Slams to Dead Ends !!!

The day started off in Havelock this morning with our usual stop at Subway for breakfast. After breakfast, as the team was getting ready to ride, I witnessed one of the best slams I have ever seen. I don't mean 'slams' as in making fun of someone, because that is just an everyday occurrence on our team. I mean the Hulk Hogan, grab the person and throw them against a wall kinda slam that you see in the World Wrestling Federation. If I didn't see it with my own eyes I would have never believed it. Lindsey decided it would be funny to 'mock' Marc, boy was she wrong, Marc decided to charge at Lindsey and grab her in a bear hug. The only problem is, just as he grabbed her, he tripped causing Lindsey to fall backwards into the concrete wall behind her with Marc still holding on. The two crashed into wall, throwing Lindsey's head back, striking the wall, thankfully she already had her bike helmet on. Just another success story of wearing a helmet, even when your just standing around. Don't worry Lindsey wasn't hurt and everyone had a great laugh after the initial shock wore off.

Morel of the story...........don't make fun of Marc, or at least put a helmet on first !!!!!

Once the laughing stopped it was on the bikes and off to Havelock Public School to visit Mr. Payne and his students.

You would think that it would be an easy trip to travel 3 blocks from Subway to the

school, however when 10 bikes, 3 police cruisers, a truck towing a 26 foot trailer, and an 11 seat passenger van have to turn around in the middle of the street because they missed the turn to the school, it is too funny !!!! I would love to blame ' Wrong Way Ricky' our lead vehicle driver for this one but I think it was an entire team blooper. It was funny to watch though.

When we did arrive at the school the kids were lined up along the driveway and sitting on the hill waiting for us. As we pulled in the driveway, posters and banners were waving frantically. Once we got inside the school the usual beach ball bouncing party began. The music was loud and the beach balls were flying all over the gym.

24 students stepped up for the cause and shaved their heads

or cut their pony tails. There was also a group of awesome students who dyed their hair for us, the blue hair looked great as they removed their hats and showed us their new colour.

To add a little excitement to the show we brought back an old favorite. Mr. Payne & Mrs. Hodson were handcuffed and surprisingly we didn't have trouble finding two other teachers to feed them ice cream.

At the end of the show the students presented us with the most money their school has ever raised, $4819.86 !!!! Outstanding job.

From Havelock it was back on the bikes and heading for Campbellford, home of not only the World's Finest Chocolate store but also our next two schools, Hillcrest Public School and St. Mary's Catholic School.

Although I do like to ride with the team, and I do wish I could be on the bike right now, there are some advantages to riding in the escort vehicle. The first one is I can type these blogs on the go, right now I am actually typing this as I follow the team down County Road 30. The other good thing is since all our support crew took off to Worlds Finest Chocolate on a shopping spree, I am able to contact the next schools and give them an idea of when we will be arriving. Behind the scenes stuff I have never experienced before. It's definitely a different perspective.

As we pulled into St. Mary's the kids were cheering and the excitement was in the air.

It was crazy wig and hair day at the school and the kids were in the fundraising spirit, they looked great. We enjoyed having Steve Webb with us today as a guest rider. Steve is a retired NHL player who enjoyed many years with the New York Islanders and the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was awesome to have Steve out to join in the fun and at St. Mary's he joined in by shaving his head to show his support.

After lunch at Subway it was over to Hillcrest Public School where we landed right in the middle of their lunch break. As the sirens wailed from the police cruisers you could see

the kids running full speed towards the driveway. The team did three laps around the driveway just to make sure nobody missed out on a high five. Primary classes on one side of the driveway held up hand drawn posters and signs that were in some cases bigger than they were.

Once we started the show it was a party from the minute we arrived until we packed up the trucks at the end of the day. For the teachers, having us arrive at the end of the day is like winning the lottery, I would hate to have to try to calm the kids down after we leave the school. The best thing for them is to get them on a bus and send them home to their parents. Ha Ha

As the team left Campbellford to ride towards Stockdale, Lindsey and had another

destination. We jumped into a O.P.P cruiser and were whisked away back to Peterborough for a surprise assembly at Kawartha Heights Public School. The students were asked to come down to the gym for an assembly but had no idea why they were there. A couple of minutes into the assembly Ms. Assing announced that because the kids had done such an amazing job at fundraising, she was shaving her head. The kids were thrilled and we were glad we could be apart of it, even though Lindsey, Trevor and I were, as usual, fashionably late. The students were excited to announce they had raised $12,000 for Pedal For Hope. It was awesome !!!!!

Tomorrow is our Lakefield BBQ Day at IGA, hope to see everyone there at 12pm !!!!