Well, after a nice long bike trip, I guess Myeloma Canada thought it would be a good idea for me to get some running in to keep my training regime diverse. I teamed up with Lisa Ray who was recently diagnosed with myeloma at the young age of 37 and we set our marks on the Toronto 5k Your Way run for the Princess Margaret Hospital.
On October 18th, Lisa, myself and a handful of other supporters from Myeloma Canada will be taking to Queens Park to participate in a 5k run to help support the tremendous research at Princess Margaret Hospital. If you'd like to learn more about the run and Team Myeloma Canada, feel free to see our page below:
http://pmhf3.akaraisin.com/t/myelomacanada.aspx
Now all I have to do is find a good swim meet and I'll be a fund raising triathlete.
Cross Training
Aftermath: Reflections
Finally, I am starting to feel settled. It's been well over a week since I arrived in Toronto yet not even a day since I've finished unpacking, setting up my apartment, and generally, settling in to a new city I'm trying to call home. I'm still definitely in a transitional period, but things are calming down.
Nearly immediately upon my arrival, I locked my bike up in secure storage that my building provides and haven't looked at it since. I've had some friends ask if I wanted to go for a bike ride and likely gave them a look that should have made their heads explode. I've walked over an hour across the city to get somewhere instead of hopping on my bike for 10 minutes. Generally, I still have no desire to get back on that infernal/wonderful machine.
That said, this Wednesday, I will be cycling out to Oakville from Toronto (around 40km) with the Canadian GM of Celgene. Celgene has made a generous donation to the pedal and is coordinating the ride from Toronto to Oakville and a small ceremony/presentation at their offices in Oakville. In short... ready or not, we're back on the road soon!!
While we won't have final numbers until some time in October, I can let you know that fund raising has exceeded my expectations. With a huge push in donations upon my finish (were you guys waiting to give me a reward at the end?) and a couple of large contributions from companies and individuals, we are officially over the $35,000 goal and now knocking on the door of $50,000.
I can't even describe how grateful I am to everyone who helped me reach this mark and how much it means to the myeloma community. Considering that my initial plan was to ride from Calgary to Toronto to raise $3500, you can imagine how blown away I am to know that this ride really did make a difference. This unquestionably makes the fact that I still can't sit straight worth while.
I bicker and moan a lot, but I do miss the ol' girl. I'm curious to see what riding her for 40km without an extra 20-30kg of weight on my back tires will be like. Loaded or unloaded, it'll be good to get back on a more efficient mode of transportation. This whole walking business, while novel, is really becoming a slow, awkward means of travel.
Running however, I realized is not a better idea. I went out for a run on Thursday and learned the importance of cross training. I don't know entirely what muscles are used for cycling vs running, however I can tell you that they are not exactly the same. In fact, based on my experience, they appeared to be opposing each other. Thus, after building up massive muscles from cycling a "flight worthy distance", I felt like I was dragging a boulder behind me with each step forward. I only ran for about 7km, but was more exhausted than even my longest days on the bike and have legs that feel like stones still 2 days later.
Oh, and the beard is officially gone. It was a badge of honour which I wore with pride at the end of the cycle. However, after nearly a week in the hot city, it began to itch and I started to notice the wide birth people gave me while walking around the city. I'm now just another Joe, walking down the streets of a city of endless possibility.
Aftermath: Thanks
I had a video conference last night with the Myeloma Canada conference in Calgary. We set up a link to have me speak to the reception held last night. While I didn't really get a chance to speak to individuals, it was nice to know that so many amazing people who I had the chance to work with on this journey were together in one room, trying to make a difference for myeloma.
It was then that I realized that one of the updates which I needed to post was a thank you to all of the people whom I was lucky enough to have help me with this campaign. When I started planning this journey, I was ready to operate under my usual mode of doing everything myself, however it very quickly became clear that there was far too much for one person to handle, especially while on a bike.
Everyone at Myeloma Canada was instrumental in helping me organize this ride, plan local events, contact media, and make introductions to myeloma patients across the country. While only in existence since 2004, this organization has come a long way and I believe is instrumental in providing education, support, and aid with research to the Canadian myeloma community. While granted I did this ride to support them, I also could not have done the ride without their support.
A warm meal, soft bed, and hot shower may seem like fairly basic amenities, but when you're on the road for 6 weeks, they become one of the most glorious luxuries of your desire. The hospitality on the road was enough to recharge my batteries until my next stop and remind me the real reason behind what I was doing: the people. Nathan, Michelle and the boys in Swifty put me up and introduced me to Benton in Moose Jaw. Towlers in Virden felt like I was already home. Jake & Jess in Winnipeg drove with me in and out of the city and took some gorgeous photos along the road. In Kenora, I got to go out boating with Ron & Claire Noseworthy. Dryden introduced me to Nordlunds, some amazing cooking and the knowledge that I love wild rice, if it's cooked properly. The next day in Ignace, I had an incredible conversation with Don McIntosh about engineering, business and life in general. When I arrived in Thunder Bay, Mark and Ena Conliffe welcomed me into their home and helped me prepare for my difficult journey around Superior. When I finished one of the hardest weeks of my life, Jill Lang Ward and her husband Ted were waiting for me in Sault Ste. Marie with everything except a red carpet to welcome me to town, and an amazing party with cake, and live music! Even though I didn't stay with her, I still need to give a huge thanks to Carol Westberg in Calgary for coordinating the start of the ride with me. She also helped put me in touch with Jungle Jim Hunter, who I have been speaking to weekly on his radio show, and has been a great inspiration. Mona Dartige in Regina brought together a wonderful group in Regina to join me for lunch and an always appreciated chance to talk. Thank you to everyone for your kindness; you helped keep my body and mind going.
Some companies played a big part in this cause as well. Celgene and Ortho Biotech both pleged generous donations to the ride, but more importantly, have developed drugs which help fight back at myeloma. Cyan, my employers in the UK were kind enough to contribute, even after I had to make the difficult decision to leave my job and return to Canada to be closer to family. Rocky Mountain cycles provided me with a great bike at cost which, while I may have cursed at times, was obviously essential to the trip!! My good friend Shaun helped me pick out all my gear at Campers Village in Calgary and thank God we went for the warmer sleeping bag. Anthony at Primal Screen in Calgary made up my shirts for free and has been encouraging me with updates the whole way along the ride.
Unquestionably, my biggest thanks has to go to family. My sisters were a huge help with media releases, places to stay and support when I was having a bad day. My brother in law Scott whupped his friends at a golf tournament and was kind enough to donate the winnings to my ride. My other brother in law Morgan organized an escort for 4 days out of Calgary to keep me company at the start of my ride. Be sure to pass my thanks along to the other fine officers who were with me along the way: I wish I had you guys through the insanity of Ontario!! My cousins, aunt & uncle coordinated a great get together in my hometown and helped to raise over $6000 in a town of only over 1000 people (and thanks to Kirkup Agencies for collecting local donations).
My parents worried about me the whole ride. My mother actually called me one night since I was slow in updating my website and she feared the worst. She has always encouraged my adventurous side and while concerned for my safety, was ecstatic that I was continuing to lead a life of ridiculous ideas and endless adventure. My father has been my inspiration for nearly everything that i've done with my life, and this ride was obviously no different. As I said to the confernce last night, if someone ever asked me to do something like this again, I'd laugh in their face and walk away. If however it could help my dad even a bit, I would bike to the moon. Thanks mom and dad for making me, me. I may be a little bias, but I think you did alright.
To the person I ineviably forgot, I also have to thank you profusely for whatever it was that I also forgot that you did. I swear that this is not an indicator of how I valued your contribution, but more a sign that I probably took in too much sun, have gone a little mad in the bush and am slowly losing my already fragile mind. If I didn't forget anyone, neglect that last statement, especially the part about losing my mind.
Lastly, to all of my friends, old and new, thank you for your support. Whether it was a donation to the fundraiser, a little note to get me through the day, or a promise of a cold beer and a warm meal at the end of all this, every little bit kept me going.
Aftermath: Stats
I swear I'm not dead... in fact contrary to what many of you may believe, I'm not even really relaxing. I've spent the past 3 days trying to re-integrate myself into society and set up my new life in Toronto, which is much harder than I thought it would be.
Even though I lived in Montreal for 8 years, the day I arrived here, I actually found the city to be too much stimulus. After a month and a half out in the woods, with nothing to focus on but left, right, left, there's a bear, right, left... I found that my mind was simply not ready for so much going on. Still, I'm slowly adapting again, and shedding off my animalistic instincts to get back to urban living.
I've got a series of 'wrap-up' posts that I'm hoping to get through over the next week or two. My initial intention was to start doing them immediately after the ride, however life has been so busy since arrival that I haven't had the chance. I actually started waking up at 6am again just so that I could get things done. However, considering that I wasn't even supposed to be arriving until today (Friday) I'm really not behind at all; in fact I'm still ahead.
Today, I thought it could be fun to share some of the statistics and break down some of the numbers for you on this trip. These were things which stuck out in my mind and interesting little points that I thought needed to be aired:
-Days on the road: 30
-Total Distance Covered: 3646.42km
-Total Time Cycling: 162 hours, 8 minutes
-Daily Average: 121.54km
-Longest Day: 210.27km (Moose Jaw -> Grenfell)
-Shortest Day: 64.17km (Virden -> Souris)
-Total Average Speed: 22.81km/h
-Best Daily Average: 29.54km/h (coming into Winnipeg)
-Worst Daily Average: 16.56km/h (headwinds & hills near Marathon)
-Trip Max Speed: 69.05km/h (Airport Rd, just north of Toronto)
-Rainy Days: 5
-Rained Out: 1
-Tailwind Days: 5
-Calm Wind Days: 6
-Headwind Days: 19 (now do you understand what all the complaining was about?)
-Coldest Temperature: 3 C (night near Marathon)
-Hottest Temperature: 35 C (day out of Calgary)
-Chain Repairs: 0
-Wheel Replacements: 1 (rear)
-Spoke Replacements: 7
-Flat Tires: 9
-Nights in a house: 11 (thanks again everyone!!)
-Nights in a hotel: 1
-Nights in a campground: 2
-Nights in the bush: 16
-Bear Sightings: 2
-Bear Attacks: 0
-Hawk Attacks: 1
-Touring Cyclist Sightings: 11
-Times forced to hit the gravel: 4 (1 near Wawa, 1 near Prawda, 2 on Bruce Peninsula)
-Longest stretch of days without showering: 5
-Song most often screamed aloud: Hey Jude: The Beatles
-Layers of sunburn: 4
-Last time since I shaved: August 19
-Songs written on trip: 5
-Amazing people met: countless
I've still got endless stories to tell and so much information to update you on, but only so much time to devote to this campaign now that I'm back to city living. Keep watching the website for the odd periodic wrap-up on the trip and on how the fund raising is going!
Lastly, a big hello to everyone who was able to make it out to Calgary today for the annual Myeloma Canada conference!! I wish I could have joined you, but I'm too exhausted to justify traveling again. At minimum, I'll "see" you tonight at the dinner!
www.prairiepedal.com
Day 30: Fin.
Ring the alarum bell, murder and treason!!!
No, no, wait... wrong story. Anyhoo, guess where I am??
Throughout my life, I've almost become used to having people tell me to slow down and do things at a better pace so that I get it right. I guess my biggest issue has always been, why can't I do things as fast as I want and still get them right? This entire trip spanned 3646km and while I look back on this adventure with fond memories, I woke up the morning after the ferry and said to myself, I'm ready to get home.
"...330km away in Tobermory, but I told him that if the roads were good, and I got a bit of a tailwind, I might try to do it in 2 days. It was windy. The roads mostly had no shoulder and sometimes had what I refer to as "the chiropractor". And to top it all off, it was the end of a long weekend."
For those of you who know me, and those who have gotten to know me over this trip... give your head a shake. The above was an obvious ploy to draw you in and mislead you to think that life was downtrodden awfulness.
Don't get me wrong, it was one of the worst mornings I'd experienced. The roads were that bad, the wind was horrid and the traffic was awful. However, none of this stopped me from pushing through the pain and fighting my way towards Toronto. I put in 180km, and made it that much closer to home.
My morning was horrid, however before I get to today, let me talk about yesterday. Things were still horrible through Owen Sound. Around 10km past Meaford, a car pulled over and asked me, "why aren't you on the Georgian trail?".
My obvious answer was, "the what trail?". I spent the next few minutes learning about the area and the fact that not 100m south of the highway, there existed a packed limestone trail perfect for cycling which had evaded me thus far.
This trail ended up being the high point of my entire trip, and quite possibly the only thing which got me through the long day. It was isolated, it was close to nature, and it was peaceful. It was everything about cycling that I love, and a reminder of why I was willing to do this ride in the first place. This simple 34km path was enough to make me ignore the dark sides of my trip and even consider doing it ever again.
I reached Collingwood and set my tent up near an abandoned factory. It felt like the start of a bad horror film, but I made it through my last night in the bush and prepared myself for my last day on the road.
I was prepared to go through Barrie, however when I talked to a local in Collingwood, he suggested that going through Barrie could mean certain doom by traffic. He recommended another route which would have decent shoulders, and little traffic. I was immediately in love with this route due to my obsession with numerology and the fact that I would be traveling on highway 42 (the meaning of life).
Highway 42 was everything I had hoped it would be, HOWEVER once I hit Dufferin county, and the highway changed to the 18, the meaning of life turned into an awful, awful joke, with me as the punch line. The hills were enough to rival lake Superior. If you don't believe me, look at the stats to see that I hit my new top speed today. Traveling at nearly 70km/h is all well and good until you realize that you have to climb up the hill that you just rocketed down.
A lot of people ask me what it feels like to be on a fully loaded bike at 69km/h. That's a dead lie, no one's ever asked me that, however I will say this regardless; traveling at that speed, one feels as though if you wink one eye without blinking both, you will offset your balance enough to quickly become a grease stain on the pavement.
After the hills, life became even worse, since I began to pull into the city around 3pm. I thought my timing was perfect to avoid 5pm rush hour, however as my roomates informed me, "rush hour" in Toronto lasts from about 3pm-8pm. I weaved my way in and out of traffic and must have been quite a sight to see with my huge panniers sticking off the back and my slightly crazed temperment from being in the bush for so long.
And then, as though it wasn't real, I was home. Through the traffic, the hills, the lakes, the heat, the wind and the pain, I emerged anew. I'd tell you how I feel right now, but I can't quite make sense of it all. For the time being, I've really just been trying to get myself used to having people around and add to the monumental list of things I have to do now that I'm re-integrating myself into society.
In the coming days, I hope to update the site with all sorts of fun statistics, interesting stories, and new updates on the campaign, so keep your eyes peeled.
If you have enjoyed reading about my adventure and still hope to give to Myeloma Canada, please help me aid the over 6000 Canadians living with this horrid disease and click on the link in the top right corner. If you've already helped me out on my way and contributed, thank you so much for your support.
I have a lot more to say, but for now... I just need to remind myself how to live again.
