Cycling: Sears National Kids Cancer Ride - Day 2

Friday, June 06, 2008 - 07:37 PM

Today, is really a tribute to the riders in my group 2. As you may be aware from reading the website, there are three groups of riders, and my group is officially named, ‘Group Two’. Group 1 is comprised of riders who ride speeds of approximately 30-31 km’s per hour, and are very experienced riders — generally riders who have more than 10 years experience behind them. These young bucks are fast, experienced and have been a great asset to all of us through training.

Group Three is less experienced, and generally rides speeds of 22-24 km’s per hour. This group is riding with a great deal of heart, especially as they summitted the unforgiving Rockies where temperatures dropped to 0 degrees C through the night.

As I said, I ride in Group 2 where we are fairly experienced, and riding generally at around 28-29 km’s per hour fairly comfortably. I have most of the women riders in my group and they are a wonderful mix of women between the ages of 25 and 50. We had the benefit of training together for a few months, and I believe the results have been beneficial to all of us. Our group has gel’d and we are operating like a well oiled machine. Our riders are riding two by two, elbow to elbow. The tighter a group can rider together, the better our ability to draft off each other, and work together through the long miles. There are 16 members in our group, and riders are a diverse mix of English and French-speaking, and come from numerous provinces across Canada. Below is a link to a weekend we spend together in Haliburton training. That training weekend saw most of us riding about 500 km’s in fairly cold weather.

Our team had a great sleep tonight in the sexy transport bunk. We had a solid five hours and awoke feeling refreshed. I have no pain in my legs, and I feel refreshed and great this morning. Today, we rode into Edmonton, for the 2nd of the community rides. We started the community ride at a Sears store and there were a few guest speakers, including the Dr. Paul Grundy, one of the Pediatric Oncology Department Heads at the Edmonton Children’s Hospital. Sears, our title sponsor, had a great speaker as we listened and prepared to depart from the West Edmonton Mall. A lovely young girl, teenager cancer survivor, who lost a leg to Osteracoma, a rare type of cancer, spoke of her personal journey through cancer. This is the raw reality of childhood cancer. This young lady spoke courageously of her experience of childhood cancer and the effects that this disease had on her life. As I listened to this young woman, one could have heard a pin drop. This is a reminder to all of us of the importance of raising awareness and funds for the more than 10,000 children living with cancer in Canada.

Following this young woman’s talk, the Edmonton Police Service were on duty to escort us, and the Community Riders (most Marsh riders), around the 25 community ride which took us deep into the downtown core of Edmonton. What a wonderful feeling as we rode through downtown — cars honking and waving to us, and offering us praise and encouragement. I think we all felt proud to be wearing our Coast to Coast Against Cancer, Canadian red jerseys, designed by Fredrik Carlberg of the Boomerang Group in Mississauga, Ontario. Boomerang is an outstanding communication and branding company that sponsors the Sears National Kids Cancer Ride.

From Edmonton, we rolled forward to Dayton Valley to Rocky Mountain House, and finally off to Calgary. Rocky Mountain house was another wonderful experience as 9 year old cancer survivor (thriver), Brodie and his mom met us. Brodie (pictured above) has a rare form of brain cancer, but that isn’t stopping this young man from making his mark in the world. At the tender age of 9, Brody has raised $50,000 in support of other children by creating and selling scrapbooks to other children battling this disease. He and his mom spoke to us, and explained the challenges that her family has encountered on account of this devastating disease. All of us cyclists were reminded of how lucky we are to have healthy children and families at home. This disease knows no boundaries and could affect any family — any child.

I am looking forward to cycling into Calgary — our first stop where we will sleep in the University residence and have a real bed, and a real dinner and a real breakfast. I hope we are having hot oatmeal tomorrow morning, rather than the ‘magic juice’ that we have become accustomed to on the road!

Allan Jeffries
Sears National Rider