The Swim mini fundraiser

On Friday after work a couple coworkers and I managed to convince my boss to donate money to the Heartwood Place and Bike for Bricks team to the tune of $0.10 for every length of the pool I could swim before the next set of patrons came to the facility. So, with an opportunity to raise some money and get a good workout my ridiculously in-shape coworker and I donned our bathing suits and hopped in. With my swimming partner Shannon providing motivation (which means I didn't want to let a girl beat me) we managed to pound out an incredible 200 lengths each in 1hr40min.
My legs hurt, my hands hurt, my lungs and shoulders and stomach hurt but hurt a lot less than biking across Canada!
Thanks Dave for the 20$ donation and Shannon for making me go farther than I would otherwise have gone - and also for providing me with the opportunity to tell people that I can swim 5km
For those of you interested in donating some money to the Heartwood Place please visit their website
Or contact us on facebook.

Thanks!

Getting Back in the Saddle...Literally

A note on getting back in the saddle...Literally.

Saddle, n.  Principal point of contact
with the planet earth for seven weeks.

This trip across Canada is less than three weeks away and it has slowly been taking over most aspects of my life. It's getting to the point where there is seldom a waking hour that passes when the trip isn't the main focus of my thoughts. Whether it's the logistics or the trip and wondering (worrying) how we're going to feed ourselves, or the physical aspect and wondering how we're going to maintain a pace of 160kms a day for 50 days, or the equipment and preparation that's still required, or raising money for the Heartwood Place, there's always questions to ponder and answers to find.
When I first tell people about this trip the initial reactions are incredibly consistent, "wow, that's how you're going to spend your summer?! You're crazy."
Or
"Are you sure you can even make it? You're crazy"
Or some other variation on that basic premise. For me though, this is about more than raising money or looking for an interesting, challenging, almost unique way to spend the summer - though this trip is definitely those things and more. For me, this is (as the title states) about getting back in the saddle. At the end of last summer while bicycling to work one morning I had a bad accident and went over the handle bars of my bike and shattered my collar bone in a half a dozen places. It required surgery to have a plate installed and I had to move back in with my parents because for almost two months I could barely get out of bed without help let alone take care of myself. It was the longest, least stimulating 2months of my life. I ended up losing 15lbs due to inactivity and all of my upper body strength and took 4 months before I could do a real workout.
Although there are still certain activities that cause pain in my clavicle, 9 months later my body is back to normal and all that's left to do is prove to myself and anyone else who's suffered an athletic induced injury that getting up after getting knocked down is always an option. Even if you get knocked down for 2months! So here I am, within a month of a cross-Canada-cycle...Bring it on!

Mental Milestone

Kyle fixing his alignment in Paris.

Kyle and I took advantage of some gorgeous weather on Saturday to do our longest ride of the season.  We took the Paris-Cambridge trail to Paris, then home through Ayr and  Heidelberg (map).  In total, it was 155km for me, and slightly less for Kyle.  We did get split up in New Dundee when Kyle got a flat and hitchhiked into Kitchener to upgrade his tires.   Kyle also took a spill near Paris, but was able to realign his own wheels.

I call this a major mental milestone because it is my first ride that is longer than our daily average mileage for the trip.  It is very relieving to know that we can do that distance with relatively little soreness or fatigue.  I did a quick 35kms today and I still feel pretty good.  I know that the repeated 100+km days will take a toll, but at this point in time I'm feeling great about our training and capabilities.

Thanks for reading!
Jordan 

Could you host us for a night?

We're starting to put together a rough itinerary. If you or someone you know lives close to any of the cities listed below we'd love to stay at your place for the night. We'd be really good guests, we promise!

Montreal: June 22

Quebec City: June 23/34

Fredericton: June 28

Moncton: June 29

St. John's: July 5

Vancouver: July 8/9

Canmore: July 14

Calgary: July 15/16

Medicine Hat: July 18

Regina: July 21

Winnipeg: July 25

Thunder Bay: July 30

Owen Sound: August 6

The dates may change by a few days as we fine tune the schedule.

Click this link for a rough schedule of our trip. If you live in a small town maybe you'll be close by.

Kyle's training update

The last week I tested myself with a few longer bike rides.

On Tuesday, May 1st I biked around 85 km (Winterburne, Kitchener, Elmira, Elora and Winterburne).

Saturday, May 5th I biked just over 100 km. See link below for the rough route.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=202826703769296425261.0004bf41c3c77788ae047

Biked just over 50 km today. I was planning on doing more, but I got tired...

We're estimating we'll need to average 150 km per day to get across Canada in under two months so I still have some work to do to get myself in biking across Canada shape.

Checked my back tire this Monday morning. The back tire was flat. Apparently my bike tire was tired too!