Final post and huge thank you to all who supported this ride for fighting Kid's Cancer.
You exceeded my expectations by a long shot.
Stay well and enjoy the quickly approaching Autumn Season.
Still feeling under the weather, so no ride today.
These marigolds were grown from seed this year and a visitor came by today.
Between the rain and not feeling well today, the bike stayed in the garage.
The GCC 2025 has so far raised 6.4 million dollars. Your support is a part of that! Thank you.
I never answer a phone call that doesn't identify who the caller is. I figure, if it's for real, they'll leave a message. But lately, because I'm waiting for appointment calls from doctors or medical staff, who often use a cell phone to call and show as just a number, I try and make an educated guess as to whether it is legit or not. The first give away is first six digits are the same as mine. The second give away is the long pause after answering, where I usually just hang up. While riding, I received a "number id" call, so I stopped riding and decided to answer because I'm waiting for a call from cardiac at Victoria Hospital. There was the pause, but I still waited (because I hung up on my Home Care nurse a couple of times when he first contacted me).
Well, sure enough, it was a sales pitch call. I had failed all the indicators and fell for it. I just said I was busy and to call another time. At least I now know the number not to answer.
Update - I passed the 700 k for the year to "X" off my bingo card box.
500 like a boss.
I don't even know what that means. But, how do you eat an elephant? 20km at a time. Or something like that.
On August 1, 2025, I wrote: "And so it begins. Two months ago I assumed this riding thing wasn't going to happen. And I still don't expect me to hit the target, but I'll tack on some km's where possible."
Well ... I'm totally surprised. Every time I do this ride, I feel accountable to those who have generously supported and so I am grateful to all of you who did. You were part of the incentive to get on the bike (almost) daily. Thank you!!!
While I have reached the goal of 500 km, I have one more goal to reach. On New Year's, my daughter Winona came up with this brilliant idea to create a Bingo card where everyone takes 5 squares and makes up some kind of goal to aim for that year, something they weren't going to do otherwise. It wasn't an easy task coming up with 5 things and it's just as challenging to accomplish them, hoping that among the five of us, we can get one line in a row. But that's the point. It's a challenge ... and the conversation continues each time someone completes a square. It's been a great conversation piece throughout the year. Well, all that to say, is that one of my spaces is to ride 700 km this year. Fortunately, before I went in the hospital in early June, I had already ridden 178.84 km. And with 504.9 reached this month, I am now at 683.74 km ... which means I can claim my square in 16.26 km. The wheels of the bike continue to go round and round.
There are some pleasant things that I pass during each ride. The bright sunflower patches, the smell of baked cookies at the cookie factory, and the farmland. Then there are piles of this ... they call it fertilizer, but the smell identifies it as dry manure.
Both Rebecca and I are appreciating not having to be home by 8pm to pump antibiotics into me each day, as we have for the past 9 weeks. I think my taste buds are starting to relax too. There's been sparkling juice in the fridge and freezies in the freezer that I liked before June but tasted awful while being pumped with saline solution & antibiotics. Months later, they're actually tasting better.
A couple of weeks ago, I was riding and averaging about 28 kph for the past 5km, and I felt like I was really moving along until this girl on her bike slowly passes to the left of me, says hello and heads off ahead of me. Then today, I came around a corner and saw a guy up ahead of me. I don't like passing other bikers, but don't want to intentionally sit behind them either. So, I tried keeping up the pace and discovered that I was slowly catching up but not as quickly as I originally thought. He must have noticed me because eventually, the distance between us increased considerably. I wasn't going to have to worry about passing him because he was gone.
Spent the day in Niagara with my parents so no ride today.
We travelled Hwy 8 through the abundance of people traffic visiting the annual Winona Peach Festival. I haven't been to it for decades, but compared to when I went to it as a kid, it has grown considerably. It was just a handful of attractions, booths, etc. back then. Attendance now exceeds 150,000 with people coming from all over.
I spent my whole childhood in the village of Winona, known for the Peach Festival and ED Smith. (Oh, and the homeland at the time of singer Ian Thomas).
This afternoon, I returned to Victoria Hospital for the one week follow up with the Hematology doctor. I will be doing another lung scan prior to the 3-month follow up when the blood thinner is done. The scan is different and sounds like they use a tracer gas that is breathed in to follow the airflow.
I haven't worn a suit in decades, but went for a rental fitting yesterday for Fynn's wedding in October. Let me just say that the sizes of everything is one-size fits no one. Trying to find the best middle ground on size and fit was ... interesting. Fortunately, it's one day and I don't have to keep it.
My first ride without a PICC line in my arm! It was removed this morning by the Home Care Nurse! Woohoo! Discovered that the distance from my forearm to my heart is 43 cm (17"). At least, that's what it measured. Apparently, we had record of the length of it when inserted, to which the nurse compared it to when he pulled it out. There's measurement markings on the line to measure. All to make sure what went in, all came out.
Today I passed through 80% of the ride goal. Never thought I would be making it this far. Without a question, the exercise has been beneficial to the body and mind. Seems like the GCC ride was good timing.
PHOTO: While in Stratford, I saw this unfortunate leg position by a customer. It gave the impression what is read and what is sold do not match.
