Martin Lacelle

Day 14-15

Day 14 – 15

On the 22, we left Dieppe for Charlottetown.  We are the only team to hit PEI this year.  All day, we had a special rider with us – the President and CEO of Sears Canada, Dean Rogers.  It was a little intimidating to have him ride with us; he is a big guy!!  The whole morning had a different ring to it.  We all knew that this was going to be our last ride alone as Team 3.  The weather was nice and a little warmer than the other mornings.  We stopped at a nice little Sears store for our first break.  The girls were awesome and very happy to see us there.  After break, our captain gave Domenic and me the ok to give Mr. Rogers a chance to loosen up his legs. We started sprinting away from the group and rapidly hit speeds of over 50km/h. However, we hit construction about 5km down the road.  We had to be shuttled passed it (Greg, the mechanic, would not have repaired the multiple flats it would have created!!).  We did not get a chance to ‘race’ with Dean until after dinner in PEI.  Lunch was served in a park by the ocean, close to the bridge. It was our first burger lunch provided by New York Fries –the peaceful atmosphere gave us a chance to reflect on the days behind us.  We all asked to go over the bridge on our bikes – of course, the answer was no!  PEI felt like a completely different from all of the country; the red soil, the potato fields (not wheat or corn), the rolling hills. We took a few wrong turns that day; making our ride about 175km. Charlottetown greeted us with media, firemen, army trucks and a smiling staff! We had tons of good hearty food to choose from.  After a few presentations, we were supposed to head for Lower Sackville, NS for a SNKCR celebration before the last day.  The team decided to ‘treat’ Mr. Rogers to an extra few kilometres of ‘hard’ riding.  We started with group of 5 – 3 km in, the group became 4. After a couple hills, we were 3.  Mr Rogers, Domenic and me were going at a hard pace as the sun was setting on PEI.  At the crest of a hill, I was changing my gears to get to the right on when I dropped my chain.  I tried to get it back on the front derailleur but it was stuck.  By that time, they were gone!  I was really disappointed!!  From those moments, I realized that I want to race next season – my new cycling goal (there might be a Coast to Coast to Coast in the works, yes.. from West to East and back).  We were the last Team to arrive at the celebrations.  We had lobster bisque, salmon and crab legs for an evening snack.  The cops came 3 times to let us know that we were making too much noise – the music stopped but we were still out.  I think it was past 3am when we went to bed that night.  We got up at the usual 6 am on Day 15.

My first priority that morning was to give my bike to Greg to have my chain fixed and ready for the ride.  As I was having breakfast, he came over to let me know that everything was ready to go – Thanks Greg!  That morning was very hectic.  We were 40 cyclists trying to get ready instead of 12, a police escort was waiting for us and Jeff knew that we had to stick the schedule for the morning. The morning dedication went out to Ulana’s daughter that passed from cancer.  Blue was her favourite color – we all wore a blue ribbon on our helmets in memory.  The survival rate is very high for a disease like cancer.  It is actually over 15 % higher in children compared to adults.  Losing a child to cancer makes that rate not high enough.  That day, we all rode for a lost child of a fellow cyclist, of a friend. That blue ribbon represented the thousands of Canadian children that won’t get to live their dreams because of cancer. We left Lower Sackville for the Swiss Air 111 memorial and Peggy’s cove.  From there, we rode to the Sears at the Halifax Mall.  It was a 50 km trek on a rolling terrain, a pretty regular and easy ride normally. That morning, Domenic wanted his Dad, Vince, to ride with him.  His dad just started to ride.  He’s a good rider; he was just not used to the rollers and to our speed.  Dom was working hard to make sure that his father would not get picked up by the follow vehicle.  It didn’t take long for me to realise this and we both pushed him up hills and on some of the flats to catch up to the group.  Team 3 stayed with us cheering him on.  In my mind, there was no way that Domenic and his dad would not finish this ride together. Vince worked hard that day and rode all the way to the beach to see his son dip his wheel on the ocean.  At the Sears, my wife and my father (his wife and their son) were there to greet me!  It felt great to have family share this moment with me.  A few hugs and kisses and a quick lunch before we left for the IWK hospital for an Inside ride.  It was awesome to be cheering in the place of the essence of the ride- a children’s hospital. The next 2km were bitter sweet.  They were the last 2 km of this adventure that I signed on to do almost a year ago and it meant going back to ‘normal’ life. We got to throw our rocks that we had picked up at White Rock, BC - the rock that we carried in our back pockets everyday reminding us that ONE heart is all we need to touch to make a significant different.

We had a dinner that evening.  It was nice to see everyone dressed up - we all looked amazing in non cycling/work attire. It was a celebration of our efforts, of our memories and of what life will be after SNKCR - no one can go home the same as they arrived in Vancouver after living a SNCKR adventure!

Thanks for reading my adventure… one more blog is to come soon…

Good night…

Day 13…

This morning, we woke up in the parking of the Nacawick arena.  The staff from Home Hardware greeted us with a great warm breakfast. We left at 8am this morning with, again, a tail wind and beautiful sunshine.  This first stretch of 70km was the longest we went between rest stops – we normally ride between 45 km and 65 km to a rest stop. We flew through it with the wind at our back. I guess that changing the ride to September was a good idea. We arrived in Fredericton at the Sears, greeted by the Mayor and smiling Sears workers, to a rest stop that looked like a brunch! Fresh fruits, great bread and juices – a little something to fill everyone’s stomach.  The local newspaper was there also, taking shots and asking questions for tomorrow’s paper.  After another 45km, it was time for lunch in Tracy.  The store arranged a ton of food – salads, soup, pizza, pasta and treats. After about 5km from the lunch stop, a whole elementary school was on the side of the road to cheer us on.  We made a special stop to talk to the kids and tell them more about riding across the country for paediatric cancer.  The rest of the ride was smooth and full of great rollers! We had a police escort us into St-John.  He made us visit the whole city, taking us up all the hills.  It was great to ride with him; he would stop drivers at red lights to let us through – I wish we could have that in every town!! We had a great diner from a local Italian restaurant –great pasta!!

Today’s dedication went out to Vicky’s roommates while she was undergoing her cancer treatments.  She told us how things used to be back then with cancer patients.  She could tell when they would walk into the room if it was good or bad news. Its amazing the improvements the hospitals and staff have made to improve the lives of childhood cancer patients.

Tomorrow, we will ride from Moncton, NB to Charlottetown, PEI.  It should be a ride close to 180km on mostly sunny weather. We will be riding with the CEO of Sears, Mr. Dean Rogers.

Its rest time now!

Good night…

Jour 12…

Salut mes amis francophones!  Nous nous sommes réveillés dans le stationnement du Sears à Lévis vers 6h ce matin.  En sortant, nous avons été voir si notre photographe dormait encore – en effet, il semblait très bien dans le lit de la caravane. Nous l’avons tous surpris (et réveillé) en lui chantant Bonne Fête! Julian était très heureux d’entendre ce chant mélodieux venant de ses nouveaux amis.  C’était la première fois que nous étions accueillit dès notre réveil par une station de radio.  Marie-Ève, de chez CKOI, était présente pour faire des annonces à la radio de notre présence à Lévis.  Elle avait même des prix de présence à donner pour les premières personnes se rendant sur place. Encore une fois, le soleil était présent pour nous toute la journée.  Nous avions même un vent de dos jusqu’à St-Pascal. Les gens des magasins Sears était très sympathiques.  Isabelle, du Sears à St-Jean Port Joli, avait même organisé un emplacement en cas de pluie. Merci beaucoup Isabelle. Nous avons continué notre route pour Rivière du Loup, totalisant près de 200 km.  Il était 17h30 lorsque nous nous sommes arrêtés au Sears.  Mathieu était présent pour nous accueillir et pour nous servir à souper (soupe, spaghetti et gâteau au carottes). Après cet excellent plein d’énergie, nous nous sommes dirigés vers les douches au centre sportif.  Nous avons maintenant quittés Rivière du Loup – il est 20h45.  La journée sur la route était très difficile et longue.  Il a fait chaud vers l’heure du diner et la température c’est vite refroidie après 15h.  Avec  plus de 50km avant Rivière du Loup, des vents de coté ou de face se sont ajoutés sur notre liste de défis. La sensation euphorique du départ de Vancouver s’est lentement dissipée avec les nuits courtes et les longues journées sur le vélo.  Pour la première fois, les roues de 2 membres de l’équipe se sont touchées causant un accident – sans blessure aux vélos, ni aux membres de l’équipe.  Notre vigilance sur la route va être doublement importante avec seulement que 3 jours de vélo avant l’arrivée à Halifax.

Merci à toutes les communautés  de la belle province. La route 132 longeant le St-Laurent était superbe-au tant le pavé que le paysage.

La journée a été dédiée à Patrick Desforges.  Il était atteint d’un cancer de la peau en 2007. Deux ans plus tard, lors d’une joute de hockey, les joueurs ont remarqués une bosse sur son épaule. Le cancer avait revenue et c’était propagé à différents organes de son corps.  Lorsqu’il était dans la salle d’opération pour une chirurgie pour enlever les cancers, sa femme accouchait de leur 2ieme enfant. Patrick a perdu sa bataille au cancer en juin 2009.  Sa femme et ses enfants vont le manquer énormément.  Il a touché positivement la vie de toutes les personnes qu’il a connu.  Merci pour ton courage et pour tes conseils au golf.

Demain, nous partons de Nackawic, NB en direction de Saint-John, NB en passant par Fredericton. Nous allons avoir près de 170km sur la route.  J’espère que mes coéquipiers vont avoir  repris des forces pour les 3 prochains jours.

Bonne nuit à tous!