Just when you thought that I was done putting my wheels to the road... Lisa and I have signed up for the 2013 Ride for Heart! This will be the first big "ride" that Lisa's done since she got her bike. I'm really excited for her to get out and onto the road. We're going to be taking on the 50km starting at 6:30am. If all goes well we should be gone in time for breakfast!
For those interested, we're doing the pink route...It's not too bad, 25 kilometres one way and then back to the start/finish line. Last year I rode it and got there and back extremely quickly.. I think it was about two hours start to finish thanks to tucking in unofficially behind a racing team. I look forward to ripping through the Ride for Heart with Lisa and I atop our wheeled stallions.
It's four weeks minus one day until the Ride for Heart, and five weeks before my Ride to Conquer Cancer... It's getting real! In just over a month I'll be unleashing 350km (that's 217 miles for you non-metric folks).. Can't wait!
You read that right! I've officially raised my minimum of $2500 to participate in the Ride to Conquer Cancer!
I've been asked a few times about why riders need to raise so much money to participate in the Ride. That's actually a really good question considering other rides like the Ride for Heart only require riders to raise $100, and the Ride to End MS only require riders to raise $250 or something like that... It seems like a heck of a commitment to have riders buckle down and raise $2500 each at first glance.
One thing that immediately comes to mind is that the Ride to Conquer Cancer is a completely different undertaking thank the smaller rides taking place across the country. For one, the distance is largely MUCH less with these other rides. The distances can range anywhere from 25KM to 100KM with the longest distance being 160KM with the Ride to End MS. The important thing the realize here is that the rides are almost always a single day. Where the RTCC is different is that they have to also find funding for tents, showers etc for people to rest and repair overnight and get set for day two as well.
So how much of your donation actually goes to research and programs you might ask? Well 10% of all donations go to paying for the logistics of the ride. That includes the police who make sure the riders stay safe, tents, food, drinks, services etc. I've been told there's actually a cap of how much that 10% can actually be. For instance, if someone donated $1B, they wouldn't take $100M of that I would assume...I haven't been able to gather that nugget of information though.
People ask me why I'm putting my legs and taste buds on the line for the RTCC. Well you know what? For every pepper I eat, and every muscle that hurts, I get a glimmer into what people suffering from this illness have to deal with... and you know the important thing about that? It's a temporary distraction! As a healthy 30 year old guy, I've got no problem putting my body on the line in order to make people donate to the cause! It's all in how you look at it right?
A little disjointed point for now... But there is much to do!
See you at the finish line!
K
So I made a bet with everyone that if I raised 75% of my $3000 goal that I would eat an entire habanero pepper. The day that Lisa and I filmed this I was already at 80% of my goal so I followed through!
You people blew my mind! You guys donated over $1500 in TWO DAYS...that's insane! Yes I realize that there will forever be the CEO type of folks that can call in $50,000 donations in a flash, but for my station in life... that's freakin' amazing!
Tonight Lisa and I were making some grilled pizza so I thought that it would be a perfect opportunity to chow down on my pepper. My tagline of fundraising is "Fueled by Fire" so it made sense to eat a ball of fire while standing in front of a flaming BBQ making dinner... That makes sense right? No? That's okay, I've been told I'm a little off kilter heh. Surprisingly enough it wasn't all that bad! The pepper had a really straightforward attach that latched onto my tongue like a pair of red-hot pinchers but only lasted a minute. My throat went off as soon as I swallowed, but really didn't last all that long either.
Now, let's see if I can say the same thing for when I hit 100% and have to eat a superhot!
That's all for now, just a quick update.. Hopefully I'll have some updates from the road soon!
In true Canadian weather fashion, the weekends have been abysmal! I swear, there's a conspiracy to keep people off the road in training for the Ride to Conquer Cancer. First the weather has been terrible, and now there's an issue with liability and insurance that has essentially ground the ride group that I was a part of last year to a halt. In order to keep my legs (and butt) in saddle form, I've been going to a bunch of spin classes down the street at RPM.
When Lisa was off shopping with one of her friends, I decided that I would bite the bullet and finally tune up my Home Hardware TANK of a bike and get it ready so I can use it as a commuter ride to work. Somehow I've managed to ride this beast for over ten years on and off and never pop a single tube, but I finally did in the fall of last year about a week before it got bitterly cold. I never bothered to fix it, but now that the weather's getting better I figured it was time.
Over the course of an hour or two I managed to:
Regrease the chain and relube it up
Take the rear wheel off and remove the treads
Replace the tube and replace the rear wheel
Fix the derailleur tension
Tighten the brake cables
Reinflate both tires
Not bad for a first timer! I swear that I've gotten soft with my hardware skills, too used to the wonderful world of quick-releases! If all goes well I'm going to be commuting about 24 kilometres round trip to work so that should be decent practice. The only major difference is that this beater is a dual-suspension bike so I'll go from a super soft luxury touring car to a super hard bone shaking supercar when I finally get onto my Cervelo! Wish me luck!
As of April 24th I've crossed the 50% mark for my fundraising! I made a bet with my Facebook followers that if I could raise $100 that I would hit the road for a quick ride in the absolute POURING RAIN. That's right, I was going to get myself outside in the rain and get soaked to the bone to show how dedicated that I am to going out for this ride. Sadly I have to admit that I wasn't able to get out because the sun had gone down by the time I got home. As my bike is a higher-end racing bike, I wasn't really willing to go out for a ride in the dark, without lights (my bike doesn't accomodate lights/reflectors) on slick pavement. :( Sadness!
That being said, I've figured out a good punishment for me to deal with due to my slacking.. Keep an eye out... it's coming!
That's all for now, I promise that I'll be better at updating this blog!
So yes, I'm apparently absolutely crap at updating this blog. Work and life have been insane over the last few months. Giant projects at work and the weather has been too terrible to get out to actually ride on the road! Erg... It's times like this that I really regret not taking part in the RTCC camp held at RPM.
Enough self-loathing..The 2013 routes have been released!
CAVEAT - Alignment might be off a little off thanks to Google.
Day One: Toronto to Hamilton - Classic Plus (125KM)
I'm definitely looking forward to participating in the Ride to Conquer Cancer again. If you haven't taken part, you really should if you can! I guarantee you it's a life changing event...It feels like an insurmountable obstacle before you start, but you'll feel like $1M when you cross the finish line.
More updates to come (I promise!)
See you at the finish line!
K
