Two More Video's

Here are two more video's to finish off my documentation of the ride.

This first video is one I shot on the top of Kooteney Pass which seems like forever ago.  It probably isn't the kind of video you are expecting but it was pretty cool to see.  Click on this link to see it.

And here is the video I took on Day 9, the last day of our ride.  I'm sorry it is so shaky but I hope you enjoy it.  Click here to see the video.

GearUp Day 9: Invermere-Banff

We made it!!!!  I am happy to report that all riders made it into Banff accident free!!!  Yesterday was an awesome day for me.  It was a long day, 150km's, and I rode most of it all by myself...it was actually quite nice.  Nothing against the other riders or anything, but it was nice to be able to go at my own pace, take a bunch of video (battery went dead before I finished) and just soak in the most amazing scenery I have ever seen.

The ride yesterday went straight through the Rockies.  We were surrounded by mountains all day long.  Amazingly we did not get rained on, the cloud above us did not look pretty but luckily they left us alone :)

The day started out with a big climb out of Radium and the best thing happened on it; I over estimated the km's we had to ride!  For some crazy reason I thought the summit wasn't until the 46km mark, so I set myself a nice easy pace and settled in for a lot of pain and a long climb.  However, as I came around the corner of the 24km mark there were the support vehicles!!  How I over estimated by that much I will never know, must of been a combination of the elevation and total exhaustion.  However, that nice little surprise set the mood for the rest of the ride...I was so happy!!!  We still had some climbing to do after this but that was out last major ascent and it was a great feeling to know that the climbing was all behind us.

From here the Rockies really opened up and the ride was amazing.  It was a long day and a lot of people could feel the exhaustion, as could I, but I also just felt really good, we were almost done and I was able to ride the whole thing!!

This fact really is what I am most proud of this year.  I think I have said it before, but many of my rides this year were slower than last year and I did not feel as strong on the climbs.  But this year I was able to accomplish the goal I set for myself last year and wasn't able to meet, and that was to ride every inch of that ride!  After I checked into the hotel at Banff I had to do a reality check to make sure I wasn't dreaming, that I really did ride the whole thing and the ride really was over.  So I do feel a huge sense of accomplishment in doing the whole ride this year.  It was very tough, I think tougher than last year.  This has a lot to do with the weather on days 2, 3, and 4, the hot sun and then the pouring rain.  But once those first days were over everything went a lot better.  I know that as time goes on and I recover from the ride I will look back on this trip with awesome memories and a lot of pride.

Thanks everyone for following along on the ride and thanks for all your support and encouraging messages...I could not have done this without you!!

If you have been following along and would still like to donate to the fight against CF, you can do so here.

Climbing out of Radium.

Me and my favourite volunteer!!

Keeping the legs warm during lunch.

Made it...where is everyone?

We Made It

I just wanted to post that we made it to Banff.  Everyone arrived safe and we had a great ride today.  We just got back from our celebration dinner and I am exhausted.  I will blog about it all hopefully tomorrow.  Kim and I are driving back tomorrow but hopefully I can have something up on the blog by tomorrow night.

Thanks everyone for your support, I could never have done this without everyone supporting us and cheering us on along the way.

Thanks.

Day 8: Cranbrook-Invermere

After the emotions of yesterday and another over cast sky I really didn't know what to expect as we rolled out after breakfast this morning, but now that it is over I can report that it was a GREAT day!!  The weather for today was awesome, my legs felt loose, and we had a nice tailwind for about 80-90% of the day...we made record time today biking 132km in just over 4 hours...my average speed for the day was 31.5km/h.  It was a fun day but obviously the thoughts and feelings of yesterday were never far away.

We got to the hotel at around 1pm which is great and we've had a nice afternoon sitting around in the pub and outside talking.  My cousin Aletha, her husband Byron, and their new born son came to visit with Kim and I.  It was so great to see them and catch up.

We also just met up with our Alberta riders.   This morning a group of 5 riders left from Banff on the "Rocky Mountain Weekend Ride" and met up with us here and they will be riding back to Banff with us tomorrow.

It is amazing to think that this is already Day 8 and tomorrow is our last day.  I am not counting my chickens before they hatch as anything can still happen before or during the ride tomorrow, but it is crazy to think that tomorrow is already our last day!  During the ride today I was thinking about specific things that have happened on the ride and all the days have already meshed together and I am having a hard time keep everything apart, which was the super hot day?  What day did it rain again?  When was Paulson?  Over time everything will define itself but on the ride it is just go go go and there isn't much time to sit and process.  On Day 3 (lets think about this)...we were in Osoyoos and I remember wondering how I was every going to make it for another 6 days.  I was dehydrated, my legs were cramping, and my saddle sores were getting really bad...and now here we are, only one day left!

One thing that is cool is that in the last 18 months I have put over 10,400km's on my road bike.  I never thought I would be able to do that.  Somehow I think it is going to take a lot longer to put the next 10,000 on it.  I think that once I get back I am going to have to drop my bike off at the bike shop for some work...over the past couple day with all the rain it has developed a squeak, it kind of reminds me of riding one of my old junk pile bikes back on the farm when I was a kid...however, throw enough oil on anything and I am sure that squeak will disappear (I am sure all my farming family is nodding with approval and all my cycling friends are shaking their heads in horror).

Tomorrow is going to be a tough day, it is a long day (150km) and a lot of climbing.  I am looking forward to the ride being done and if everything goes well it is going to be pretty amazing to once again see that Banff sign.  

Though the scenery was amazing today I regret to say I didn't do much with my camera, we were in a pace line all day moving at a good clip so I didn't really think it would be good to whip out my camera and hobble all over the road while trying to film.

Here is what tomorrow looks like:

GearUp Day 7: Creston-Cranbrook

There is nothing worse in cycling than starting your ride in the pouring rain, and that is exactly what happened today.  After putting on all the warm clothes I had, trying to be as water proof as possible, within three minutes of riding I was pretty much soaked through.  In the words of one of the riders who had to sit today out, "in those first km's there wasn't anyone smiling or hooting or hollering, no one looked happy to be on the road."

My legs felt quite heavy all day and I pretty much just tried to stay in the middle of the pace line or on someone's wheel all day.  Today was one of those rides everyone just wanted to put their heads down and get through, and we did get through it quite fast...103km's in 3h48min.

For me, the first 60km's though were all about pushing through the mental barriers of wanting to get in the car...it actually turned out to be a pretty emotional day for me.  Just before rolling out this morning I read on Facebook about a friend who was recently admitted to St. Paul's for CF reasons...this really stuck with me all day.  As I was riding and wanting nothing more than to quit I kept remembering back to my old hospital room in St. Paul's and what my friend was going through.  I remembered unpacking all my stuff at each admission, the smell of the antibacterial wipes, the total lack of privacy, the constant interruptions, the shitty food, and the beeping from the fucking I.V. pump...it was at this point that I found myself actually crying for about 3 minutes during the ride.  I remember so often sitting in Room 1 of ward 8A and wanting nothing more than to be able to get out of there...and here I was today complaining about some stupid rain while having the opportunity to bike over 100km's.  It is amazing how CF puts things in perspective, and today was the perfect reminder about why we are doing this ride and just how shitty every single part of CF is.

I know my own health is still very fragile and I face my own post-transplant complications, but when I think back to those long day, weeks and months I spent in St. Paul's I just can't help but be so incredibly humbled by the gift of life I have been given.  This ride has been very physically and mentally demanding and we are not done yet, but how could I ever complain about some stupid rain or a headwind when so many people with CF are still fighting the fight to breathe.  If any of my CF friends are reading this tonight, and I know this doesn't really help you in any way, but please know that you are the ones who got me through the day today, thank-you.

Some rainy pics:

We were wet before we even turned a spoke.

Pace line in the rain.

Day 6: Rossland-Creston

Wow, am I glad today is over!!  It was a good day but it was a very tough day.  Kooteney Pass definitely got the better of me on this day!  But I was able to finish it so I guess it was a good day :)

The day started out great, we left Rossland and had a nice quick descent into Trail, it was about an 8-10% grade and a lot of fun to cruise down.  Once we got into Trial we right away had two climbs to get back out of Trail and we were on our way to Fruitvale for our morning break.  From here we set our sights for the bottom of Kooteney Pass, the 67km lunch break.  We had a pretty stiff headwind for the 30km's leading up to lunch but we could not have asked for better weather.  From here we started up the biggest (and I think hardest) climb of the trip.  It started out quite well with some nice 4-6% grades but about 10km's up we hit the 7-8%'s and these killed me.  It was about a  21km climb and I suffered big time over the last 10km.  I remember that last year I did the whole thing without stopping; not a chance this year.  I think I had to stop about 5 times, they were all short breaks, but my legs just would not go.

The weather was perfect the whole way up, quite cloudy but it looked like it could rain at any time, and sure enough, with 500 meters to go the sky opened and it started coming down good.  You can see the pictures below.  We all grabbed our bags and headed into a little warming cabin that is up there and we all put on our winter gear.  It rained quite hard for about 17km's down, I got totally soaked through and then I came around one corner and was hit by a burst of warm air, about 1 km later the rained stopped and all of sudden it got really warm.  After reaching the farming flats outside of Creston, right at the bottom of the mountain, I had to stop and strip off a few layers as it was about a 11km ride to the hotel.

The day was difficult but overall I am satisfied with how it went.  We had three riders do the Kooteney Pass twice this year which is amazing!

This picture makes the whole day worth it:

Kim working hard at the top of Kooteney Pass...our volunteers are the only thing that keep us going.

One of the highlights of the day was coming with 100 feet of a Moose, twice!  I took video of each "encounter" but the internet is kind of slow here so I won't be able to upload it, but it was pretty fun.

Lastly, here is what we have in store for ourselves tomorrow.

 

Day 5 Video

Here is the video I took today, you will need to turn your volume up as my voice is a bit quiet.

GearUp Day 5: Grand Forks to Rossland

Well I am just going to come right out and say it...today was GREAT!!! (I bet you weren't expecting that).  But seriously, today went really well and much better than I thought.  A lot of it had to do with setting a nice easy pace on the climbs and also the weather was perfect (finally).

We got on the road at about 8:30am and had a nice easy ride for about 33km's, riding along Christina Lake and then beginning our ascent.  I began climbing at right around 9:45am and I think it took close to 2hrs to make it to the top.  I took quite a bit of video so I hope it works...the videos from the last two days have not been able to upload.

From the top of Paulson Summit we descended down to our lunch break at Nancy Green Park and from there climbed up again to Nancy Green Summit.  The whole day today everyone was commenting on how awesome the weather was, mostly over cast with the sun popping through here and there to make sure we didn't get too cold.

So yeah, over-all it was a great day.  It is nice that it was a bit shorter as well, 98km's, and we got to our hotel by 2pm.

Tomorrow is another big climb, Kootney Pass, and it is the biggest of the trip.  It is funny how the certain mountains effect people in different ways.  Everyone has their "hardest hill" and last year for me it was Paulson.  Therefore I don't know what to think for tomorrow, it is going to feel easier than today or more difficult...I guess it doesn't really matter, tomorrow will take care of itself.  For now we are off to the pub!

Here is a look at tomorrow's ride, the elevation map for tomorrow is the best one of the ride, you gotta wonder why they can't just build a tunnel, think of all the gas money truckers could save.

Here are some pictures from the day:

In this one you can see the road we just climbed up.

The popular blue bridge:

Paulson Summit

This view is better in-person

Video from Anarchist

Here is a short video I took about half way up Anarchist Summit on Day 4 (yesterday).  You can see Osoyoos way below us, you can also the see the rain clouds catching up to us...about 5 minutes after this video the sky's opened up and it never stopped.

Video from Day 3: Manning Park-Osoyoos

Here is a link to the video I took on Day 3.

Day 4: Osoyoos-Grand Forks

From one extreme to another, that's all I can say about the weather so far on this trip.  Once again the weather was the popular topic of discussion (and sorrow) today, but for the totally opposite reason as the previous days.  Today it rained, and rained, and rained...pretty much the whole 124km!!

Overall today was another pretty tough day.  We began the day about 800 meters from Anarchist Summit and so without any warmup, we began the 30km climb right off the bat.  It was about 4km's into the ride that is began to spit...by the time we reached the top of the summit our visibility was down to about 30 meters as we were socked right into the rain and clouds.  from the top on Anarchist Summit it was a long and cold(!) descent into Midway for lunch, where we all stood around the lunch table changing out of our wet gear and into dryer warmer clothes.  I think everyone faired a bit better after lunch as we were all in cold weather gear and knew what to expect.  Some riders got caught in a torrential downpour where drivers later said that their windshield wipers couldn't keep up with the rain.

After summiting our second climb of the day we had another 20km descent and I think everyone was just praying to make it to Grand Forks safely.  In one particularly sketchy section I was passed by a logging truck that happened to hit a swell in the road right as he passed me and it was as if I was hit with three 5 gallon pails of water as each of his axels screamed past me...over all it was a day to remember (usually I am a fair weather rider).

I did not take much video today as it was difficult and dangerous to navigate the camera and stay on the road in this kind of weather, but here are a couple shots from the day.

Paul and Bill at the top of Anarchist:

Pulling into our hotel like a bunch of drowned rats:

Tomorrow is one of our biggest climbs, Paulson Summit, I hated this climb last year and I'm sure tomorrow isn't going to be any better :)

Day 3: Manning Park-Osoyoos

I am very happy to report that today is over!  That's pretty much all I got to say about that...okay, I'll tell you a bit about it.  Today was another very difficult day.  This was the longest ride I have ever done, 183km's, and again, it was some of the hottest weather I have ever ridden in.  At one point during the second climb of the day my bike computer was registering 40 degree!

The day actually started off very well, we left Manning Park just a little after 8am and had a really nice 30km ride until our first climb of the day.  Sunday Summit isn't a long climb but it was good enough after suffering through yesterday.  From there we descended into Princeton and kept right on going.  From Princeton we set our eyes on Keremeos where we would have lunch at the 134km mark. This took us to about 1:45pm when we pulled in there.  From here on I, and most people, began to suffer.  Right after leaving the lunch stop you could tell the heat was on!  We had a pretty strong headwind for most of the day and there were times between Keremeos and Osoyoos where it felt like we were standing in front of the furnace, the wind was just so hot and dry.

This also coincided with our second and largest climb of the day, Richter Pass.  When we finally got to these climbs I was just wasted and just had to keep telling myself I was going to be okay and to just take is easy.  I rode this whole section with two other rides, Norm and Joan, and having them there was very nice as they helped provide the morale boost.   When I finally pulled into our hotel here in Osoyoos my legs were cramping so bad I could barely get off my bike.  Out hotel is right on the lake here so everyone pretty much just got off there bike and walked into the water with all their biking gear still on.

Anyway, tomorrow is a bit of a shorter day, 124km :(  We begin with the long climb up Anarchist Summit, it is about a 30km climb to the top but we have a rest stop at about the 16km mark.  Here is what tomorrow looks like:

Here are some pics from the ride today.

Day 2 Video

Here is the video from today.

Day 2: Chilliwack-Manning Park

Well all I can say is that the curse of Day 2 is still alive and strong!! What is it with me and this day?!?!  Okay, maybe it wasn’t that bad, but today was a brutal day.  It started out quite well.  I felt strong leaving Chilliwack at 8am this morning and even when we left Hope at around 10:45am I still felt good.  But about half way up the Hope Slide the climbing began to take its toll.  I ended up getting my first flat of the ride just over half way up the Slide and after that I just couldn’t really get a good rhythm going.  The main thing that made the ride so hard today, and everyone suffered today, was the heat.  I have not ridden in heat like that yet this year and the scary thing is that tomorrow is going to be hotter as we get ride into the BC desert.

A lot of people experience leg cramping today as buckets of sweat were just dripping off of us.  I was less than a km away from the Manning Park lodge and I had to pull over and stop because both of my legs were cramping so bad.  The volunteers waiting for us at the top of Allison Pass said that every single person let out an expletive as they summated the climb, as I said, pretty much everyone suffered today!

Tomorrow should be a nicer ride but it won’t bring much relief.  It is our longest day of riding, 185km’s, and as I mentioned, it is going to be hot!   

Today we had about 40 riders with us, but now it is just down to the 21 nine-day riders.  It is a strong group and I foresee myself hanging out near the back for most of the ride J  However, I am so thankful to be doing this ride again and I know I need to keep that in mind. 

I did take quite a bit of video but I don’t know if I will be able to upload it tonight as the internet here is very slow.  If it doesn’t work out I will try upload it tomorrow night from Osoyoos. 

Here is what tomorrow looks like.

Allison Pass:

ps. please forgive me if there are lots of spelling/grammar/typo mistakes...I'm just too tired to edit this. 

Day 1: Home-Chilliwack

So Day 1 is in the books!  It was a great day and a lot of fun to reconnect with old friends from last year's ride.  Because Kim is an official volunteer this year she had to be at Crescent Beach early this morning therefore I decided to ride from home to Crescent Beach.  It is only about 17km's and a friend of mine, Clarke, swung by my house to pick me up and ride with me to the start line.  There are obviously a lot of people I don't know on the ride but it is great to see a lot of familiar faces, people who did the ride last year.

The weather was awesome today.  There was a bit of a headwind so I tried to make sure I was drafting other people (1 or 2 day riders) as much as possible.  Having done this part of the ride 3 times now there weren't too many surprises.

I want to thank my awesome family for coming out again and cheering us on half way through the day.  Everyone is always wondering who all these crazy people standing on the side of the road are and I am always proud to say that those people are MY family!!  It is always a huge boost to the riders to see you all there, so again, thank you!

There were over 100 people riding today, 5 of us who have CF, 3 of those who have had double-lung transplants, including myself.

In regards to the ride, it was for the most part quite flat.  There were 2 hills that were kind of steep but luckily quite short.  I felt pretty good and I am looking forward to tomorrow.  Tomorrow is about 2-3 hours of flat riding into Hope and then we begin to climb, and I mean climb.  We head up the Hope Slide, most people hold a personal hatred of that climb, and then continue up to Allison pass.  You can read all about it in the description below.

Here is a link to a short video from today's ride.  I will try take more video in the days to come, I was having such a good time talking and catching up with people I kind of forgot to take more shots.

ps. I told you the elevation map would get more entertaining.

Let's Do This!!

Well, here we are, it all starts tomorrow.  My bags are about half packed, my medications are about half packed, I bike is almost ready to go, and Kim almost has all she needs for her volunteering duties (we are just about to go pick up her vehicle).  So yeah, I'm not totally ready to go yet but it should all fall into place nicely...I hope :)

It is great to finally be here.  I am feeling pretty good, I don't know if I'm as strong as last year but I am quite a bit more relaxed which should help.  Kim is excited to be officially volunteering this year. She has her role set out for her.  One thing I do love about this ride is how organized and well run it is; and this is all due to the awesome team of volunteers we have.

I do hope to blog each day and if it works out, maybe post some video. I will also post the next day's ride description each day.  Below you will see what we have in store for tomorrow.

The main highlight on day 1 is that about 2/3rd of the way through the ride we pass my Aunt and Uncle's farm and there is usually a good crowd of family members there waving and cheering us on.  All the riders get a kick out of it and I usually get roasted a little bit once people find out they are my family.

Tomorrow there will be just over 100 people riding the 100km's from Crescent Beach to Chilliwack.  The weather looks great although it does look like there is going to be a slight head wind...I'll have to make sure I tuck in behind someone bigger than me :)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading my blog over the next many days.  I will try as best I can to give you a bit of a taste of what riding across the province is like.  Now, time to finish my packing job!

Cheers!

ps. the elevation map isn't that great on this page and I know it's hard to see, don't worry, it will get more entertaining and even comical as the ride goes on.

Training Complete

This past Saturday I went on my last training ride and I'll just say, I wish it went a bit better.  Okay, it wasn't that bad, but it wasn't that great either.   Here's how it went down.  This past Friday, Kim's parents treated the whole family to a weekend away in Harrison Hot Springs.  So being out in the Agassiz area, and this being where we ride on Day 2, I figured it would be good to go for a ride and and once again familiarize myself with the route.  Now you may not know, but in the two previous years that I have done GearUp, Day 2 has always been a horrible day.  Two years ago, when I did the Weekend Challenge, and with that being my first year of cycling, I did not train enough and just had a horrible time of it.  Then last year, while staying in Chilliwack our first night, my ulcer flared up and I barely made it out of Hope on Day 2 before almost fainting off my bike.  So on Saturday I wanted to get out and break the curse of riding from Agassiz to Hope.  Well, it didn't really happen.

I started out under very dark skies but it thankfully stayed dry the whole 81km's.  Here is the thing though, it took about 40km's for my legs to start cooperating with me, which is coincidentally the distance from Harrison to Hope.  I don't really know what it was, if I was over tired, or if it was just in my head...or if that section of highway really is cursed for me, but my legs just did not want to go.  My goal for the ride was to make it at least to Hope which I did force myself to do with the help of a tailwind.   After pulling into the town centre though those hot springs back at the hotel where starting to sound mighty nice.  So I turned around and mentally began preparing myself for the 40km ride back to the hotel in a headwind the whole way (this mental preparation usually involves berating myself for having ridden so far in the luxury of a tailwind).   But the strangest thing happened, as soon as I hit that headwind my legs all of sudden came to life and the ride back went quite well.  So here is what I am thinking...it is only the eastbound direction of HWY 7 that is cursed but going west is just fine :)  How this will help me next Sunday I have no clue...I guess I'll just have to suffer through it again.  Oh, and you will also notice that my Garmin computer stopped recording after only 1.4km...typical.  

Anyway, this week is mostly a rest week.  I will go for maybe two short rides to keep my legs into it but for the most part will just be focusing on getting enough rest and getting the right nutrition in my body...can anyone say Pasta!!!

Cypress Training

So, as I said in my previous post (I think), I have not been up to the North Shore much this Spring.  Well I thought I better try change that, at least for one day.  So this morning I went up to Cypress.

The goal today was to do the mountain twice and it actually worked out!  I admit that I am not as fast as last year but I do think my endurance is better.  Last year I climbed Cypress twice in one day as well and the second time up I really struggled.  This time I actually felt better on the second climb than the first, that is until the final three km's when my legs let me know that they had enough.  Over-all though it was a good ride.  The weather was perfect and I actually had some fun coming down the mountain (usually I hate coming down).  I think I will be ready for the climbs on the trip.  I know I will be slower than last year but I think I should be able to make it.  I just have to make sure I set my own pace and don't burn myself out at the bottom of each ascent :)

One funny thing happened, I was about 500meters from the top of Cypress (or at least what I consider the final line) and a guy came riding up behind me.  Due to my heavy breathing (or maybe I should say snorting) and an earbud in my right ear, I didn't hear him coming.  Right as he was beside me, and he was right beside me, he said, "Good morning."  It startled me so much I nearly jumped out of my saddle all the while letting out quite a loud expletive!  He kept going and I was left laughing at myself.  I caught up with him at the top and we had a good chat.  Turns out he is the sponsor of a race team, Fulgas, that a friend of mine races for.  Just another story from the road.

The Countdown Is ON!!

Well, the countdown is on!  We are less than two weeks away from the ride and this is really the final week of training.  I don't intend on over doing it this week but just hope to get in a few more rides to make sure the legs are ready for what is coming.

I am a bit nervous.  A lot of people are asking if I feel stronger than last year.  My reply usually is that I am stronger in terms of flat and rolling hill rides, but in terms of the mountains and climbing, I know I am not as strong.  This just means I will really need to pace myself on the climbs and just slowly get through it.  I have not been able to get out to the major hills/mountains as much as I would have liked, I just hate driving somewhere to ride when I can just jump on my bike right here.

As of Saturday, we are also within range of checking the 14 day weather report on the Weather Network.  I know this is not totally reliable being this far out still, but I must say, I am not really liking what I am seeing.  It seems that we have been quite spoiled in these past two weeks and we might be heading for some more unsettled weather.  But I guess there is no controlling that!

Anyway, I'm still getting used to taking video while I am riding, especially with the new camera I am using.  Again, I will try make it a bit more smooth next time :)  These shots were taken last Friday, most of them are in South Surrey and Langley, I got a bit to lazy to take video after the 50km mark.
Enjoy!

Staring Down a Deer

So today was a new experience on the bike.  While riding down 0 Ave a deer jumped out of the forest about 10 meters in front of me.  I slowed down, hoping not to scare it (I kind of wanted to take a picture).  As soon as he was on the road he just stopped and shared at me and within about 3 seconds turned and jumped back into the States.  It got me thinking, could someone use a deer to smuggle stuff across the line?

Anyway, today's ride was a bit difficult.  I had taken four days off from riding as I was attending a retreat over the previous three days and yesterday had a clinic visit so this was my first ride since last week, and I paid for it.  It seems like my body does better when I am riding lots rather than taking a bunch of days off.

Last week was my biggest week of training, I did just over 400km's.  I felt quite good and as long as I get my legs back after these couple days off, I think I am feeling good for the ride.  The hills are really going to hurt me though.  I have not been up to the North Shore as much as I was last year so I know it will be harder going on the mountains this year, but I think/hope I can just stick it in low gear and push my way through.

The ride is getting quite close now and I can feel myself getting more nervous!

I hope to go for another ride tomorrow and I will try take some video on the ride.  I am using an actual camera now (thanks to my Mom for letting me borrow her's) so hopefully it will be of better quality.

That's all for now.

Bee Sting at 62km/h

So today I had a new experience on the bike... I got stung by a bee!  I was coming down the steep hill on HWY 17 (South Fraser Perimeter Road) right where is comes down from HWY 1 and all of a sudden I felt something hit my "upper inner thigh" and then, ouch, a sting!  I think the little guy got stuck between my thigh and my seat and then nailed me.  I was hoping the sting would quickly go away but after a km or so I had to pull over and check it out.  I pulled over on the side of the highway (in a somewhat safe place) lifted my leg onto the concrete barrier and tried to pull up my shorts to see if the stinger was out (I can image this probably didn't look very good to the passing motorists and truckers).   Anyway, there wasn't much to see other than a white and red circle and there wasn't much I could do at that point, so I kept going.  After about another km the pain went away and the rest of the ride was uneventful.

In my last post I mentioned I wanted to get some longer rides in.  Today was my second 130+km ride.  It felt quite good and my average speed was quite a bit higher than I expected.

On Saturday I went up to Seymour.  My goal was to ride up and down it and then see how far up I could get a second time.  However, the fog/cloud was so dense just a third of the way up that I got totally soaked and on the way down started shivering so bad I couldn't make it stop.  So I figured I better get home before I got sick or anything.  I didn't stop shivering until I pretty much made it home.  Note to self, just because it is sunny at home does not mean the mountains will be clear :)

Biking vs. Life

Hello again, for those of you still checking my blog I apologize for not writing for the past couple weeks.  The truth is is that things have been quite busy the past couple weeks and it has been all I can do to find time to even get my weekly km's in.  Between writing papers and trying to finish up a course I am taking, starting a new course and reading for that, prepping for a sermon I preached on Sunday, and of course riding, life has kept me on my toes lately.  But I am not complaining, I just haven't had much time to write.

Things in terms of riding have been going pretty good.  As you can see in the right column, I am still getting some rides in and over the past week have been trying to focus on longer (100+km) rides.  The problem hasn't been doing the rides, but more finding the time to do them.  Doing 100km's usually takes over 4 hours so it is a bit of a commitment.

I am a little nervous because I have not been up the North Shore mountains yet.  By this time last year I think I had already been up there twice.  I hope to make it up this week, I just hate having to drive somewhere in order to go for a ride.  When things are busy I would rather just jump right on my bike and start pedalling than having to drive 45min to get to the mountains.  But I know that training on the mountains is important so hopefully near the end of the week I will make my way up there.  Also, I want to get in a loooonger ride...somewhere around 130-140km's this week  But so much of this depends on the weather and how much work I am getting done in other area's of my life :)  I hope to head out on a good ride tomorrow so we'll see....I'll let you know how it goes and maybe force myself to take some picture again.

Thanks for reading!

GearUp Spin-A-Thon

So last Friday, May 2nd, I participated in a GearUp Spin-a-thon in downtown Vancouver to raise funds and awareness for CF and GearUp.  May is CF Awareness Month and this event was a great way to help kick off the month.  As you can see we got some great media attention and the whole event was a lot of fun.  I was not interviewed for this event but you can see me in the background, I am wearing the white hat.  The video below is 18min. long but there are some amazingly moving interviews done by parents and family members of people with CF, along with a 12 year old who also has CF, this guy is a pro!

Oh yeah, I guess I should say the event was pretty difficult, we were basically spinning our tires for 4 hours, it wasn't a real spin class or anything but by hour 3 I was definintely feeling the burn...not to mention I had to get up at 4am to be spinning in downtown Vancouver by 5:45.  Needless to say I have taken couple days off the bike since then.

 Click on this link to see the video, hopefully it will still be up for awhile.

When the body says, "Rest!"

I begin this post by saying that I never thought my transplant would go this well.  To be able to get to the level of fitness I am currently experiencing is just absolutely amazing.  I don't know if I have ever been this fit in my whole life.  But the reality of what my body has gone through to get here is always lurking the background, and last week was a perfect example of this.  Last Tuesday morning I had gone for a 50km ride to Ladner where I had a meeting to attend.  I was facing a pretty strong headwind all the way there.  While in the hour and a half meeting, the wind pretty much did a 180 degree change and I found myself also riding into a strong headwind on the way home.  Though I didn't want to push myself on this ride, when you have a headwind like that you don't really have much choice.  I thought all was fine, however after lunch I sat down with a coffee to do some reading from a class I am in and as soon as I was done my coffee I was out.  My body decided to take over and there was nothing my mind could do to stay awake.

This lethargic state ended up lasting for about 2 days in which I basically laid in bed for half the day, watched movies and took naps.  I wasn't feeling sick, my body had just had enough and made clear I needed some rest.  This kind of thing usually happens once every two or three months.  It is a good reminder of where I have come from and that though I am feeling good my body has been through a lot and doesn't have the energy of a fully healthy person.  It is a good wake up call to have every once in a while, just to check myself and my ambitions and make sure I am not taking too big a bite out of life.

Global BC Interview

In case you missed it, here is an interview I did last week for Global BC to help raise awareness for organ donation.  Sorry for putting this up here so late.

Live Life Celebration Ride (Part 2)

Well I am happy to report that yesterday went quite well.  I caught the 7am ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay and began thinking about the long day ahead.  However, before getting to worked up I ended up meeting a fellow GearUp rider on the ferry, Bill Markvoort, who was also going to the ride.  Bill graciously offered me a ride to Victoria and I gratefully accepted.  Once we got to Victoria the wind was blowing like crazy!!  If I was still pre-transplant I don't think I would have been able to breath in that wind.

The ride was a lot of fun.  There were about 50 people who showed up so it was a big group...Paul is quite the popular guy.  Over the course of the 100km's we all got pretty spread out, but it was nice to ride in a group again, I do miss that on all my long solo rides.
We finished the 100km's around 2:30pm, meaning I had a half hour to rest up before riding back the Ferries (40km's).  I took a designated bike path back and I am proud to say I only got lost once...who builds a bike path that disappears in the middle of a subdivision anyway??
Riding from Tsawwassen ferry terminal to our house (25km's) was more of a mental struggle thing that anything else. I had a bit of a tail wind so I didn't feel too tired, but for some reason the road just looked so looooong in from of me.  I just kept watching my Garmin counting down the km's till I would make it home.
All in all, it was a great day.  I did 165km's on the day which I think that is the most I have ever done in one day.

Here is a short video of the day, again, sorry it is so shaky, a lot of that was due to the wind.

Live Life Celebration Ride

If you are following along with my training rides you will of noticed I haven't notched any km's over the past couple days.  Part of this is the rain, part of this is that I am trying to make sure this post-nasal drip I currently have doesn't develop into a cold (!), but this is mainly because I got a big ride ahead of me tomorrow!
Tomorrow, on Good Friday, my good friend Paul Underhill is celebrating this three-year transplant anniversary. Paul also has CF and in 2011 received a double-lung transplant out in Toronto.  To celebrate his transplant, Paul has organized a 100km "Live Life Celebration Ride" on Vancouver Island.  We will be starting in Victoria and riding around the peninsula...I don't really know what the peninsula is called or where we are going... I'll just follow the other riders :)
It's going to be a big day, I'm riding over on the 7am ferry (Kim will drop me off) and I intent to bike to Victoria (33km) and then do the ride.  Depending on how I feel I will then attempt to ride back to the ferry...we'll we see how that goes, I may need to hitch a ride somehow.
For those who don't know, Paul is quite the entrepreneur.  After his transplant, Paul, along with some colleagues, created a nutritional drink called Rumble.  This past fall they were featured on CBC's Dragon's Den and had all five Dragons make them offers.  Rumble is currently in stores across Canada and I believe they will soon be launching into the States.  Give it a try sometime, I think I drank about two or three of them everyday last year during GearUp and they are what got me through those nine days!
Anyway, I hope everyone has a blessed Good Friday and I'll let you know how mine goes...

This is a picture from the GearUp start line last year.  That is Paul on my left and my other good friend Clarke on my right.

Suffer Fest

If you look at the right hand column of my blog you can see my training rides.  On Saturday I went for my longest ride of the year (ride called "Sunscreen Needed") and I must say I think I bit off a little too much.  Lets just say the first 25km's went well, I felt good, the last 95km's...not so much.  Okay, it wasn't that bad, but the final 30km's were quite horrible.  In those last 30km my average speed for the ride dropped from about 26.5km/h to 24.9km/h.  Of course it didn't help that I was facing a pretty strong headwind most of the way back...but that is no excuse.  I was surprised that the ride hurt so much considering the week before I did 100km's and the legs felt pretty good...I guess some days just aren't your day!
Here are a couple pics from the ride.  The first one is of my bike in front of the Fort Langley Museum, I think?  Or the old Town Hall...I forget what the building is called...but it is old.  And the second two are taken from below the Port Mann bridge with the old bridge being taken down right beside it.  Looking at it now that old bridge sure looks small!

Delta Ride

So I figured I would try something new on my ride this morning and take some video footage.  This is my first attempt at filming while riding so it is a bit bumpy.  Delta is a great place to ride when you want to get some good km's in but don't feel like doing any hills.

 I hope this works...sorry it is so small, I will do better next time.

ps. the camera on my phone kind of sucks.

To Ride or Not to Ride...that is the daily question

Now this may come as a surprise to many of you who know me, but despite my amazing physique (wow, I can actually hear you laughing through the internet) I am actually not a natural athlete, I know...right?!?...I bet you didn't know that!  But it's true, though I have excelled...okay...maybe...done okay(?) in sports in the past, cycling doesn't actually come naturally to me, at least not this much cycling.  So something interesting happens to me on many days I plan to go riding.  I wake up in the morning and right away I am excited about going for a ride later in the day, usually after lunch.  I have some breakfast, sit down and start studying for a couple hours, and soon it is time for lunch.  At this point I emerge from behind my computer and books, go into the kitchen and all of a sudden my earlier excitement for the ride begins to wobble.  I make my lunch, eat it, put away my dishes, look outside, then look back at the couch and coffee maker and all of a sudden my earlier motivation seem to fade fast.  But no, I push on!  I head to the bedroom and pull out my cycling shorts, jersey, arm warmers, and leg warmers.  I take the plunge and force them on...taking a look in the mirror I see that the amazing physique I referenced earlier all of a sudden disappears completely :)  I grimace and turn away as quick as possible (tight spandex-like clothes just aren't my thing).  I head back into the kitchen, grab an energy bar, fill my water bottles, slap on some sun screen (curse myself for putting it on my forehead again as I know in about 45minutes it will be running into my eyes), slip on my windbreaker vest, buckle up my shoes, put on my helmet, look once more in the mirror by the door (this time just simply laughing...am I starting to sound vain?) and head into the garage.  From here I know there is no turning back yet there is always a part of me asking, "Do I really need to do this?"  I grab my pump, put some air in my tires, and carry my bike outside.  As I stand outside, the longer it takes for my Garmin computer to find its satellite connection the more that couch and coffee maker weigh on my mind...but then something changes.  As I set my pedal and hear the "click" of my shoe locking into place all of a sudden I begin to get excited again.  As I push off and hear the sound of my second shoe clicking in...IT IS ON!!
I make no defence, I am totally one of those annoying people who knows he will enjoy something yet sometimes finds it so hard to bring himself to do it.  As hard as it is to sometimes force myself into my biking gear and out the door, as soon as I clip in I am always happy to be out there...unless it starts raining, but that is a different story.

200 people at $25??

So I figure if I am doing this ride, I suppose I need to start getting a bit serious about my fundraising.  $0 just isn't going to cut it any more!  Here are the straight goods.  I need to raise $5000 to be able to participate in the ride and I would really like to raise it before June 1st as this brings with it some incentives for me :)  But this year I want to do something a bit different in terms of fundraising.  I am very aware that this is the third year in a row I am asking for support. I also know that many of you have other causes that are very close to you and your family which you obviously want to and are supporting.  So this year my fundraising goal is $5000 and in order to reach that I am simply looking for 200 people to donate $25 each (I hope I did the math right on that).  Instead of quantity of donations, this year I am going for quantity of sponsors and more awareness.  So if you would like, I would be very grateful if you wanted to sponsor me $25 and I would be equally grateful if you would forward this blog and message to others who may want to sponsor me.  If you are not able to sponsor me this year that is totally fine, but if you could still pass on my message to someone you think might want to sponsor me, that would be awesome!
Here is the link to my fundraising page.

Don't forget, if anyone would like to join me for the first day or two of the ride, our team, "Rumble Riders Redux," would love to have you on board and I would love to ride with you!  Just let me know and I will send you the sign up page and info.

Below is a video from last year's ride shot by one of the riders on Day 5, and it explains why we do this.  I hope you enjoy.

Zero Ave.

Zero Avenue is one of my favourite roads to ride on.  It is excellent for training as the section I usually ride on is 16km's of rolling hills.  I am always amazed at this road, that is is right there beside the U.S. and sometimes not even a ditch is there to separate the two countries.  Now I am not a world traveller by any means, my passport is fairly blank, however 0 Ave. must be one of the more unique roads in the whole world.  A bare open road running along an official national boarder with nothing but dirt and tree separating the two sovereign nations.  If I fall off my bike I will literally roll into another country!  Now of course it is not the kind of road I would want to get off my bike and take a piss on, I  always wonder how many sensors or cameras are picking me up while I ride that section.  It is just a unique ride with not much traffic.  I guess deep down I am always reminded to be thankful that we live in such a peaceful place in the world, that we can share an unprotected border with a world superpower and not need to be worried...at least I don't think so ;)

A lot to do in 3 Months

This past weekend Kim and I drove up to Calgary where we had a great time witnessing my cousin Dennis get married, visiting my other cousins who just had a baby, and also hanging out with our good friends who were nice enough to put us up for two nights.
On the way into Calgary we stopped at the Banff sign (pic. below) to take a picture of it surrounded by snow.  Shaking the snow off my shoes and getting back in the car after got me thinking that things around there need to change a lot in the next three months.  Last time I was at that sign I was sweating like crazy because of the heat and there was dust and dirt everywhere....now it was -3 and snowy. But that also got me thinking... this ride is less than 3 months away and I still have A LOT of training to do!!  With that said though, I am quite excited about the ride.  I have already been doing quite a bit of training (you can follow along on my rides on the right hand column) and my legs are feeling pretty good.  It is now time though to take my training to the next level...the 100km rides!!  My goal for the coming month is to try get in around 200km a week.  This is obviously based a bit on the weather but it is a goal I will try work for in order to get ready.  And I am sure that though Alberta is experiencing a crazy Spring (we drove through about 3 hours of snowy and icy conditions on the way home yesterday) come June, the Banff sign will be there to greet us in all its dry and dusty glory... or at least without the snow.

  

Less school more cycling!!

Well, I currently find myself sitting in the library of Regent College but for some reason all I can think about is the weather and when I can get my next ride in... this must mean that Spring is upon us and GearUp is getting closer.  The last time I posted on this blog was on the last day of GearUp 2013 and here I am again, this time just getting serious about my training for GearUp 2014!  I hope to post regularly over the next serval months as training really begins to ramp up and we get closer to June.  Wow, it's only March but I am already thinking about June... I'm going to have to do something about that.  Anyway, I hope you enjoy the blog, maybe find it informative... or at least a little entertaining... I'll try include a lot of pictures...
Talk to you later.