Day 7: Miami South Beach Finish Line

On the previous day, all the teams congregated at West Palm Beach, so that we can ride in together as a full group to the finish this morning. The route was a scenic 116kms on the A1A highway, along the coast with the ocean beside us most of the way, passing through busy Fort Lauderdale, to our Miami South Beach destination:


The following link is the actual ReLive video of our journey:
https://www.relive.cc/view/730101650


We cycled as a team of 28 riders, all with a personal connection to the cause and cancer. Some of our riders this year are cancer survivors....some have a loved one who is currently battling or battled the disease....and some have a loved one who did not win.

We all participated in this event as an opportunity to give back....to an organization that helps people and their families through the challenging times of fighting cancer.

Though this event, I have once again had the opportunity to meet some incredible people and made new friends for life. The final ride in, as a group, is symbolic to everyone working together....and incredibly emotional for all involved. Many tears of happiness and accomplishment were seen throughout the route and at the finish...


My good friend Troy....whom I likely would not have met if it wasn't for this event. He captained team 3:


We did encounter many obstacles along the way.....this one only required some waiting (in the 45C temps) for the drawbridge to go back down:


Jen and Barb looking at the big storm in the distance....luckily we did not get hit with it today:


If you look closely....we were sweating but still smiling, without even having to move, from the intense Miami Heat!


Cycling through the city. Almost there!


I posted a photo of my bike's clean drivetrain before the start of the ride. It's no longer clean....after 7 days, 750kms, 28 hours in the bike saddle, and almost 18,000 calories burned....this is now what it looks like:


Our very good friends from Texas, Heber and Beth, who have supported incredibly, and who have been at the finish line for the past 6 years:


My awesome wife Gail, my best friend and my best supporter for all the crazy things I continue to do....so happy to see her....she's always at the finish:


The terrace reception for all the riders, volunteers, Warriors, family, and friends:


Of course our inspiring Wellspring Warrior, Elsie, with our team:


And what's a ride from Toronto to Miami without a dip into the ocean to make it official? One of my favourite team photos....


That's it! Another incredibly awesome year with the Wellspring ride. The event has raised over $575,000 so far this year....and over $2M for the charity since we embarked on this challenge in 2011. Pretty good for something that did not exist before. It's a unique destination event, a 24/7 cycling relay unlike any other. If you're interested in doing something amazingly positive for a worthy cause, meeting great people, and challenging yourself....consider signing up for 2017. We will be going back to Miami again...and happy to have all who want to be involved.

Thank you once again for everyone's support and generosity for making this event another success!

-billy

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Day 6: An extra 86kms....

The logistics of a 24/7 relay ride with 5 teams and 6 hour shifts means that we do not ride on day 6. Finishing at midnight...we essentially have the next 24 hours off. Terry on my team suggested that he would be interested in connecting with one of the other teams who are riding during this time if it was possible. Well....that suggestion transformed our 'rest' day to an 'extra ride' day.

We did a very quick stop at the Kennedy Space Centre since we were passing by.....


....grabbed a quick lunch....and then hunted down the team 4 to 5 transition location just north of Jensen Beach. Here's the route...another 86kms...and Terry, Ryan, and myself joined up with team 5 for a great ride. It was windy...and we had some rain as well....so having additional riders in the group was helpful in sharing the work to complete this leg.



Eric on my team also wanted to join for the extra ride....but had some calls that he had to take which conflicted. You can see he wasn't too pleased in missing out:


Larger group dedication to start this ride:


That's it....one more ride remaining the next day...and we are at the finish line!



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Day 5: Florida already!

Our team had a very interesting shift today...it was from 6pm to midnight in Florida (yes, we are in Florida already!)...however required a ferry ride just east of Jacksonville to our starting point on the other side of the St. Johns River....and was to finish when we meet the next team at Palm Coast:



We encountered a number of elements through our ride...it started with the 40C heat and humidity....then we had wind...and rain....and darkness...and the bugs at dusk provided protein if we happened to have our mouths open to breath....!

We did meet up with a fellow rider on our ferry ride, who was in the Navy and biked to work every day (he's the guy with the really really big muscles in the picture)...and he happily joined us for the first 8-10kms of our ride (we actually drafted him he was so strong and fast).


On the short ferry ride...


And WOW the short time that we had to see the scenery before it got dark was spectacular. We passed through some neighbourhoods on the A1A highway that must have been owned by either movie stars or drug dealers....


Despite the elements....I do have to say that so far...this was one of our best and most enjoyable shifts so far. No traffic and a fantastic route. We completed 114kms in record time....and ordered some pizzas as a post ride midnight snack....


Lastly....the icing on the cake from the awesome day....was receiving confirmation that I will be able to run the Boston Marathon in April 2017! Finally after 5 years of trying....woohoo!





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Day 4: I'm officially exhausted

It's currently the end of a very long and strenuous day as I blog this update. Our shift was from Wadesboro North Carolina to just south of Camden South Carolina. Route was fantastic and our team completed 131kms. The really tough part was the heat and sun....which hit 40C and was relentless through our entire 6 hours of cycling. You'll see that we were not far from Charlotte....and we also got to cross the state line on our bikes:


We coincidentally saw this on the back of a vehicle while picking up some food for our volunteers prior to our ride....a message about a young Kyra who died of cancer at a young age. It really struck home for us and made our team reflect on what we were doing.


Some photos along the way despite the heat....we kept our spirits positive...


Had to stop for a group photo at the state line!





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Day 3: It's just part of the adventure

It continues to amaze me on how fast and far we progress each day moving south towards our destination. Our last ride was in the frigid cold with frost on the parked vehicles we passed. Today we rode from 6am to noon and the temperature went from 12 to 19 degrees Celsius during this time. Here was our route - 115kms....Aldie VA to Orange VA....a bit west of Washington DC:





The ride started in the dark with our transition point next to the Aldie volunteer fire department. They came out to see if we needed assistance :)











Our challenge for the day was the need to navigate a route with a lot of traffic in parts, along with transport trucks, and fast moving vehicles. It's so important that we have our follow vehicle with clear markings and emergency lighting to signal that there is a group of cyclists ahead....they really helped to keep us as safe as possible.





And yes there was also a lot of pulling over and waiting to allow traffic to pass on many occasions.





We also had to suddenly stop the team while riding due to an emergency vehicle needing to pass...a couple of bikes 'made contact'....and this was the result:





That thing hanging is the rear derailleur of Ryan's bike...it's supposed to be attached to the bike. He had to miss the last 20k of our shift and we needed to drop into a bike shop for a repair. All is good now....and we were lucky the contact didn't result in anything worse.





The ride was a bit stressful and had our heart rates up a bit more than usual. Decided that we now have a new team name...and took a new team photo:




Here is a link to a short video clip of our ride:
https://www.relive.cc/view/725721619

We are now in Laurinburg, North Carolina resting for the night. Our next shift is from noon to 6pm tomorrow (Tuesday) starting somewhere west of us. We will likely need to contend with heat, humidity, and possibly rain. Ready to take it on as our commitment to Wellspring and this event. Miami here we come!


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Day 1: The first 24 hours...

As usual, the morning of the launch starts very early and is filled with organized and disorganized chaos. We prepared all our gear, bags, and bikes for the long journey. We had inspiring speeches from our Wellspring Warriors. We said good bye to our family and friends who came out to support us, as we won't be with them for at least a week. It was a bit chilly to start, but warmed up later in the day.

Our team's ride this morning was dedicated to Zoë Bridgman and her family. She was supposed to ride with us to Miami and trained with us all summer. Wellspring has supported her and her husband through his battle with cancer, and she wanted to give back to the charity. Unfortunately, her husband Jory's cancer has taken a turn for the worse a few weeks ago....and she needs to stay with him and their young kids. We have them all in our thoughts as we set out on our ride. :(

Some photos from today...

My team, Eric, Tom, Terry, Ryan....along with our Warrior, Elsie, a cancer survivor, amazing women, and who will keep us inspired as we ride rain or shine....day and night....


My awesome family who I will miss very much....


Before Ryan departed with us....he decided to pop the question and officially get engaged this morning to his girlfriend Mayo!!!! (And as a true cyclist....Mayo got a ring....as well as a bike!)


The amazing group of riders and volunteers making the journey:


My team making our way towards Hamilton in our first shift:


As mentioned...we had a second shift within 12 hours from midnight to 6am...it was from the town of Victor NY (just south of Rochester)...through a scenic route past the finger lakes (which we didn't see since it was too dark!) and ending after 132kms of cycling in the town of Horseheads:


It was dark and COLD....almost down to zero Celsius for most of our ride....brrrrr.....


Here's a view from the inside of the motorhome along with the volunteers on our night shift....as we take a break....yes everyone is a bit tired from a long day...


Team 2 making their dedication prior to setting off on their ride at 6am:


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And so it begins....

Today marks the first day of the Wellspring ride to Miami. Our team is designated to do the first shift. Basically....we ride at 9am for 3 hours....and then have 12 hours to eat, rest a bit, and drive to our next transition which takes place at midnight. From there...we will ride another 6 hours until 6am. By that time, our team will have done almost 190kms in the first 24 hours.

Just a short post today...and I will do another update after our long first day is complete.

Here's what my clean bike gears look like at zero kms...I will post another photo at the end of the ride...


And that always thoughtful and awesome Gail of mine....baked over 600 cookies and packaged them for each of the teams and riders. :)


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In 7 days....we ride for Wellspring once again...

Round 6 begins for me in one week. It's always an exciting time, while still extremely busy as we ensure that everything is all set before the bicycle wheels hit the road. We have an amazing group of 28 riders and a dozen volunteers set to make the journey from Toronto to Miami this year.

Thank you to everyone who has supported....the Cheung family has raised almost $13,000 so far! And with all the generous donations along with corporate sponsorships, total funds raised for Wellspring is reaching the $500,000 mark! Wow!

This blog will be active again as of launch day on Saturday, September 24th as I do my best to keep you updated on this year's event. If you're not getting posts via email automatically....just sign up on on the right side of the webpage. I hope to share inspiring stories and lots of photos once again.

For now...a few pre-ride photos....the first is of Elsie Budhu, along with my team mate Tom. Elsie is our team's Wellspring Warrior, which is a unique component of our ride. She is a stage 1 breast cancer survivor and fortunate to be cancer free after a year of surgery and chemotherapy. Her amazing son Ron has been a volunteer driver for us since the first year of our event. Our team is so grateful to have Elsie as our warrior...who will provide continual inspiration and focus on why this ride is so important.




This is our full team on one of the many training rides we did in preparation for our long journey.


And here is a glimpse of our route....2,868kms....15,000 meters of elevation....7 days non-stop relay....



Will update you again in a week!


- billy

Blog: ride4wellspring.blogspot.ca
Donations: wellspring.ca/billyc