Linda Kay

Day 14 - Saint John to Moncton

I’m now writing my final 2 days of blogging after I am home.  It’s been difficult to justify spending more time on “The Ride” when my family hasn’t seen me for so long and are vying for attention.  No worries….my memories are still quite fresh so here it goes…….

As usual, we awoke in a Sears parking lot today.  The mood was rather sullen, as we all were very aware that this was our last day riding together alone as a team.  Tonight we are scheduled to rendevous with the other 2 teams for our ride into Halifax.  The emotions were strange.  We are all very weary and don’t know how much more our bodies can take, but yet we don’t want it to end.  We began hardly knowing each other and now feel like brothers and sisters.  There are many hugs this morning.  We are treated to another amazing breakfast, catered meals from a local hotspot and warm hospitality from yet another great Sears team.

Today’s dedication was very special for me.  It began with Elizabeth reading to us the story of a young toddler named Isabella in Mississauga.  She must have been diagnosed with her neuroblastoma while in-vetro, because we heard about her first surgery when she was just days old.  She has undergone many, many treatments, but the outlook seemed very positive.  After Elizabeth finished reading the dedication, I had the opportunity to share with the entire team that I was riding in memory of my cousin Jacqueline Lodder, who also had neuroblastoma as a toddler but lost her battle many years ago.  Back then there was still quite little known about the disease, and the survivor rate was not good.  My Uncle Jack and Aunt Jo may still have had their little girl today if the research and technology of today was available to the doctor’s then.  I asked my team today to remember the loss of Jacqueline and ride for the hope that Isabella’s parents have.  What we are doing is making a difference in these families’ lives.

After the extra miles put on yesterday when we “took a few wrong turns”, the team was a little cautious today as we struck out.  I remember hearing a few riders asking the crew, “so you are sure where we’re headed???”.  To be sure that we didn’t head the wrong way, it was decided that the RV would travel just ahead of us and signal exactly which way to turn at every junction.  We still ended up with a slight “oopsie” when the cube van set up our first rest stop on a different road than we were on.  No worries….there’s always extra food in every vehicle, so we had an impromptu stop elsewhere.  By noon we had pulled into Sussex and visited another Dealer store.  These folks are great!!  We enjoyed another sunny lunch with homemade chicken noodle soup and salads.  To top it off they had arranged for the chiropractor next door to see anyone who needed a snap, crackle and pop for free!!  Love that small town hospitality.

The afternoon passed without any misdirection, and we pulled into the Sears Moncton parking lot on schedule.  What a greeting!!  We were met not only by lots of staff and friends, but also a female rowing team created an archway for us to pass through with their oars.  These weren’t just any rowers though, these ladies were all breast cancer survivors.  Amazing.  I made sure I got a big hug from every one of them.  They were so sweet.  There was plenty of entertainment at this stop…..go figure as we were deep into the Maritimes now.  The kids enjoyed face-painting and a magic show and we were all treated to some fiddle music and dancing by an extremely talented local family.  After our bellies were once again filled, we said our goodbye’s to the Moncton team and got in the RV’s for our last shuttle ahead.  I don’t know about the other RV, but ours was pretty quiet that night.

After a quick 250km shuttle we arrived in Lower Sackville….the takeoff point for the morning.  We stayed in the parking lot of a Rec. Centre.  It was a mini-village, one that I wished that I had taken pictures of.  There were 4 large SLH rigs (the bunk trucks plus the Inside Ride rig), 6 “Canadream” RV’s, 3 support minivans, 4 large cube trucks, the New York Fries RV with trailer set up to feed us all well into the night, ”the Intruder” (the Kay family RV) and perhaps a few other vehicles I couldn’t see as well.  I remember stepping out of the RV and hearing the hum of the generators running in order to power the pressure washers that were being used to clean all the vehicles so they are returned without cow manure on them from the ferry.  Riders and crew who hadn’t seen each other for days were reunited and chatting and recalling the interesting stories of the journey.  Many riders wanted to enjoy second dinner and head to bed, while others stayed up and partied into the wee hours of the morning.  I was with the first group.  I chose again tonight to spend the last night sleeping in the bunk truck with my team, even though there was a cozy queen size bed right next door with my family.  I’ll be honest…..I had some really great sleeps in that tractor trailer!  Not once did anyone tug at my pillow and say “mommie….I have to pee”.  Yeah, there were some pretty bad smells and incredible snoring, but the ear plugs helped and I could always pull the sleeping bag over my nose.  I actually enjoyed the fresh cold air….okay it was actually wind since the doors had to be left open all night.  I never once heard anyone coming and going in the middle of the night.  I also wish that we had video-taped my entry into my bunk every night.  I slept in one of the top bunks, and there were no steps or ladders.  I had to jump up to a wooden cross beam that was at the one end of my bed and do a kip up into bed.  (For those of you that don’t know what a kip is, picture a gymnast swinging on the uneven bars to get from the bottom bar up to the top).  I showed my kids though and they now officially think I’m a pretty cool mom.  Totally worth it.

Anyways….tomorrow is the last day.  We ride all together to the final wheel dip in the Atlantic.  I can’t believe it’s almost over.

YEAH!!!! FOUND INTERNET AGAIN!!

We’ve just made a stop in Sussex for lunch at a Sears Dealer store and Jim had the forethought to set up my computer inside and hook it up to the internet so I could get the 4 days of blogging up.  Sorry to keep you all waiting!!!  Big hugs….

Day 13 - Trois Riviere to Edmundston, NB

Day 13 – Trois Riviere to Edmundston, NB

Today started out a little odd.  There was some confusion as to where we were supposed to eat breakfast, as we had been told it was “just across the road”.  We found out it was about 1km down the road.  Actually, it was up….because there was a substantial hill to climb to get there.  First we were going to walk, then we found out that the bunk truck couldn’t go up there, so we were told to get all our gear on and ride to breakfast.  I knew I had stashed that banana and chocolate milk for a good reason.  Going out on a steep hill on cold legs and an empty stomach was just cruel, so I shared my banana secretly with Paul.  I’m not sure how it all happened, but I know it was really rushed.  We didn’t get our usual team meeting to go over the day’s logistics, and the next thing we knew we were told to saddle up.  Some people had left things in the bunk truck that was now gone, but off we went.  Our Sears host led us out to where we were supposed to be and everything settled into routine.  Until we found out we had made a wrong turn.  No problem…..we consulted the GPS and were on our way again.  We were told that we would ride about 87km to lunch, and a roadside stop would be set up somewhere along the way.  Unfortunately, our wrong turn led us down a very busy highway.  It was a bit nerve wracking to be on such a busy road and totally exposed to whatever.  We were so glad to have the support vehicle behind us.

Nervous riders unfortunately don’t always think clearly, so some of our basic rules (like waiting for slower riders) seemed to get a little forgotten.  Throw in a few very long steep climbs and the group can get completely shattered.  My legs felt much better today, so the climbs were feeling very good.  At our first rest stop we had to have a serious discussion about how the rest of the morning was going to shape up.  Emotions flared a little.  We had been warned about this by Jeff Rushton in Vancouver.  Every team will face hardships, it’s how we handle them that will make the difference.  A decision was made to split the two groups differently…..those that were really strong and felt the need to hammer, and those who wanted to keep a steady pace and not leave anyone behind.  This was similar to a few days back when I explained that sometimes these strong riders just need to blow off a little bit of energy, and that’s okay as long as we acknowledge it and work with it.  So we let them take off a few minutes ahead of us, and we enjoyed a steady paced stretch.  It also had an incredibly long, fun descent where our group was easily holding our speed above 50km/hr.  Here’s the funny thing…..we pulled into the next rest stop only 30 seconds behind the hammer group.  We could see on a couple of the climbs that they were blowing up and having to wait for one or two at the top.  We teased them about that for the rest of the day.

Lunch was once again provided by New York Fries guys (we are so lucky! – the other teams don’t have them…tee hee).  Our afternoon got a little crazy.  We first went 7km the wrong way and had to turn back, adding 14km to the day.  This killed me mentally.  When we finally got on the right road it was so rough that we were all suffering.  Four team members had been off for most of the day already, and Simon pulled himself after the 14km extra because he was suffering from a pinched nerve that he had been sitting on for a few days already.  He’s lost some weight off his butt and the padding isn’t what it used to be.  (He ended up putting on a second pair of shorts and re-joining us a little later)  I also had started with a dull throb in my head when we learned we were going the wrong way, and by the time we had gone back and over the rough stretch of road I was cooked.  I pulled myself with about 20km to go to the next rest stop.  I realized that I hadn’t really been using the washroom much today, and finally clued in that I was getting dehydrated, so I started chugging water and took 2 Tylenol.

When we were at our final rest stop, Rich (crew chief) told us that he thought we should all shuttle ahead to dinner because we lost some time.  Certain riders didn’t like that so they said that we could try to make up some time.  Simon and I decided that we should try and pull off again if it got too tough.  There was only 35km to go.  Well…….I never thought I would be doing intervals on day 13, but that was what we did.  Our speed didn’t drop below 40 for most of that 35km.  Thankfully I was feeling better and just latched on to Blake Hunter’s wheel.  Blake is wonderful to draft behind and he’s as strong as a Clydesdale.  Unfortunately there were other riders in the pack that really suffered to keep that pace.  When we arrived in Edmundston there was a bit of a mixup again as far as directions go, and the next thing we knew we were in the next city.  We were just following our RV, assuming they were leading us to dinner.  Ouch.  It was a long way out of the way at the end of a long day.  We were supposed to do 170km and ended up just under 200.  Fortunately our stop was at a Best Western that came complete with a hot tub in the pool area.  Aaahhhhhhh.  The bad news was we were behind schedule and had a long shuttle ahead to St. John.  We still rested our sore muscles for a bit and we’re on the road now. 

2 more days of riding and we’re in Halifax.  Wow, I can’t believe it.

Team 1, Day 13 – A team like this SNKCR has never seen.

(I think we got too cocky on this one, as we said this in the morning and then had a bad day as a team).

Day 12 - Montreal to Riviere du Loup

The Silent Adversary…..wind.  Today was one of the toughest days we have faced yet.  It began fine….a warm breakfast inside and the sun was shining (although it was very cold).  We figured it would be relatively quick today, as we only had to do 130kms.  We knew it would be slow going at first, as we had to follow our RV right through most of downtown Montreal to get out of the city.  That seemed to take forever with all the stoplights.  The Quebecois however were very supportive and we received many, many friendly honks from commuters smiling and waving.  We do look pretty cool as a group, I have to say.

Once outside the city though, the real work began.  We were headed due East, and the wind was gusting from the North East.  Little hummingbirds like me tend to get blown around in the wind like leaves (I received this name in the past day or two as I have shrunk in size a bit and am constantly putting food in my mouth).  I am not the only one, as Damon gets tossed around too and he’s a guy.  We quickly split into our 2 well organized teams and got to work.  I became a somewhat “protected rider”, needing a fairly large guy in front of me to block the wind.  All the ladies tucked themselves behind someone and the guys did an amazing job of pulling the pack along.  Some of the poor guys were so exhausted by the end of the day though, depending on who they rode near.  It is really important to try to keep yourself in a straight line, so that the person behind you can keep a straight line too.  Some riders were apparently weaving around a fair bit, and the guys behind them had to work twice as hard as the rest to compensate.  For them it was like being at the front of the pack all the time, with no opportunity to tuck in behind for a break.  I feel so bad for Paul O’Hara-Hoke, who is especially beginning to show signs of extreme fatigue.  He has so many aches and pains that he normally never has to deal with.

Amazingly, we finished our day on time.  I think we would all take a day of climbing out West over this flat day in the head/cross-wind.  I was so proud of the team today…..everyone took their turn pulling out front.  I have figured out that for me to pull the group into winds requires me to do a standing pull, which for many riders is extra effort, but for me is way easier.  There is an extra benefit to it too, as the person behind me actually gets a draft when I stand so they are not tired out when it’s their turn to pull.  I feel really bad on these windy days that I can’t provide more protection for the person behind me.  One of the guys said today that it was like drafting a razor blade. HA!

The 130km felt like a 200.  Fortunately we finished with enough time to get to Trois Riviere in time to have a BBQ with the New York Fries guys again and the CtoC community events team.  We were all ready for a second dinner.  What a day.  What a good night’s sleep we need!

Team 1, Day 12 - As a team we continue to evolve

Day 11 - Kingston to Belleville

Today we woke up at the Sears store in Kingston to sunny skies and a warm 10 degrees.  I had enjoyed sleeping with my family in our rented RV that is coming along with us to Halifax.  Once again Sears put out a great spread.

Today was a little difficult for some emotionally.  Many riders had seen their families the day before and once again had to say goodbye knowing that there were still so many miles to go.  The stories of survival and of loss the day before had taken their toll on so many of us as well.  The fatigue was beginning to show.  We also had lost our two amazing RV drivers Doug and Tim.  They took such good care of us and they both had such enormous hearts that it was really sad saying goodbye to them.  We got another 2 really great guys in their place – Larry Optis, who is a long-time Coast to Coast volunteer who is part of the amazing Inside Ride crew (and a physical super-freak who could ride Vancouver to Halifax and back again with no trouble), and Thomas Longo who is a sweet young guy.  Seeing that everyone was a little quiet, our free-spirited Don Fox brought out his boom box and put the tunes on in the parking lot.  A spontaneous dance erupted and soon had everyone big smiles on their faces.  I know this is kind of a “had to be there thing”, but it was hilarious as we created new dances – the “recovery cream” dance, the “fill your face dance”, the “Lori-Ann” dance (our amazing massage therapist who has been at the roadside so many times doing her special dance as we pedal by), the “5-minutes!!! panic dance”, etc. etc.  It’s funny what will take the edge off.

Today was a special day for our team-mate Damon Allen, as we were riding to the huge Sears Catalogue and Distribution center in Belleville.  We couldn’t get that guy to slow down for anything.  We had the most incredibly scenic drive lakeside, but as I said, fatigue was beginning to break the group up.  It was in the hills especially where the different riding styles became apparent.  It was a long day of steep rollers.  I usually love to see hills, but I wasn’t feeling as fresh as on day 2 and 3.  Once again, it was a team effort that got us through the 180kms.

There was a large crowd of Sears employees waiting for us when we pulled into the Belleville center.  A band was playing and Damon received a hero’s welcome.  On top of what Damon had fundraised, Sears presented the Coast to Coast Foundation with a cheque for just over $10,000.  We relaxed in the sunshine with our lazagne and then used the locker room there to shower and get ready for a big shuttle ahead to Montreal.  My kids were so excited that they were going to Quebec!

Team 1, Day 11 – Today we ride for the little souls that have gone to Heaven

Day 10 - Woodstock to Sherway Gardens

My hometown.  We were the hosts for breakfast this morning, and it was a real treat to get to see my family and friends again.  It feels like I have been away for weeks since so much has happened since I left.  I slept last night with Olivia wrapped around me (poor Jim).  When we woke up Jim had everything underway for a fantastic breakfast.  My good friend LIZ BOYD did so much work preparing for this morning.  She and her daughter Britney screamed into the parking lot before 6am to start setting up.  They had everything a rider could want…..coffee (most important), yogurt with fresh berries and cereal, scrambled egg wraps (a huge hit with the riders) and of course pancakes and sausages for everyone.

All 3 teams were together again, and Jeff Rushton was with us again.  Having him there to ride with us just seems to give all the NR’s extra wings.  His enthusiasm is contagious.  After a few words from our mayor, MP and MPP, we were so happy to see Melodie MacDonald and her daughter Rachel come up to the “stage” to let us all know how Rachel has been doing in the past year with her cancer treatments.  Those who were there last year remembered her with an oxygen tube in her nose, no hair on her head, a walker and she was extremely tiny.  This year we saw a vibrant, brown curly haired girl with lots of smiles.  Melodie shared that Rachel is doing so much better, but also told us that someone had actually asked her if all the treatments and everything were “worth it”.  People say the strangest things.  Of course it’s worth it….she’s her daughter and every parent would do anything to help their child get well.

I was so glad that when Jenn Davies got on stage she told everyone the story of Jacob Hagen-Johnson.  Jacob holds a special place in the hearts of Woodstonians, as he was the reason for incredible amounts of fundraising this year to help his family cope with the financial burden of having a child with cancer.  Jacob was diagnosed early this year, received full chemo and radiation treatment and was cancer free.  He was waiting in Sick Kids Hospital for a stem cell transplant when his organs failed.  This happened 2 days after we finished the Tour for Kids in August.  Our ride today was dedicated to him.  It was also dedicated to Nick VanDyk, which is very special to me.  So much of my fundraising happened because of the VanDyk family who are committed to raising money to help cancer research in Nick’s memory.  I was also privileged to ride with Nick’s Aunt Rosie and cousin Ashley again as ride along riders.

A HUGE THANK-YOU to Liz, our staff and all the many volunteers who came out to help put the breakfast together.  I can’t start naming all the names because I risk forgetting someone….but I saw you all and thank you from the bottom of my heart.  Thank you to all my church family for coming out to show your support as well, and so many GoodLife friends as well.  I love you all so much.

We rolled out of Woodstock pretty much on time this year to head to Brantford.  The roads were in great condition and we made good time.  It was a treat to see our former Pastor Greg Bylsma and his family here, even if it was only for a few minutes.  Their smiles are enough to brighten anyone’s day.  After picking up a few more ride-alongs, we made our way to Burlington in good time.  I was allowed to ride up at the front of the pack because I had mentioned that I had some family waiting for me there.  Wow….what a turnout.  My mom and dad, sisters and their husbands and kids, cousins and friends were there.  It was extra special that my Uncle Jack and Aunt Jo had come as well, and they brought with them a picture of my cousin Jacqueline that was taken of her at 18 months, shortly before she died.  I was very emotional to see everyone – their support means so much to me, and to see what this means for my Uncle and Aunt is incredibly moving.  Our visit seemed too short.

At this stop we as riders also got to hear Josh’s story…..one that has touched us all so deeply, as he has been riding with us for the past couple of days on a tandem bicycle.  He is one of our amazing child ambassadors.  He spoke to the riders last year about how he dreamed of being able to ride with them, and now his dream was coming true.  He spoke to parents and children about hope.  I believe a video of his speech can be viewed on the SNKCR website, and I really encourage anyone who wasn’t there to try to find it and watch it.  Our mantra today was in Josh’s honour

All SNKCR riders on Day 10, today we ride with Josh because he can!

After lunch we had only 2 short legs of riding to Oakville Place and then on to Sherway Gardens.  Because we had so many ride along riders, including some children, it was decided to dial the pace way back to keep everyone together.  This seemed to work much better than last year, and the enormous peloton of riders was very impressive.  Unfortunately the slow, extended time in the saddle wasn’t the best thing for those of us with somewhat tender backsides.  We all had a little extra medicating that night, and made plans to not let the butt butter get too far out of reach the next day.

Our amazing sponsor New York Fries had prepared a wonderful BBQ dinner for us that night at Sherway Gardens.  Once the huge community event wrapped up, we all piled into the RV’s again.  Teams 2 and 3 both had fairly long shuttles, but we were lucky that we only had to get to Kingston.  Aahhhh…an early night in bed.

Day 9 - Tobermory to Collingwood

So maybe the fish and chips and wine wasn’t the best idea I’ve had on this trip.  My legs felt like lead this morning.  We had a fairly long first half, having to cover 110kms of 180 before lunch.  It didn’t help that we had a bit of a head/cross-wind and the road had been scraped for paving.  It felt like we were riding on cobblestone for really long stretches, which is really hard on the body.  We have a rider in our group who has a broken bone in her foot, and she was an amazing trouper.  She’s our youngest rider, Sioban (pronounced Chevon) and a recent university graduate.  If you’ve ever had a broken bone, you know that vibration can send you through the roof in pain.  She could have pulled herself off the road, but just kept pedaling while crying through the pain.  It broke my heart and made me so proud of her.  Here’s another example of how teamwork gets things done.  Our captain, Dave Wilson, told Sioban to stop pedaling when we hit the rough patches and he would be there beside her to push her.  It takes incredible strength to get your own body down the road, nevermind pushing someone else.  Some of these guys amaze me.  They’ll even push another rider UP a hill if they are struggling.

I thought the morning would never end.  I am normally quite strong in the climbs, but every little incline this morning hurt.  My legs would not do what I asked them to do, but I managed to position myself in the peloton so that I had the wind blocked by another rider to ease the load.  We have to communicate this to each other so that we get protection when needed.  As we were getting closer to Fergus/Guelph I also found myself thinking about my Aunt Jo and Uncle Jack who had to endure the loss of my cousin Jacqueline, and I received strength as I remembered my Aunt’s words that there are many things in our lives that are set before us to refine us.  God puts us through the fire so that when we emerge on the other side we are more like Him.  My weak legs suddenly seemed rather unimportant.

I was happy to see lunch.  We received a warm reception by the Sears gang in Owen Sound, and I made a point of eating an enormous lunch.  This time I made the right choices, and it made all the difference in the afternoon.  Rolling out of Owen Sound there are some beautiful hills and the scenery was spectacular.  My climbing legs seemed to be back, so the final 70km was very enjoyable.  We were rolling into the hometown of 2 riders from our team (and my RV) – Simon Williams and Melody McCague.  They received a heroes welcome from their friends and family, and some even joined us 10km short of the destination to ride with us.  We rolled into the village to check out the registration of the “Centurion” – a 170km registered ride that happens in the massive hills of Collingwood every year.  More friends were waiting there to greet Simon and Melody.  We rolled into the Days Inn for supper and showers, and then shuttled ahead to Woodstock.  I was so excited to see Jim and the girls, and knew that they would be waiting in our rented RV at our store.  We decided that they would sleep there with me for the night since Jim had to be up so early to get the community breakfast going.  My sweet Olivia wrapped her arms around me the second she saw me and she didn’t let go until I had to leave her at 6am.  It was good to be home.

Back to Blogging - Yay!!!

Day 8 - Part Deux

We arrived at the Ferry with 15 minutes to spare.  We had a wonderful reunion with Team 2.  Everyone was so glad to see each other again after only 7 ½ days, but we were disappointed to learn that the reservation for the boat didn’t include our 3 cube vans, which meant that 6 volunteers had to drive the 8 hours around to try to rendevous with their teams.  Our 2 amazing RV drivers Doug and Tim stepped up to say that they would do the drive so that Rich and Matt (our crew chief and right-hand man) could stay with the team to co-ordinate the next day.  It was a quick shuffle of supplies and we were loaded onto the ferry.  4 of our cube vans were slid within inches on either side of a cattle truck, so the RV’s didn’t look so great when we pulled out (not sure why I shared that, but we take pride in keeping our RV’s clean).

After settling into Tobermory for the night, we all were treated to dinner in a cozy restaurant.  Choices were either fish and chips or pasta, and I thought the fish and chips might me a nice change.  I also treated myself to some wine, as many of the other riders were having a beer.  All in all a really nice end to a day where our legs got a break from riding because of scheduling demands and very poor weather conditions.

Team 1, Day 8 – Spinning the pedals and feeling great!

Day 8 - Sault Ste. Marie to Tobermory

Pouring Rain….all night.  Some found it hard to sleep, but for me it reminded me of sleeping at my parent’s cottage.  We awoke in the parking lot of another Sears Corporate store in Sault Ste. Marie, and were invited inside the mall for breakfast.  Our volunteers are looking extremely tired this morning, so a few of us have volunteered to do some driving today if necessary in order to let them get their heads down.  A couple of them only had 2 hours of sleep because today’s logistics changed a little and they had to get it worked out.  It is absolutely imperative that we make it to the Ferry by 3pm or we will not make it to Woodstock for Friday night.

We just ate lunch in Thessalon and are on our way to the Ferry.  Will try to blog again later.

Please keep reading other rider blogs from the team here as they are having more luck with their Blackberry devices.  There are some great pics and videos up on the SNKCR site as well from our team.