21st
Day 8 June 20th: Woodstock, ON to Sick Kids, Toronto, ON.
Plink. Plink. Plink. Plink. Wearily I opened an eye and gazed outside the bunk truck door. Great. Rain. And it didn’t look like the kind of rain that would stop anytime soon. The sky was grey and cloudy, and I felt a cool breeze wafting through the screen door. Welcome to Southern Ontario! I hoped the rain wouldn’t discourage people from coming out and riding with us—not everyone shares my opinion of riding in the rain.
I sighed while hauling my butt out of bed. It was 6am, and we weren’t scheduled to leave until 9 am, but there were only two washrooms in the nearby Tim Horton’s and there were a lot of people who needed to use them—and I was definitely one of them.
We arrived at Woodstock around 11pm last night where all three teams and crew were reunited. It was nice to see my Toronto riding buddies again and we traded our experiences of the ride so far. I stayed up later than I should have, but my body was so used to going on little or no sleep it rebelled at the chance of a full night’s sleep.
After getting a medium double/double from Timmies, I went to see what kind of breakfast they were serving us this morning. Usually breakfast consisted of bagels and peanut butter, porridge or scrambled eggs, but this morning we lucked out as the Sears store had staff and volunteers make us a hot meal of pancakes and sausages. We huddled under the awning while digging into our feast in hope of avoiding getting wet sooner than we needed to. As I was polishing up my grub, a friend of mine, Josh, surprised me by meeting me there and we caught up a little before the ceremonies.
We had ride-alongs and events planned as we cycled through Woodstock, Brantford, Mapleview Centre in Burlington, Oakville Place, Sherway Gardens and Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. Even though the weather was far from ideal, it didn’t stop riders from coming out and participating. However, the rain made stopping a very cold experience and you could see many cyclists’ teeth chattering as they fought to stay warm. I had the opportunity to ride with many friends from the area: Ron Mitchell, a mentor of mine that I met on my first Tour for kids who taught me a lot about cycling; Team Axel who were riding in memory of Alex, a child who lost his life to cancer several months ago, and; some members of The Village Idiots. When we arrived at Sherway Gardens, my friends Nicole, Richard and their daughter Cypress met me, as well as my friend Mary and her daughter Julia. It was nice to see familiar faces!
Unfortunately, there was one incident that happened on our way to Mapleview Centre in Burlington. Jeff Rushton , who was leading the peleton, made a wrong turn, unbeknownst to about a dozen of us, who we followed like sheep. I only realized we were going the wrong way when I heard voices yelling, “You’re going the wrong way!” I waited to see what Jeff’s plan of action was when I noticed he was talking into his headset. However, without a word to any of us, he turned around and hammered in the opposite direction. Gobsmacked, I watched for a minute before I realized I had better follow him.
I rode alone for a while, pedalling hard and passing the odd cyclist, before I met a group of riders. We decided that it would be best for us to work together, pulling no more than 2 minutes each to catch the main group. It was raining hard now, making the roads slick. We were flying, going approximately 40km/h, when my wheel hit a tar strip and my back wheel skidded. I tried desperately to gain back some control, but it was a losing battle. I hit the wheel in front of me, hit the wheel to the left of him, and then I lost all control and knew I was going down. I braced myself for the fall as I crashed on my left side, managing to protect my head. I tucked into a small position while the cyclist behind me flew over top and the other riders narrowly avoided hitting me. At first I didn’t move as I was totally numb and had to wait for the feeling to come back before I could do inventory of what was injured. Within seconds of me falling, Kelly, the medic from team three was by my side assessing my injuries. I heard people yelling, “call 911,” and both Kelly and I yelled in unison, “Don’t do that.” I knew by this point my injuries weren’t severe and the last thing I needed was unnecessary attention drawn to me.
Once the assessment was finished I was helped up, only to be told by someone that I need to go to the hospital. I hurt like hell, that’s true enough, but I didn’t need a hospital. I had road rash all down my left leg, an interesting cut on my elbow, along with a big bruise on my hip and shoulder and many on my back, but no broken bones. I wanted to get back on my bike, not only because I had more adrenaline than I knew what to do with, but also because I knew if I didn’t I would stiffen up worse that a rusty hinge left out in the rain. People were worried I hit my head, so I told them to check my helmet which was undamaged. Satisfied, I was allowed to get back on my bike which Darren (the bike mechanic from team 3) made minor adjustments to, to make it rideable.
By the time I arrived at Mapleview centre, the rumours were flying; reminding me of the childhood game ‘telephone’, only on steroids. The story was: I was hit by a car, had two broken legs and was airlifted to the hospital. By the end of the day the tale had been exaggerated even further and I was also pregnant.
Before this ride I have never crashed before, but in 8 days I have crashed twice. I started to think of what the difference was between this ride and others I have been on and it suddenly occurs to me— I’m wearing my Granddad’s 1931 cycling medal. That in itself isn’t alarming, but the fact that he was known as Crasher Clarke is. He was notorious for his frequent crashing—buses, brick walls, fences. I believe I might have summoned a little more of my granddad than what I had originally intended. So now, I have not only inherited my Granddad’s passion for cycling, but also his nickname ‘Crash.’ He would be proud.
The ambassador children were out in full force today. In Woodstock, Melodie MacDonald talked about her 8 year old daughter Rachel, who is fighting brain cancer/ medulloblastoma. She has had many complications to her health as a result of her cancer, but was there to cut the ribbon and see us off.
Josh Nelson spoke at Mapleview Centre in Burlington. Josh, who is 15 years old, was diagnosed with a brain tumour 6 years ago. In his speech he said, “Ride for the kids who are battling cancer now. Ride for those who will be diagnosed in the future; and ride for me until I can ride with you.” He has beaten all odds and is walking with a walker; he is able to speak and is determined to get back on his bike.
We met 16 year old Kathryn Peeters of Omemee at Sherway Gardens. Kathryn was diagnosed with a massive brain tumour in June 1997 at the age of 4. After over eight hours of surgery, she faced a long recuperation with many challenges. Ten months to the day of her first surgery, Kathryn had a second surgery to remove two additional tumours. Six weeks later, in a routine post-operative MRI, three more tumours were found. Kathryn underwent six weeks of radiation therapy to try to slow or stop the tumour’s progression. As a result of her first tumour and surgery, Kathryn is legally blind. She has not let this challenge crush her creativity as she is an accomplished artist with five limited editions to her credit. Her paintings have sold around the world.
At Sick Kids, Adam Fedosoff’s mom spoke of her son’s relapse of High Risk ALL, where the cancer has entered the central nervous system and brain. Adam, 14, is at Sick Kids currently undergoing treatment and is the lead guitarist in the band Tantrum. Madison Scott, 10 years of age, spoke of her battle with ALL and her determination to get back on the stage. She is currently in remission and will be on stage next year in the Sound of Music. I also had the opportunity to meet Erika Scarff who is 12 ½ years old and was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma (bone cancer) in September 2008 after breaking her leg in gymnastics while running towards the vault. Since then she has had chemotherapy and a modified amputation in January. She was fitted with a prosthetic in April.
We arrived at Sick Kids to hundreds of people cheering and clapping and yelling our names. Many cyclists and volunteers were reunited with their loved ones and there were tears of both sadness and joy. We enjoyed a BBQ, provided by New York Fries, before we headed to George Brown College where we showered. From there we drove a short distance to Pickering Mall where we would start the next morning.
We rode 172 km today.
