AUGUST 31: Final Official Day

On the final day, rounding up to the nearest 50 k :)

31 Days Later.

550 km and $1062 Donated by so many kind and generous people.

Thank you.

The Great Cycle Challenge Canada has raised over $7 million in August 2024. Amazing.

Stay Well. And we'll see ya on the road!

AUGUST 30

Managed a 12 km ride. A tough ride due to the humidity.

Thank you to YOU, the followers of my ride. Thank you for reading the posts.

Thank you to those who supported me through this cause. Your kind and generous donations were the encouragement to get me on the bike on a regular basis and do the ride. Thank you :)

AUGUST 28

Today's trip was brought to you by: A test of the replaced front tube and, a trip to the post office. Officially only 3 days left of the cycle challenge!

If you watch one YouTube video of something, they will feed you endless other examples. I recently watched a video of a "spin" in an aircraft, something that I could only attempt to explain when I learned to do them, with pilots taking cameras into the cockpit, you can experience them from in the plane or view them from other aircraft.

When I first took flying lessons, initiating a spin and making a recovery was a required lesson as well as part of the practical flight test. Among the many memories of flying, the first time I was introduced to spins (and later spiral dives) is very memorable. When I signed up for flying lessons, I had no idea that doing spins was part of the training nor did I know anything about them.

When the day came for the first lesson on spins, we climbed to a high altitude over remote area and the instructor told me he was going to explain and demonstrate a spin. A very short and simple explanation is this: a spin happens when the aircraft "stalls" (inefficient airflow over the wings to maintain flight). At the stall, to induce a spin, you kick one rudder in. One wing stalls more than the other, causing the plane to start a corkscrew downward path. The most common time for an accidental spin to occur is while landing when the airspeed is low, more often resulting in a disaster. The main point of the lesson was understanding them to avoid them.

Back to the lesson. To recover from the spin, apply opposite rudder to stop the spin, push the nose forward and then pull out of the dive and return to level flight. The first example is an incipient spin, which was a quick entry and then recovery. Then, it would be a more extended spin of a couple rotations. Eventually, you move to power-on spins which provided a bit more violent entry.

YouTube now provides full visuals of those spins so you don't have to explain them. For your entertainment,

1. View from another plane of a Cessna 150 executing a spin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDiIO8SnRFM

2. A lesson in a very extended spin. Spin practice was usually a couple of rotations. This one is unusual because, as you can see, they lost 3200 feet in about 1/2 a minute. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVGtsK7vvnA (The camera shutter makes the prop appear as if it stopped, but its actually turning at idle).

My first introduction to these was pretty freaky. Eventually, after regular practice on your own, they become fun to do.

AUGUST 26: Only 7 km?

Yes. 7 km. Because, I got a front flat. I will tell you, it's much more difficult to ride a bike with a front flat than a back flat, even though you shouldn't ride with any flat. But it's almost easier than walking home. And besides, 7km? There is only one way to eat an elephant: a bite at a time. (Desmond Tutu said so)

AUGUST 25: 520 km

I crossed the 500 k mark on today. Despite having a goal of 400 k, I had still hoped to get to 500 k. We'll see what we can accomplish over this next final week of the Great Cycle Challenge. Thank you to all who have contributed to the $945 raised!

Tomorrow, on invitation by Fynn and his co-creator, Brittany (both actors in this past April's production of "Snapshots."), I am heading to Toronto to hear their first public workshop read-through of their new musical. They have gathered together a small group of theatre people to hear their first draft of their creation, read and sung by select actors from the Toronto region.

Sharing your work with others requires a great deal of vulnerability, but is so incredibly necessary to moving a script/music forward and finding its greatest potential. It will be a great event and experience!

10 years ago, I gathered some actors around a table with food and drinks to do a reading of my full length version of the play, delilah. It was so beneficial to hear it out loud. I had an "aha/wow" moment at the end of Act 1 that I wondered whether it would work or not. One of the readers, who was reading it cold, made a verbal "aha" response, and I felt confident that an audience would too. I also discovered plenty of other areas that stumbled along or needed attention and was able to use the input/insight to tighten it up before it eventually was staged.

It never seems like a script is finished, but somewhere in the process, you eventually have to say, okay, it's time to stop making changes and put this thing on the stage and share it with an audience.

AUGUST 22: Subjectivity

My big 3km ride two days ago was to the post office and back because it was just too blinking cold and windy. It is now officially my shortest ride of the month!

I read a brief article on Canadian playwright, Norm Foster this morning. He's still writing at age 75. Several years ago, I heard about a statistic about plays produced in Canada. It was designed to determine the percentage of male vs female writers' plays that were produced in Canada. The final statistic was, 1/3 male, 1/3 female and 1/3 Norm Foster plays. Foster's plays have a common pattern that obviously works well. I've always pictured him as the Canadian version of American playwright, Neil Simon. When we were in NFLD this summer, prior to the beginning of a stage play, a patron beside me told me how much he loved Norm Foster plays. His wife clearly felt differently. To his delight, I told him about a theatre in St. Catharines, ON dedicated to Norm Foster Plays (The Foster Festival). He was elated to hear this. She, not so much.

No play or writer can be liked by everyone. Subjectivity is an interesting thing. Even a "professional opinion" can never be void of subjectivity.

I wrote my 10-minute play, delilah., in 2010.

In March , 2011, from 400 entries, delilah. was one of 14 plays selected by Rising Sun Performance Company in NYC for a public reading that took place in March.

In April, we staged the script locally at the London One Act Festival. At the end, the hired adjudicator gave her feedback which wasn't exactly enthusiastic. She actually said, in front of the whole audience, that she "didn't even like it when she first read it." Interestingly enough, the audience gets a chance to vote separately, and delilah. won the "People's Choice" award.

In June, the play was produced at the InspiraTO Festival, Canada's largest 10-minute play festival, winning a People's Choice performance.

In July, as a result of their public reading, the Rising Sun Performance Company in NYC selected 7 from the 14 plays to be performed. delilah. was one of the 7.

In August, it was produced by Boxfest Detroit, in January 2012, by Acme Theatre in Maryland, and in May 2012, by Blue Slipper in Montana.

By June 2012, I had written it to a 60-minute play and staged it at the London Fringe Festival, receiving a 4/5* review by the London Free Press. The following year, we staged a 2-act full length play version locally with very positive feedback.

The 10-minute version has since been published by a prominent publisher with plenty of productions since. Shows-to-go-ya that even a "professional adjudicator" has her own subjective opinions. :)

PHOTO: Rising Sun Performance production of delilah. with actress Tedra Millan (left), who later went on to appear in Noel Coward's, Present Laughter on Broadway in 2017, earning 3 Tony Award nominations, where Kevin Klein won Best Actor.

AUGUST 19: The Effects of Wind

The 30km cold wind today encouraged me to stay close to home.

In my days of flying years ago, wind had an interesting affect on one trip. Everyone in my direct family "risked" their life to fly with me at least once. At the time, I always felt very confident as the pilot, but realized later that maybe some of my riders might not have always felt the same. Well, kudos to everyone for being so trusting (or naive).

My mom flew with me once. She must have been incredibly brave and trustworthy, because her first and only flight with me was a full trip from Hamilton airport to Mount Holly Airport in New Jersey (now South Jersey Regional Airport) with a stop in Niagara Falls International to clear customs. Dad rode right seat and mom in the back. Total combined flight time there was just under 3 hours. While we were there, I took my dad and uncle on a night sightseeing flight over Atlantic City which was about a half hour flight away.

After our 2-night visit, we departed Mount Holly Airport in the morning. Making it as far north as the small town of Delevan, NY, we started to run into flurries. I contacted Buffalo Air Traffic Control for clearance through their zone, but they declined due to snow white out conditions. I had to turn around and come up with a new plan.

I looked for a local airport to land at, and Olean, NY was the closest. I had never been to Olean and never even heard of it, but it became an unexpected destination. We landed and had to find a hotel to stay in the town, 15 km away. Pre-internet, a payphone at this little airport was our only mode of communication. A taxi ride got us to a hotel for the night. The next morning, the skies were clear but the wind was very strong. The wind was at a full crosswind to the direction of the runway. We loaded in and lifted off just in time before the wind had pushed us off the side of the runway. I was definitely exceeding the maximum crosswind. That was a bit of a hairy moment. We made it back to Hamilton and the total return flying time including the diversion was 4 hours 15 minutes. One of many trips to remember.

AUGUST 17: 400 KM!

I have passed the 400 km goal and am continuing on!

AUGUST 17: Caught in a Downpour

AUGUST 16: Within 2K

The first ride was abandoned when it started to rain.

On my second longer ride, I attempted to cover as many roads in Mount Brydges as possible. I stayed within 2k from home. The town is small, but has a ton of asphalt.

A quick history of Mount Brydges:

The pioneer settlement first took shape in 1829 and grew with the coming of the Great Western Railway in 1853. Named Mount Brydges, in honour of surveyor Colonel Roswell Mount and G.W.R. general manager Charles J. Brydges, the community became a major shipping point for local farms.

Someone has written a long historical account of the changes that have taken place over the last couple of centuries. Locals of any town aren't fond of change, but it's part of natural growth. Some fought Tim Horton's coming to town, but it came anyways ... and there's no shortage of locals filling the drive through every day. The present local battle is McDonald's' proposal to build a restaurant in town (which is quite surprising). The proposed location isn't the best, but I'm guessing it will eventually happen, students will get jobs, and the locals will fill the drive through and the seats inside.

And life goes on in the village of 2600 residents (that has grown by 500 in the past 5 years).

AUGUST 15: Writing in Motion

Many play scenes have been created and solved while on the bike. When all you can do is pedal and think, why not. Even the last two plays and events in 2023 & 2024 were as a result of being on the bike.

My ideal process (which doesn't always happen) when writing a new play, in very simple form, is to first get funding to write and develop a play. When a script is complete, apply for funding to stage the play. After a production, rewrite the play based on feedback from the process, audience response and actor and director input. The complete script can then be submitted to other theatres and possibly a publisher/representative. Getting a theatre to stage a full length play is a huge challenge. Getting a publisher to read and respond is now taking up to a year. A "theatre script" publisher is different in that, even though it sells script books, the primary goal is to sell "performance rights." Trying to find the "right" match of a publishing company is vital.

My most successful experience so far is "Reunited Shorts," published in 2020 and represented by Dramatic Publishing. It is a collection of short plays about reunions that were individually staged in festivals in Canada, US and Europe, some as many as 7 times. They are all very diverse. Before being published, we staged it at the London Fringe Festival and received a great review in the London Free Press ... and the reporter even made a special visit to the theatre on a different day to tell me how amazed he was. It was an unexpected cool experience. Since being published, it has been produced by more than 30 theatre groups.

For a second time, the "We Are Teachers" webpage has included "Reunited Shorts" in their top 45 plays for high schools (https://www.weareteachers.com/high-school-plays/).

Tomorrow, if rain doesn't impede a ride, I will be thinking through my latest writing project hopefully to be staged in the next year :)

(PHOTO: Cast of Reunited Shorts at the 2019 London Fringe Festival)

AUGUST 14: Fizicks

My unexpected reminder today was to periodically check the tires for pressure. Half way through the ride I was sliding on turns. It doesn't take much air in narrow road tires to decrease a considerable amount of pressure. Oh, the physics of riding.

I love physics. I think the fact that it involves math and space makes it intriguing to me. One day, I ended up telling my high school physics teacher about a spinning bike wheel acting as a gyro and the weird physics of balancing it on one finger. He looked at me strangely. So I ran out to my bike that was chained up and pulled the front wheel off and brought it back to show him. I showed him all the things you could do with it when it was spinning. I could tell that this was all new to him. He had recently switched careers from being a police to being a HS teacher. He told me if I write a report about it he'd give me extra marks. I had to go home and "do a search in the encyclopedias."

That school was not a positive experience for me in so many ways. In my final year of high school, the teachers went on strike. I had two courses to finish and did them at night school. That strike was the best thing ever. Then I went on and got my pilot's licence and learned more physics!

Thank you to those who jumped in today and donated on Kick Cancer's Butt Day (Aug 14)!

AUGUST 13: Food For Thought

Mr. Blue Sky (ELO) -- that song is representative of the weather today ... and a song for my other brother to enjoy :) You're welcome. (Zeppelin only has a song about rain, not blue skies).

I passed these Sunflowers on the ride today. This farmer grows them each year at the entrance to their land. I've attempted to grow Sunflowers a couple of times only to end up with a random single or two flowers in places I didn't expect. I've also grown small amounts of tomatoes, peppers, cukes, potatoes and other things for fun over the years. When we were kids, we would go as a family to the Farmer's Market in the Hamilton Centre Mall parking lot where we would each be sent off, with something like a nickel, to buy a pepper from one of the vendors so we could eat it like an apple. Of course, we also came home with pickled pigs feet from the butcher to have as a family snack. Good times! Not sure if I could bring myself to trying those things again.

AUGUST 12: 70%

Hit the official 70% of the 400k goal today, and almost half way through August! Time is flying!

As you can see in the photo, my brother strapped a spare tube to the back carrier of my bike because we all know, that if you have a spare, you'll never need it. It's been on there for the past 100 km and it seems to be working just fine.

AUGUST 11: Music to My Ears

My first ride today was cut short by rain but I got out for a second ride in the afternoon.

The tunes I've had on in my ears the last few days has been a collection of songs by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), primarily lead by Jeff Lynne, from the "classic rock era." The band is presently on it's final tour (how time flies!). I remember when the song "Telephone Line" came on the radio and it was a favorite radio hit at the time. But every time we visited the record store to buy ELO's "A New World Record" it was never there. Those were the days when you had to actually wait for a recording to be released to hear it when you wanted to. ELO's music is a combination of pop and classical arrangements. They had a long list of hits, and one of my many favorites includes Rockaria!, which was a combination of rock and opera in Chuck Berry 50's style. The operatic part was sung in German by Welsh singer, Mary Thomas, who made a false start on the first take, followed by "Oops." Jeff Lynne edited it back in for the album version.

And that's my music trivia for the day!

Other false starts that made songs famous.

Elton John hit the opening piano chord of Bennie and the Jets one bar early. Producers added live sound effects later to "fake-live" the song.

James Blunt started his vocal on the wrong measure in "You're Beautiful," and repeated the first line again. It was left in on the final recording.

AUGUST 9: Riding for My Dinner

The attempt to get to Port Stanley on August 1 was short by 12 km due to a tire blow out.

Today, I retried and met Rebecca for dinner at GT's on Beach in Port Stanley. A perfect day with the wind to my back. There's a hill on Union Road near Port Stanley that I got up to 58 kph on!

Wednesday, August 14 is Kick Cancer's Butt Day. For anyone who hasn't donated and would like to, that would be a great day since all donations will be matched by a family that donates up to 1.3 million matching dollars.

Thank you for travelling along with me!

AUGUST 8: Best Laid Plans

I was using the line, "best laid plans" in a project this morning. The original line, for all you Scottish people, "The best-laid scheme o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley," is from a 1785 poem by Robert Burns. It's been translated and altered many ways, but was originally used to describe the unpredictability and frailty of human endeavors. Another concept about "best laid plans go awry" is from Ed Murphy's comment, "If something can go wrong, it will."

I wrote and staged the play, "Lawrence Station" in 2023, about the crash of American Airlines Flight 1 that occurred in 1941 just 20km South of my home. The flight originated in NYC and was heading to Chicago. The crash occurred during the Buffalo to Detroit leg. The play focused on how all the plans that so many people had made, changed instantly at 10:10 pm, October 30, 1941. That included the 19 passengers and flight crew, the people of Lawrence Station and surrounding area involved in the attempted rescue and cleanup, and the extended family and friends of those who died in the crash. It included an engaged bride not-to-be, 34 children forced to live fatherless, and the career of a first officer on his first day on the job ended. Strangely enough, the enquiry of the accident was completed on December 6 only to be overshadowed by another event the next day: Pearl Harbor being bombed.

It all makes my riding mishaps seem minor.

AUGUST 7: Anyway the Wind Blows

As a slight edit to yesterday, when it comes to planning, I might not always know in advance where I'm going, but I will check the wind direction so that I can ride into it and then ride with it on the way back. Today, Google said the 18k wind was from the East. In reality, that only means, that "the wind is likely not from the West. Good luck."

When we moved to the metropolis of Mount Brydges in 2008, it was the result of not finding anything in London or anything we could afford in Komoka/Kilworth. This small town, named after two guys with last names Mount and Brydges (no, there is no hill here), has provided both a country feel and easy access to city stuff in Strathroy to the NW and London to the East. Within the town and beyond its boundaries, there are a variety of good paved roads with lighter traffic for safer and enjoyable riding.

AUGUST 6

A very rainy day, today's ride didn't happen until after dinner. A much cooler and slightly windy trip as well.

Occasionally, I have a specific destination I am heading, but most times, I just decide as I go, not knowing where I'll end up. The lack of planning a trip reminded me of when I was 20 yo at flying school in BC and I decided to fly to Prince George from Langley airport (between Abbotsford and Vancouver). We were going to spend the weekend at the home of one of the two passengers. It's an 8 hour drive by car, but my flight was going to shrink that to a 3-hour trip. I didn't plan ahead and buy the visual flight map for Northern BC. For some reason, I did own a WAC (World Aeronautical Chart), which is meant for "moderate speed aircraft at high altitudes," because it was twice the scale and covered most of the province. Let's just say, it wasn't very helpful for visual navigating. First, I wasn't very high above the ground because I was flying over mountains. Second, there aren't a lot of easy-to-detect landmarks between Langley and PG, just a lot of trees and rock. I might as well have brought a globe to navigate with because this map was useless. Well, I made it in 2 hours and 50 minutes and was greeted by January's temperatures of -30's, typical for PG. Apparently, WACharts aren't even used anymore. Surprise, surprise.

AUGUST 5: Happy First Monday of August

Happy Civic Holiday, BC Day, New Brunswick Day, Saskatchewan Day, Heritage Day, Natal Day or Terry Fox Day to where ever in Canada you might be!

After being rescued by brother Mike with supplying a tube, borrowed bike, and tire repair, I'm back on my original "One Piece at a Time" bike. I also now have earbud replacements ... that hang around my neck, so no more worry of losing them on the road. While I was at it, I uploaded some tunes from laptop to my phone to listen to on the road.

One folder of songs was titled "1972 Top 100." Actually, it's 61 songs after I had eliminated unwanted songs. The number one song of that year was Roberta Flack's, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," that sat at #1 for 6 weeks. Every time I hear this, it reminds me of the Roberta Flack concert Rebecca and I went to see in Lewiston, NY at Artpark, when we were dating. The stage lights attracted so many bugs that she had to have someone come on stage and spray her so she could sing. ❤️

I was just a kid in 72, but there were some pretty classic songs created that year, including:

American Pie, Don McLean

Without You, Harry Nilsson

Heart of Gold, Neil Young

A Horse With No Name, America

Lean on Me, Bill Withers

Alone Again Naturally, Gilbert O'Sullivan

Brandy, You're a Fine Girl, Looking Glass

Ben, Michael Jackson

I Can See Clearly Now, Johnny Nash

Now I hope I've put a few tunes in your head :) -- You're welcome.

AUGUST 3-4: Bikes & Theft

My extra 10-k ride on Friday was to account for me being away Saturday and not being able to ride. Today while riding, I had an earbud pop out of my ear. It's not the first time, but I turned around to watch it bounce on the road into the grass. I tried turning up the volume to see if I could hear for it. Even after 10 minutes of looking and listening in the grass ... I declared it abandoned and free to live a life on its own. It's time to invest into ones that are attached to a string around my neck.

Writing has always been an interest of mine ... even back to when I was younger and wasn't aware of it. I have several part time jobs that I enjoy doing. One involves writing content (blogs) for a web development company in the US. The great thing for me is that I can do it from anywhere as long as I have a computer. In this job, I've been told that I write interesting material about a dry subject. That subject is primarily about records management and shredding sensitive information (paper, electronic storage devices, etc) and the US federal and state privacy laws associated with it. I've learned lots, I've kept up my writing skills, and I've been paid for doing it. Triple bonus. I've been doing this for just over three years and have long surpassed 500 blogs. I find that hard to imagine. By law, before they discard it, businesses must properly destroy all personally identifiable information. People throw away a great deal of valuable information every day. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) reported that American adults lost a total of $43 billion to identity fraud in 2023. That's just in the US. Protect your information. Someone's intentionally after it.

AUGUST 2: Breaking Common Sense Rules

Well, I made it 22km until the back tire went again. Brother Mike rescued yesterday with supplying a tube, but the tube/tire combo didn’t survive today. I broke common sense and rode the final 4km home on a flat back tire that felt like a castor and was impossible to turn corners on. On the upside, I got home and averaged 19kph for the last 4k on a flat.

Following a recent vacation, I’ve now been to every province in Canada, but none of the Territories. In July, we spent two weeks in Newfoundland for the first time. Fogo Island is in the Northeast part of the NL and is claim to fame for the “Fogo Island Inn” that was built in June 2013. The Inn was a vision of native and tech millionaire Zita Cobb and designed of architect Todd Saunders, native of Gander. The building is inspired by the fishing shacks and resident’s homes and culture of Fogo Island. The concept of the Inn was in response to the depleting cod fishing industry in the 1960’s and the government calling for a moratorium on fishing in the 1990’s. Zita was living and working internationally and retired at 42 with $69 million. She moved back to the island, put her money into building the inn that is now owned by a Foundation that she started. All profits from the Inn are reinvested back into the community.

The history of the Inn is fascinating and requires more reading than I can tell, but the Inn has put Fogo Island on the map and revitalized a community and island. We took a free tour of the Inn that charges a minimum of $2500/night with a 3-night minimum stay. There are 29 rooms. Celebrities have visited including Gwyneth Paltrow and David Letterman. Surprisingly, not only was the atmosphere chill and the staff laid back and kind, the design of the inside walls and ceilings matched the landscape of the island. Imperfect. But it was still classy with all white walls and halls. The cost of a room includes meals, but here’s the interesting fact. You can eat at the Inn or, any restaurant on the island. That’s the vibe of this project. Community focused. It’s amazing.

On our last night on the island, we ate at a restaurant where we saw a group of five people eating at a nearby table that we had seen arrive at the Inn during our tour. Completely based on our own assumptions and speculation, we believe that the five included an elderly man who was with his daughter and her three sons who, each of who were possibly in their late teens or early 20’s. Dreaming up a back story, we assumed that the elderly man was flipping the bill for them to stay at the Inn. He possibly thought he had a lot of money and limited life to live. Supposing he had to book two or three rooms at the Inn, he could be walking away with a $30k bill for a three-night stay. Most rooms are 2-person. Interested in staying there? You won’t get out with less than a $10k bill.

Life is short and money is of no value after it’s all said and done. Zita Cobb said, “I intend to die broke. I started with zero. I’ll go back to zero. What am I going to need it for?” What a brilliant and generous woman.

I’ve attached a 4-minute inspiration video, narrated by Zita, about Fogo. It’s a pretty amazing 4 minutes.

AUGUST 1: A Rough Start But A Good Start

My plan for today's ride was to make the annual 50k trip to GT's at Port Stanley Beach. It was a bit grueling with 31C, blazing sun, 68% humidity, and a slight 8k headwind. 12k short of my destination, I blew out my back tire and ended my first day's ride. A rough start, but a good start.

I want to kick of this ride with something that is so well connected to the Great Cycle Challenge. I’m not an official Taylor Swift fan. I don’t own her music, but I know and like several of her songs and have followed her career from the beginning. She’s also brilliant, talented, compassionate and genuinely kind and generous. She’s a rare artist.

Part of her present massive "Eras Tour" includes her song, "22," where she gives away a trademark black fedora “22 hat” to a very lucky young person. During the February 23 concert in Sydney, Scarlett Oliver, a 9-year old fan was the fortunate recipient of that hat. Scarlett was a terminally ill child with brain cancer. Her final wish was to meet Taylor Swift, but the Make A Wish foundation was unable to help the family achieve this. Her stepmother asked for help on social media to try and make it happen and by a miracle, they were fortunate to snag tickets to the sold out show. Scarlett was the single chosen person to receive the "22 hat" for that show. One short video clip of the encounter can be seen online at www.youtube.com/shorts/Ae2FfVKsWMU. The video below is the full song with Taylor giving Scarlett the hat during the performance.

Scarlett Oliver passed away in April. She would have been 10 on May 7.

Riding a bike under the blazing sun, against the wind and ending up with a flat tire 38 km away from home in the middle of somewhere is such a tiny sacrifice for such an important purpose.