Today was the day of the Cancervive ride. With contributions from family, co-workers and BCC club members, I exceeded my fundraising goals and was clear to ride. As of last week, the weather forecast was looking grim, but it turned around and was clear and sunny, if a little cold. It was something like 5 degrees to start, but over 20 to finish. The challenge is to dress warm enough for the morning and not bake by the afternoon.
I carpooled with Rob from the club. He picked me up from the parking lot at the Tim Hortons near Tuscany Home Depot. Tammy drove me down and used it as an excuse to get some coffee. ☕️
We were there in plenty of time to sign in and use the washroom before the ceremonies kicked off. There were short speeches from the brass at Wellspring, as well as a heartfelt speech from the Mayor of Banff.
100 riders started off in waves starting about 9:15. Those doing the longest route like me were first. Lee Jackson, who is on the board at Wellspring and a BCC member led us out. I got to be on the front row. I felt like a celebrity. 😎
It was cold to start, but by the time we reached Castle Junction, it was warm enough to lose the vest. That was a scramble to try to fit everything into my pockets. I’m sure I looked like some kind of pack mule with everything in there…
The ride was fun and thankfully uneventful. Lee got a slow leak in his rear tire as we approached the turnaround, so our stop there was a little longer than expected.
The only interesting wildlife spotting was a coyote on the drive home. A few squirrels and birds, but no bears or anything. Our group of 5 BCC riders mixed it up with some other riders: Pablo, Matt, Mark and Ryan. There also was a guy on a recumbent bike who was sort of riding with us. He couldn’t really work in the pace line, but he passed us on the flats and fell back on the climbs.
We made it back in time for lunch at the Fenlands Rec Centre. There was quite the crowd to cheer us in. We made sure that Lee led us in as the team captain. Lunch was what I’d call appetizers or finger food. It was good after the ride.
I will probably update this post with more pictures later. There were two photographers and Lee and Rob got some more photos of the day.
Updated a long, long time later…
I got hold of the photos that the official photographer took. I made an ArcGIS Story Map to send to the people at work who supported me on the ride.
Great photos. Nice day for the ride and the 5of you look like a very professional team!