The morning's dedication was tearful. A middle aged woman who had ridden 100km the day before on a tandem bike got up onto a table and spoke to all of the full stage riders about her ordeal. I'm sure I've got some facts wrong, but you'll get the gist. Her son was diagnosed with a brain tumour when he was 3 or 4. Despite numerous challenges and disabilities, he excelled at life, getting Ontario's "volunteer of the year" award when he was 12. He was hit with cancer again when he was 13, then lymphoma when we was 18, and then finally another brain tumour when he was 22 which took his life. The story was heartbreaking... and then she told us about her daughter. Her daughter sounded like her son - an all around good person. She went to Western where she was studying to be a genetics counselor. She had been experiencing a number of headaches during the school year, and then almost without warning, she too passed away with a brain tumour. To have this happen to your family twice must have been devastating, but this woman was so positive and so warm... it was heartbreaking.
Today's message was also about volunteerism and how important it was to volunteer to help out with this cause. The Tour for Kids gives 100% of the funds raised to the camps it supports. This means there are a ton of volunteers behind the scenes donating their time and services to make this event happen.
I often see TV commercials for the Ride to Cure Cancer for the Princess Margaret Foundation. It seems that their strategy is to spend a ton of money and gain a lot of awareness - don't get me wrong, there's certainly validity in this approach. Yet, I feel the Tour for Kids and the approach they take with donations and being a volunteer led organization fits with how I would approach the problem of helping kids with cancer.
The plan for day 3 was to head West (against the wind!) to Mississauga along this route (or check this out).
I think we were expecting a nice easy ride for the last day. We were wrong. There were a few factors working against us: it was windy - maybe 20km/h headwind; we got stuck in a small group (sometimes as small as 6 people); and it was way hillier that we'd thought.
The first 100km up to the rest break had quite a few rollers. Given it was day 4, we were absolutely bagged by the time we got there. Unfortunately, we overheard someone describing the next 40km as very hilly... damn it!
As bad as the conditions were, I was having a good day. I kept thinking of meeting Beth and the kids at the end, and that kept me going. I was doing a lot of the work on that last day. After lunch, it was pretty much Rob and I taking turns at the front and pulling our little group home.
At 195km, we grouped up with a couple hundred other riders at the Esso station on Hurontario just south of 401. The idea was to get a police escort down to Square One and ride as a big group for a good PR moment. After getting a few refreshments, we were off. That final 5km was a breeze!
It was awesome to have my family there when we arrived. As you can see Robbie was already eating an early dinner and the nephews had put together some great banners!
Kelly wasn't smiling much on the 4th day she'd had a tough day and her back was bothering her, but she was sure happy at the end...
Here's the support team!
An even better surprise was to have our fallen teammate, Rolf, there to great us. Rolf had taken a bad spill on the Ride for Heart on the DVP - he'd broken his hip and had a tremendously bad time in the hospital. Rolf has vowed to ride next year:
My trusty steed - rebuilt wheel from my accident and all. No mechanicals over 845km - thank you!
Abby's banner:
When Robin finally let go of my leg, she was putting on some moves...
And here's my awesome team. We rode with each other the whole way - helping each other out when one of us was struggling. Waiting when we had a problem. What a great team!
However, the pictures I didn't get were from my fundraising team. I had 47 donations from individuals, couples, families and companies raising $5,705! I also had one very special contributor, "Slippery" Steve Taylor, my brother-in-law that helped... ok he did all of it... with my fundraising video (posted here). Thanks very much to all my sponsors:
Nigel C, Tom S, Denyse & Art T, Krista W, Steve B, Barb T, Beth T, Andy & Natasha R, Bob B, Chris S, Chris & Joce C, Dave & Karen H, Jody & Ron R, Ross R, Scott & Tara L, Stephen B, Sue & Jeff G, Gord B, Kelly L, Ryan & Jill F, Zubair T, Alex F, Sharis G, Greg J, Ivan K, Eileen & Dave B, Rostislav S, Jimbo H, Costa & Christina A, Pat & Jeri M, David M, Carey & Katie L, Frank & Donna R, Maha A, Angie R, Jen & Steve R, Alan E, Bruce C, Sonia & Greig B, Tanya & Dave W, Ross & Jill T, Alex S, Paul T, Jaimie P, Stephen T, Rich & Laura T, Lynden R, Marc S and Rob & Shannon K!
If you would like to find out how you can get involved, either as a rider (there are weekend only editions that ride 100km/day) or as a volunteer, please let me know and I will get you some information.
Finally, for those that are interested, here's a summary of elevations from Day 4 from my Garmin. The green lines were water breaks and lunch.
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