Happy and sad....the finish line...

It's been 5 years now that I have been involved with the Wellspring ride.  I'm always feeling conflicted in my final blog post for the event.  The feelings of sadness comes from knowing that this year's event has come to an end. The feeling of sadness that all the riders and volunteers whom we have been connected with will be parting ways...and going back to the reality of life.  We would no longer be immersed in our adventure...on our bikes every day cycling for Wellspring. 

That all said...the feelings of happiness are also overwhelming. The feeling of knowing that my entire family has been involved with a cause that will help others access much valued cancer support services.  This year, we have personally raised over $17,000 for Wellspring.  I also feel happiness for the incredible group of people we have connected with through this event.  The incredible group of people of all ages, all walks of life, all coming together for a single cause - riders and volunteers.  And of course, the awesome feeling of accomplishment once again in completing the long distance cycling to our destination....rain or shine, day or night.  This year especially with all the rain that we had to endure...we did not stop.

Once again, Gail, myself, Ben, and Mya are tremendously grateful for the amazing and continued support we receive from our friends, family, and colleagues.

Some final stats:

• Total kilometres completed personally on this ride:  810
• Total calories according to my bike computer:  27,924
• Average overall speed:  27.7 km/hr
• Top speed on my bike:  72.2 km/hr
• Total elevation:  5,517 meters
• Most distance in a single day:  240 kms on day 1 of the ride

Here's a quick run-down of the last 2 days...

Our second last team ride started in Hattiesburg, MS and finished in Long Beach, MS.  It was dedicated to Anne Armstrong Gibson...it is the 20th anniversary of her passing....she is the founder of Wellspring...and she is also our team-mate Sandy's mother.  It was very meaningful for us to have Sandy on our team, riding in honour of his Mom.

Other memorable parts of today's ride:

• the moment when we were able to see the water....we knew that we were almost there...and amazed on how far we have come
• having our 'guest' cyclist from team 3, Denys, who decided to do 3 relay shifts on this day and a total of 290kms;  we didn't let him stop there however - Will and myself joined him on a ceremonial 11km ride to ensure he finished 301kms for the day!
• and as team 5, we were the last team to arrive at Long Beach, where the rest of the teams were waiting and cheered us into our destination for the day.

My team....cycling next to the water:

Here's what Denys looked like at the 300km mark for the day...still smiling!

Great to have him join our team for today's ride:

  

The final ride for our event is the most unique out of all the days. Instead of 5 separate teams - we all ride together as 1 big group...we all work together to get to our finish line. A full peloton. No relay. 134kms in distance from Long Beach to our finish line in Lafayette Square, New Orleans.

A big group dedication to Wellspring and all the people who benefit from Wellspring was led by my team-mate Will....who is a cancer survivor himself...and who credits Wellspring for helping him with his cancer battle and for him being able to participate in this year's ride.  We were reminded and inspired by our warrior, Doug, whose motto is 'no one fights cancer alone'.  With that, we set off to complete our 6 hour trek along the coast to NOLA.

 Group dedication:

Weather was cool and overcast to start:

Front of the peloton bike selfie!

Group photo at the Louisiana border:

The skies cleared and the sun came out as we entered the city limits of New Orleans:

Finish line team photo at Lafayette Square:

VERY COOL gift to the team from our Wellspring Warrior, Doug:

So awesome to be greeted by all the friends and family at the finish...and especially awesome to be with my awesome wife Gail:

That's all for now.  I will post more photos to my flickr page once I have a chance to upload everything back at home.

-billy

Spectacular Downpours and BIG trucks!

The idea of this ride is that we don't stop. We cover every kilometer from Toronto to New Orleans. People can't take a break from fighting cancer...and neither will we on our ride.

We have had a couple of tough cycling days. Our third shift was from 6am to noon on Tuesday. Ideally, we start in the darkness of the night, and watch the sunrise as we make our way through the planned route. Well...the sun never came out. It was 6 hours of this:

The rain was relentless. It kept coming down. Everything was went....everything. The support from our follow vehicle drivers and motorhome was fantastic to help our team through the shift. Nancy and Steve brought us a very much appreciated breakfast for our first break and Beth, Roger, and Charles ensure the cars on the road knew that there was a cycling group ahead in such conditions.  Team 1 surprised us with coffee and hot chocolate at our last rest break before we finished 115kms near Greeneville, Tennessee.

Take a look at the amount of water on beside us on the road...it was as high as the curb...

Still smiling despite the rain....

The rain did stop....after our ride...and one of our highlights for the day (aside from the opportunity to bike in torrential downpours) was the opportunity to stop into Knoxville for some lunch and a bit of sightseeing:

Our ride on this rainy day was dedicated to Miller, who is Will's wife's cousin living in Vancouver. He's been fighting cancer since April of this year.

The next shift for our team was from noon to 6pm.  Typically, this is the full daytime ride where we get to actually see things along the way.  We started just west of Attalla, Alabama and rode 127kms finishing in the town of Jasper.

Here's was we saw most of the way...lots and lots of traffic....and BIG trucks....

Our follow vehicle is pulled over to the side in the photo above. It's because we need to stop once in a while to let traffic pass to minimize backing everyone up behind us...or drivers doing stupid or dangerous passing. Unfortunately, it meant that we stopped about a billion times over the course of our 6 hours.

The big trucks constantly passing by was also a bit stressful:

We did have a few highlights for the day...we had an opportunity to meet and speak about Wellspring to some nice folks at the Lakewood Senior Living Centre in Jasper. They graciously provided their parking lot for our team transition and wanted to hear more about what we were doing.  Will and myself were voted in to be the spokespeople:

Another highlight was a fantastic local meal at Warehouse 3Nineteen in Jasper:

I have to give kudos to our team mate Eric, who is a driving machine....after the long day and dinner, he drove almost 4 hours to Hattiesburg, Mississippi so that we could be close to our next transition. We arrived around 1am in the morning:

For this past ride....we had a couple of dedications:

To Melanie, who works at Eric's office. Eric was informed that she was diagnosed with cancer a few days ago while on the ride.  She has a tough battle ahead, and we were thinking about her during this day.

To Tony and Sandy, a family friend of Gail and I. Sadly, Tony passed away a few days ago while I was on the ride, and his funeral was today while I was riding our shift.  I was not able to be there...and had them in our thoughts as well.  :(

So far...I have personally cycled 595kms since Saturday at the launch...and our entire team has covered close to 2500kms so far.  Almost to the finish line...

My fundraising is currently just over $17,000....wow!  Thank you to everyone for your support. There's still time to donate if you haven't already:  www.wellspring.ca/billyc

-billy

Day 2 - Night Rider

I'm going to start off my day 2 update with our ride dedications. One of the things that each team does before each ride....is to have a personal dedication to someone who is either going through the cancer journey or has gone through the journey.  These dedications reinforces the significance of Wellspring, as well as keeps the team moving when times are tough.

Our day 1 dedication was to our friend Doug, who is our team's warrior, as well as someone who has dedicated many many hours to volunteering for great causes, including for the Wellspring ride. Additionally, we also dedicated this ride to Doug's son-in-law Chris and his family, who most recently was diagnosed with cancer.  Chris has a tough path over the next number of months along with many challenges. Our entire team is hopeful that Chris will conquer these challenges and win the battle.

Our day 2 dedication was to Mark, who is my team mate Eric's brother-in-law, and who is fighting this horrible disease. Again, our team is hopeful that Mark will pull through the tough times he faces.

In terms of today's ride....it was our night ride...cycling in the darkness from midnight to 6am...in Virginia, from Winchester to Harrisonburg. It is most likely our toughest shift during this event. The theme was hills, and more hills. There was 1400m in total elevation to climb and we rode 113kms....and to add to this challenge, we were also hit with rain, making it a very wet ride.  On a positive note, Virginia roads are in fantastic condition and the road surfaces were very smooth. Not sure we saw much in terms of pot holes and debris.  That said, lots of road kill including a skunk, several possums, squirrels, and a raccoon.  And oh yes, we also saw a number of deer staring at the us...wondering what was disturbing them in the middle of the night.

Not too many photos today....due to both the darkness and the rain...the camera did not come out too much:

Our team before the ride...and before we got really wet from the rain...

Here's our follow vehicle and my bike....along with a sense of what was coming down:

What a night transition between 2 teams looks like (in the middle of no where...usually on the side of the road at a parking lot):

Team 1 doing their dedication prior to their ride:

With some of our awesome volunteers....they keep us safe and help to support the ride:

Day 1 - A most inspiring first day of the Wellspring Ride 2015

Hi All!

Sorry for the delay in blogging about the ride this year.  My riding and shift schedule meant there was even less downtime than normal for me!  I'm going to send this update from day one out....then try to get a few hours of sleep before getting up at 4am for our next ride shift.

The launch morning was bigger and more inspiring than ever. We had both our Peloton riders, as well as the 1 day event riders on hand....and many, many supporters out to cheer us on.  Overall, it's great to see how this event has continued to grow...and to see more and more people involved and become a part of such an important cause.  Without this support, Wellspring would not be able to help so many people battling cancer.

Here's my team this year - with Will, Eric, and Sandy.  Eric was on my team last year. Will was our cancer warrior last year (you may have seen him on Canada Am with me!). and Sandy is riding in honour of his Mom, who was the founder of Wellspring!  Go Team 5! Woohoo!

Although this is my 5th year cycling for Wellspring and cancer support...my launch day was completely different and unique. I was looking to fulfill my commitment to do a double shift as a result of everyone helping to get me to more that $15,000 in fundraising by this time. Thank you again!

The double shift turned out to be a unique opportunity to ride with 4 of the 5 teams involved with this event. It was a fantastic experience, and the weather (aside from the constant wind for a few of the shifts) was almost perfect.  My total distance covered was just over 240kms between 9am and midnight.

Here's the route that I covered on my bike in 2 segments on the first day - Canada and USA:

Some photos from the day...

At the first rest stop when I was riding with Team 1 - along with some fantastic volunteers out to provide water to the riders:

Shift 1 completed....with Team 1:

Selfie photo with Team 3 as we rode our bikes across the Peace bridge!

This is me as I decided to take a break after 160kms....needed to save some energy to ride with my Team at 9pm that evening....

Needed a wider lens....however, this is almost the whole group of riders and volunteers heading to New Orleans:

Okay ---- the wifi is really bad at the hotel I'm at currently....so will need to wait to post Day 2...!

-billy

Making A Difference

Global TV put together a great segment on the Wellspring ride. It's only a few minutes long and really captures what the event is all about and why we are doing all this cycling. Our team's cancer warrior from last year, Will Tompkinson speaks about what the ride means to him....and it's significance.  He's on my team this year and riding with me all the way to NOLA. Amazing.

Click HERE for the Global TV video.

By the way....they spent over 4 hours filming us in interviews and cycling to produce these 3 minutes!  The folks at Global TV definitely have a passion for telling the best story possible!

Only a couple of more days before we start riding!  I need to pack....

Here'a photo at the finish line last year with Will as well as another cancer warrior Vanessa. I'm really looking forward to instead be cycling with Will to the finish line this time.

Anything is possible

Thanks to everyone's generosity, we (Gail, Mya, Ben, and myself) have achieved our fundraising goal of $15,000 for Wellspring's cancer support programs. This means that I will honour my commitment of a DOUBLE RELAY shift during the Wellspring Ride. 

Logistically, it makes the most sense for me to attempt this on the first day of the event.  So....this means that on Saturday, September 26th - I will start cycling at 9am and continue until midnight - for a total of over 300+ kms.

Never having done this type of distance before, I'm hoping to prove that 'anything is possible' (with an extra bit of determination and effort) !  

After this long first day, I will then join my team and continue with the 'normal' relay shifts of cycling 120kms each day for the next 6 days until we reach New Orleans. I'm sure that my body will probably scream at me in new ways that I have not felt before.  My plan is to keep pushing ahead knowing that it's still nothing compared to what those fighting cancer go through.

Check back to see how all this goes....I will be updating this blog regularly all the way to New Orleans.

All are invited to the start line! It's at the Wellspring House in Oakville, and festivities start at 8am on Saturday, September 26th.  It will be great to see you! More details here:

www.wellspring.ca/2015pelotoninvite

By the way....I was thinking of testing a new bike for this event....what do you think?  Found it at LegoLand!

Hmmm....Do you think I have a chance?

I have been nominated for an award...apparently related to what I have been doing with the Wellspring Ride the past number of years. I was definitely surprised, and it was unexpected. Also because there are so many people involved in making the event a success -- all the riders, volunteers, and as well, the staff at Wellspring.  Gail, Mya, and Benjamin are also very significant in helping with so many aspects of this event. It's really not just me...

The nomination was the work of Katie Mosher and Nicole Beier....Katie was a rider last year in the event...and she and Nicole work for Wellspring.  The award is for 'Outstanding Philanthropist'. Yes, you heard me. Philanthropist. Definitely NOT a word that I would ever use to describe myself. To me....a philanthropist is someone who is able to donate wheelbarrows of $$$$ for fantastic causes and for those who have buildings named after them as a result. Last time I checked, I don't even own a wheelbarrow....and really the only thing with my name on it are my business cards.

All that said....many of you know that I enjoy a good challenge. From what I can tell, to win, my name is now on a website with the challenge to get as many votes as possible. People can vote once per day, every day, up until the deadline on May 1st.

So....here's the link - just click box next to my name on the list and scroll to the bottom to submit your vote:
http://nominations.afpresources.org/2015npdvote

As part of the submission - Katie and Nicole also made a video, which you can find here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28242737/2015%20NPD%20Award%20Videos/Philanthropist_BillyCheung.m4v

Hmmm....do you think I have a chance?  Let the voting fun begin!

Oh yes, and while you're clicking away - yes, I have started my fundraising for this year's event too!