There and back: This Hobbits tale

It’s been a little over a week since we dipped our wheels in the Atlantic ocean in Halifax NS, since that time I’ve been busy driving across eastern Canada with the family taking in the sights and finally made it home Thursday. 

When we drove out of Halifax we headed along the route that we had cycled on day 15 from Halifax to Peggy’s Cove and then on to Lower Sackville (in reverse order of course). As I drove along I caught myself several times looking over my shoulder as if I were still on the bike; checking to see if the team was still with me. Each time I caught myself doing this I could feel the pang of knowing that they were no longer there and that I hadn’t gotten lucky and dropped them on a climb. No hum of bicycle chains or tires, no one hollering out “hole” or signalling the road debris that I needed to avoid. In it’s place was the sweet din of Emma and Liam chatting (and bickering) in the back seat.

During the days that followed we backtracked the route from Halifax to Ontario some of which I had cycled and I had many of these little cycling nuances pop-up, each one conjured up a memory of our adventure followed by a smile and that same sense of something missing. In turn this was followed by a new memory of the trip home with Lori, Liam, Emma and my parents. Sort of like two worlds crossing over each other; one fading out while the other fades in.

As I drove I had the opportunity to think back to a few weeks ago to when we had started our journey as a group of individuals, some of us knew a few of the other riders from training rides, the others were new faces to get to know. It felt almost like the first day of school when we were kids; giddy with anticipation yet nervous of the unknown and dearly missing our families.

I for one came to Vancouver BC with visions of what I hoped the ride would be like; maybe they were more “wants” than anything else. By the time we rolled into Halifax on Day 15 my “wants” were all gone and in their place I had everything I needed: a journey of a lifetime from meeting wonderful people along the way who had also made a choice to help others, the chance to see this beautiful country from the saddle of a bicycle, and my new extended family - team 1.

Along the way from White Rock BC to Halifax NS we cycled through the Rocky Mountains, across the Prairies, up and down the rugged hills of northern Ontario, Quebec, and through the Acadian Highlands of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. All the while we changed from 14 individual cyclists and 8 crew (on team 1 alone) to an extended family.  Something akin to a roving circus, trucks and all!

I have memories I will treasure of each member of team 1 whether they be rider or crew. From Rich Maerten’s (our crew chief) musical wake up calls at 6:30am while snuggled up in our bunk truck, to hustling to be the first one in the bathroom in the morning, to the endless hours of joking (with everyone), to sharing this trip with my Dad as he wrenched on our bikes (he was our team bike mechanic), to being taught to see rainbows even when things looked dim (thank-you Ulana), to the hugs and tears we shared while we listened to the stories of those kids we were riding for and finally to seeing first hand that anything is possible if you truly believe.

Sure it was not all fun and as with any family we had our ups and our downs. Though in retrospect even the downs were kind of comical - yah getting lost 3 times in one day made the happy wheels fall off the bus but it was kinda of funny. Having learned the ability to put things in perspective, a few squabbles of the directionally challenged kind are meaningless in comparison to what these kids and their families go through on a daily basis.

Each of these memories is as priceless and irreplaceable as the kids and families  we met and the lives we touched each day. I dare say that each one has made me a better person for having experienced them. 

Now that I am home life will undoubtedly return to pre-SNKCR norms; work, washing laundry, the reading of bedtime stories and maybe even the odd bike ride or two during the week.

The longing for the open road from the perch of my bike is still there and I hope it never completely fades; as it is now part of who I am. And the Coast-to-Coast Maple Leaf/Ribbon logo I have tattooed on my right calve will be a permanent reminder for me of our journey and what we accomplished - it’s not every day you and a band of lycra toting cyclists raise $1.5M cycling across Canada! Oh ya and did I tell you 100% of that goes to cause we cycled for? Ya I guess I might have mentioned that once or twice before.

From here I look forward to seeing what comes next whatever it might be … coast-to-coast-to-coast anyone? Just joking Lori ;)

And so ends this Hobbits adventure. This will be my last SNKCR post and I will return to posting on the Team Amazing Amelia site. Before I post this last blog I wanted to thank everyone who helped make it happen. To my family, friends, generous sponsors and the students and staff at the high schools, Thank-you for making a difference in a kid’s life and mine. To my team mates on team 1, I had a blast.

Pippin

Day 14: Our last day on our own.

Day 13, despite the up’s, felt somewhat like a train wreck and the shuttle into St John was a blessing as it gave all of us a chance to decompress and collect ourselves. We all know that our worst day is still better than the best day than what these kids go through, this has an ability to put things into perspective quickly. 

Pulling into to Sears in St John we were greated by the Store manager and two of her associates. Given it was midnight these ladies had gone well above the call of duty. To top it off they were going to stay in the store that night so that we could have access to the facilities.

The Maritimes rock!

We woke this morning to a what would be warmer weather and a high around 25c. This suited me fine as my jacket, given wash day was a few days ago, was getting a little ripe and could probably have walked away by itself. 

Shuffling out of the bunk truck I gingerly tested my legs to see if it was worth me getting into my cycling kit. I was amazed at how well the legs felt. Boo-Yaaa, I was feeling up to riding.

I so desperately wanted to ride with the team today as it would be our last day just as a group, tomorrow we would ride with team 2 and 3 as a large group. 15 days ago (on day 0) I was riding with, to some degree, perfect strangers. Today they were my extended family. Tight quarters and constant contact has a way of forging a family; I believe Frank put it best that despite some heated moments along the way that “the hardest steels are forged from the hotest fires” (or something to that affect).

We rolled out of St John in a double pace line with a Police escort out to the far edge of the township. Riding through the city the oncoming cars would stop and honk in support. There is something about the people in the Maritimes, their warm friendly nature is so welcome on these last few days.

Rolling through the edge of New Brunswick from St John to Moncton the landscape tilts up more than one would think. I think the team loved it (I did) and we were for the most part riding strong. We were renewed by a nights sleep and the warm support of the locals.

Pulling into Sussex NB for lunch the weather was mostly sunny and hot, a welcomed change as we have been bundled up for most of the past week. Sitting in the parking lot of the Sears Outlet we recharged with hot homemade chicken noodle soup and sunshine. What a combo, chicken noodle soup can heal almost anything. I managed to get a cat-nap while Simon and a few others got a free session with the Chiropractor next door. Did I mention that Maritimers are naturally generous? Well they are.

Riding out of Sussex was kind of sad for me as it marked the end that much closer. I think we all have been kind of avoiding this fact.

Tonight we shuttled to Lower Sackville (not Truro) for our SNKCR-wide ride into Halifax. Pulling into the parking lot and seeing all of the other vehicles and extended team members was a high-point in the day. It’s hard to explain but we were all joined by a common thread that has created a closeness that is akin to something you feel with close family. We chowed down to great food, a few wobbly pops and great music; some of course burned the mid-night oil though I chose to hit the sack early at midnight.

Day 13: Riviere Du-Loop (recap)

Last night (day 12) we pulled into the Sears store in Riviere Du-Loop where team 1 would start today off,  finishing in Edmundston NB. We were greated by the New York Fries team and the Inside Ride team who were helping provide support; they prepared a great (and healthy) chicken and salmon dinner for us. Over the past few days we had been eating pizza for dinner, which though it can be tasty is a little light on the nutrients and needed to fuel you on an epic ride like this. Today was to be a hilly 180km day so a second dinner was in order.

The landscape in this part of Canada is beautiful and rugged with long climbs through the Acadian Highlands (part of the Appalachain Mountains). By this point in the ride we had cycled the Rockies mountains, northern Ontario where the hills are short and steep and had a good idea that the Acadians were going to be just as tough if not tougher. Accumulated fatigue can be tough to overcome both physically and mentally.

We began climbing as soon as we left the parking lot, literally. Right up a 7-9% grade hill towards where we would eat breakfast. Given the terrain it was easier to ride the 2km or so to breakfast and then start our day from there.

Our day started rushed this morning right from the get go, 20 minutes to get dressed and use the bathroom then off to breakfast for a speedy feed and then on the road. Sounds pretty easy right, not such much when you have 20+ people fighting for 2 bathrooms. I won’t miss the sparse bathroom facilities.

13 days into this adventure the hills despite their shallower grade (between 2 and 5%) definitely made my legs groan a bit until I could warm them up. I could see from how the team was riding that I was not alone so we did our best to lower the pace as much as possible. Regardless of how we were feeling we all knew we had a schedule to keep as there were people waiting for us in Edmundston and we did not want to make them wait. It’s counter intuitive but climbing slower than your regular pace can put a fair bit of extra load on the legs as you end up expending the same level of energy but going slower means it takes longer to get to the top.

Today’s route was to take us out along some scenic roads that would take us into Riviere Bleue though we ended up having what would be our first misdirection of the day and ended up on a major highway for the first 55km. Once warmed up the climbs were sublime and seemed to be endless. We eventually got  connected to a quiet road that came into the north side of Riviere Bleue where we met up again with the New York Fries team. Little treats like a warm lunch go a long way to de-stressing your mind and body.

Heading out of Riviere Bleue we quickly found that we had made another significant error and were now heading in the wrong direction and going back to Riviere Du-Loop. Not something you want to have happen though fortuantely it only added 10-15km to the ride. Part of the challenge was the GPS’s in the support vehicles were messed up and directing us to Edmundston via the long way. The crew ended up changing tactics and switched to the paper maps. I know they felt bad but they are all spectacular folks and as Jeff Rushton pointed out on numerous occasions s#^t happens and you have to go with the flow.

The afternoon seemed to fly by so quickly. At this point we had joined the 2 subteams into one group and were riding well together. We were due to be in Edmundston for 4:45pm and as we pulled into our afternoon rest stop we felt like heros as it was only 3:30 and we only had 35km to go so we all thought it would be a no brainer to get there on time. As we were sipping our hot chocolate I looked up at the clock on the wall and my smile faded to a scowl as I realized our watches were still on Easter Standard time and not Maritme time so it was actually 4:30pm. Doh!!!!

None of us wanted to get into the vehicles at this point, fortuantely for us the second RV was not with us so there was not enough space to carry all of the bikes and the riders; so a small group of us decided to hammer into Edmundston and I mean hammer. We averaged 38km/hour the entire way. Fortunately Rich who is our crew chief managed to call the Sears Outlet and get us another hour before we had to be there though we wanted to make sure we did not squander the time extension as it is important to us to respect the time of those waiting for us.

By the time we hit the city limits I was absolutely cooked and had just enough energy to keep on the wheel of those pulling. Blake, Mike, Don and Melody were doing a great job pulling the team along, and I’m gratefull for this. Today was certainly looking like it would be a day I might just end up riding in the van for the final few km; something I had never contemplated would happen. Just as I thought the legs would give out I would find that I had just a little more energy and keep riding. But for how long I had no idea.

Fortunately the pace slowed as we hit the center of town and the support RV lead us into town to what we all thought was our stop for the day. Sadly we ended up in the next village some 8km away from where we wanted to be. I think the wheels on the happy bus popped off at this point for all of us. Exhaustion and getting lost 3 times in 1 day was more than we all could cope with. Speaking for myself I felt the mental filter controlling my mouth crash, and had to peddle off down the road from the others so I could find a place to count to ten (or so).

We ended up turning around and riding back into Edmundston and as we pulled into the home stretch we turned right at the last intersection to see a mammoth 15% grade climb for the last 1/2 km or so; at this point I was ready to pull the chute and get in the van. Looking around I could see everyone dig that little bit deeper … and as they say when in Rome do as the Romans do so I followed suit.

Pulling into the parking lot I had nothing left to peddle. Absolultely nothing. I don’t think I was alone.

As I put my bike in the bunk truck I came to the realization that I may not be able to ride tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow will bring me a pleasant surprise.