Today we started our day in Coboconk where we left off yesterday. Our first stop was Ridgewood Public School. As we rode up the driveway the team shared stories of our very first trip to the school. Remembering Trevor and his family as we passed by the memorial rock dedicated in Trevors memory. We never had the privilege of meeting Trevor, he lost his battle to cancer a few weeks before our first tour started in 2005. Each year we take a few minutes to remember our Special Friends who we have lost.
Once inside we watched students Makayla, Kaitlyn cut their pony tails and Andrew and Dillon shave their heads for the cause. The students were excited that they raised enough money to shave Mr. Wright's moustache, and for the second time Mrs. Dollack cut her pony tail to support Pedal For Hope.
Special mention goes to Miss Shaw's Senior Kindergarten class, they were by far the most enthusiastic and energetic bunch of students I have had the pleasure of watching dance, sing, and cheer. Great work !!!!
After a very hilly winding ride for 37km's we reached our second stop of the day, Archie Stouffer Public School. This stop is another emotional visit for our team, another Special Friend who lost his fight with cancer, our little buddy, Dawson. He will be forever remembered thanks to the new outdoor classroom dedicated in his name. A very unique way to always have Dawson remembered forever and we thank Mrs Whiteway for allowing us to be part of that special memory.
The atmosphere in the gym was unbelievable, it's the first time I have actually looked over at our emcee Habgood and laughed that we had lost control of the kids. There were kids dancing, screaming, doing the work, doing a conga line, climbing on tables, all while the team shaved or cut ponies of over 29 participants. All I could do is stand back and laugh as Habgood raised his hands and shrugged his shoulders.
Special mention to Peter Martin who entertained us with his own song that he wrote for the team, and of course our very own video star Ava who did a fantastic job.
After Archie Stouffer the team was back on the bikes for another 60km ride to Wilberforce. In between Archie Stouffer and Wilberforce there are two hills that have become tradition for the team to climb on their bikes, Dover Hill in Haliburton and Vinegar Hill in Wilberforce. Over the past 6 years, some team members have climbed these hills in triumph and others have surrendered to them, but no matter what we always have fun racing down the other side, sometimes at speeds well over 75 km/hr.
We have a big day of riding tomorrow as we will leave Wilberforce early in the morning and ride 100km/s down to Lakefield to enjoy the Pedal For Hope Community BBQ at Foodland, hosted by the Lakefield Lions Club. We will also be filming some of our ride to submit to CBC for the "A day in the life of Canadians", I think police officers spending their holiday time to ride 100km/s to support cancer research is the perfect way to spend our day, hopefully CBC thinks so too !!!!
Because we finished late tonight, and have an early start tomorrow we decided to stay up in the north tonight, but nobody told me just how far north we were headed. Greg Hammond is a good friend of the team and the reason why we have great sponsorship from Shimano Canada. Greg invited us to stay at his cottage tonight to save us from driving home and returning the next day, what he didn't tell us is we would have to drive pretty much the same distance north to his cottage as we would have driven south to reach Peterborough.
When we passed Bancroft the team started to get nervous, when we passed Maynoth the team got nervous, when we seen sign for Algonquin Park and than snow on the ground the team got scared, but we did manage to arrive in the wilderness safe and sound, I have no idea where we are, and I was driving !!!!
Thanks to Greg and TJ for allowing us to stay at their awesome cottage, which is really a home away from home, because it is a fantastic cottage and their hospitality was overwhelming !!
John
