. With 7 of 12 days down, we are definitely on the homestretch. It seems hard to believe. I cannot imagine what that will be like, and what emotions and thoughts we will have, when we dip our front wheels in the Atlantic, as we did with our back wheels in the Pacific.

I continue to get daily grief about my hairy legs, from the fellas and gals alike. I am worried that I need to sleep with one eye open now…

Day 6 (June 18) - Thunder Bay to Terrace Bay ON

Today was another excellent day.

We had another huge and awesome breakfast put together by a number of Thunder Bay Sears employees who had woken up so early to do so.

We dedicated our ride today to Katie, a 4 1/2 year old with A.L.L., an aggressive form of leukemia that is relatively prevalent in children.

We had a slightly smaller group riding today, because of various mechanical and other issues.

We were fortunate to get a police escort out of Thunder Bay, for our Ride Along Event. There were about 20 local riders that joined us, which was a good turn out considering that this was a Thursday.

We cycled 12 kms with the ride along folks, until we got to the Terry Fox Memorial. I had heard how impactful this was, and it sure measured up to the descriptions of it. It was very touching. So meaningful, given what we were up to. It is one thing to cycle as part of a team going across the country. It is quite another thing to run across the country, solo, with one leg. The Memorial also quite affected those members on the team that have been or are currently being directly affected by cancer.

We took many photos there, and soaked in the energy from the Memorial. As Michael Smith (from Coast to Coast Against Cancer) said: “This should be a mecca for anyone going across the country” not only because it is at the halfway point, but also more importantly because of the inspiration of what he accomplished.

We had our first experience with a tailwind today. I would not have guessed that we would have to wait until the Ride was half done, in Ontario. What luck. However, the tailwind was shortlived, only 20 to 30 minutes. It then turned on us, so that we faced a headwind all the rest of the day. It was not as strong today as on the earlier days in the ride, however, because of the shelter caused by the trees and rocky borders for the road.

We had an awesome lunch. Michael, the colonel if you like for Team #1, is apparently an excellent cook as well. We ate much and quickly, because we were behind schedule from the Ride Along Event and the Terry Fox Memorial visit.

We really hauled it this afternoon. We ran a tight paceline, with quick rotations off the front so that we all stayed fresh and kept the pace going fast.

We had been told throughout that the climbs on this leg were the most challenging on the whole ride. I loved them. When we saw the first huge climb, I actually let out a bit of an evil laugh, and the other teammates just shook their head at me.

We did everything we could to make it to Terrace Bay before we had to shower and eat quickly, then leave. Some of the Riders took some time out in the support van to maintain the high pace up the hills and into the headwinds.

Ultimately, we had to stop a bit early to maintain schedule. The problem was that we have a very long drive tonight (six hours) and we have to wake up at 4am, to start cycling at 5am, to catch a ferry.

I was lucky and got permission for an extra little bit. While the last few riders were getting their bikes on the support vehicle, I blasted away, doing another peak and then scorching down the other side. This was a real steep one, and I felt rather happy to get that one under the belt too, especially because it got the total team distance that much closer to the end point in Terrace Bay.

In all, we did 185 km of the 220 km planned.

We then had a fantastic dinner put on by the Terrace Bay Curling Club. It involved a huge vat of stew, homemade butter tarts and banana bread, and a bunch of fruit and other food.

And, now we are of course in the RV again. We played Yahtzee, blabbed and laughed, and then tried to get some zee’s a bit early for the early start tomorrow.

Day 5 (June 17) - Winnipeg to Kenora

For today, I set the alarm so I could get a bit of a headstart (before people started arriving) on getting ready to start rolling on the bike again.

It was so great to see my Mom and Dad. They have been so much a part of the experience of the Ride, both with their generous donation, and just as or more importantly, constant encouragement and spreading the word to their networks. Cycling yesterday, I thought regularly about getting the chance to see them and showing them the whole of all the production that is this event.

My Aunt Elaine and Uncle David from Winnipeg were also able to make it, and my Uncle Ted had travelled from Regina to Winnipeg yesterday, so I was glad to see him two days in a row. We had a rather fast but really good visit, getting caught up and talking about the Ride logistics and details.

We had a huge and awesome breakfast put on by the Sears personnel at Kildonan Sears in Winnipeg,which is the parking lot in which our bunk truck parked for us to sleep last night. The highlight was the oatmeal pancakes - great stick to your ribs food.

By the way, last night, before I went to sleep in the bunk truck (semi-trailer), I noticed one particular logo on the side of the semi, from amongst the rest. It was 3 am, with the alarm set for 6:15 am. The logo was for CanaDream, the company that supplied the RVs for us. The motto underneath said: “Experience Canada at your own pace.” I am a big fan of irony.

We had a dedication read out to us and everyone else present this morning about a 4 1/2 year old girl who had leukemia. She has been undergoing treatments for over 2 years, about half her life so far.

We were lucky to have a police escort again. This is quite helpful, especially in the larger centres because of the distraction that we create for motorists and the space that we take up on city streets. Today, however, the difference was that we were accompanied not only by two cruisers, but also by two officers on cycles. This was a treat, because it allowed me to talk with one of them for about 15 minutes or so as we made our way outside the city.

Today was yet an even better day from a team perspective. When I began this, knowing what I knew about the demands, challenges and close quarters, I was pretty sure that we would either end up throttling each other, or would become close friends in this short period of time. The latter has proven true.

This was a shorter day than average, scheduled originally at 220 kms between Winnipeg and Kenora, ON. Ultimately, there was construction that was completely impassable by bike, because the cars were driving on the actual shoulder. Of course, the team had learned of this in advance, and so we had a plan in place. Unfortunately, it meant that we could not do the entire distance, and ended up covering 166kms today.

Yet again, there was a headwind. As Ed Person put it shortly after we left Winnipeg, we are “splitting the odd” with this dumb luck. But, there were trees at times, so we had some shelter.

The road conditions were quite varied. There were stretches where the shoulders were wide and totally smooth. In other spots, it was like cycling through a minefield for kilometres on end. It gave me a new appreciation for the classic European cycling races like the Paris-Roubaix, travelled mostly over cobblestones. I found myself wondering why people enjoy or would want to compete in a race like that, but then I reminded myself that many people wouldn’t much enjoy the kind of riding that we are doing either.

I am so enjoying all aspects of this, including the riding itself. I am feeling good. Obviously the lack of sleep is a factor, but I have not once on this trip been lacking in “the fuel in the tank” as they say to combat the climbs or the headwinds. We have had some relatively challenging days. Although the climbs in the northern shield starting tomorrow will be steep, I am looking forward to a strong finish in Halifax, and pulling together with the rest of the team.

We made good time overall today. Our volunteers were fantastic. The conditions and circumstances put each one of them to the test today, and we felt so lucky to have such well-qualified people joining us from different disciplines.

At the end of the day today, we all celebrated the fact that we have covered five provinces in five days.

So, we are now travelling in our RVs, from Kenora to Thunder Bay, ON. This is a six hour drive, with scheduled arrival time of 3 am. That seems like an unusual amount of time to sleep in the bunk truck tonight. Maybe I will even get some in the RV.

I had my first real opportunity since the Ride started to talk with Sheila and the girls on the phone tonight. Usually, there is a combination of no cell phone service and cycling then eating and showering before we get into the RV at a time after everyone at home has hit the pit. Everyone was so cheery. It was great for the spirits to be able to hear what they have been up to and what is coming up for them, and to share some of the stories of the Ride. We are all counting the days until our vacation begins in Halifax.

Day 4 (June 16) - Regina to Carlisle

Today was probably our best day yet on the riding.

Which is funny, because again we got virtually no sleep. We pulled into Regina in the RVs and had 1.5 hrs to sleep in our bunk truck. We definitely gotta get better at sleeping in the RV as we get shuttled forward at night but it is pretty tight with all of us packed in there.

I was rather disoriented when Captain Al began his wake up call for us. He said that we only had one-half hour until we needed to actually be rolling on our bikes, and that there was another big headwind already today. My heart immediately started pounding, thinking I had slept in through my family and friends’ visit (it turned out that Al’s watch was an hour off, so we actually had one more hour than thought). Then he said, “C’mon everyone, get up. There is no sense sleeping when we could be riding our bikes instead.”  I burst out laughing, because I think he was dead serious, and that would actually be a thoroughly reasonable comment given our schedule, but it seemed to capture well the craziness of what we are up to here.

I quickly got organized, and then Sears personnel and guests started arriving. Les Lingenbach was there, and this was neat because our semitrailer was parked in the parking lot of the Sears Distribution Centre, where my mom used to work. He worked with my mom there.

My brother Rob popped by before work, and I showed him my bunk and introduced him to the fantastic people on Team #1. We had a bit of a visit, and then things started getting very busy. Time was running out and I still needed to eat and drink, finish getting dressed and sunscreened, and then have our team meeting to kick off the day’s ride.

But, there was still time to visit with everyone who arrived. My Uncle Ted and Aunt Jeannette had driven down from Saskatoon. My old friends Kevin Punshon (hadn’t seen him in probably 16 years or so) and Wally Hurlbert. Sheila’s uncle Duncan and cousin Janet. Sheila’s sister Carla and her husband Dennis. There was about a half an hour to visit with everyone and finish getting ready. So exciting and great to have the chance to see everyone, and what a way to get all charged up for the day’s ride.

We were sent off with a huge round of applause and cheering from all the Sears staff in the parking lot for breakfast, as well as all our guests.

I have been continuing to have mechanical issues with my bike. I won’t get into the details (because then I will just fume), but none of them are serious and all of them have been solved one way or another by Team #1’s fantastic mechanic, Al. He cracks me up. He has such a hilarious deadpan sense of humour. He is now calling me high maintenance.

In any case, we set off on our ride. Because I grew up in Regina, I lead the team through the streets. This was a neat reflective moment. It hit me that it is now 20 years ago since I left Regina to go to law school. I don’t think that I would have believed anyone if they had told me then that I would be so lucky to have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I know I have used that phrase more than once already. Often during the day’s ride, this description comes to mind.

We had our first day as a team without a flat tire (which we celebrated at the end of the day over dinner).

We could not believe that, in heading east, we were facing another headwind, rather stiff again. If you cycle, you know what this does to you. If you don’t cycle, think of it as a hill or mountain that never ends, all day long. I mentioned today jokingly that, since the winds are supposed to be prevailing from the west, this was not what I signed up for.

But, we conquered it. We were such a finely-tuned machine out there. Tonight, we are all so pumped about that, because we worked so well together as a team, and had a lot of fun doing it. At times, especially as many many hours of cycling wear on, you can get a little giddy. Every once in a while someone on the team will just come out with something that (Kaeleigh and Aislinn would call) “totally random”. And usually at high volume.

There are also times where we get into some good discussions as we ride beside each other in the peloton. Just one of many examples of this was a chat I had today with Laurie Vanderhaege. Since the first day of our ride, I started calling her “Smiley” because she can’t seem to stop. As we were slogging along into the headwind, I asked: “Don’t you ever get bummed out?” She said: “Life is good, Bryan….. Just look around.”. And I did. It was a neat day that way. Being in Saskatchewan and on the prairies over the past day or so, I felt like I got to show off the beauty of the endless skies and unbeatable sunsets to my compatriots who have never seen them before.

We went from Regina, to Montmartre, to Kipling, and then Carlisle today. When we got to Montmartre, the whole grade two and three classes were there on main street as we cycled into the event. All the kids were lined up on a rail and I swooped in on my bike and high fived them all as I rolled past. Some of those kids are pretty strong - at one point, I thought they were going to knock me off the bike.

Montmartre and Kipling were super generous with their donations to the cause. The food and drinks were topnotch. Such great down-to-earth folks, so nice to talk with.

We spent some time working on echelon-format cycling today. With Captain Al keeping a watch on our progress from the back and helping people back there, I chatted with the other team members about some strategies so that we could come up with one common approach. You need to communicate out there, because so much is going on and can happen quickly, and it is difficult to react both quickly and safely with the mass of the eleven of us all packed in tight to maximize aerodynamics.

When we got to Carlisle, there were tons of young school-aged girls waiting for us, in their baseball uniforms. Steve, our semidriver, took them all in to the truck to show them our bunks. He looked like the pied piper, with all of these cute little girls excitedly following him along. We handed out tattoos to them, and talked.

There was a most excellent meal waiting for us. The store manager for Sears Carlisle had organized her staff, and we had so much food that was so good. And, it was all topped off with Saskatoon blueberry pie. I knew I was back home in Saskatchewan.

By the way, just as one example of the banter that goes around the team, I have not gone a day without at least one person teasing me about my hairy legs. Many of the guys are so into cycling that they shave their legs regularly. Others did so for the ride. There are two reasons. First, if you wipe out, you are way better off for the road rash etc. Also, there is a slight speed advantage. I am told that, on a time trial of 40kms, you will save 14 seconds. There is a debate on whether this is aerodynamics, or instead it may be that the leg hair being “rustled” in the wind affects the nerves in your legs slightly.

In any event, we calculated that, if we shaved our legs in Vancouver, using the statistic above, we would save approximately 1.5 to 2 hours on our trip from Vancouver to Halifax.

Well, I gotta go now. I should actually try to get some sleep tonite. But, before I do, I can’t resist checking my camera. I was leading the peloton and handed my camera to Al in the support vehicle (after receiving a bunch of good-natured flack from his as a result - “would you like me to wipe your (let’s say) “nose” for you too?”. I popped up and gave the two thumbs up, no hands move, from the front of the pack.

We are currently being Rv’ed forward to Winnipeg. We will get in at about 3:15am. (This losing the timezone hour almost every day is another factor working against us.).

Tomorrow will be so cool. I get to see my Mom and Dad. My aunt Elaine will meet us there as well.