For weeks I had been unable to wait to get going when finally day 1 dawned.  The start of the ride has traditionally been in Whiterock, I’m not quite sure of the reasons for this but I think it is partly to make for an easier and safer ride out of Vancouver, avoiding some of the busier roads.  It also has the tremendous benefit of starting us off at the ocean side of the West Coast, before we head seriously inland.

The day began by a drive down to Whiterock followed by collecting my bike, which had been separately sent down there.  Then I was just so delighted to again be met by Clare and this time also Alex’s brother Nathan, who had come to see me off (and apparently had also brought down another of our riders, Hilda, from the north shore). 

Nathan, Clare and me:

Having met with some of the other riders – and also sadly missed out on the free coffee and donuts that Tim Hortons provided, we all gathered for the pre-ride photo. As predicted it was a sea of red, with a record number of riders joining this year. We were also delighted that the mayor of Whiterock came out to see us off too. This was great as it gave me at least a real sense that this ride was becoming more and more a significant force in fundraising for CF.

pre-ride photo:

This year the weather was much more co-operative than last, when it poured at the start of the ride and weather proofing was needed. We always start early, so it was a little cold, but just how big an improvement could clearly be seen by the easily observable Mt Baker in Washington State as we left the parking lot in Whiterock and headed out on another massive 1300+km odyssey.

I think we must all have been keen to get going, because we moved along at quite a clip, something along the lines of 35 km/hr. It made qutie a sight with all that red CF clothing. The first part of the ride that morning took us to the Albion Ferry, which we all largely completed in only a couple of groups. I made it with the lead pack to the ferry, although slightly delayed by loosing a water bottle from my newly under-seat mounted water bottle holder and the ride was not remarkable other than the speed at which we completed it. This year you could quickly tell that there were some remarkably quick cyclists here. A quick ferry ride across the river and then another significant ride to lunch in a Safeway car park, provided for the second year running by the Kin.

John leading the pack on the way out to the Albion Ferry:

The afternoon’s ride was a straigh 50km from lunch to Harrison Hot Springs. This I largely completed with David and Hilda. This run is nice and it is very flat, apart from one unecessary hill, although this did have the advantage of allowing me to set the fastest speed so far on my bike going downhill. The only negative of the afternoon was a very strong headwind on the way into Harrison, which was a little unpleasant to say the least.

So the end of day 1 and no casualties, all was going well. We ended the day with a tremendous dinner cooked for us by the Kin and then a well earned rest.

Well, it has been an enormously long time since I have updated this blog.  Firstly, profuse apologies in case anyone was reading this hoping for updates and ride reports.  The ride reports are coming!!!  Since the ride I have found myself deluged with work and then I had family visit from Britain…all this combined with not very good computers at home has prevented me from sitting down and updating the site.  I can at least claim that the delay is because I have been working hard on the research front, so whenever I feel guilty about my failings on things like this I can at least temper that with why this is.

So where are we up to?  Well clearly as I write this I have successfully completed the ride.  This years ride was every bit as challenging as last years and every bit as epic, with lots of high points to report on.  Any one who has checked out my photo website will know that there were plenty of photos…I did at least manage to get those uploaded!

Even better news is that fund raising has been tremendous.  This year I will have raised very nearly $9,000.  This is a fantastic amount and I am very grateful to all the people who donated.  You have all donated very generously and I am hugely impressed with everyone who donated to me for whatever reason, whatever your motivation – THANK YOU!  Everyone has contributed to another successful year.  The whole event looks like raising over $200,000and this can be regarded as a great achievement.

So…ride reports…

Today I just finished the long 184km day and finally returned to civilization (where there is internet access).  Todays ride was great, the previous days tough climb into Manning Park was easier than last year, although the first day was a little harder due to lack of sleep the night before!

The last 2 days have be enhanced considerably by the presence of the other people from the Banff ride, making for much enjoyment.  Today we split off from them and will head out to Jasper in a small group.  Today we introduced some of the new folks to riding at speed in a group and it really made the day much more enjoyable.  Well, something like 400km down, 900km to go… full ride reports to follow post-ride.