With Internet service being hit and miss throughout the trip, I'm now finished the ride and am sitting in the airport waiting to board my flight to China in less than an hour!
Cyclebetes was great - bottom line! I can't stress how much fun I had meeting all the people involved, being educated on Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and lastly, riding the tandem bike over 600km's in 7 days. This was the first time I'd gotten involved supporting a cause to this extent. It was a financial commitment from my end that was well worth the money, a supporting commitment to raise money for the association and lastly a physical commitment that involved weeks of training prior to starting on my bike riding up mountains and staying out there for hours on end.
My tandem partner, Heather, was a Type 1 diabetic having recently been diagnosed just over a year ago. I learned a lot from her as well as from the others about the daily routines, struggles and life battles this disease entails - and from this, I became aware of what I was doing on a personal level and knew that I was in the right place to help out. She was a rockstar on the tnadem bike and pretty much did all the work across each province (with her ENERGY LEGS (inside joke)).
Overall this Cyclebetes event was perfect. I have put my name into the hat to ride across the entire country next year and to support the event in the background in any way I can. I can't say enough positive things about those who have diabetes and continue to challenge their physical levels day in and day out, as the struggles are prevalent and the due diligence is that much more important.
So the event finished and we passed things off to Team BC yesterday. My brother was at the Alberta boarder to pick me up and we sent the teams off with a few honks of the horn, then off we went. This morning we drove back from Golden, BC to Vancouver in just over 8 hours. After a dinner with the family, I met up with my West Vancouver Little League team for a wrap up party at Jeff's place. This guy is dialed in. He not only organized this get together, he and his wife Carol exceeded everyone's expections with gifts for the coaches and signed gear from the players. This meant so much to me as it was my first time coaching at this level and to have that type of family atmostphere and support really blew me away! The whole team, parents and players, have made for a great summer and some amazing friends. I hope to continue with the league in any way I can and look forward to helping Jeff and Marty out when they need that extra hand!
Talk to you all when I'm in China!
