It is only after it stops that you realise what pace you were actually travelling even though it felt leisurely at the time. And what level of anxiety must have been there just below the surface - was the oil going to cope with the heat range, were the tyres going to hold out on the dirt roads, would the bike run on 89 Octane fuel with 10% ethanol when it should have 95 Octane straight - oh there was never any real danger though there could have been a lot of inconvenience and discomfort if things had gone wrong. But they didn't. The bike never missed a beat in all those miles, in snow, desert heat or torrential rain. I've broken a bit of plastic, scratched a bit of paintwork and a tail light bulb has gone - some advert for Honda eh!
I transported spares - the service interval is 8000 miles - oil, coolant and puncture repair kits around North America and used hardly anything. Worn a pair of boots out, lost a couple of socks (unfortunately not one pair) and bought - and had bought for me - a couple of "celebration" tee-shirts.
I've met some truly wonderful people, some for the first time, some who it's been great to see again. I've not encountered one incident of aggression or even close to it and, until I rode down towards Beaverton on Sunday through the "going home from the coast after the weekend" traffic I've hardly seen any bad or crazy driving.
I've had a couple of genuinely humbling experiences, both on the same day actually and which at the time I struggled with and therefore didn't include in my blog. But to fail to recognise them would belittle the achievements of the young men involved and that would be unacceptable.
My reason for going to Thunder Bay was to see the Terry Fox Memorial. Terry was a cancer victim who had his right leg amputated because of the disease at the age of 18. In April 1980, at the age of 22 he set off from the Atlantic Coast in Newfoundland on a “Marathon of Hope” across Canada on the Trans-Canada Highway – all 5300miles - to raise money for Cancer Awareness. Running 26 miles each day he had passed through 5 Provinces by the time he hit Ontario in June. Then, at mile 3,339 recurring cancer forced him to give up and sadly he died a year later. However he inspired the Canadians Nationwide and some $24 million donations flowed in. This memorial and the highway he ran on are dedicated to him. I’ve been trying to think of something to say to put my feeble effort into perspective – but there’s nothing there.
There was also a view-point at the base of Terry’s statue
but as I showed you earlier the clouds had closed that in which in a way made the visit even more poignant.
Later on that day I visited a
waterfall at the Aguasabon Gorge. The last entry in the visitors’ book were a
couple of names followed by “Coast2Coast4Cancer Ride”.
A few miles further on I caught up with a car with hazards
flashing and a sign repeating the Coast2Coast Run Message. In front of the car
was a young man on a cycle. He turned out to be Justin Danecke who had lost a
family member to Cancer and had another diagnosed with the disease. He was
cycling right across the country for charity.
What a tremendous thing to do.
I’m embarrassed to go on about my jolly. Well done Justin – and if anyone is
minded to support him then go to http://convio.cancer.ca/goto/coast2coast4cancer
Would I do it again, like a flash, so much more I could have seen and done - except for the Prairies perhaps - as I think it was Andy told me by the Winnie-the-Pooh statue, quoting his father after his one and only ride across them - " I've ridden across the Prairies twice, once for the first time and once for the last time!
