Day 1 - Vancouver to Harrison 150.4 km

Submitted by Stan Shaw

I cannot adequately say what I was feeling when we arrived at 8:30 AM to embark on our ride.  At one level, arrivin at the Ladner Kin House, where we had departed last year, gave an instant feeling of "I've been here before, done that".  However, this year is so different. Last year, I barely knew anyone associated with the ride, or CF, for that matter.  This year, I am accompanied by friends, who I have met through riding last June. And I am riding for three children, Roman, Madison and Hailey, who I've come to know well over the past year since first meeting them in Harrison on arriving following our first day of the tour.

I'm ready to go!  Stan in his new GearUp4CF 2010 cycling jersey-->

On arriving, I quickly unpacked my bike and stowed my gear in the support vehicle and rushed over to the area where short speeches were held and our official GearUp4CF 2010 group photos were taken. And then, after hurried hugs, we were off on the road, accompanied by a full police escort to the edge of town.

<--We have a great team this year!

We had a few mishaps.  A little typo in the route sheet sent a small team of fast riding, including Simon Ree, up the highway, past a critical turnoff. By the time we discovered our mistake, we had lost our lead to the slower riding folks on the tour.  Eventually, thougth we made it down to US boarder at the Douglas truck route crossing at  "Mile 0",  However, just shy of making it to the US boarder, we veered off onto a beautiful country road, appropriately named "0 avenue", that runs parallel along the boarder, travelling east.  This gave us an opportunity to really spend time riding together.  We have some terrific riders this year.  Simon  is as strong as ever.  Tom Evans lost a huge amount of weight and has worked hard to be ready for the ride. It shows. He's out among the leaders, as is Susan Edmison .  

And Andrea Taylor is a smiling, friendly little powerhouse that rips up hills and will disappear over the top before you can blink an eye.  An avid cyclist on the racing circuit, she works at West Point Cycles, one of our corporate sponsors on the ride this year.

Andrea -->

One couple I met was Bob and Jill Payne, who came all the way from St. John's, Newfoundland to join our ride on behalf of their nephew Carter, the son of David and Heather Strange.  A delightful couple, I was astonished to learn that this was their first major ride, ever. However, they rode well and obviously had been been training hard to prepare for it.  This all the more remarkable given how poor the weather has been in Newfoundland this winter!

<--Bob

Jill-->

Bob and Jill have a young family, however their parents offered to look after the children so that they could complete this nine day, epic ride across British Columbia. 

Along the way, we rolled into a lovely private home, set on a hill, where a beautiful lunch had been prepared for us by the Kins Women. 

<--Kelly

 It was so good to see Kelly Parker, who I had met last year.  Kelly and her team of volunteers has bee providing lunch in Abbottsford, and dinner in Harrison every year since GearUp4CF began five years ago.  This year, we were also honored by the arrival of Patricia Ross, the deputy Mayor for Abbottsford, who came to send send best wishes from city council.

Patricia Ross, deputy Mayor of Abbottsford-->

We're all getting to know each other, learning how to truly ride together as a team.  The long flat ride today gave a perfect opportunity to try out paceline riding, especially when headwinds started to pick up in the afternoon.  Riding through Aggassiz as a 15-member, tightly riding single paceline was a sight to behold. Margaret and Brian Benson rode with us, creating quite a sight on their Tandem bicycle.  Folks on the street waved, and traffic, which was heavy in the afternoon, seemed to part like the Red Sea.  Most of all, we had fun, because, riding together, we were able to chat along the way. When you are riding for six hours, enjoying each other's company makes a huge difference! 

Remarkably, our somewhat slower paceline arrived in Harrison  before our much speedier "A Team" who rode far ahead of us.  The problem? Riding well ahead of even the lead support vehicles, they took a wrong turn (the route was pretty complicate this year) and ended up riding back to Harrison via another route. Simon had a flat, which slowed him a down a little as no one in their riding group had a spare inner tube!.  But despite this, nearly everyone converged at Harrison within minutes.

A big surprise was waiting for me that afternoon.  Jacqueline, the mother of the three children I am riding for, Madison Hailey and Roman, who, I thought, were not going to make it that night due to a family commitments,  phoned just as I was upstairs in my room, changing into dinner clothes.  They were in the lobby! They had changed plans and come out to thank us for riding for them this year.  I had met the children last year for the first time in Harrison last year, which made their arrival all the more special.  I could not help but feel how much we, as riders on the tour, were doing, not only in raising funds for Cystic Fibrosis research, but also to bring hope to these incredible children, and young adults, and their families.

<--Our route. 150km. Calories consumed, 4,800. If you are interested in a pretty effective weight loss program, this is it. You can eat anything after a ride like this!  For details, click here

Our elevation chart today. Pretty flat.  It will be different tomorow. Guaranteed.-->

The weather, which was brilliantly sunny today, is clearly changing.  An ominous sign.  It looks like it will be rain, lots of it tomorrow as we go up that monstrous mountain pass on our way to Manning Park. Please think of us.

BTW, there is no Internet access in Manning Park.  So, as long as we can get on-line, we'll be sending our update when we arrive in Osoyoos on Monday.

Would you like to sponsor a favorite rider? Click on their name anywhere on this journal to open their "bio" on the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation GearUp4CF web site, click on the button "Sponsor this Rider", and you will join our team!