June 1 to June 5

What an adventure this has been.  On May 30th we arrived in Surrey, for 2 days of prep and orientation.  We met everyone, were interviewed by the media, put our bikes together and toured a bit of Vancouver for a mini-ride before the Big ride!

On June 2nd we finally started from Vancouver, where we dipped our wheels into the ocean and began the ride of all rides.  From that point on our normal everyday lives were to change.  For 4 days straight we rode, slept, ate, rode, slept, ate …. in that rotation!  Sleep consisted of 3-4 hours then up and at-em again!  The mountains were incredible to look and not to mention, incredible to climb!  Dan was continuously strong at the front, which pleased me to no end, and I hung on somewhere in the middle with the rest of the pack.  The air was crisp and the descents long and incredibly fast.  My favorite roads though, were near Drayton Valley with the nice hills, scenery and horses near the roads galore! 

Dan and I loved riding through Edmonton on June 4th.  We enjoyed the morning sun and the people of our city who cheered us on down groat road, past the children’s hospital and back to West Edmonton Mall Sears.  At the end of our Edmonton ride at home, Dan and I received tragic news. 

We were informed that a family friend was diagnosed with cancer and requires immediate treatment.  This person is young, full of life and very close to us.   It hit us hard when we found out about it and though we rode on to Calgary, and then further on to Brooks, Alberta, towards Saskatchewan, our hearts were extremely heavy.  The surgery is within days and knowing this, we rode along, we talked together of it and we knew that we had to make a decision - and in short order.  It seems incredible that our own bodies are at their peak physical shape, having trained over 7,200 km’s for this ride and feeling stronger every day of (even in the mountains!) of this ride, stronger than ever before, but we knew it would be best to come home to support and be with our friend.  What a terrible irony - riding for cancer and we now have 2 people within our close circle at home, one family member and now a close friend devestated by this disease.  Both require immediate treatment.   

It was a tough decision to make, and yet, not so tough - as we knew it was the right thing to do.  Thank you to everyone in Edmonton, thank you to our buddies at Sears Edmonton (Lisa, Don, you know who ya are) and thank you to Dr. Paul Grundy and Deborah McKinnon and the other good hearts at the Stollery.  We also want to thank our sponsors and those who donated so much time and effort to the Sears National Kids Cancer Ride - all of these efforts helped us to raise over $34,000 and much more than that on a National level for all children with cancer across Canada.

Now this cause has come even more the closer to home, as it has for so many others fighting against cancer.  Imagine all that we have been working so hard towards in the past 6 months,  it will help - imagine that, it will help!  It will lead to better research, cures and contribution towards our ever optimistic total termination - and living beyond cancer. 

Best of luck to our fellow cyclists who charge on towards Halifax. 

Carrie & Daniel

Tomorrow we are leaving for Vancouver. We are so pleased with the progress that we’ve seen in our training and in fundraising. Totalling just over $32,000 for kids with cancer!! We can’t wait to board the plane, then dip our wheels! Very exciting! Carrie and Dan.

 Now we know why (or at least our minds are refreshed as to why) we are doing this!

Dan and I had the opportunity to visit the kids at the Stollery today.  We met all kinds of great kids, of whose names I made a point of remembering and have written down and put in front of me at my work desk as inspiration.  Our hearts went out to the children and their families as we went through the different floors at the Stollery and we loved that some of them came out to see us and our bikes “On the Beach” play area.  They had so many questions, and great questions too!  We KNOW all of our time, efforts and money is absolutely worth it and is going to such a fantastic cause. 

 Some of the parents that we had spoken to told us that Edmonton’s Stollery has been so wonderful, and that the hospital takes such good care of the children (and the families) that go there.  We observed that in person. 

Not only are our legs ready, but we now have in addition, the mental strength and motivation to do this….actually, what we’re doing is easy in comparison to what the parents and children in the hospital are going through.  We thank you Edmonton Stollery, and we’ll be thinking of ‘our kids’ when we are on the road in 18 days.

We are starting to get excited about the prospect of this Ride.  Only 20 days to go!  We trained quite a bit this week, followed the plan as much as we could, and Saturday did a nice casual 100 km’s with the Club.  It had been a while since we had ridden in a group due to the snow and all and we saw tons of other riders out on the road as well.  Glad to see other cyclists out there finally!  A sure sign that summer is on it’s way.

Carrie & Dan

Sue Hurndall of Davis LLP - Good job Sue, if it wasn’t for your help thus far, we wouldn’t even be this close to our goal!

Kinsway Sears - Totaling over $3,000 over the last 2 weekends in BBQ and cash donations from customers

Kinsmen Edmonton - $3,000 donation

Sears Bonnie Doon & Sears West Edmonton Mall

Thanks to our volunteer helpers too….you know who you are… Kelsy, Davin, Shane, Lisa and Leeta at Davis, and all those smokin’ donations from other individuals.  What a great success so far!

This is more of a personal note, but I can’t tell you how much I enjoy cycling with Dan.  He is such a great cyclist, and always has words of encouragement and such skill … if it wasn’t for my Dan, I would not be even close to my cycling potential!  Let me just say this….patience has been your virtue Danny!
Carrie

Thank you to Sears Kingsway for the help in getting us in, and to the people of Edmonton for the excellent reception for us while we were there last Saturday.  We enjoyed our time there and we appreciated the succesful  $$ ’s that were given for our Kids with Cancer…good job Edmonton!

Last Wednesday, we rode the hills out in the sun, my neck actually saw a sunburn for the first time this season.  And this week…well, the sadness of it all, we are covered in snow.  So we make the best of it and booked in some time to ride indoors at Kingsway and WEM this weekend.  Hopefully we’ll be able to be outdoors by next Wednesday again where the weather network says +15 again.  My my.  What a challenge.  When you think about the numbers, we’ve been cycling indoors since last November…now 6 months.  And 6 months too long. 

What we enjoy the sun..hopefully it comes out sooner than later.

Our Silent Auction was so successful last week.  CTV came out and interviewed us, we raised over $5,000 from the items auctioned and more from personal donations.  Onward and upward!

 Sears National Kids Cancer Ride

Presents

“Scotia Place Spin and Silent Auction”

 When:                      

Edmonton  Scotia Place - APRIL 17th 

7:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m &

11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.                                

Where:                      

Edmonton – Lobby of Scotia Place, 10060 - Jasper Ave.                                    

What:                         

Fundraiser for the Sears National Kids Cancer Ride
Edmonton Ambassadors and a team of Volunteers will be hosting an Executive Silent Auction, executive giveaways, food, and our Edmonton cyclists will be spinning on trainers during the event to inform Edmonton of the Worlds Largest Cycling Charity Adventure!

Edmonton ”Jeans Day Challenge” Wednesday April 9  (by Donation) 

Please join all Edmonton businesses in support of Edmonton’s Ambassadors, Carrie Warkentin of Davis LLP and Daniel Lynch of Inter-Pro Property Corporation, to raise $50,000 for Edmonton children with cancer and for the Stollery, in the longest charity cross country fundraising cycle event in the world, by wearing jeans on Wednesday, April 9, 2008. 

April 9, 2008 Jeans Day — Sears National Kids Cancer Ride

Carrie Warkentin & Daniel Lynch have been chosen to be Ambassadors for the Sears National Kids Cancer Ride, to cycle across Canada over 19 days, starting June 2, 2008.

Please forward your donations to:  Carrie Warkentin c/o Davis LLP, 10060-Jasper Avenue, Scotia Tower 2, Edmonton, AB.  

Good Luck Carrie and Dan!