Rainbow over the autumn Rockies

Hey there,

I thought that I'd share a photo I took early in the morning with the sun just peeking over the horizon behind me.  I was out capturing the beauty of autumn before winter shows its power and wipes out the beauty of autumn and was blown away by the rainbow over the mountains.

 I am looking for events to photograph so if you know of any I'd appreciate it. 



If you like photo's like this I will be posting more autumn photographs to my blog www.sarafinchan.com.

Cheers,
Quentin J Sarafinchan, B.Sc.

403.852.5003
www.sarafinchan.com

1 in 6 men will get Prostate Cancer in their lives, please donate today.



http://www.conquercancer.ca/site/TR?px=2361639&pg=personal&fr_id=1372

"For the Love of Shoes" - Opening Preview Gala

"For the Love of Shoes" - Opening Preview Gala

GlobalFest International Fireworks Competition

GlobalFest International Fireworks Competition

Celebration

Today was a different kind of day as I got up later then usual at 8:30 and then spent most of the morning having breakfast.

When I got to Langley I realized that I had been thinking my destination was horseshoe bay but telling everyone Tsawwassen. And I felt like Tsawwassen was where I was supposed to go. So I biked along today and enjoyed more delicious fresh fruit, especially the blueberries. Now there are many places I could have choose to pi as my destination including.Stanley Park even though Tsawwassen was really out of my way I still came here. I arrived at the ocean about 6pm and asked a couple on the beach if they could.take a pic of me. I amuses myself by walking into the water with my bike because my feet were still soaked from biking in the rain today that it didn't matter. 

His name was Kenton and hers Joanne. They offered me a glass of wine to celebrate and I enjoyed a great blackberry wine with them. In talking to them it turns out.they have never been to that beach before and was only due to a strange set.if circumstances that he had choose it shortly before I had arrived.

Somehow this finale seemed so perfectly arranged. All the prices of this trip have been guided by an unseen hand. The timing of each was impeccable. For example.yesterday minutes before Ithe bus driver came up to me I had my biked parked by the gas station which would have been hidden from the road by the large RV filling up.

It's been an amazing trip. I did it in a record time. I am going to bike around Vancouver and then the island so u will post about them over the next few days.

God bless you all who have and are praying for me.

Guiding hand

Yesterday was quite a day as I became resigned to a head wind for the entire trip. I left Hope and peddled to Harris Hot springs on great roads with good shoulders. Aka Hwy 7  which has been mostly flat other then a 2km grade 11% incline up a windy stretch with zero shoulder. I didn't even consider peddling it as even pushing the bike was a good effort. 

The day was overcast with rain falling most of the day. I initially wore a second layer and a shell for the hill down to Hope but have just worn my biking jersy and shorts for the remainder if the day.  It's been not overly cold so a light rain has been not to bad.

Do from my estimates today I peddled 180 km. A record for me! And I am amazed I did it!  At Hope I was told to stay ay Rolly Park but when I arrived at Mission I learnt its a busy park and 20 km up a bunch of hills so after some searching I decided ti go to Fort Langly.  As I peddled a long about 7 at night I decides to stop for guidance and the gas tendent had no clue about this area. As I left u thought I would call a friend to see about meeting perhaps Sunday. As I was duali-g this bus driver comes up to me and tells me he met me in Rogers Pass.  After a short chat with Russell I talk with the driver who had indeed met me briefly in Rogers Pass and he had saw me biking in Mission going the other way.  He had turned the bus around and found me. Thus totally floored me. He asked where I was going and I told him Fort Langley. I guess the ferry accross is closed and the nearest camping was a little RV site 8 km down the road just outside Maple Ridge. Much closer than any of my other options.  His fortuious appearance had to be Gods hand at work in a visible way. That's 2 days he has provided Luke that for me and its amazing. I keep praising Hum for the good and the bad every day. Yes even the endless rain that has kept my hands wrinkled all day.

I do have to say the socks I am.wearing are great! My feet are not sore at all even though they have been soaked all day and I.peddled.all.day.  The jersey and shorts have been also fantastic as they hold so little moisture so u have not had any sores from.rubbing thus entire trip.  I do recommend that 3rd pair if socks especially on.wet days. 

So if my  projections are correct the coast is a measly 60 km away and my destination. 

I will continue thus blog when I get there. It almost seems like a dream but I am also getting excited even if it will be a cold wet ride.....

Hope

Yesterday was a great day. Time wise I didn't do great only 125km but tuft was over 14 hours with 10 hours actual biking. Part of the problem was the hills but a mote pervasive one was the headwind that kept attacking me and thus kept my pace down.

I met so many interesting people yesterday like the 2 ladies at the info centre in Merritt and then the couple who filled my water bag at Cold River. And right after they departed a large motorcoach pulled up and immediately their little black cat Nova snuck out and so for next hour I chatted with them while they hunted cat.  I finally made it to the summit but I hadn't realized it as I must have missed the sign.  Anyways my plan was to camp at these walk in camp sites near the summit. And near the top I realized my trailer tire was flat.... it picked up a nice staple. I tried patching it but only got a couple km before it was flat again so I replaced it with the spare I had.  Note the only place to but tire tubes for the BOB Trailer is at MEC which can be a problem.  So my new tire also came with a slow leak so every couple hours it needs to be pumped up.

So finally a hint of civilization appeared a rest point so I pulled off to use the facilities. And to my luck which today was full of (God had a big hand in this day) where I talked to the vendor owner who told me the walk in camping no longer exists... so for a moment is was screwed. I was looking at a nearly 200 km day.... but he told me that there was a room in the building that can ne used to sleep in which he usually tells to cyclists.  I was hoping to make it further so he told me the facilities at the truck break stop 11km down the road has the same room. 

Once I got there it was after 8 and I figured that was far enough for today and I camped out in the room sleeping on my mat.

Someone on Buzz suggested I check out the old train tunnels near Hope so I was going to today bit after an hour of cool wind and lots of rain all I wanted was a Hot coffee so I resisted pulling off the highway and kept plugging down. The highway is nearly all down so you can get down pretty quickly. There it a small 2km climb near Hope.

Today my goal is to hit Harris hot springs to relax and refresh as its been days since I had a shower (rain doesn't count). So I will blog more from my phone tonight I hope.  I have to say I am very impressed with my HTC Hero phone running Android. I have yet to own a phone 6 months and still be 100% happy with it.

By cold river

Taking a moment in the middle of no where to replentish my water from the river before the next big climb. 30km from Merritt and 30 from the summit.

Merritt

So Sorrento was a great break and my day to Kelowna was a great trip. Farmer Dave gave me some yummy cucumbers for the trip and I readily enjoyed them on my breaks. I did have nasty pain in my tummy in the morning which really troubled me but was gone by noon.

I spent the afternoon in Kamloops by the river the gorgeous park and about 2 it got cloudy so I took a chance and kept on biking. Kamloops is 535m and I was sent to a camp ground called lake le juanne. Which I was sent on a back road to get there. I thought at time that t&e climbing would never end. I was so certain I was on a wild goose trail. But by 7pm I finally finished the 30km hill and made into the camp barely. Where I had a snack, set up my tent and crashed for the night. And the best part is that most of the hill climbing was done so the ride today to Merritt has been not to bad.  

Well phone nearly charged so I am about go get to Hope or at least the summit today. I biked 110 km yesterday and so far 50 today. It's another 115 to Hope and at least 50 to the Summit so either way I have a lot of riding ahead of me today.

Please remember 1 in 6en will het prostate cancer. You can donate to my ride by going back a few posts and I have a link on the posts prior to the ride to Vancouver.

Day 6 - Oasis

Today was my break from the battle of the tarmac and ?I have to say it was a day of physical rest and spiritual.  I stopped at Sorrento Centre which is an Anglican Church run resort and I had no plans to do anything today but rest and read my book.  But my day was very eventful with meeting many people, learning how Dr Seuss and the bible are related as well as exploring sustainable farming and its implications to a christian based community.  Not bad for a single day considering I wasn't going to do anything.  

Today started out with me reflecting on something that I've not really reflected upon and that is the idea of setting a goal and then executing a plan to take it on, persevering and taking on the risks involved to achieve the goal, in my case its a goal that also takes great amount of endurance and effort in preparation as well as in implementation. What was interesting is that the message this morning at church was on Jesus walking on water and how Peter took a step out of the boat, then his fear overcame him and he sank.  We in life so often have dreams and hopes that we kill because we feel that we can't do it, that "I don't have the strength, the knowledge, the lack of money, the ___ (you fill in the blank) to make it happen".  When in reality its our fear that is our real stumbling block. 

A song we sang today at the end reaffirmed this called Don't Be Afraid.

Don't be afraid, Gods love is stronger, Gods love is stronger then my fear.  Don't be afraid Gods love is stronger and He has promised, promised to always be near.

its very simple song but it recaps what holds us all back in life, I am glad that God is part of my life and that I praise Him daily for the good things and the bad things that happen in my life as He deserves all the glory, yes even on my epic bike trip to Vancouver as I could never have done it with out my faith.  

 So it looks like I will be taking the Coke to Vancouver which is only 450 km (or there about) meaning I will be in Vancouver Sunday if things go according to plan.  We shall see how the roads look when I get to Kamloops as there is still a lot of road ahead of me that I need to pound.  

Day 5 - Reprieve

So to recap yesterday my goal was a campground 30km from Revelstoke called Noah's Ark.  Its a cute little campground where they are in the progress of actually building an ark, I believe will be accommodations when its done.  Alas they were full so I trudged on and stayed at the Crazy Creek campground.  The site was mediocre but they have ambitious plans for the grounds.  I did enjoy the hot pools although for $10 I think its a bit steep for a glorified hot tub.  The water is pulled from the ice cold river and then heated.  But they do have 4 pools - 32C, 39C, 40C and 4C.  Yes 4C.... I dipped into it twice, and have to say its quite the shock to the body, although I do hear its good for the lymphatic system.

So a recap of my progress to date:

Day 1 - 105 km (Banff)

Day 2 - 85 km (Field)

Day 3 - 150 km (Rogers Pass)

Day 4 - 110 km Crazy Creek (Near Sicamous)

Day 5 -  95 km Sorrento

(Total 545 km)

Day 6 - REST REST REST

I woke up this morning a little late (7am) but that was intentional, what was not planned was it taking me nearly 90 min to pack up and have breakfast.  I didn't leave till nearly 8:30 and it was getting really hot out by then.  Today I did it in 3 blocks of roughly 30km each, the first was to Sicamous and that went reasonably well.  I did notice I'm not getting the same speed as I was on day 1 and I think that a day of rest for my legs is in order.  I made my stop at Dutchman's and had a delectable ice-cream cone, and bought some cheese for lunch. I also went to the fruit stand and bought some cherries and peaches.  They were so tasty.  Got to love BC fruit.

So part 2 I knew had a hill in it, what is not apparent when driving is how much uphill there is even when it looks flat.  I was almost in Salmon Arm and I thought I was done for, the road looked flat but my legs were saying they were tired, and I was barely making 9km an hour, it was so pathetic. To make matters worse is the heat was up in the 25C range by noon and that was also taking its toll on me.  As soon as I got into Salmon Arm, I detoured to the nearest McDs and had a refreshing ice cold pop and let my body cool down.  Once I had recovered I went to the mall where I bought an mp3 player so I can listen to something other then all the cars/trucks blasting by me.

I chatted with a couple other people there who told me that there was fires along the whistler road and it was most likely closed. In fact one of them thought that the valley was also closed due to fires.  If that's the case then I only have 1 option left and that's to take the Coquihalla but when I get to Kamloops I will check in at the visitor centre and see what the highways are like then. When I checked in at the visitor centre in Salmon Arm today, as of today the valley is closed due to debris but the lady there said it would be open later today.  And yes the Whistler route is closed due to fires.  I did strangely enough meet a lady there who was from Cochrane which was quite a surprise, she lives in Glenbow so just across the highway from me, some times this is such a small world.

As of today I have seen/met very few cyclists traveling.  I have met 2 people heading my direction (although they turns at Golden) and I've seen 2 people biking the other direction.  I had hoped to meet a few more by now, but perhaps August is the wrong time of year for cycling to Vancouver.  

So after Salmon Arm, I hid down by the peer all afternoon as the temperature crept up and up.  it was over 34C at one point and I was glad I was hiding under a tree and not biking in it.  I finally left Salmon Arm about 6pm and started the last leg of my journey to Sorrento (34km)  which was really nice especially as the sun started to set as it finally cooled off and became tolerable.  

I have now made it to roughly the middle at 540 km and tomorrow I am not even going to look at my bike. I think my legs need a day off and I plan on taking it very easy, in fact I'm going to book into the dining room and have breakfast, lunch and dinner all provided to me.  Its going to be great day indeed.

Day 3 Rogers pass

So I am such a fool. Who is crazy enough to take on 150 km in a day with the last 50 being all up hill and then there is the tunnels near the end of the day that are dark narrow and packed full of vehicles.

So I decides to take a chance and get a granny gear added to my bike. Currently it was 11:2ì and I was in luck and found a place in Golden on a Sunday able to change them to a 11:34  what means is that the smallest gear still has 11 teeth but the big gear now has 34 or about 20% bigger. Which really saved my Bacon as there is absolutely no way I could have done that stretch without the lower gearing. What I noticed is that when using it I would still peddle at about 9kmh but I was peddling easier and a little faster.

So I don't know which is scarier biking down a mountain in the middle of the lane as half the bridge was closed or biking up a mountain through the dark snow sheds barely moving and having to take numerous rest brakes in the them. 

I have to say that I did the last 15km hill all on heart. I took at least 2 hrs for me to bike it as I had so little energy left.  Un fact only a couple km from the top I sooooooo wanted to give up. But I made it to the top and booked a room at the hotel.  My body thanked me for the shower and hot meal. I might have been able to bike 5km down the mountain to the camping spots but at that moment I didn't care. All I wanted was to stop for the day.

Gopher molested me

Yesterday was day 2 and I was really not motivated to carry on. But after a pep talk I took the advice to just enjoy the ride and see how it goes. I could always quit at Lake Louise if I wasn't ok.

So at LL I took a break and had lunch at a picnic table. The gophers were very brave and tame. This point really hit home when I decided to rest my eyes for a bit and I fell asleep and I was startled awake by this gophers paws touching my calf.  I am sure the gopher thought he was going to due from my arm - foot waving.

So after my rude awakening I kept on going and made it to field about 5 pm. I had only done 85 km and was debating going further but was ok with stopping there. I did meet a lot of people at camp. Many who where there to hike.  Mental note: u should go back there for a weekend as its a very nice campground and many day hikes to do.

I like my tent a lot although last night u didn't peg

Day 1

So I made to Banff but was brutal. I got heat exhaustion and spent a lot of time reconsidering this trip. As a kid seeing the bikes traveling seemed glamorous but in reality its just a lot of hard work.

Today is just as hot as yesterday and I have started really late. I will take it really easy today and see how my body is after wards. So far today I am not aching so that is good but I am very tired.

This packing list is designed for those biking tours, who will be cooking their own food and camping.  Its easy enough to trim down the portions if you plan no eating out or hosteling.

The goal of packing for a bike ride it to carry as little weight as possible, as weight really sucks when climbing mountains (or hills).  I have chosen to carry at most a days worth of food on me, and to wash my clothes more frequently instead of packing an additional set. Since my bike doesn't have capability to carry paniers I've gone with a trailer.  I purchased a BOB YAK trailer with a single tire that looks like it will do the trick of carrying my cargo easily, although it does look small.

This post is longer then most but for anyone else who is planning a tour a lsit like this will help a lot.And crazily even though the list looks long the weight of the bag isn't so bad.  Its important to choose light weight items where ever possible.

Bike Related

• Bike
• Emergency Bag (patch kit, multi-wrench & spare tire), make sure the glue has not dried up.
• Trailer (or saddle bags)
• Trailer Bag (waterproof)
• Tire pump
• Head lamp (with fresh batteries)
• Lock (key type - not combination)
• Rear Lamp Light (with fresh batteries)
• Helmet
• Camel bag or water bottles

Spare Parts

• 1 - Fold-able bike tire
• 1 - spare trailer tire (16 x 1.75")
• Tubes for bike (2) and trailer (1)
• Spare batteries (if required)
• Chain lube

Biking Clothing

• 2 - jersey (3 pairs if you want less times washing)
• 2 - padded bike shorts (3 pairs if you want less times washing)
• 3 - pairs socks
• 1 - pair leggings or pants (I prefer leggings as they hardly take any space)
• 1 - water tight shell (for rain and windy cold days)
• 1 - biking shoes with cleats
• 3 - pairs no seam underwear
• 1 - long sleeve jersey (optional, but handy if its colder)
• cycling gloves
• sunglasses

Non Biking clothes

• 1 - Shoes / sandals
• 2 - t-shirts

Hygiene / Medical

• shampoo & container
• soap bar & soap container
• wash cloth
• toothbrush & tooth paste
• sunscreen lotion
• bug repellent
• razor
• small roll - toilet paper
• small towel
• advil
• medications
• bandaids

Camp Related

• tent - small lightweight personal sleeping bag (water repellent with inside over zippers) as light as possible
• sleeping bag stuff sack (stuffed with clothes to be a pillow)
• sleeping pad
• 5 - 1.5 m locking straps.
• small cook stove
• utensils
• water filtration tables
• matches and match container
• dish soap and cloth
• Hunting knife / Leather man
• Plastic bowl (handy for so many things from ceaning to cooking)

Food - Riding

• Beef Jerky
• Dried Fruit
• Nuts
• Tuna meals
• Energy Gels
• Protien bars

Food - Camp

• Rolled oats w/ in a plastic bag
• Brown Sugar .in a plastic bag

Other

• Cash  / Visa
• Maps
• Pen and small pad of paper
• Bible and or another book to read.
• Proof of heath insurance
• Camera (small) & charger
• Cell phone & charger
• mp3 player  & charger (hopefully same charger for all 3)

Some people will take along the following as well.  Depending on your trip you may want to consider these items:

Optional Bike Related

• 15 mm cone wrench
• Chain tool
• Spoke wrench
• Cassette tool to unscrew cogs
• Spare spokes, two of each length
• Spare brake and shift cables
• Cable Ties

Other Optional

• Padlock for campground lockers (or hostel lockers.

Test

• Trailer Loaded with Bike
• Weight of load, and packing of load, needs to be balanced.

Advil is for mornings and evenings.  In the morning to help with any left over aches n pains as well as cramping.  And the same in the evening so its easier to get the needed sleep.


Band-aids are for blisters most likely or small cuts.  Anything bigger will have to be dealt with with aid from others.  When biking you are really restricted on what you can bring and you can not carry everything you will need for EVERY possible event that could happen.  Its better to plan for the likely events and adapt as required. 


I was going to build a solar charging unit for my phone / music player, but it didn't work so I was going to buy one, with only a couple days before I leave and lack of time to really try thhem out I've decided to hold off on the solar charger.  Its a neat idea but it seems that many of them aren't as great as they sound.  So plan B will be to scrounge up a MP3 player as they will go for 30+ hours.  And I should easily be in power range at least every couple days.  My phone I will leave off except for phone calls or blog updates, this will allow me to keep it charged for a few days as well between charges.  The nice thing about this plan is that I will actually carry less weight as a mp3 player is much lighter/smaller then a solar panel.


I am not taking a lot of foood with me, which can really add up in weight, but it also means I need to find a grocery store quite frequently.  Pert of the problem is I am not sure what I want to take with me for food.

Nanton - Chain Lakes (re-living the memories)

Yesterday I had an opportunity to bike the daunting section of the R2CC 2010 ride I did a few weeks back.  I felt it would give me a good feel to how some of the mountain sections would be and also and to tell if I've gotten any stronger since last time I did this section.  

Here is the map of the Nanton - Chain Lakes - Nanton trip we did.  http://beta.mapmyride.com/route/detail/20248692/ 

So the ride was good, although we started a little later then expected we had planned for a 10am start, but didn't get going till nearly 11.  We took it easy, and I let Peter lead so I didn't push myself  and we got to Chain Lakes by 2, so it took 3 hours to get there with breaks.  I have to say I took more time to enjoy the scenery this time, it was very beautiful.  It was blue skies most of the way there, but became cloudy with threatening clouds for the return trip. 

Return trip was faster as we left Chain Lakes about 2:30 and got back to the vehicles in Nanton by 4:30. That massive hill we climbed and climbed and climbed at R2CC is a really really long enjoyable ride down, which is great!  Really makes you realize how long of a climb it really was.  We did have a head wind for the last stretch to Nanton which was a little sad as I was expecting a nice easy finish.  

I did notice that overall I took less breaks and had a faster pace yesterday then during the R2CC which means I have.

Total trip is 77km, so not a great average time  but when you consider that there is total 650m climb involved it makes it seem a little more reasonable.  I think I am ready physically for my trip next week... only 8 days remaining but so much to still do to get ready. 

And we are already talking about doing the Nanton - Chain Lakes ride again in August, probably late August or early September (I do need to take a little time off after I return).   I think I will email the Cenovus R2CC team when its closer as there may be another crazy person out there interested in joining us.    

My next blog entry will focus on my  preparations, what I'll be taking with me and why I made the selections I have.And hoeflly I've selected wisely as its a little hard to come home and pick up that really important item when I am 4 days into my ride. 

Please support Prostate Cancer Research as 1 in 6 men will get it in their life. Click the image or the link below.




http://www.conquercancer.ca/site/TR?px=2361639&pg=personal&fr_id=1372

Cold Feet

You know its not only bride and grooms that get cold feet, mine have been getting cold too.  Last couple days the temperature has plummeted but that hasn't been what has made my feet cold.  It's only days away from my ride, 15 and counting, and I'm starting to question my sanity.  I am sure many of you have already been questioning my sanity all along. 

Yesterday I watched as it poured buckets of water and pummeled cars and the building with golf ball sized hail. All the while I was thinking holey crap where would I take cover in such a deluge while biking!!!! And then on my drive home from Sorrento while passing through Rogers Pass - Revelstoke I kept looking at all that long unrelenting mountain I would have to be climbing.  

I must be crazy! I also know that I did bike from Nanton to Chain Lakes and that was also a brutal stretch of road, so I have that comfort to fall back on. Having done something similar once does easy the panic, and one of my motto's of "baby steps" also comes to mind every time I start to get overwhelmed.  I can always stop, I can always walk, and I can take more time if I need to, tackling a major mission like a 2 week bike ride is one that needs to be broken down into days, and then each day may be tackled peddle by peddle.  

This is the same approach cancer patients have to approach life, they need to accept their reality, determine a game plan and then methodically work through it, doing their therapies and working trough the recovery of each treatment.  All the while accepting that they can beat cancer because so many people have provided the funds for research to make it possible to win.  It's not a guarantee that their cancer can be overcome but with each year and each fund raiser the odds of winning have increased.  

Please share my journey with friends and family, with 1 in 6 mend being diagnosed with Prostate Cancer I know that at least one man you know will be struck by this.

Please support Prostate Cancer Research as 1 in 6 men will get it in their life. Click the image or the link below.



http://www.conquercancer.ca/site/TR?px=2361639&pg=personal&fr_id=1372

Week of R & R

So after the grueling weekend of biking I went on holidays to the Shuswap with my kids.  We stayed at Sorrento Centre where the kids hung out and spent a lot of time with the the other kids in the youth programs. Most other adults there were involved in the adult oriented programs, but I had other plans. My week of R & R was a week of riding and running.

After making breakfast I would head off on a bike ride up the back roads around Sorrento, some days I would stop and take pictures of interesting places or animals.  It was a very hot week with some days reaching 38 C which is very hot for me.  All my rides started with a 4 km hill that got me working hard and then the ride became a set of gentle rolling hills with a great view of the farms and orchards.  By Friday, which was the hottest day, I was biking to Tappen and back which is a 50km trip, with steep hills at both ends of the ride.  

I tested out my new water pack which worked really well. The water stayed cold/cool which surprised me.  And I carried along my camera a few camera lens just to add weight to the trek, and you never know when a great photo moment will occur.  

Each night I also ran with my dog which he greatly enjoyed.  I started with a 30 min run the first night and then bumped it up to 60 min runs the remaining evenings.  By Friday I had made significant improvement in the distance I was running in 30 minutes, as after 30 min I'd turn around and head back to the dog kennel to drop of my Lab.  

I do have to say that I have had many moments where I think i might be crazy to be doing this ride to Vancouver.  That its impossible and thus ridiculous for me to even bother with trying to do.  I know coming home I looked at the grade (6%) and trhe length of hills from Rogers Pass to Revelstoke (50k) and that made me really wonder what am I getting myself into.  Once the moments of fear pass I know I can do it, I just have to break it down into little steps.   It is going to be a very difficult ride both physically and mentally. The mental part is already starting with all te self-doubt I have been feeling the past couple weeks but I know that if I loose that part then I won't make it.  

Please support my ride either through donations to Prostate Cancer or by sharing my journey with others.  Its important that more money is raised for prostate cancer as it affects 1 in 6 men.

Please support Prostate Cancer Research as 1 in 6 men will get it in their life. Click the image or the link below.



http://www.conquercancer.ca/site/TR?px=2361639&pg=personal&fr_id=1372

Ride to Conquer Cancer

Friday night I was a little apprehensive having never done anything like this before.  In fact before this year the longest ride I ever done was a 60km ride 25 years ago that nearly killed me. So Saturday morning I was up bright n early at 5am and headed off to Spruce Meadows for the ride. 

Some cool stats - 1,888 riders who raised over 8.3 million dollars for cancer research here in Alberta. 

Here is a picture of the start of the event during the opening ceremonies.

Just before the ride started I did bump into 2 other team mates aka "Crazy Cranks" who I peddled with for a few minutes at the beginning of the ride, but soon I took off and peddled at my own pace.  The ride went through Okatoks where the first rest point was, since I wasn't trying to kill myself I stopped and grabbed a piece of fruit and more water then carried on.  The second stop was in High River, and I did the same short break as it was about an hour since the last stop.  The 3rd stop was in Nanton and I thought I was doing incredibly well, I had been averaging about 28km/h which is a great pace for me, I hadn't been pushing myself and at the Nanton 75km point I thought that it was going great. Nanton was the lunch break point where I grabbed a great box lunch then I hid in the shade and ate. 

As I was departing I saw a guy with a spare car tire painted and strapped to his bike.  He told me that he joined the ride 2 weeks ago and needed a creative way to raise the donations.  So he told everyone that he would add 1 kg for every $100 raised.  So he had a 24kg tire strapped to his bike for the ride.  I'm not sure if he completed the ride  as I never noticed the bike after that but I did enjoy meeting him and the other very amusing and creative people on the ride who had great costumes or interesting bikes.

Here is a pic of a guy cooling off literally as he sits on the ice packs keeping the water chilled.  Next is the spare tire and then a picture of a group of guys in hot pink shorts doing the ride.

I had overheard a couple interesting conversations at the Nanton beak, the first was that those riders who made it to camp at Chain Lakes before 12:30 were going to do an "after burn"  which I was told was a short 70km extra ride.  I just shook my head at that and thought if that was true they must be totally nuts!   I also heard someone mention there was some hills ahead, so I took it easy leaving Nanton just in case.  Unfortunately that was my last facebook entry on the trip as I didn't turn my phone off properly and the battery died.

So from Nanton the ride became interesting, you know when it looks like you are going downhill but you really going up?  Well that is how it was from Nanton on.  And I figured this isn't so bad, I can handle the last 20km of this...  well at about the 80 km mark there was a sharp turn and I noticed a sign saying 28km to Chain Lakes which I thought "couldn't be" I'm almost done!  I noticed that my legs were starting to get tired out and then the hill began...

The hill was a 6% grade that didn't end, it just kept on going and going and going.  Every time you thought it was over you would go around a bend and see that there was more.  I kept on thinking to myself, why am I doing this? I must be very crazy!  Do I really want to do a trip to Vancouver when this ride was nearly killing me? To understand the hill, imagine Glen Eagles hill but 5 times as long.

And finally after 12km of agonizing hill there was an unexpected pit stop, but not the camp I had so desired and expected.  I gladly stopped and took a much needed break where I found out that the ride to camp was actually 115km and that I had another 20km to go.   But they reassured me that after the short hill I could see before me and a couple rolling hills it became easy.  Well those "rolling hills" were quite mountainous and went on for another 10km.  The last 5 km was more downhill but with a nasty head wind that made it feel as if you were going down a gentle grade not the steep hill it was.  I felt robbed of enjoying the down's after all the sweat that went into the up's.

Finally after numerous short breaks on all those hills, I made it to camp at 3:30, only 6 hours after leaving Spruce Meadows.  Actual biking time was 4:45 min which I was is VERY impressed with as it was better than my hoped for goal of 5 hours for 100km.  After grabbing my bags I had a very very desired shower and a nap which made me feel almost human and refreshed. 

And 4 hours after arriving at camp I signed up for the ride next year.

During supper I actually met up with most of the Crazy Crank team, and heard about their rides.  Most of them took a little longer than me to get in, with the longest I heard being 9 hours.  I know that bikes were still coming in at 8pm, which I think is about when they went out and did a sweep to pick up anyone who was still on the road biking.  I'm not sure how many there might have been to collect.  One of my team had actually made it in by 1pm, which I was very impressed with.  I know I had passed a lot of bikes on the first 80k of the ride, and many passed me on the last 35k, but he must have been smoking along.  There was a lady who was 7 months pregnant that I heard made it the first 60k of the ride.  I was very impressed that she made it so far,  that would have been really a challenge for her. 

Supper was really yummy, with mostly vegetables but you had the option of chicken or veggie entre.  I had the chicken and it was very yummy along with a free beer.  Someone said that beers make a great recovery drink which I decided I liked the idea of so from now on I think it will be my choice of recovery drinks :-). 

I tried going to sleep at 9, but I think it was well after 11 before I truly fell asleep with all the chatter and then snoring around me.  I did sleep pretty good, and woke up at 5 am, not sore!  This really shocked me as I figured I’d be a hurting puppy this morning.  But I was pretty limber and no body parts were complaining. 

Here is a picture of camp and of me on day #2

Today’s ride was pretty good, we did NOT go back the way we had come the day prior which I thank my lucky stars! The ride back was up hwy 22 and then 22X to Spruce Meadows.  Just like the previous day the views were amazing.  The first stretch had a decent hill that really got the muscles loosened up and then for the most part it was rolling hills.  The nice thing about them is that for every up I got a chance to go down, and I made a personal best speed of 67 km/h on one hill.  Others had hit 80 km/h, but I thought that 67 km/h was pretty scary. I did get burnt today even though I had lathered up with sun block, but not too horribly.

The ride into Spruce Meadows was surreal.  They called off your name as you came in and a crowd cheered you on. In fact there was people all along the route that cheered and that really made me feel like I was making a difference.  Next year I will try and plan to have my friends’ n family there at the end as it was like a bit of a party.  They had a great burger feast, music and would be nice to share that with them.

So the return trip was 4 hours of biking time over a 5 hour period.  This is directly in line with what I had hoped to do for my Vancouver trip.  So I’m very pleased with my performance, and that today I still had a little energy left in my legs even at the end.

In 5 weeks I start my next crazy adventure which I hope to share daily... as long as I keep my phone charged.  


Its important to remember that 1 in 6 men will get prostate cancer in their life.  Count the men you know, and know that every 6th one is it, not the kind of game you want to be picked for.  Please Please share my story by bringing awareness of prostate cancer to those you know and help me raise money to fight this debilitating disease.  

Please support Prostate Cancer Research as 1 in 6 men will get it in their life. Click the image or the link below.


http://www.conquercancer.ca/site/TR?px=2361639&pg=personal&fr_id=1372

6 weeks to go

With 6 weeks till my ride to Vancouver, I will know next weekend how close I am to being in condition to biking 1,200 km.  Next weekend is the Ride to Conquer Cancer, and I have now met my donation requirement of $2,500.  I took a look at the top fund raisers and was astonished to see that there were quite a few that had earned up to $60,000.  I found raising $2,500 to be a challenge and would have no idea who to raise even $10,000 let alone 60!

I have been training most days, but have slipped from my goal for daily rides.  I had planned on biking from Calaway Park to downtown every week day about mid May.  It is now near end of June and I have ridden from Calaway to downtown, but it has been rather sporadic.  I do need to bump up my riding a little and with school ending it will mean that my Monday / Wednesday evenings will have a little more leeway to them.  Currently I need to be home to take my daughter to soccer M & W so that limits my rides somewhat. Most days I ride from COP, which makes for a nice ride.  Here are the distances of the rides I do.

Daily rides to Downtown

• Shouldice – 15km
• COP – 30km
• Calaway Park – 50km

I have decided that I have to take the main route to Vancouver from Calgary through Golden, Kamloops then to Vancouver.  I had been interested in taking a southern route, but it adds 3-4 days to the trip, would be much hillier and a lot hotter (40C).  So I’m opting for a more northerly route. The only part that is still to be decided is if I should go through Case or Whistler as both routes seem about the same distance.

The other part of my plan that has changed is that initially I was going to have a road crew to take care of the daily logistics.  Currently it looks like I will be packing my gear as well, so this will impact my rides making them longer if I want to maintain 100km a day. With 6 weeks left I now need to start planning what I need to bring along for this ride, as well as minimizing what I take as well. I’ll try and note what I’m packing or planning on packing in my next post.

I had expected that with the biking and running that over the winter I would have lost weight.  There are 2 ways to make your ride easier, you can by very expensive bikes and gear that are very light, or you can lose weight. I had opted for the weight loss as a 10 lb loss in body mass would be a big increase in my ride.  Alas I’ve gained a little over the winter which has me puzzled but also accepting that I won’t be as physically fit as I had hoped to be for my Vancouver trip.

Well it’s Saturday, and sunny out, and I hear the trails calling my name.

Time has really been flying, at this rate it will be June before I know it.  So last weekend I went out with the Cochrane RedRockRunners again and I did a 10.5 km run with them in 1h 15m, not a really fast run, but still a great distance for me to have accomplished.  And later that night my body told me in no uncertain words how much I have abused it.  I had already planned on taking Sunday off, which turned out to be a great rest break for my body. 

Monday I attempted to work from home, but due to technical difficulties connecting to the work environment I gave up at noon and went for a bike ride.  Initially I was only going to bike from Cochrane to Hwy 8 (the roundabout) (20km) but when I got there I felt I still had some legs left so decided I was worth an ice-cream cone and persevered another 10 km to Bragg Creek. I have to say I was quite shocked that while enjoying my hard earned ice-cream cone that I was attacked by hornet.  I thought that early March was waaaaay to early for them. It took me 1.5 hrs to peddle to Bragg Creek, its a very gentle uphill grade after the hwy 8 junction. My return trip took just a hair over an hour to do with it being a lot of down hill especially after Cochrane Corner (junction of hwy 22 and hwy 1). 

I was very pleased with myself for accomplishing this mental hurdle, as 60km is a long distance that I've only biked once prior.  About 20 years ago when I was attending the University of Alberta, I dragged a friend along and we peddled from downtown Edmonton to Leduc and back.  Sadly we had a nasty head wind that drained us on the way back, so even with a tail wind it was a brutal bike ride, and one that I've never done again. So it was a great achievement for me to have accomplished.

Tuesday I woke up to a massive tail wind so my bike ride to work was amazing, I was able to easily achieve and maintain 35km/h on my mountain bike for the entire trip.  I just wish I could do that every day!  Sadly the wind had not diminished over the day and alas I had a 50-70kmh head wind peddling back which nearly killed me.  I was lucky to get 16kmh, and was very frustrated at all the bikes that simply peddled by  me as I struggled.  I counted 11 bikes that made it look easy, and for some reason I really get frustrated that I can not keep up to them.  I know many of them have been biking for a lot longer then my 10 weeks, but a few of them looked to be bigger guys so to my perceptions I should have been able to bike like they do.

That they could easily peddle by me was very annoying and increased my resolve to become a stronger biker.  I've been reading up on ways to improve my cycling and get the higher speeds and endurance.  I did purchase some biking shoes that do seem to help, although my upper back leg muscles (biceps femoris) are not used to being used so it will be a while before I get any real benefits from the shoes.

Weekly Update

Well this is actually a bi-weekly update as this week has gone so quickly.  Last week I heavily abused my body as I was aching most of the week.  I started the week by doing the stairs at work Monday and Tuesday, now I don't work on the 3rd floor, I work on the 34th floor.  So I did 20 flights down and up each day, this week I was going to do the same, but got distracted with work and other stuff.  Probably not a horrible plan as my legs need some rest time from that abuse. 

The other major change to my regime is that last week and this week I have been biking from COP to downtown. Thus doing 120 km in a full week.  I also was out in Kananaskis on Friday so I did the 2km hill here, which really burned, but was a great feat to complete.

On Saturday I finally met up with the Cochrane running club, about 20 people where out for the run which was done in groups depending on the distances being run.  I did 6km and felt great after wards.  I then took my road bike out for a cruise. I biked from Cochrane to Cochrane corner (hwy 1) and back, this was a mental mile stone as I have never done it before and learnt I can easily do a 24 km bike ride as well.  To finish off the day I took my dog for a hike at Heart Creek, a beautiful trail, that my dog greatly enjoyed as well.  There was a couple treacherous parts covered in sheer ice on a hill side, but otherwise the trail was in great shape. 

On Sunday I did the Cochrane to Cochrane Corner again, and debated going further, but didn't want to kill my body.  I did have a nasty cross wind on Sunday, and a heavy head wind on Saturday.  Which was good practice as I am sure I'll have to deal with many windy days when biking in my trek.

So I hate bikes passing me, I know I may not be the fastest out there, but some days I sure feel like the slowest!  I've started researching training methods for biking as well, and building a training plan of sorts to get in better condition for those loooooong days on the road. And perhaps keep a few more cyclists behind me.

One other preparation I've started is to try and determine what route is the best to take to Vancouver.  I've mapped out a handful of them on a cool website that works with google maps, unfortunately its mangled all the maps I've made, so I have to remake them on a different site and then I'll share them and start discussing the pro's n cons of each route.

Baby Steps

So last Friday I did indeed take the dog out for a walk at Heart Creek, where I was able to let my creativity flow and took 150 pictures.  I posted a 20 pictures to my picasa site from the hike.  I attempted a ride on Saturday from Seven Persons a small town, not more then a blip on the map, but has FANTASTIC smoked meat, the best beef jerky or sassages ANYWHERE. But I digress, it was very windy and at -10 C with a 40 kmh wind made for a very unpleasant ride, so alas after a few km I turned around and admitted defeat.

I finally put on a new Odometer on my bike on the weekend so am able to track my distances; Monday and Tuesday I did the long ride from C.O.P. to downtown and back, discovering its 30km, so a major increase over my shorter ride of 8.4km.  Wednesday / Thurs I decided to do the shorter ride giving my legs a chance to recover and allow me to do some running.  My goal for Friday is to do the long ride again. I have found that I am not as dead tired on this ride as I was last week, so that's encouraging.

I did also do a short run Tues and Wed evening.  I really haven't had the energy and I find my body giving up really easily.  Tonight I am going to meet up with the Red Rock Running Club in Cochrane, and try out their runs.  I'm not used to running wit others so this will be a really new experience.  My other concerns are that my running has been languishing and right now I am down to just runnign 3-5km not the 8km I had been up to in October, and theirs are probably a lot longer then mine as well as probably a lot faster then me as well.  I am praying that it all works out as I know I need the running to improve my cardio.

And thank you all who have donated to

New Adventures

Tuesday - I've extended my bike ride to 12.5 km one way, and doing the last hill up to Canada Olympic Place (C.O.P.) I knew I was running out of steam.  Looks to be a lot of snow predicted tonight, so I may shorted my ride to my shorter 8.4 km one.

So this week I was sick Monday but got in a late evening run, I did do 5km but not without a lot of rests.  Tuesday I challenged myself and biked from COP to downtown (25 lm) and back.  Which really took a lot out of me, I was sooo drained Tuesday night.  So Wednesday I decided to take it easy and do the short ride from Shouldice (16 km).  Thursday I did the Shouldice ride, and made awesome time getting downtown, so good I decided I should do a run at lunch.  

Well I really didn't want to do the run, I had myself almost talked out of it a few times.  But I finally decided I'd go and try it and if I was that tired and drained then I'd quit. The run started okay, I knew immediately that I'd need to take more breaks but thats okay.  What bothered me was that I didn't have any tunes to distract me and that my legs felt like lead weights for most of the run.  I did my shorter downtown run (from 10th to Princess Island Park) which is about 3.5 km.  My ride back wasn't so bad but nothing like my morning run.  

It makes you wonder what keeps a person going, that drive to get up and go for a run when your tired, when its so tempting to just sit and relax and chat with friends.  Days like today really amaze me that I actually accomplished so much, when I wanted to do so little.

Tomorrow (Friday) we have off at work, so I was thinking I'd mix things up and take my dog for a hike in the mountains.  Something I've not done in the winter but I know he'd love it.  There is a great little hike called Heart Creeek close to Canmore, so I think I'll go do that and perhaps wander around Canmore afterwards. 

Who knows what other adventures I'll take on this weekend.  Perhaps a really long bike ride, or a dip in the pool or....  

Going for your gold

Well after a week of not doing a lot of exercise I finally got off my butt on Sunday and went for a really short jog!  Hurray for baby steps, this is where its been all heart.  Its hard to stay motivated when you naturally an inactive person and you've been slacking all week, okay for most of my life, so for me to kick it back into gear really takes a lot of effort on my part.  Its also hard mentally when you go for a jog and you feel like you have gone back to the beginning.  My runs are shorter and I need a lot more breaks then I did a couple months ago. 

I am a big fan of the Olympics and am an ardent Canadian so while I am watching the Olympics I think about their goals and their dedication to those goals. They too have distractions of life, those days you feel blah, or feeling under the weather.  There are those weeks where its bitterly cold or you just can't get in the training time you need.  I am so not in their league, but when you watch them on the slopes you can feel a piece of the blood - sweat - n - tears that it took for them to get there. 

To know that they spend their life in many cases working to this one goal; that one moment, in many cases only 30 seconds of actual time to show the world that they are the best.  Its fantastic to watch them when they take the gold, and its heart breaking to see them when they make a mistake, quite often a minor one, but when you are competing against other elite athelites that is all it takes to end their run.  

In a few months I too have the goal of biking 200km in one weekend, to bring awareness to prostate cancer and the battles that those who have cancer must fight.  They don't have the luxury if failure, to them failure means death. There is no second chances.  Please help me bring awareness to the affects of Prostate Cancer and support me in my goals of biking to Vancouver and my Ride to Concquor Cancer.

Click here to dontate or learn more about my Ride to Conquer Cancer.

So this has been a very challenging week, it looked so promising last Friday, but Monday came and its gone downhill since then.  Its one of these weeks where you need to maintain a strong mental attitude.  I have heard when doing marathons that the first half is all legs and the second half is all heart.  Well this week is a heart week.

Monday as I was about to leave the house, my dog fell off the bed while jumping on the bed (I was in the wrong spot). Sadly is wasn't a great fall and his hind leg got caugh on the bedpost while his body was on the gound.  He was upset and thinking of calming him down before I took on the task of helping him with his foot, I reached to his head and he used my thumb as a chew toy.  Its very important to note that a Labrador can anialate a tennis ball in 10 minutes, my thumb being not as tough as a tennis ball was fairing a lot worse.  I used my other hand and in his mouth and was able to retrieve my other hand.  Alas both hangs got mangled.  On a good note, while I was dealing with my hands he managed to get himself unhooked and happily wandered the house while I dealt with my injuries.

So I didn't need any stiitches but I did need antibiotics and have a couple of minor infections on the wounds.  They are now healing although the thhumb will take a while to really heal as I think the tendons got some abuse.  So needless to say I have no done any majoy physical exersice this week, in fact I've been sleeping about 12 hours a day or more when I can.  I am blaming the need for all all the eexcess sleep on my injuries.

So today I'm going to try for eithhr a run or a bike ride, and see how that goes.  Last weekend I did have a success as I challenged one of the hills in Cochrane and made it to the top using my new bike.  Now the bike does need some tuning, but I did get there!

Another major even happened last Friday.  I joined the "Ride to Conquer Cancer", this is a 200km ride over 2 days in June to raise money for fighting cancer. Even though it sounds like a generic cause, you can specify which cancr I want the money I raise to be donated to.  I have requested all money I raise to go to Prostate Cancer... please check out my page below and donate generously.  As well please ask your friends and family to help support this cause as I can not do it withhout you. 

Here are the links to my Ride to Concquor Cancer

Click here to visit my personal page.
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://www.conquercancer.ca/site/TR/Events/Alberta2010?px=2361639&pg=personal&fr_id=1332&fl=en_US&et=wBULbrMrNGp6oPCR6cBpGA..&s_tafId=158461
Click here to view the team page for Crazy Cranks
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://www.conquercancer.ca/site/TR/Events/Alberta2010?team_id=29240&pg=team&fr_id=1332&fl=en_US&et=rRKq8Ayz1uq-eaxQN3qNFA..&s_tafId=158461

Clothing woes

I got up this morning and being Friday I get to wear jeans to work.  Wooot!  I grab a pair from my closet and find them a little hard to put on I had to struggle some to get them buttoned up.  Now I know I've not been great this week, I ate a large bag of peanuts so figure the problem with buttoning them up has to do with excess salt in my body,  plus the pants have been freshly washed & dried, so they have also shrunk some. 

I figured that over the day they should stretch out and they have gotten a little looser but not a lot; so hoping they aren't my larger pants (36) and that they are my smaller ones (34)  I check the tag . Well they are actually 32's, which means I've a pair of stolen pants on my hands.  I musta gotten them from my gf's kids some how.  And instead of being a bad week, looks like all the biking I have been doing has been working well for me and I'm still a Big Ole Looser!!!

Now my question is how do I get my stomach to reflect the same losses; I remember as a teenager never having as big of a gut. Which by the way is the last time I could fit a pair of 32's.

January has been a success

January is almost over and for training its been a great month.  I started biking the first week of January, the last 2 weeks of January I biked every day to work doing 150km.  I am definitely getting stronger in the legs and faster in my biking (I think).  I have been biking from Souldice park to down town (8.4km each way), I have been wanting to tackle the hills in Cochrane but they are still quite daunting and after biking all week I think its good to let my legs recuperate. 

So my goal for February barring the expected and dreaded winter blast is to start biking from COP to downtown.  http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ab/calgary/392126470803483132 is a link to my planned route.  It will be just under 14 km each way so I'll be doing 140km a week, nearly doubling my distance and adding a small hill into my training.  First week I want to just do the extended route once, but as the month progresses its my intention to add 1 extra day of the longer route each week, until I am doing the longer route as my standard route.  As an added bonus the new route will burn about 700 Calories, not as great as running but that's okay. 

Sadly my running has been languishing, I have really not put a lot of effort into my running, so I've decided that starting next week any day I don't bike the extended distance I will run at lunch instead.  Now this is also contingent on no winter storms, blizzards, or getting side swiped with a flu. 

I am still very pumped about my bike ride trip this summer and think I will be in very good form to accomplish it.  There is fund raiser for Cancer this spring in Alberta called "The Ride to Conquer Cancer" which Cenovus is participating in, its 200km over 2 days and I think this could be a great practice form me as well as help raise awareness for Cancer. Now this event is not specifically for Prostate Cancer, but I think its still a great event to raise money and awareness for Cancer.

Sign up today on The Ride to Conquer Cancer Website:
http://ab10.conquercancer.ca/site/PageServer?pagename=reg_now

Week Progress

My new bike came in last night, and I got it all assembled and did a token ride down the street.  I did have to use the junk peddles they gave me at the store.  Today I bought many of the important accessories for the new bike, and brought my old bike in for a desperate tune-up. I now have a bell (briiing, brrrring), odometer, bike-lock, water bottle holder, seat bag, and a tool for doing bike repairs. Still need air pump, bike seat and a set of peddles for it. 

Biking this week has been fun, I've biked Mon, Tues, Wed and Thurs for a total of 120km.  The trails are mostly good but there is some icy patches and then there are some rough icy patches (not fun). I've been biking from Souldice Park to downtown Calgary (15km each way).  I started biking to work mid December with a few weeks of doing just 2 bike trips a week, and some running thrown in.  This week I biked and ran Monday, but thought I should let my body work at building up my biking legs as I've been exauhsted most evenings this week and have gone to bed early (10-11pm) which to me is very early, I'm usually a night owl.

Tomorrow I hope to do another lunch run, of 6.4 km.  I am not sure if I'll bike in tomorrow or now as I probably should let my biking muscles have some rest breaks as well.   The funny thing is that its faster (and cheaper) for me to bike in from Souldice Park then to drive to a C-station (LRT) and take the train in.

This weekend I may mix it up a little and go for a cross-country ski trip or perhaps throw on some rollerskates (yes skates) and jump back to the 80's at Lloyd's.  Although I may try and do "the hill".  Cochrane is mostly in a valley. Now there is 4 ways to leave Cochtrane, but to leave the valley you need to bike up a hill in 3 directions, and in the fourth its a narrow road with minimal shoulders that takes you into the reservation.  So I have for 10 years been handicapped on my biking and have not done anything too significant.  So I may start to bike up the hill as far as I can make it and then turn around and come home, I am sure over time I'll build up the muscles and endurance to take on "the-hill"  aka hwy 1A that goes up to Glen Eagles.

Biking can be a very expensive sport, it just seems cheap!  Those accessories add up in no time and some of them are fairly important. Like the $50 bike lock.

Selecting the bike

Over Christmas break I was in Nelson BC and stopped into a great little store, even tough they were swamped with skiing they stopped to help me with questions related to their bikes. Gareks is a great shop with knowledgeable staff and reasonable prices. The bike that caught my eye was the Giant TCX 1, it rode great on the snow covered streets of Nelson and after calling Calgary stores I determined it was also a very great price. So late New Years afternoon I decided to purchase the bike, which began a new adventure.

I used my debit and the machine said the transaction failed. So I decided to use a local bank machine to pull the money out directly, alas the machine declined me so I called my bank. They told me that I didn't have any funds available as I had just spent the money at Gerik's. Stunned moment. I went back to the store, to explain the predicament. They said there was little they could do that day, but would look into it Monday and would ship the bike to me for free. It turns out that the interact company had taken the money from my account but had not put it into the stores account. They had unfortunately had done this to millions of other transactions and I was told it could take weeks to have the funds returned to my account.

Well its been a little over 2 weeks and I decided I can't wait any longer so I've ordered the bike, which should arrive some time this week. For those that like bike gear.

1. The stock seat sucks so I'll be getting the Specialized Toupe Gel 143
2. It doesn't come with peddles so I'll be getting a pair of Shimano A530
3. And of course a CatEye
4. New Road tires  and mud flaps.

Now my current 20 year old Trek-920 Mountain Bike could have done the trip, but I wanted something newer and more suited to long distance rides with good components.  After taking a look at the components on my antiquated bike, I think it desperately needs dentures as its missing a lot of teeth.  So even my old bike is about to get some work done on it, perhaps today as now that I noticed, its starting to show me how desperately it needs that cane & dentures....

My Goals for the trip

Biking to Vancouver from Calgary will be a great personal challenge for me to accomplish; but many people struggle with even bigger challenges. I wanted to use my ride to bring light to one of these challenges that doesn't get the lime light it deserves.

A couple years ago I randomly met a fellow in a check out line and I mentioned "oh its breast cancer month". (Hard not to notice with the entire grocery store decked out in pink). And he told me how little money is raised for Prostrate Cancer compared to Breast Cancer. This passing comment of his as he departed the line has actually disturbed me greatly as no one talks about prostrate cancer, but you go to Facebook and all the ladies are posting their bra colour on their statuses as part of bringing awareness to that worthy cause.

If you go to Google and do a search for "Breast Cancer" it returns 40 million hits compared to doing a search for "Prostate Cancer" only returns 10 Million hits.

Here are some Canadian stats comparing both diseases.

Stat	Men	Ladies
Diagnosed this year	22,000	22,000
Most common Cancer	Prostrate	Breast
Odds of being diagnosed	1 in 8	1 in 9
Death from	1 in 27	1 in 27
Google Search	10 Million	40 Million

Do these statistics surprise you? They sure surprised me, before that passing comment in the check out line I was blissfully unaware at how overlooked Prostrate Cancer is. I had the impression that breast cancer was far more common and far more deadly than prostate cancer.

I have decided that I am going to make Prostate Cancer a awareness a goal of my ride. I am going to shed light and bring awareness to this devastating cancer that should be just as well known as Breast Cancer.

There was a dream

I think back to my childhood to the many trips we made into BC from Alberta and have very fond memories of seeing cyclists who were doing the trip via bike. I would say "I want to do that when I grow up".

I was always a kid on my bike, I would cycle everywhere in FortMcMurray as a kid. In Jr High I had on many occasions biked from BeaconHill to school in Thickwood, which I am sure was an oddity for most people as I never ever saw another bike whist I treked off to school or home. Now it could have been the hills at either and as they give cars a challenge.

We moved to Sherwoord Park when I was in gr 10 and I biked all over Sherwoord Park and on one occasion in the middle of summer, on a rather hot day I rode accross Edmonton and back.

Well I grew up many years ago and still bike frequently, but have never ever even attempted to realize my dream.

Over my 20's I became robust 300lb guy and it was only near the end of my 20's that I brought that down to a respectable 230lb. Which at that time with a new baby daughter a road trip never fit into my life.

Last summer I started jogging, I was back up to 250 lb, and the jogging nearly daily was really make me feel good, to feel energized, and one day in August I was sharing how as a kid I used to dream about biking to Vancouver. The next day I told her I was going to do it next year.

So my goal is to bike from Calgary to Vancouver the first 2 weeks of August 2010.