Ride to Conquer Cancer - Day 2!

The night before we were asked not to start cycling again until after 7 am but were advised to be on the road by 8 am. Therefore Jen and I decided if we got up at 6:30 am we would be good to go. I awoke to full sunlight and lots of voices and activity outside of our tent. I heard Jen ask, "Kristin are you up?". I rolled over and said yes! What time is it? It must be after 6:30!!

Jen turned her phone on and said,"Don't worry Kristin, it is 5:45 AM!"

I have never in my lifetime gotten up so early yet felt so energized! We wandered over to the breakfast tent and were given a cheese omelet, "turkey" bacon, pancakes, and oatmeal! After an interesting encounter with raspberry coulis and Jen (she thought it was a smoothie and was prepared to pour herself a glass!) we grabbed some beverages (orange juice and hot chocolate) and sat down to a nice breakfast. We then went back to our tent, packed our gear, dropped our stuff off at the trucks and collected our bikes, ready to start the day!

A fog had settled in by the time we got on our bikes and leaving Trois Rivieres we had to cross over a bridge. It was a cool feeling to be cycling over the bridge but only being able to see immediately around you, seeing the cyclists in front of you, the bridge you are on, and a little bit of the river over the side of the bridge. The air was so clean and fresh it almost felt like you were flying. It was a moment that made me smile and really appreciate life.

We stopped at the first pit stop to have a bathroom break and re-fuel with some gatorade. By this point the pit stops were much more scenic so I snapped a picture of a boat making its way up the St. Lawrence. I really wanted to jump into that inviting water!

We continued cycling and this was the leg of the journey I lost Jen on. She had been engulfed into this cycling team that was hitting a pretty fast pace of around 30-32 km/hr. They were very efficient in passing and signaling and it truly amazed me how much they worked as a team without ever saying a word to each other. The leader of the pack would signal to the riders behind him that they were about to over take a person and they would file in line behind him swiftly move as a unit into the "passing lane" and then effortlessly fall back into place after passing the slower rider. Also if any tiny piece of debris was seen on the road each rider would subsequently signal to the rider behind him what to avoid. This held true for anything. A few

pebbles, a slight crack in the road, a manhole - you name it you were aware of it. I suppose this

all makes sense when you are an inch away from the person's tire in front of you and you

are traveling at speeds of 30-35 km/hr! It just reminded me of a flock of birds flying south for the winter. It was so civilized and caring it made me feel a moment of pride for the sport of cycling. Anyways, I managed to keep up with them for about 15-20 km then I lost them. At this point we started hitting the hilly bits and I had to laugh when an older gentleman passing me exclaimed,"Who put this here?!" In reference to the looming hill. This stretch really was quite scenic and we passed a lot of barns with numerous cows and horses. Horses really are such beautiful animals and the way they look at you with absolute disinterest is so amusing. For this portion we had to cycle the length of a river, cross the river when it was narrow enough, and then cycle back. Therefore if you looked across the river you could see cyclists on the other side.

This is another moment when it hit me just how MANY of us there were. We had kilometers and kilometers to space out but you could STILL see a steady stream of cyclists.

I felt like we were apart of a marching army pressing on and hoping we will one day conquer our enemy(cancer) just by a sheer force of will and determination. There was only one moment during the ride when I was alone battling up a hill and seeing the heat waves from the asphalt I thought to myself, what the HECK am I doing here?? Its hot, the cycling is getting harder now and all I want is a nice cold beer. Of course life seems to seize these moments to really put you in your place. After I climbed the hill I saw a man in front of me in his mid to late 60s with a yellow cancer survivor flag on his bike. THIS is why I am here. This is why I am biking 290 km in 2 days in this heat and humidity. This man was easily 3 times my age AND had battled cancer. If he could do it no problem what right did I have to complain? After that only positive thoughts filled my mind. Afterwards we stopped at our second pit stop which was in a cute little town right on the river.

Our next stop was lunch which we took quite quickly as again it was in a giant field and provided little to no shade. Lunch was a turkey sandwich with hummus and tomato, bean salad, and a very yummy chocolate brownie for dessert. We quickly set off and took the next stage fairly easy, cycling side by side, enjoying the country side and chatting. What seemed such a short amount of time we reached our final pit stop. We once again loaded up on gatorade and water and sat by the water to take one last break.

We finally set off not believing that when we stopped cycling again it would be because we had crossed the finish line. We made it into Quebec City and the excitement started to build. Teams started waiting on the shoulder of the bike path to make sure all of their team members were together when they crossed the finish line. People were high fiving and shouting their congratulations to one another. We rounded the final bend and started to see the line up of cars. We passed the last official who shouted, be careful it will turn to gravel! Our bikes followed the orange pylons, we heard the roar of the crowd, we saw the smiling faces and the announcer shouted,"Congratulations Kristin and Jen, you have just finished". We passed under the banner and got off of our bikes. We smiled for the cameras and it hit us that we were finally done!!! We had just participated in The Ride to Conquer Cancer!! What a feeling of accomplishment and pride.

Now is the moment I want to take to once and for all thank EVERYONE. Thank you for your donations, thank you for your words of support, thank you for baking, for eating baked goods, for asking when the ride was and if I was ready for it, for offering to help and most importantly thank you for showing interest in this amazing and worth while cause. Thank you to Judy for providing the inspiration (even though it was under the worst set of circumstances ...), thank you to my parents and family for the never ending supply of support and encouragement and lastly, thank you to my team member, tent buddy, and one of my best friends. You have been a life saver to me and I couldn't have done any of this without you, Jen, you rock! How does 2011 sound???

Details to follow ...!

The Ride to Conquer Cancer 2010 Montreal to Quebec City - Day 1

Jennifer Wright and I, Kristin Dawson have officially completed The Ride to Conquer Cancer 2010 a cycling journey totaling 289 km from Montreal to Quebec City. It lasted only two days but has formed memories that will last a lifetime! Let us break down the 48 hours!

The beginning. Jen and I left the Olympic Stadium in Montreal the morning of Saturday July 10 not really knowing what to expect or how the day would go. The start was emotional for me. There were thousands of riders (1,836 to be exact) and we were all riding for the same cause. We were joining in the fight to conquer cancer.

Since there were so many riders it took awhile for Jen and I to actually hop onto our bikes and take off. For awhile we were just slowly walking with the crowd. If you had a large team you could customize your jerseys and I especially enjoyed the polka dot team!

Finally we reached the starting and we were off!! We experienced a scary event about 20 mins after officially leaving Olympic Stadium. For the most part we had police escorts for major intersections but there was one point at a 4 way stop where a driver refused to stop. A security cyclist stood in front of the vehicle to prevent him from moving but he inched his car forward anyway shouting angry remarks. It is sad how some people are so self absorbed and are so concerned about their own agenda that they refuse to consider anyone else. Even worse, this man may develop cancer one day and he will end up benefiting from people who have performed self-less acts like the cyclists he was attempting to run over. Thankfully this was the only

moment during the whole ride I temporarily contemplated what our world was coming too.

Lunch: Jen and I both agreed that the pit stops they provided every 30 kms or so was a perfect distance. It is long enough that you appreciate the stop but not too short that you don't feel the need to stop. Therefore Jen and I stopped at every pit stop. They provided gatorade, water, and snacks such as cookies, oranges, bananas and bagels with peanut butter. We had a total of 4 stops before settling for the night and one of them was lunch. We had pasta salad with chicken (tofu for Jen) a bun and a butter tart for dessert. It was really hot at this point and unfortunately we were in the middle of a field so we could find no shade. Therefore we left rather quickly since being on the bike provided more relief from the heat than did sitting around (thankfully!)

Arrival and Tent City: The first day of cycling was quite

enjoyable for me and although I was tired which I think a lot had to do with the heat I was not sore at all. The arrival at camp was very welcomed and Jen and I were very much looking forward to the showers. We retrieved our bags from the trucks and headed over to our tent which was thankfully already set up.

Jen and I left our stuff in our tent and headed over to the mobile showering unit to take a much needed and deserved shower!

Afterwards we set up our things in the tent and headed over to eat dinner. Dinner consisted of a turkey sausage, pasta salad, rosemary potatoes, peas carrots and corn and also bean salad (I didn't take any). We were allowed one beer with dinner and Jen and I gratefully accepted!

There was a band playing live music and everyone seemed to be in good spirits! Afterwards we wandered around camp and found they were providing free yoga instructions so we joined the hour long class. Felt good to stretch everything out after sitting on the bike for a good 6-7 hours! We attempted to get our free massages but they were wayyy over booked (camp services ended at 9 pm) so sadly we had to forgo this nice treatment! They announced the top fundraising individuals and teams and had a little presentation and reminded us all to sign up for next year's ride and then we were off to bed. Jen and I talked for a little while and even though we could hear a man snoring a few tents away I am sure I was out cold before 11 pm.

The first day overall was a great experience for me. The volunteers were so nice and ensured everything ran smoothly. The only complaint I had was the fact they ran out of water temporarily at lunch and since Jen and I were so overheated we were anxious to get back on our bikes we decided to forgo water for the next stage. We ended up having to stop at a gas station to buy water since Jen definitely needed some! Thankfully I had a camel back (which I must thank Georghia Michael for!) so I was OK. I strongly recommend these nifty things especially if next year it is going to be as hot as it was this year!

The Ride is TOMORROW!!!

WOW! I can't believe The Ride is tomorrow!!

I want to once again thank each and every person who donated. Without you I would not be doing the ride tomorrow and because of that I can't thank you enough. I remember the night Jen and I signed up to do this back in the beginning of March and how genuinely anxious and worried I was about raising the money. I honestly thought I would be scrambling even now, the night before, to raise the $2,500. The speed that we raised the money in and the fact we were both +500 $ over our goals has really surprised and touched me. If anyone ever decides not to do the ride because they don't think they can raise the money, trust me when I say you will. It is A LOT easier than you think and you will be very surprised at who donates and by how much they donate.

I also wanted to mention my Aunt Judy (pictured above with her father - my grandfather) for she is ultimately the inspiration for signing up and raising money for The Ride. Although we miss her, I am glad she is at peace now and I hope wherever she is right now she is looking down and smiling with pride at what each and every one of us riders are attempting to do tomorrow - Find a Cure.

I am very much looking forward to and am excited about tomorrow. It will contain all of the elements which bring me happiness. 1) A physical challenge 2) Emotional connection to people around you and a feeling of being a part of the greater good 3) Meeting new people and sharing a great experience with them 4) Seeing places from a view you would not normally see them.

I must dash now - home to pack and to the Olympic Stadium to drop my bike off. Jen will pick me up tomorrow just shy of 7 am and we will be off to do an epic ride! Don't worry, we have cameras with lots of memory space and will no doubt be showering you with pictures by the end of the weekend.

Let's find a cure!

(Also, go Spain go! Although we will miss the game, we know you deserve the win!)

Meech Lake Triathlon

Georghia and I competed in this triathlon last year and I really enjoyed the experience and was therefore keen to return this year. The triathlon takes place in Gatineau Park which provides beautiful scenery, the people are so kind and encouraging and the snack provided at the end is awesome. They have mini muffins of banana, chocolate and blueberry. Also, I must admit nothing tastes so amazing as cold watermelon after pushing yourself to the limit for the past 2 hours.

This year the weather forecast was sunny and HOT. Of course for once the weather network was actually correct and the weather was exactly as predicted. I arose at 5:45 am and had my usual pre-race breakfast (toast with LOTS of peanut butter, Nutella, and banana) and headed out to Gatineau Park. This triathlon is unique in that the distances aren't a sprint tri length or an olympic tri length, but somewhere in between. I set up my gear (at two different transition zones), got my timing chip, got body marking and was then ready to go.

Due to my outstanding swimming abilities (haha ...) the swim is always the easiest and fastest for me. I really appreciate this triathlon for a number of reasons but my favourite has to be the staggered swim start. My experience in Ottawa was not one I wanted to repeat and was thrilled when we started in waves of 30 swimmers from the beach. The only slight difficulty I had on the swim was on the way back the sun was directly in our faces and spotting the shore buoy although bright orange proved quite difficult. However I made it and took the short run (uphill) from the beach to the first transition zone. I threw on my bike gear and headed out. The hardest part of this triathlon is the very hilly course for the bike. Last year this proved agonizing for me since I was most definitely not mentally prepared, but this time around it was not half as bad. You are rewarded for your hill climb by the nice and fast descent after. I must admit I am not as ballsy as some cyclists proved to be as they bombed past me on the descent at speeds I'm too frightened to imagine. I clocked my top speed at 57.1 km/hr and dare to venture some of these cyclists were easily over 7o km/hr. Not for the faint of heart ... I finished my bike and started on the run. This time I decided an ipod would be good company since by this time the heat had reached a decent level and the run was on asphalt with no shade. An event that stands out from the run is the 81 year old man who was actually running ahead of me. Now, to be fair, this event can also be done in a relay style and this man was only doing the run portion, but I must admit I felt a great deal of relief when I was finally able to pass him. I couldn't let my ego take that kind of hit no matter how tired and hot I was. The only difficulty I experienced on the run was the last km or two. This part was almost entirely uphill and it was starting to be mid-day and the sun was taking a mental and physical toll. I actually attempted to change a song on my ipod but physically raising my hands and pushing the button turned out to be too taxing so I just concentrated on running and running only. I was relieved to finish and proud of my accomplishment. Although I feel in much better shape than last year I was only able to beat my time by a matter of 58 seconds. I must remember though that progress takes time and I just need to continue training, remain patient and the rewards will come!

Results:

Time: 1:56:01. Place overall: 148/208.

The information from sportstats is below:

http://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.php?lang=eng&racecode=45866&first=&last=dawson&bibnum=&page=&sortby=place&city=&sizeofpage=200&limit=2000

(again, if you click on the camera beside my name you can see the pictures they took of me ... thankfully they are WAY better than last year :).

I also just wanted to quickly comment on The Ride to Conquer Cancer. Jen and I have both received our biking jerseys in the mail and are both beyond excited to finally be able to do the ride. I can't believe how fast time has gone by and after months of planning, fundraising and training the ride is 6 days away!!! I will keep you all posted on how that turns out!!