Are you going to finish strong 💪🏼?

I can't believe it. I can't believe I got it done!!! When I did a 60k ride on Friday Aug. 23, I developed a painful ligament issue on top of my right kneecap. Even just walking for the next few days was not great. I felt devastated. I rehabbed the heck out of it for seven days straight, and while it was feeling much better, the pain was still faintly there. I had no idea how my next ride would go, but with 116k left on my pledge I headed out to see what would happen. I guess all my rehabbing worked because I managed 96k with no issues at all. OMG, I was sooooooooo happy!!! Still short with 20k to go, I didn't know how or if I'd be able to squeeze that in on the last day (today), but... I just went for it and banged off 62kms to finish strong 💪🏼, whoop whooooooop!!!

I was laughing like a madman back at my vehicle because I honestly thought I was going to be coming in days or even weeks late on finishing my pledge kms. It feels good. It feels very good, and I'm grateful for many things. Grateful that I was able to finish my pledged kms; grateful for a beautiful day out on my last official GCC ride; and I'm especially grateful for all the support I have received from all of you. Thank you for making the sacrifice with me, and for supporting the extremely important cause that your donation dollars will go to!!!

It's not to late to support if you haven't already, and still wish to chip in. I'll leave off with one more request, please. There are many ways we can give, and one of the simplest things everyone can do to help their fellow humans is donating blood. It costs you nothing except a little bit of your time. Don't think about it as a good idea you will get around to later, call 8882DONATE (888-236-6283) RIGHT NOW and book an appointment. It's just that easy, and it is also incredibly important to the lives of many people.

Thanks again, everyone!!!!

See me later 👊🏼,

Michael JC

Comeback Weekend Part 2

If anyone is actually reading this, I had to split it into two parts because of character restrictions. This is part two.

When I made it home on day one, other than being a little sore, I felt very happy that I made it through the entire trek. Still, the unsure feeling about the next day in my mind had me doing a bunch of recovery procedures... hot shower, ice packs, massage gun, and naturopathic anti-inflammatory cream. It is the signs of aging to require this much to recover, as I am finding out seemingly quickly here in my 50's decade.

And, the next morning I felt pretty good. I wanted to get out on trail asap to not allow my mind to convince itself not to at least try, and that sent me out the door so fast that this was my first ride ever that I didn't check my tire pressure before heading out. I realized that about five minutes into the ride, and there was no way I was turning back, so I just went for it(without issue).

Well.... I made it!!! I think it may be the two longest back to back rides I've ever done. There's a 20k stretch at the start of my ride that I cover both ways, out and back. It's a lot of downhill grade on the way out, which is nice, but of course, that becomes uphill grade on the ride back and the most challenging part of an already long ride on. I had some pretty good thigh burn going, but the toughest part this year has been a low back issue and right shoulder pain. I'm feeling like the Tin Man and need a good oiling.

Needless to say, I'm super happy and in a much more comfortable position to get to my pledged 500k by Aug. 31 now, whoop whooooooop!!!

It was a great weekend.

See me later,

Michael JC

Comeback Weekend Part 1

If anyone is actually reading this, I had to split it into two parts because of character restrictions. This is part one.

After a disastrous half ride last weekend, I had to put in extra effort to catch up this weekend, and luckily I was able to pull it off!!

At the top of a hill climb last week, which is the 30k mark on my ride, I got struck with dizzying nausea. I had to hop off the bike and sit on the grass for 10 minutes before the feeling passed. It left me a little spooked facing another 62k ahead of me yet, so I decided it was a better idea to bail on the ride and just casually rode to the nearest C-train station to take me home.

So, that left me little choice but to make back to back rides this weekend, or risk a lot of pressure to make my 500k by the end of the month.

Out for the first ride this weekend, I wasn't sure how I'd feel atop my 'bail hill' from the week before, but I ended up having an interesting experience climbing it this week instead. As I was approaching the start of the steep section, I was catching up to an elderly gentleman on a bicycle in front of me. Bad timing with my experience on it the week before, so I decided it would be best to stay behind the gentleman and not try to overtake him, which would have forced me to power full energy up the hill. This all happened very quickly, and the elderly gentleman dropped speed faster than I thought, which left me scrambling to shift gears, and.... my chain came off. Argh!!! I had some internal cursing happening as I was now forced to stop, dismount and reset my chain. After doing that and taking a short water break now that I was stopped, I powered myself up the hill. No issues 😁, I felt great!!! I knew at that moment that I'd be completing this day's ride for sure and was feeling amazing.

After a short time back in the saddle, I caught up to the gentleman I got stuck behind on the hill, and it turned out to be Aarmaan, Mehrab Kiaras. Such a crazy coincidence 🤣. We stopped and chatted for a bit to catch up as it's been some months since seeing each other last. Aarmaan, for those who don't know him, has done many hikes with me, and he is a guiding light of hope for all of us to enjoy a long and active life. You see, Aarmaan is 83 years old (84 in November). His activities just with me over the last two were many 15+k, 1200+m gain type hikes, every week. At this point, through the spring and summer of 2024, he is out on the cycle trails doing 60k rides four times a week!!!

Not only is he a beacon of light for us to inspire ourselves to follow, but he also gives us a good reason for this whole event of raising money to help children fighting cancer have this same opportunity for a long life.

Giving

I've added my pledge today. Big thanks to everyone who participated in getting me past my goal. It's not too late to still participate however and today is match day for the Great Cycle Challenge. A family named Garron has pledged to match up to 1.3 million dollars of donations for today. There's some true altruism happening in that family!!!

I could have used the money I pledged to satisfy many desires that I have right now. Here's a simple truth though, and a thought seed for you to consider...

'My own desires are outweighed by the needs of others'.

Our desires become a fog that hides this truth from us. This is not to say that you should give hundreds or thousands of dollars... it's ok to start small.

Today is a good day to start!!!

Cheers,

Michael JC

First ride

My first ride is complete. I waited and waited all week for today, only to wake to a bleh forecast. I sat in a moment of doubt, and decided to just go for it. It felt like I was in a headwind the entire ride. There were white caps on the Glenmore Reservoir. I got rained on for closer to half of the trip, (now I have to wash my bike, argh), and yeah, it was a physically and mentally challenging first ride... but I made it 😁.

Suuurely this effort is worthy of some donation tips from those of you who have 'liked' this post and haven't stepped up yet!!! The money raised is to help children have the opportunity to also reach the age we are at, and do things in life they enjoy that we all take for granted.

Don't wait until tomorrow, donate right now!!!

Donating

Donating (giving) is not about when you have some spare cash on hand, it's about sacrificing and going without 'wants'. Let's be honest, when we talk about our own suffering during this current period of inflation, we are really talking about that we don't have disposable cash to buy the things we want. When it comes to our needs, very few of us are in a deficit. We all have a home, clothes to wear, and we clearly have more food than we need. The way we have been indoctrinated to consume makes it easy for us to be blinded to the true suffering that's happening all around us. If you are not donating a minimum of $500.00 dollars per year, I would encourage you to please take time and consider what I'm saying. Take a look at your life and ask yourself, am I suffering?

Can I find 50 people here on FB to donate $20 each? You all likely have 20 dollars in a change bowl and that would hardly be a sacrifice for you at all. If I can reach $1000.00 dollars from my friends list, I will commit to putting in $1000.00 of my own money to match it. I'm no different than you and I do not have that as disposable income, but I will sacrifice wants for the rest of summer to help others who are truly suffering and in this case, kids fighting cancer who need our hope and support. None of us can escape cancer, it has touched every one of us in one way or another.

"Even after all this time the sun never says to the Earth, you owe me.

Look at what happens with a love like that, it lights the whole sky".

*Hafiz

How crazy is it that this poem about giving without condition was written by a human being who was born 700 years ago? In our consumerist society we have lost a part of our humanity in those 700 years since Hafiz wrote that poem.

Please sacrifice a donation to make a difference in the lives of people who are in need and suffering.

Cheers,

Michael JC