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!