Pedal For Hope

2011 Day 15

2011-05-12T08:58:00.000-07:00

Last year St. Joseph's Catholic School in Bowmanville did such an amazing job fundraising for us, we never thought they would be able to top it this year........but they did !!!!

Not only were they in the top ten schools overall for total fundraising this year, they had the most on-line participants of any school, raising over $10,000 on-line alone, and I'm also pretty sure they had the most posters and banners ever displayed for our ride in to their school.

When we headed down the street you could see the students waiting for us at the corner, than another corner, and finally another turn, students students students, everywhere. So it was only fitting that this was the school we chose to showcase for other police services to see just how we do things on the tour. We were happy to have members of the R.C.M.P and the Belleville Police Service in attendance. We also had Sue Rollins from the Belleville branch of the Canadian Cancer Society come to watch the show. You may just see a Pedal For Hope team in the Belleville area real soon.

The gym was packed and the students were excited to see us. This school was so enthusiastic about the team being there, they even re-scheduled their Sr. Kindergarten class so they would be able to be at school to watch the show, and what a show it was, we shaved 45 heads and cut 15 ponies for the cause.

For at least one little girl we actually did both, pony and shave. Congrats to Maude who led by example that day. Not only did she lead the school in fundraising, she donated her 30 cm hair for a wig and than shaved her head to support the cause. A true hero, sacrificing her hair to support those living with cancer.

A great video of Maude can be found below.

At the end of the assembly the school was super excited to donate over $16,000 !!!!!!!

McHappy Day 2011

2011-05-11T18:14:00.000-07:00

After we wrapped up our last school today we drove back to Peterborough to cause havoc for a bunch of employees at McDonalds one store at a time.

Pedal For Hope was having a McHappy Day and as we visited each store, we gained more and more respect for the McDonalds employees. It's hard work running around trying to serve each customer in record setting time, and it's even harder when you have 15 police officers getting in the way !!

Our first stop was on The Parkway, than Willowcreek, and finally ended up at the Chemong Rd

restaurant. It was a fantastic day and we look forward to this day every year.

We can't thank Jamie, Terri, and Angel enough for allowing us to be part of this amazing day for the last 3 years. Not to mention the 2 years before that when they donated the proceeds from the new launches of snack wraps and ice coffee. Over the past 5 years the McDonalds stores in Peterborough, Lakefield and Bancroft have donated over $40,000 towards ending Pediatric Cancer.

After a hard night of flipping burgers and serving fries, it was time to get some rest. the very next day, Angel contacted us and advised that McHappy Day 2011 had raised $13,000 !!!!

2011 Day 14

2011-05-11T17:16:00.000-07:00

Today we started out the day back in Peterborough at Armour Heights Public School. Although the tour is down in the Newcastle, Bowmanville area, we squeezed in a visit back near home.

We always have a great time visiting Armour Heights, and this year was no exception. The students were lined up with their signs as we slowly made our way up McFarlane Street to the school.

Once inside our Morph's entertained the kids, we shaved some heads and lots of hair was donated to make wigs for kids with cancer.

After Armour Heights we were back on the highway to pick up

where we left off

yesterday down in Newcastle. Our second stop of the day was at Newcastle Public School. This was our first visit to this school and it was awesome. The students were very enthusiastic right from the minute we turned onto their street. 600 kids were lining both sides of the street as we rode by.

Once we finally got everyone back inside the gym the show was on. I think our Morphs get better and better with each show we do. The kids love them !!

Our third and final stop of the day was in Bowmanville at Holy Family Catholic School. Mrs Towns & Mrs Cavanaugh do an awesome job energizing the students into high gear. When we turned the corner we could see every student lined up with posters and banners welcoming us to their school. We had to make three passes down the driveway, across the road and in the second driveway to meet each student.

It was fun to watch Holy Family's very own Emily and Madison in our video, they received an overwhelming cheer from the crowd.

One of the high lights of the afternoon was meeting Farrah, a brave girl who is going thru treatment for cancer. As students lined up to cut their ponies, which will be donated to make wigs for kids, there was Farrah, standing there wearing a wig from donated hair. For the first time we seen the results of our donations. It was very inspiring. Even Farrah's cousin attended the school, and yes you guessed it, to cut her pony tail.

This school has been in the top fundraising categories every year they have participated, and this year they stayed near the top with their $10,800 donation !!!!

After the assembly the school treated us to a pizza lunch before we headed back on the road.

2011 Day 13

2011-05-10T18:33:00.000-07:00

Today was a great ride along the shores of Lake Ontario as we visited Coburg and Port Hope. The weather was in our favour and even the wind was travelling in the right direction.

It was a short 4km ride thru town before arriving at our first stop,

Grant Sine Public School. They are a small school, but they have lot's of heart, and lot's of vocal cords !!! The school has around 60

students but the day we arrived they sounded like 600 students. Especially when their eating ice cream !!!

We didn't shave any heads at this stop, but we were introduced to Danika, who is going to cut her pony tail next week and donate it to make a wig.

After a short 10km ride we arrived at our second stop, St. Anthony's in Port Hope. I love visiting Port Hope, it's nice and small and reminds me of a post card. There's only one small problem with Port Hope, they put a massive hill right in the middle of town, and we had to

climb up it to get to the school. All the students were lined up outside as we rolled into their parking lot, led by Constable Marino and his fancy new Charger.

Once inside we shaved 10 heads, cut 2 ponies, and dyed over 20 heads of hair a variety of colours. The school raised over $2,200 and we also received a generous donation from Linda Linker and the Amanda Linker Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Our final stop of the day was the shortest ride on tour, right across the street at Ganaraska Trail Public School. No matter how bad the weather is on tour, it always turns Sunny in Port Hope. Our long time friend and huge supporter Sunny was the first person we seen as we rode into the school. She has been following the team for 6 years now and we appreciate all her support.

We were honoured to have Constables Payton and Wood from the Port Hope Police Service join us to watch the show. Constable Payton even joined in and had her hair dyed to show her support.

Special acknowledgements to Elizabeth and Madison who cut their ponies to make wigs for kids with cancer. Great job girls !!!!

At the end of the day the team rode 25km's to Newcastle to be ready for tomorrow.

2011 Day 12

2011-05-09T18:14:00.000-07:00

Today was a gorgeous sunny day. Likely the best day we have had so far on the tour. We started our day at a brand new school, Northumberland Hills Public School. This school is new, and amazing. It's big, it's bright and the kids were excited to see us.

My day didn't start off great, while waiting for the team to get bikes ready I was coasting down the road, unfortunately for me I hit a patch of gravel and down I went. It was a slow speed and I felt like I was falling in slow motion. I did manage to do somewhat of a side somersault while rolling around on the ground with my shoe clips still locked into

the pedals. It was a funny way to start the day, but I didn't know then, was it wasn't going to be the only time I found myself on the ground today !!!

Once inside we cut 3 ponies and shaved 10 heads and at the end of the assembly Pedal For Hope was presented with $3050.00 plus some hard earned money from the grade 3/4 class. They helped out by having a bottle and can drive. Great work !!!

One of the nicest moments of the day happened today at Northumberland Hills, as I walked into the gym I noticed a card on the table where we set up our P.A system. The hand made card was from Olivia and she wanted to let the team know that she was a champion last year in our obstacle course and brought her medal to school to show us. The letter went on to say

that she had the time of her life and she never got the chance to thank us for making her so popular in school. Well Olivia, I now have your card and I am putting it on my desk

in the Pedal For Hope headquarters. Thank you so much for your awesome kind words. It's students like you who keep us going day after day, kilometer after kilometer.

Our second stop of the day was in Baltimore, and for me it was the second wipe out of the day. As we were approaching the school you make a left turn and go straight up hill, way up hill. As I was out of my seat really hammering on the pedals, I could hear my gears having some serious problems. As I turned into the school driveway I tried to gear down so I was in a nice easy gear to be able to high five the students, unfortunately right than and there my chain came off and wedged in my pedal, and once again being clipped into my pedals, it was not a good time to come to a complete stop. Once your at a complete stop

with your feet locked into the pedals, theres only one place your going........DOWN !! I did manage to laugh that spill off too, but not as much as my team mates were laughing about it.

Mrs. Beale had Baltimore rocking as we cut 7 pony tails, shaved 6 heads, and of course dyed Mrs. Beale's hair bright red. This isn't the first time she has been subjected to this punishment by her students. Mrs. Beale is a great supporter of Pedal For Hope and we appreciate all her sacrifices for the cause.

The students presented us with $4543 that the school raised, plus we were presented with a cheque from Dance For Hope, which is a charity dance to remember Kim Hope, daughter of Carolyn and Tom Heffernan. We are honoured that the Heffernan family choose Pedal For Hope to be their charity of choice in remembering their daughter. Carolyn stepped up to the front of the school and presented the team with a cheque for $5206 !!!!

It didn't stop there, we also had an envelope presented to us containing $51.37, which was raised by selling bracelets to the students. Great work to Janessa, Adam, Nick, Kaylee, Drew, Colleen, Lexxi and Amy for being creative and having great initiative in your fundraising efforts.

Our final stop of the day was in Plainville, the only problem with that is once you leave Baltimore and turn onto Dale Road, it's all up hill. In fact we measured one hill that stretched up for over 6 km's. Now you might not think that's much when your in a car, but on a bicycle it feels like it's never going to end.

When we arrived at the school it was a sea of blue and yellow streamers, the kids were waving them all over the place like pom pom's on a cheerleader. It was a great sight in the gym as they waved them to the beat of the music.

Plainville Public School used our assembly as a kickoff to their fundraising campaign. We cut 7 ponies and shaved 2 heads. What made it special was the fact that the 2 head shaves were girls. Congrats to Mackenzie and Claire for supporting the cause. The Women's Olympic Team would be proud of you. Plainville definitely showed that 'Girls Rule'.

After the assembly we were back on our bikes travelling south towards Coburg, but this time we got to ride down the hill we struggled to get up, and it was fun and it was fast !!!!

2011 MidLife Crisis Concert

2011-05-06T18:09:00.000-07:00

Tonight was an amazing event. Peterborough's very own musicians F.O.G, Aaron MacMillan, and MidLife Crisis took to the stage to entertain about 400 people at The Junction. The floor shook and the bass boomed as the bands rocked the place !!!

A percentage of the proceeds from ticket sales went to Pedal For Hope.

During an intermission we watched Carey Walker, the promo guy from Wolf 101.5fm get his head shaved.

All in all it was a fantastic night and thanks to the bands and Carey, a great deal of money was raised for Pedal For Hope. Thanks guys, we really appreciate what you do for us year after year.

2011 Day 11

2011-05-06T17:19:00.000-07:00

Today was going to be a long riding day for the team, nearly 80km's of riding with 3 stops, Percy Centennial in Warkworth, Stockdale Public School, and finishing up at Brighton Public School.

We arrived in Warkworth first thing in the morning and the energy at Percy was awesome. The kids were excited that we were there and we were even more excited to be back in Warkworth.

We had a great time at this school and look forward to returning next year. Percy always does a great job fundraising and this year was no exception. At the end of the assembly, Pedal For Hope was presented with a cheque for more than $4000 !!! Great job Percy Centennial.

From there it was a pretty good ride to Stockdale Public School, a little hilly

,but we managed to get the job done. Like I have said before, no matter how hilly the ride, when you come down the road and see the students outside cheering you on, holding posters, the hills seem to disappear. I still wish we would have remembered to take this poster, it's awesome. Girls, if you still have it, send a email to our website and we will come and get it.

Once inside there was a big line up for head shaves and pony tail cuts, and than it went crazy during the icecream eating contest. Stockdale Public School definitely has champion ice cream eaters !! It was also a treat to see one of our Special Friends, Kayla in the crowd to watch the show. As usual, she didn't stay there long, our Special Friends are part of our team and they come right up to the front to help us out.

Our day ended in Brighton where the team visited Brighton Public School. Unfortunately when your on a bicycle, having to travel 30km's to another school, sometimes mother nature isn't too kind to you. It wasn't rain this time, it was wind, real windy !!! Remember, like I described before, like riding your bicycle with a parachute on your back.

The team rolled into Brighton Public School a little late, but we managed to squeeze in a good amount of fun. We had a head shave, a pony tail cut, ate some ice cream, and met Mrs. Norris, one of the newest teachers in Brighton. HaHa. Todd definitely lost out on that challenge. He's a great sport for doing it.

We had to cut the assembly short so the kids could catch the busses, but some team members will be back on Monday to enjoy the second part of the assembly. I hear there are going to be some whip cream pies being tossed around on that day.

Now it's back to Peterborough to prepare for the MidLife Crisis Charity concert being held at the Junction. The best part of the night will be watching the lovely Angel shave the Wolf 101.5's promo guy, Carey Walker's head.

2011 Day 10

2011-05-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

We started our day off in Havelock this morning. The weather was pretty nice and the students were out in full force. It's always motivation when I see the kids have taken the time to make posters and signs welcoming the team to their school. As the kids lined up to greet us it was one poster after another.

Lot's of head shaves and pony tail cuts at this school. We definitely packaged up quite a few pony tails to ship off to the Canadian Cancer Society. Lot's and lot's of wigs being

made from those donations !!!! We had a special pony tail donation, our friend Emily was on hand to watch the show, and after seeing all the girls cut their ponies, she decided to get up and donate her hair as well. What makes it so special is Emily was recently diagnosed with cancer and will be starting treatment soon, but before that happens, she wanted to make sure she donated her hair for the cause. Such a great moment, someone who is fighting cancer herself, but takes the time to make sure a child has a wig. Emily, you are truly our hero, we will be beside you in this fight !!!!

Not only did we have the usual head shaves and ice cream eating contest's, but we also watched as a few teachers got slammed with whip cream pies !!! It was awesome !!!

Once we got cleaned up we had a short ride to Campbellford, to visit the big kids at C.D.S.S. there were quite a few head shaves, and we likely could have stayed there all day shaving heads, but the assembly is only so long, so we had to cut it short. We do appreciate the support though.

We have a different activity for the high schools, we have a ice cream eating / tricycle riding relay race. Its comical to watch, high school kids who can dance, demonstrate amazing athleticism, but here you put them on a tricycle and it's a comedy of errors !!!

I have never seen someone fall off a bicycle so much in my life as these kids did as they tried to race each other around the gym.

To make matters worse they also had to eat a cup of ice cream every time they did a lap. Great times at C.D.S.S and at the end of the assembly the student council presented Pedal For hope with a cheque for over $4000, which means someone has to dye their entire body blue !!! Good luck on that. HaHa.

From C.D.S.S big kids to the younger kids at Hillcrest Public School. As we rode up to the school the kids were running out to meet us, and after 3 or 4 laps around the parking lot, I

managed to get high fives from pretty much every student. Lot's of head shaves at this school and lot's of hair on the floor !!!

Hillcrest might be a small school, but their enthusiasm and dedication rivals any school on the tour. It was awesome to be back in Campbellford !!!!

Tomorrow were off to Warkworth, Stockdale and Brighton. Lot's of kilometers !!!

2011 Day 9

2011-05-04T15:05:00.000-07:00

Today we started in Norwood where we rolled into Norwood District P.S at 9am. The kids were lined up as we arrived and we could hear them cheering even over the sound of the police sirens.

It was a great atmosphere in the gym and the show was a huge hit. We shaved some heads and cut a few ponies and at the end of the assembly the students presented Pedal For Hope with a cheque for over $2700.00. Awesome work team !!!

The highlite of the morning was seeing four boys stand up in the gym, raise up their t-shirts and reveal the letters to spell out 'Cops' when they stood side by side. Now that's enthusiasm !!!! Great work boys, that was a first for our 7 years on tour.

Our next stop was a very short ride across town to St. Pauls Catholic School where we witnessed

one of the most dramatic transformations we have ever seen on tour. Mr Sawada shaved his head and his beard and looked like a totally different person when he was done. I'm sure his wife appre

ciated and supported his efforts, but just the same, I'm sure she

loved the new man with no hair.

Our ice cream eating contest was exciting and I was glad to see that we had a dancing superstar amongst the group. For one girl, who was entertaining me with her dance moves, she also proved she could eat ice cream just as good as anybody else in the room. Great job !!

Our final stop of the day was about 30km's away in Hastings. It was different this year because due to a scheduling change, we actually rode in from the opposite direction, so we didn't have to climb the hill right in front of the school. What a great change !!!

We arrived at the school as the kids were out on break, so we got to ride right down the path and into the school playground, it was cool.

Once inside we watched as student after student lined up with a piece of duct tape in their hands, waiting to tape Mrs. Bryson to the wall. It was great to see, and the duct tape held pretty good, even while she was trying to dance to the music.

Once the head shaving began we watched as Madam Anderson cut her pony tail. There was enough hair out of that one to make a few wigs !!! Good job Amber, it will make you even faster and lighter on

the horses now.

Once we finished up in Hastings it was back to Havelock for tomorrows schools.

2011 Day 8

2011-05-03T16:05:00.000-07:00

I know I am likely starting to sound like a broken record...........not that any student under the age of 15 knows what they are, or if they do, I bet they don't own any. But anyway, rain rain rain, again I am typing the same thing today, we started out in the rain and ended the day in the rain.

We arrived at St. Joseph's to a group of students who were out braving the cold and the rain to greet us. St. Joseph's has been one of the top schools in fundraising over the years and we were excited to see how they did this year. We had a great time shaving heads and cutting a couple of pony tails. We also found out that not only does St. Josephs have awesome fundraisers, but they also have awesome ice cream eating champions.

From Douro it was a short 12km ride, in the rain, to Warsaw, where we were greeted by a small group of kindergarten kids who bundled up and braved the rain to see us. As our clothes dried in the staff room dryer, we got the show rolling. More head shaves and more pony tails getting cut, and for one little girl, a day at school in her pyjamas !!

The best part of the assembly was the awesome smell of BBQ hamburgers in the distance. Every year teachers and parents of Warsaw students help out to supply the team with a great BBQ lunch. Hamburgers, Watermelon, and fantastic home baked cookies !!!! As we stood around in the gym munching away, the last thing I though about was the 30km ride we had to do to get to Keene, and your absolutely right, it was still raining !!

It was a wet hilly ride to North Shore Public School in Keene but we still managed to show within minutes of our anticipated arrival. Mrs. Foster had her students outside to greet us and it was great to see her.

Although for the first time we had a few students terrified by our mascot bear, and for the first time we had a minor injury during the beach ball activity, the show was still fantastic. Hopefully our beach ball girl will be up and dancing again tomorrow !!

We had another great turnout for head shaves and pony cuts and of course our Morphamaniacs energized the crowd.

Tomorrow we visit Norwood and Hastings.

2011 Day7

2011-05-03T15:42:00.000-07:00

Although we rode all the kilometers yesterday we still had to start our day off in Willberforce where we spent the morning with students from Wilberforce Elementary. The entire school fits into one classroom !!!! We love heading way up north to visit, I don't think the kids get many visitors.

This is the first year we had to have the entire show indoors, and why you ask............because of course, it was raining again !! The rain didn't damper our spirits though, it was still hair cutting and ice cream all the way !!

After we left Willberforce we headed south to Apsley where the rain stopped for about 5 minutes so the students could line up outside and greet us. It is always nice to see Mrs. Melnik, and although her husband suggested we smear her with ice cream this year, we thought it would be best not too.

Lots of head shaves and excitement filled the gym.

**More info to be added**

Our final stop of the day was back in Lakefield at LDSS. The students packed the bleachers and overflowed onto the gym floor as we listened to one of the students perform solo on the guitar. it was great and his peers made sure he knew it by their thunderous applause at the end of the performance.

We went right into our usual head shaves and pony tail cuts but we were also treated to something a little different, spray dye. One by one students and teachers lined up to have their heads covered in bright neon pink hair spray. It was a sight to be seen.

Once we cleaned up it was time for the Morphamaniacs to take over and challenge a few students to a ice cream eating / tricycle riding relay race. It was a close race but I think the students were much faster and far more graceful than our Morphs.

We were thrilled to see some of our Special Friends in the house, Jarrod who is enjoying his high school years and Victoria who although she is no where near ready for high school, she seemed to fit right in. We also had our team member Lindsey make an appearance to show off her brand new baby. Very cute, both mom and baby. Lindsey will return next year to her full time riding position.

After Lakefield the team rode to Douro so they could be ready to visit St. Joseph's Catholic School tomorrow.

2011 Lakefield BBQ

2011-04-30T14:32:00.000-07:00

If we were going to be blessed with nice weather during the tour, today was the second most important day for that to happen. Aside from our final ride into Peterborough with our 'Special Friends', the Lakefield Lions Community BBQ depends on sunshine, and today we received it.

We left Wilberforce around 8:30 and had 90km's of riding ahead of us. The weather was nice and the team was in good spirits as we rolled down the highway. At 10am we arrived in Apsley which was the half way point of the ride. It was a great day to get some video footage of the team for next years video, and our submission to CBC's 'One Day' contest. We met up with Mike Melnik and his co-op student, NcLovin so they could work the cameras and capture the team in fine form.

We arrived in Lakefield just after noon and the smell of the BBQ was awesome. The Lakefield Lions were serving up lunch and it was great. We really appreciate what Larry Taylor and all the Lions do for us, year after year they man the BBQ for us. Thanks to Ian and Ross who provide all the food for us courtesy of Foodland.

A couple of highlites for the day was getting to meet one of our newest 'Special Friends', Boden and his family. Great little guy, little shy, but he will come around. The other highlite was watching as NcLovin had his head shaved for the cause. It was kind of funny when I was getting the hair clippers ready, he came over and asked what number I was using..........Number ?? I quickly educated him that we were shaving his head, not styling it !!!! You could almost see the blood rush out of his head as he turned somewhat white in fear. He did go thru with it as a small crowd of family and friends cheered him on.

After a couple of hours of socializing, the team packed up and headed home to relax for Monday.

2011 Day 6

2011-04-29T17:06:00.000-07:00

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

2011 Day 5

2011-04-28T18:18:00.000-07:00

If I had to describe what the ride was like today, I would have to say, imagine riding your bicycle around town with a large parachute on your back. The wind was so strong today it was blowing the bikes all over the place.

Although we rode into Bobcaygeon yesterday we had to return to Lindsay today to visit St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School where we were not only met by the students, but also Ashley Donaldson, Dave Murtha, Scott Duffy, Terry Cox, Brenda Johnson, and Dianna Brown, who are all members of the City of Kawartha Lakes Police Service. Joining them was Matt Beacock from the City of Kawartha Lakes Fire Dept and Katherine Forgaard-Pullen who represented the CKL Police Services Board. It was awesome for so many guest to join us for the presentation.

Students at St. Thomas have displayed throughout the year that they support each other when it matters most, and today was no exception as students lined up to cut off their pony tails and shave their heads to support two of their fellow students, Bradley and Darrien.

The atmosphere in the gym was electric as students danced, sang, and screamed all while they cheered on participants in our tricycle / ice cream eating relay race. There were a couple of crashes during the race but no casualties. The ice cream fun wasn't done there, the team brought back the handcuffed / ice cream eating competition for this school and as usual there was more ice cream on the students faces than in their mouths. Special props to Constable Brown for volunteering to participate.

Special thanks to student committee members Caitlin, Katie, Abby, Chantel and Kathryn for organizing the event and inviting us to visit. Also thanks to Joe McGillis and Jen Wichmann for supporting the cause by losing their hair !!!

Our second stop was back in Bobcaygeon where we got to visit with two of our Special Friends, Vicky and Ben. Each year I say the same thing, I can't believe how much they have grown. We have had the pleasure of watching our Special Friends mature over the years and it's amazing to remember that 6 years ago they were just little kids. Now Vicky is a little lady and Ben is in high school and organizing his own Pedal For Hope fundraiser. During the assembly Ben presented us with a donation of $300 that he helped raise at his school. Awesome job Ben, a cancer survivor fundraising to help other kids in his community. A true ambassador for the team.

Joining us for the ride into Bobcaygeon was Haliburton County O.P.P officer, Constable Alex Whitefield. He did an awesome job and we were thrilled to have him join us for the day.

Hair was flying as the clippers were in high gear. Special congrats to Wyatt, Austin & Kane from Mrs. Jermyn's class who shaved their heads to support us. Maybe next year we can convince Mrs. Jermyn to cut her hair for the cause, start letting it grow now, and we will be paying you a visit next year !!!!! HaHa

Our third and final stop of the day was in Fenelon Falls where we were scheduled to visit Langton Public School, but first we had to meet up with our second guest rider of the day, Mrs. Steele, a grade 6 teacher from Langton.

We set out on our 18km ride from Bobcaygeon to Fenelon Falls and it was nothing but wind, crazy wind, like 60km/hr wind !!!! It was a slow ride but we managed to get it done, and when we arrived in Fenelon Falls we met up with the most special guest rider of the day, Julie.

At this time last year Julie was sprung from Sick Kids Hospital during her treatment just so she could be a part of our show. She stood on stage and cut her best friend, Julia's pony tails off one by one, and than shaved her friends head until she was bald. I can guarantee there wasn't many dry eyes in the house as we all watched Julie remove her hat for the first time and stand on stage with her best friend. Unbelievable !!!

A year later, Julie is a bright, healthy little girl who is beyond her years in wisdom. She can speak to an audience in a way that very few little girls can. She is a true fighter and a true hero to the team, and it was an amazing sight to ride into the school with Julie leading the way, not in a cruiser, not in her mom's car, she was riding her bike at the front of the pack, leading her team into her school, and that my friends is what drives us to do what we do each year.

Another special friend and Langton alumni, Eli was also leading us in the RCMP cruiser, I'm sure fighting Ricky to see who would get to work the sirens and lights. Another couple of years and Eli will be asking if he can drive the cruiser instead !!!

One inside Mrs. Steele had activity after activity. From Ms. Doucette eating a worm, to Ms. Mathers drinking a grub and cricket smoothie, to Ms. Austin, who skipped rope for the entire assembly. The students were excited, they were loud, and they were supportive of Julie and her fight to beat cancer. Congratulations to Abbey for doing an awesome job fundraising, enjoy your new IPOD Nano.

Many head shaves and many pony tails were cut off today including Julie cutting off team member Kirk's hair and Eli cutting of team member Keith's hair. After day 5 there are not too many team members left who still have hair, I lose mine tomorrow at Ridgewood.

After all the excitement and fun Mrs. Steele took the microphone. (I finally found someone who likes a microphone as much as our Emcee, Habber) Mrs. Steel let the students know that they had set a goal of $8,000 which is absolutely amazing. but when it came down to the actual amount raised she prompted the students to count "$10,000, what comes after that, $11,000, what comes after that, $12,000, than $13,000", than 14, than 15, than 16, than 17........Langton Public School, a school of 400 students raised over $17,000, absolutely incredible !!

After an incredible celebration we hopped on our bikes and battled the wind for 15km's to Coboconk. After witnessing Langton students amazing achievements, and seeing Julie and Eli so healthy and happy, the wind really didn't seem that bad anymore, or if it was, nobody on the team dared complain about it !!

2011 Day 4

2011-04-27T17:03:00.000-07:00

It was so nice leaving the house today and actually looking up in the sky to see the sun shining. We needed to have some good weather because today was going to be the first real day of riding. As we left Peterborough, it was smooth riding all the way to Bridgenorth for our first stop at Chemong Public School.

It was another great assembly that Chemong Public School has become know for. Deb and her crew do an amazing job every year to support Pedal For Hope and the friends in our community fighting cancer. As we rolled in, we were greeted with cheers, waves, and clapping by all the students.

Once inside we got right down to business shaving or cutting pony tails of 35 participants including Deb. We always like to give a special mention to any girls who shave their head for the cause, and at Chemong it included Heather, Emily and Lily.

For one grade 8 student, this was her 4th time shaving her head to support the cause. What makes this year different is this is her graduation year and she still decided to shave it. That's an example of what our video is all about, ordinary students doing extraordinary things, and Emily displayed that today. Good luck in high school next year, we hope you will continue

your awesome leadership qualities, you can always lead by example.

After the head shaves it was Mrs. Bailey's turn to take the spotlight, but not for a head shave, she was the landing zone for 3 whip cream pies in the face. She was a champ as she sat their as each student came up and launched a whip cream pie at her face.

Our next stop of the day was in Omemee, where we visited Scott Young Public School. I love visiting this school because the students are so energized when we arrive. The form up in their respective house league teams and cheer for us like it's a rock concert. As I rode around the track I was greeted by the Gryphons, Mustangs, Golden Hawks and the Ravens. It was organized chaos in the gym as our Morphamaniacs competed with the house league teams in a tricycle / ice cream relay race. The Ravens ended up taking first place and the gold medal.

We will be back to Scott Young after they finish their fundraising campaign. We look forward to seeing how they do.

Our third and final stop of the day was in Lindsay at Leslie Frost Public School. It was a very fast trip to Lindsay, Highway 7 is flat and fast, at times I was looking down at my speedometer and my bike was travelling at 57km/hr, and that's with my legs powering it, not a motor !!! It was awesome. Special thanks to the City of Kawartha Lakes Police Service and the City of Kawartha Lakes O.P.P for escorting us along the way and ensuring we stay safe on the road.

When we arrived at Leslie Frost we thought to ourselves, "the kids aren't out, we don't see them". Just than, we pulled in their driveway and all we could see was a sea of kids lined up at the back of the school, and of course in that sea, was of course our Special Friend, Tessa.

It was great, nothing makes us more proud than to hear the students screaming and cheering as they stretch out their hands to high five the team members. I actually had one little girl give me the fist pound explosion and than she said, "I'm never washing my hand again". Too funny !!! We're just police officers little lady, you can wash your hand. HaHa.

Once inside it was our usual mayhem as the Morphamaniacs were up to their usual hijinks. After all the clowning around settled we experienced something we have never experienced before. There were 2 head shaves and 2 pony tail cuts at the school and for the first time in 6 years, they were all girls !!!!!!

Awesome job !!!! Elizabeth, Evelyn, Sarah, and Aoife. Your act of kindness and selflessness will be remembered by the team for years to come.

After Leslie Frost the team wasn't done riding. School might have been finished but we still had to ride to Bobcaygeon so we could be ready to visit Bobcaygeon Public School in the morning. The weather wasn't as nice as we experienced going to Lindsay. It was extremely windy and very tough to ride. One minute you are travelling at 40km/hr and than all of a sudden you round a bend and the wind hits you hard. Next thing you know your travelling at 19km/hr right into the wind. It's like riding a bicycle with a parachute on the back. Not much fun, but we got the job done, and at the end of the day we travelled 90 km's.

John

2011 Day 3

2011-04-26T16:09:00.000-07:00

With Easter behind us it was time to get up this morning and continue with the tour. It was another day for the Pedal For Hope team, and another day of waking up to the sound of wind and rain hitting my bedroom window.

Already sniffling and coughing, team members spent the morning

standing in the rain getting their bikes ready for another day of riding. Today was going to be a short day for kilometers but a busy day for presentations, with 4 on the schedule today.

Our first stop was at Queen Elizabeth P.S where unfortunately due to the weather, the students couldn't come out to greet us. We were excited to see at least one student waiting for us, our good friend Cameron. No matter how many treatments, no matter how bad his day might be going, we have never seen a day that Cameron wasn't smiling. When we rode into the school in the rain, it really didn't matter once we seen Cameron smiling at us.

Once we got into the gym we turned up the music, did a little dancing and a few head shaves. The kids were excited when we arrived and three times as excited when we left. Hopefully the teachers were able to get them focussed again after the show.

It was a very very short ride to our second school, St. Annes Catholic School. It was exciting to see Jacob again this year. He has done such an amazing job fundraising over the past few years

and this year was no exception. I still remember his framed artwork displaying all the sponsors who helped him raise money for Pedal For Hope. That piece of artwork is proudly displayed in the Pedal For Hope headquarters. (AKA - My House !!!)

This year Jacob and his sister Kendra worked together to raise almost $4000.00 by themselves !!!! Awesome, and to add to it, Kendra shaved her head for the cause, pony tail first, than the rest.

Our third stop of the day was at Edmison Heights. We have been going to this school for as long as Pedal For Hope has existed. It's always a challenge to try to fit all the students and parents in the gym but we manage. Once everyone crammed in we quickly got the party started.

It was awesome to see two of our Special Friends, Millicent and Liam at the school

to be part of the team. There's no better motivation to do what we do then to be included in the lives of our Special

Friends. We have known Milli since she was a toddler, and now she has grown up to be such a great young lady.

Big thanks to Detective Constable Ian Maxwell and his daughter Kate for cutting their pony tails for the cause, and Constable Dan Clark and his son Isaac for shaving their heads for the cause. That's how Cops For Cancer began and we will never eliminate that from our show. Police officers in the community shaving their heads to support individuals fighting this terrible disease called cancer.

Money is still trickling in but Edmison Heights is quickly reaching the $8,000.oo mark, awesome job !!!!!

Our final stop of the day was at R.F Downey where we met Mrs. Massie. It was an exciting day for her because if the students raised $2000.00 she was on the hook to kiss a goat. Well thanks to a last minute donation they met that goal and Mrs. Massie graciously followed thru with her agreement and puckered up for the cause.

Tomorrow we head out of the City to Chemong P.S Bridgenorth, than to Scott Young P.S in Omemee, and our final stop of the day will be at Leslie Frost P.S in Lindsay.

2011 Day 2

2011-04-21T16:41:00.000-07:00

It wasn't to much fun waking up this morning to see frost and ice on the ground. Especially since I would be riding a bicycle down the road in less than 90 minutes !!

We managed to make it to the first school without too many problems, other than a few chilly fingers and toes. Hopefully the weather warms up a little after the Easter break.

Our first stop was at Kenner Collegiate where we were greeted by a few hundred secondary school students who packed the bleachers inside the gymnasium. As we have witnessed at every school this year so far, this years video was a big hit with the students. Thanks to Kenner teacher and music composer, Barb Monaghan for writing an awesome song.

After the video our 'morphamaniacs' took over, competing against the students in a tricycle / ice cream eating relay race. We also had the usual head shaves and ice cream eating, handcuffing fun as in years past.

Our second stop of the day was at Kawartha Heights Public School where we were greeted outside by the entire school. This was another stop filled with a wide spectrum of emotions as we remembered our dear 'Special Friend' Sierra. One by one we listened to Emily, Kate, Patricia, Faith, Claire, and Crystal approach the microphone and share in there memories of Sierra.

As Sierra's family looked, we listened to why the students were cutting their hair or shaving their head for Pedal For Hope.

When it comes to remembering someone you have lost, everyone has a different way of doing it. Some, like we seen, remember a loved one by shedding a tear, some, like we seen, remember a loved one by celebrating that person in life, not in death. Sometimes it's best to remember the great memories that we have shared with our loved one, but no matter what way the students of Kawartha Heights chose this day,

the team was proud of everyone of them for honouring Sierra in their own special way. Nobody can tell you how to remember a loved one, everyone has there own special way.

As a group, we shared in emotional stories and then we shared in some fun that Sierra herself enjoyed participating in so much, and that was eating ice cream, like any other child.

At the end of the day everyone had a memory of Sierra in their

head, and a Sierra smile on their face, and to our team that is the most important part of this tour that we take so seriously, and we thank Mrs. Payne and Mrs. Brohart for allowing us to be a part of it.

Our third and final stop of the day was at Immaculate Conception Catholic School where again the students braved the cold and the slight rain, just to greet the team as we arrived. As I walked along the fence giving our traditional 'high fives' to the kindergarten students, I couldn't help but chuckle as a tiny student looked up at me and said "I love Gatorade". Here I was standing in front of him with my flashy blue and yellow custom made carbon fibre road bike, custom made cycling suits with our logo on them, funny cycling shoes with even funnier booties over top of them, and all this student seen is a live for Gatorade. Too funny. As I turned around I spotted the Executive assistant for Pepsi QTG and all I could say is "Thanks Lil, if it wasn't for the Gatorade bottle, he wouldn't have never even noticed I was there".

Once inside the show was rocking and hair was flying. Our 'Morphamaniacs' took to the stage and displayed what little

athleticism they have. At the end of the show we awarded a few students with prizes for their fundraising efforts, including top fundraiser Dillon, who took home the IPOD. it was so crazy at Immaculate I had to recruit a helper for next year, Princess Julia is going to help run the music with the team. Looking forward to it !!!

The team has the Easter break off before hitting the roads again on Tuesday. Weather forecast is warm.......yeah !!!!! but rain rain rain..........boooooo !!!!

Let's hope their wrong.

Day 1 Completed

2011-04-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

Well the 2011 Pedal For Hope tour has officially started and as usual it is cold and rainy. We're used to it though, so it was on our bikes and out onto the wet roads we went. We started our day at the Peterborough Lakefield Police Station and it was a quick ride to our first stop of the 2011 tour, Westmount Public School.

Westmount Public School has always been a special school for us and as we rode towards the school today we couldn't help but feel

a little emotional over the loss of our Special Friend Graham, who lost his battle with cancer in 2007.

As we arrived at the school we could see all the students standing outside braving the cold and the rain, just to greet us. It was a packed house in the gymnasium as the students

were treated to this years video and then a visit with our 'Gladiators'.

Our second stop was at St. Theresa's Catholic School where the students were excited to see us. As we travelled down the road with sirens wailing, we could see students running to get outside and greet us. Inside, the gymnasium shook on it's foundation as the team entertained the students with music, ice cream and mayhem !!!! Great fundraising job by Ricky Allen as he raised $1,104.50......... an awesome achievement !!!

Our third and final stop of the day was St. Catherine's Catholic School where I was greeted by one of my Special Friends, Madison. It was awesome, the kids were excited and enthusiastic to say the least. So many head shaves and pony tail cuts that we had to bring in an extra load of hats to give away. Everyone did a fantastic job fundraising and the team was

overwhelmed when the students presented us with a cheque for over $10,000. Thanks !!!!! Top fundraiser was Olivia Crawford who raised and amazing $1,535.00 !!! Way to Go Olivia !!! Top fundraising class was Mr. White's grade 4 class, Awesome job team !!!!

Tomorrow is going to be another exciting day on tour and I hope to have some great stories to put on the blog tomorrow.

Main Event Wrap Up

2010-05-08T19:21:00.000-07:00

We have been blessed with great weather the entire tour.......until today.

This morning we started our ride in Milbrook and rode along Highway 115 towards Peterborough. As we got closer to our destination the sky was getting darker and darker. We arrived at Kawartha Heights Public School where all our Special Friends greeted us with cheering and waving.

As we prepared our Special Friends to ride the last kilometer with us on their new Canadian Tire bikes, the sky opened up and the rain poured down. We waited a bit and it seemed to blow over, so out on the road we went. It is a sight to see, police cars in front and back with lights flashing and sirens wailing. Twelve team members surrounding a group of kids as they rode down Lansdowne Street towards the former Saturn dealership.

The kids were smiling and waving at the passing cars as they honked their horns in encouragement. It couldn't be better until the weather suddenly changed.............

We experienced rain, snow and hail all in a 10 minute time frame, all while trying to get our special friends to their destination. It was cold, windy and wet. Surprisingly we never had one complaint, we have been saying it the entire tour, these kids have gone thru so much and never once complained, they are an inspiration to us all and today was no exception. As team members were cold, wet, and some even complaining of the weather, our Special Friends were smiling from ear to ear.

Once we arrived at our destination the kids quickly warmed up with hot chocolate and the Main Event festivities began. We are very thankful that family, friends, and co workers attended to show their support. During the event we shaved a few heads, showed our video and enjoyed the music of our very own police band F.O.G.

As the fundraising dollars continue to come in we are getting closer and closer to reaching the millionth dollar !!!!

Our Media & Sponsor Appreciation Night is scheduled for June 16th where we will be announcing our totals. Until than, we will all just have to wait. :)

John Townsend

Last But Definately Not Least !!!!!!

2010-05-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

This morning we started our last day out at Subway Market Plaza for breakfast. The team all wore red socks today in support of YWCA crossroads, our team donated $120 to the cause. With red socks on they rode into James Strath Public School. What can I say but another amazing welcome, for the first time in Pedal For Hope history we had a drum corp from the school playing as we arrived. I do think this was now my favorite welcome of all. There were 694 students outside to greet us with their cheers and smiles. We had a few special visitors at the school today, Karen Brackley of the Canadian Cancer Society Toronto, Lyndsey Fullman from the Canadian Cancer Society Peterborough office, Dean De Mastro MP, and Eli one of our special friends also came along for the day.

Dean DelMastro presented the team with a framed letter from Prime Minister Harper expressing his acknowledgement and gratitude for the work we do to raise funds for paediatric cancer research. It was nice to have this presented in front of the school.

James Strath showed their school spirit today and we put our hair dressing skills to work with 51 students getting their hair dyed, 14 head shaves including PC Folz of the OPP, PC Janssen of the Peterborough Lakefield Community Police, and 7 girls donated their pony tails. James Strath did an astounding job of fundraising and may have set a record for the most money raised by a school with a total of $16,596.45. Way to go James Strath! Special mention goes out to one student Megan who herself raised $1463.00.

From James Strath the team rode into Millbrook to meet up with Megan Roy of Chex TV and she joined our team riding into Millbrook Public School. This is the first time I have ever seen someone ride a bike with a pair of Uggs on, not proper riding attire but it worked, she made it to Millbrook South Cavan school in one piece. At the school we again had great support from the students with 5 pony tails being donated, and 16 head shaves. The top fundraiser at this school was Emma who herself raised $560.00 to get her pony tail cut. Way to go Emma! Millbrook South Cavan School raised $6271.45 that is an amazing amount coming from 360 kids. Thanks for your support! As we were leaving this school a cute little girl came up to me and said she wanted to tell me what she would like to do, so I said "sure go ahead and let me know", her response brought a tear to my eye, she wanted to go home and get all of her money out of her piggy bank and give it to the Pedal for Hope team! If that doesn't tug at your heart strings and make your day worth while. The team then made the up hill journey to North Cavan Public School. The clouds were starting to form as the team rode, but the rain held out.

North Cavan is always the last stop on our tour and they make it worth the wait. The children again greeted us at the roadway with signs, some with special t-shirts giving us words of encouragement, what great school spirit. It was another high energy assembly with several head shaves. We did have one special surprise pony tail cut, our team photographer Lynne Kemp donated her pony tail. I know this may not seem like a big deal to most, but for five years I have been bugging her to let me cut her pony tail and she finally gave in. With her new hair cut she still has longer hair than I do, and she looks fabulous.

Thanks Lynne for making my day !!!

We had some special guests joining us as at North Cavan

Public School, one of our team members retired NHL hockey player John Druce had his daughter Courtney attend, she herself is a cancer survivor and is now healthy and attending University. Courtney shaved her fathers head, it was an emotional moment.

Tommy one of our special friends also came out to be with the team and two of our Inspectors from the Peterborough Lakefield Police Tim Farquharson and Ted Boynton. I think the inspectors had a great time, they were up dancing with the kids.

After the show was done the staff and parents from the school cooked us up a fabulous dinner, lasagna, salads and cake. This is a part of the tour we all look forward to, it is bitter sweet, the three week tour has come to an end. We all now return to our normal working hours and lives, and spending time with our families who have seen very little of us in the last three weeks. As we packed up our equipment the rain started to pour down, thanks to mother nature for waiting until 3:30pm.

I would like to thank all of the people who have supported us along the way. Without the help of our supporters, family and friends and each other we couldn't make it through the three weeks like we do. My best friend Janice thinks I have fallen off the face of the earth.

I hope every one can make it out for our final ride into the former Saturn Dealership on Clonsilla Ave tomorrow, the riders will be accompanied by their special friends for the last kilometer at noon.

Julie Levesque

Team Manager

Heading For Home !!

2010-05-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

This morning we started out in Port Hope at St Anthony's school where we received a warm welcome. We did 11 head shaves and 2 pony tail cuts, including a mother who had not had her hair cut for 9 years and she donated her long locks of hair. Mrs Ross a grade 4 teacher shaved her head for the cause as well, it is always special when a woman shaves her head showing support and empathy for those battling cancer.

During our Pedal for Hope Olympics we had Naomi competing who was also celebrating her 10th birthday, she received a silver medal and a special birthday song. St Anthony's did an awesome job fundraising along with the help of the Amanda Linker Memorial Scholarship fund matching their donation with a cheque for $1200.00. After St Anthony's the team biked 3okms to Plainville Public School. We had a broken bicycle chain along the way which slowed us down, by no means will our own mechanical team make it to the Nascar pits, 10 minutes trying to fix the chain with no luck so we had to bring out a spare bike.

Plainville school, it certainly does not live up to its name of being on the "plains", there were a lot of hills, we have renamed this school Hillville. The riders had a real tough ride with all of the steep inclines and the strong westerly winds. As we crested the last hill to the school the kids were all outside greeting us. This was the kick off assembly for this school, 3 girls cut their pony tails. We will return at a later date to see how their fundraising campaign went. We left Plainville and headed for South Monaghan Public school in Bailieboro, another challenging ride up the hills into the wind.

At South Monaghan Public School we were greeted at the highway all the way up to the school by the kids lining the parking lot to the school. We had 8 head shaves and lots of hair dyes, including the principal Ms. Marris who had her hair dyed by a couple of students. With the hair dye some silly string was purchased by mistake, but we had lots of fun with that. The school did an excellent of job fundraising, all of the participants are being treated to a pizza lunch from Donna's Pizza in Millbrook.

Tomorrow is the last day, starting off at James Strath School and visiting Millbrook Public School and North Cavan School.

Julie Levesque

Team Manager

McHappy Day

2010-05-05T07:27:00.000-07:00

Today was another great day in the sunshine. We started in Port Hope today and visited the brand new Ganaraska Trail School which is made up of students from Howard Jordan and Central Public School. It was great to see some familiar faces. Once again our friend "Sunny" who is a cancer survivor herself came out to see the Pedal for Hope team, she is six years cancer free this year, we always look forward to "Sunny" greeting us, she hasn't missed a year yet!

Judy Malfara of the KPRDSB communication department came out and dyed her hair green, a great new look! We have two guest riders today Constable Grant Eastwood of the Peterborough Lakefield Community Police and Constable Russ Bates of the Peterborough County OPP we were happy to have them along for the day. As we left Port Hope we made the 32km journey to Bowmanville to visit St Joseph's School and Holy Family Elementary School.

St Joseph's in Bowmanville, what else can I say but WOW ! I was the co-pilot in the Peterborough Lakefield Police cruiser along with Constable John Townsend as my

pilot. We rounded the first corner of the school and were greeted by lots of children with posters and "high fives" for the riders, as we turned into the school there were even more children waiting for us with their posters encouraging us on. I got out of the cruiser to proceed into the school and much to my amazement there were more children lining the hallways cheering us on all the way into the gym. As the children proceeded into the gym they followed us chanting "Pedal for Hope". It felt like a heroes welcome. We shaved 44 heads and cut 7 ponytails, special mention to the young girl who donated her pony tail, it was the first hair cut she had received and she saved it just for us. It was a high energy assembly and we left there feeling energized. We then made the short journey to Holy Family Elementary School.

We had another heroes welcome at Holy Family School there were 600 kids awaiting our arrival. (Check out the video below). We had another high energy assembly including 11 head shaves and 4 pony tails donated. They did an awesome job of fundraising again this year, and to thank us they had some pizza waiting for us at the end. We had to rush away to get back to Peterborough for McHappy Day.

Thanks to everyone who came to McDonald's today for their patience as we help

ed serve their food, we hope you weren't in a hurry. I now have a new appreciation and respect for McDonald's staff, they can get all of the orders ready in a matter of seconds when I am still there wondering what the order was. Thanks to the staff as well for their patience with us.

Another fun filled day, looking forward to tomorrow.

Julie Levesque

Team Manager

12 Down - 3 To Go !!

2010-05-04T16:30:00.000-07:00

Another unpredictable day for weather. After breakfast at Subway, we started the day in Colborne, home of the Big Apple. The team had a short ride to Colborne Public School and the weather was nice enough for the kids to meet us outside as we rode in. The kids were pumped, even before we fed them ice cream at 9am. Nothing better than ice cream for breakfast, huh kids.

The kids Olympic challenge seen three girls take gold, silver and bronze, but for the first time since the tour started the boys swept the ice cream eating contest taking all three spots on the podium. It was also nice seeing Nathan, one of our Special Friends we haven't seen in awhile.

While the show was happening inside our truck driver learned a valuable lesson, parking curbs are there for a reason, and when you drive over them it makes it very hard to get back out, especially when your towing a trailer. Great job Ian, you knew this would make it to the blog !!!

Once we were mobile again, it was off to Cobourg to visit two more schools, Merwin Greer & St. Michaels.

At Merwin Greer we watched as the students had to make the decision whether to dye their principals hair or shave it bald, they chose bald !!!! We were more than willing to help the students out. This was the second school of the day where the boys swept the ice cream eating contest. Gold, Silver & Bronze !!!!

It was also nice to see Mr & Mrs Heffernan again, they attended the school and presented us with a cheque from a fundraising dance they had in memory of their daughter Kim Hope. Marc and I had the honour of attending the dance a few weeks ago. Kim lost her battle with cancer but no matter how much she suffered thru the ordeal, she always cared about the kids who were going thru treatment. That is why Pedal For Hope will always remember Kim and thank her parents for allowing us to be part of their special night.

Our last school of the day was St. Michaels where we had one young student shave his head for the cause. Look at all the hair on the floor and Julie was only half done, he was needing a haircut for sure !!

From Cobourg it was a short ride to Port Hope to be ready for tomorrow's schools. As for my return to the bike seat, it was short lived. I rode about 10 km's towards cobourg in the morning but quickly realized that my ribs and stomach just aren't ready to return. I will take the rest of the week off and ride on Saturday, whether I am hurting or not, I will not miss the final ride in with our Special Friends!!!!

John Townsend

Pedal For Hope

Rainy Weather

2010-05-03T09:04:00.000-07:00

Today started off they way we are used to Pedal For Hope days starting in the past, with rain. As we started just outside Stockdale the rain was coming down pretty hard. The team put on their rain gear and rolled out onto the highway towards Stockdale Public School. One of the unique qualities of this team is the fact that they ride no matter what. Other than 2 riders being in vehicles today due to injuries, every single rider rides every kilometer, rain, sun, hail or snow. We have seen it all, and we have ridden in it all !!!!

But as I have said before, both Sierra and Dawson are always looking down on us and today was no different. Today as we rode into Stockdale Public School it was raining pretty hard, the sky was dark grey and the wind was blowing. 45 minutes later we walked out to blue sky, dry roads and warm. It was awesome !!!!!!!

While we were at Stockdale the energy inside was intense. The students were excited to see us and we were just as excited to be at another new school on our tour. We shaved some heads and cut a pony tail or two, and Ms. Beal had her hair dyed all different colours for the cause. The best part about that is a couple of students were the helping hands in the dye job. We were also joined by Constable Jason Katz who shaved his head for the cause.

From Stockdale we were off to Brighton Public School. The ride was windy but it was dry, and that was good for the team. There is nothing worse than riding in wet clothes. We have been going to Brighton for many years now and we get the same celebrity welcome year after year. The kids are fantastic and teachers like Mr. Norris go above and beyond to raise funds. This year I was thrilled to attend a golf tournament that he and his wife held to support Pedal For Hope. Way to go team !!!!

After the show it was across the street for lunch at, you guessed it, Subway. The team enjoyed a quick bite to eat and than back on the bikes and off to South Cramahe, and it was up hill all the way out of Brighton. The road to South Cramahe Public School is always fun because it has nice rolling hills are very picturesque and not really that hard to climb, oh wait a minute, I was in a cruiser, now that I think about it the team did look like they were struggling a bit.

This is the last year for us to attend South Cramahe Public School, at this location anyway. The students are getting a brand new school next year, hopefully we can be there for the grand opening !!!! Keeping with tradition we shaved a police officers head at the school, and who better to shave than our guest rider today, Constable Grant Eastwood. Boy if we keep shaving our guest riders they may not come out to ride anymore.

After South Cramhe it was a short ride to Colborne to be ready for tomorrows schools. Tomorrow will also be the first time back on the bike for me since my little mishap. It's amazing what medicated rub and Tylenol 3's can do for you !!!

John Townsend

Pedal For Hope

Yard Sales & BBQ's

2010-05-01T17:06:00.000-07:00

Well today was the first sign of clouds since starting the tour nearly 2 weeks ago, but it still didn't stop a few great fundraising events from happening.

The first stop was to stop and see a few members of the Pedal For Hope fan club. Sarah, Emily and their friends on Fortye Drive started off the morning by having a yard sale in their driveway. All the money raised was to support Pedal For Hope.

Mark and I made a surprise visit with the Honda Civic Police Cruiser to

join in the fun. I sampled Rice Krispie squares and drank lemonade (Thanks Cameron) as Mark showed the kids how a true guitar hero performs. Although we could only stay for a short time it was fun to joke around with the kids and see them working hard to support the cause.

At the end of the day the kids raised over $150.00 for Pedal For Hope and cleaned up their rooms in the process. A win win situation if you ask me. Great Job Kids !!!!!

From there it was off to join the team as they prepared to ride in from Young's Point to Lakefield for our annual Lakefield Community BBQ. This event is hosted by the Lakefield Lions Club and Lakefield Foodtown (formerly IGA). Larry Taylor of the Lions Club, Ian Bledsoe and Ross Bledsoe of Foodtown do an awesome job with this annual BBQ. This year Ian added in a bouncy castle for the kids and we had the Honda Civic Police Car on hand in case someone wanted to play video games.

It was great to see Danielle, Vicky, Ben, Dallas, Victoria, Eli, and their families as the team rode in. The rain held off just long enough for us to spend some time mingling with our Special Friends.

Overall it was a great time at both events !!!!

John Townsend

Pedal For Hope

Slams to Dead Ends !!!

2010-04-30T04:47:00.000-07:00

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 !!!!

Heading East !!

2010-04-29T10:03:00.000-07:00

Today is our 9th day of riding on the tour. The weather has been awesome, the best weather we have seen in 6 years. The day started off easy for us because we had to make a stop at Edmison Heights Public School before heading out east.

At 9:05am (first time we have been on time since the tour started), we rolled onto Royal Drive and into a group of super enthusiastic 'Eddie Heights' kids cheering and yelling as they lined up in the driveway of their school anxiously awaiting high fives from the team. Two of our Special Friends were also waiting for us, Millicent & Liam. Like I have said before, we are not the heroes, our Special Friends are the heroes and it is always awesome when we ride into the schools and see happy healthy kids waiting for us.

Once we squeezed everyone we could possibly fit into the gym we had a total of 25 students who either shaved their heads or cut their pony tails. It was an awesome time and the students had an exciting time. Campbell Deck, Emma Zomer, Eleana Norton all won prizes for being the top fundraisers, Great Job !!!, and who can forget the Pedal For Hope fan club wearing the yellow T-shirts. I think I heard that they are planning to cut their pony tails next year when we come to their school. Great Job Girls !!!!!!

At the end of the day Edmison Heights raised over $7,000.00 for us in the memory of Joyce Harley.

From there it was 36km's to Hastings, and we didn't have much time to get there. After my little mishap yesterday I wasn't feeling 100%, so for me it was back in the truck so the team could get to the school on time. Year after year the students of Hastings Public School line up along County Road 2 to greet us. This year the students got a surprise when they seen themselves from last year on this years video.

No head shaves or pony tails cut but I must say as I walked into the gymnasium, it was by far the loudest group of students we have heard on the tour so far.

From Hastings it was off to Norwood Public School to see Mr. Cho and all the students. As we got close to the school we had a little road construction to detour around but we managed to get to the school off roading style. We pulled in to the school and the students were lined up to greet us, well almost all of us. Dave had bike problems a few blocks away, when he got the bike rolling again the team was gone, the team turned right and Dave turned left, but he managed to re-join the team after a trip up to the high school, unfortunately the rest of the team were at Norwood Public School at the time. !!!

Lots of head shaves and hair dyes at this school. The girls swept the ice cream eating competition taking all three spots on the podium. And as for Frederico, well his cousin Fernado took his place in Norwood and still couldn't make it to the podium. Let's face it, he barely made it out of the tube !!!!

The day ended with a short ride to Havelock to set up for tomorrow.

Half Way Done !!!

2010-04-28T06:30:00.000-07:00

Well today has started off with great weather and another funny story to share. I learned today that if you put 2 riders on bikes in a small parking lot, trying to ride around to get their legs warmed up, eventually they are bound to run into each other. That's exactly what happened this morning when Lindsey and I crashed into each other. Now I know what your thinking, poor Lindsey as big Townzy crashed into her. Not a chance..........after the crash Lindsay stayed on her bike laughing the entire time as I went crashing into a building and down to the ground !!!!!

Once we arrived at Buckhorn Public School it was like a celebrity welcome. The kids were lined up in the hall greeting us with high fives and hand shakes. After the video we started off our head shaves with a special guest, Mr. Pat Marren, the Chair of Relay For Life in Peterborough. I had the honour of shaving Pat's head for the cause. Pat has done an outstanding job with Relay For Life and between our two teams we raised over half a million dollars last year for the Canadian Cancer Society. Thanks to Kim for helping us arrange the celebrity shave.

Many head shaves and a few pony tails were cut today in Buckhorn including our tour truck driver, Constable McEwen also shaved his head.

In the Ice Cream competition the girls showed the boys how to do it. All three medals were won by the girls team, way to go girls !!!!!!

Jacob, Tucker, Maire, Cooper, Braden, Riley, and Hailey all won prizes for their fundraising efforts.

From Buckhorn we were off to Curve Lake Public School to visit with the kids. The ride was great until the last kilometer or so when we had a 3 bike pile up. At 40 km's per hour there is nothing scarier than a bike crash, especially when there are 11 bikes only inches from each other. On this occasion one little mistake caused 3 riders, including me to hit the road and tumble for awhile. Aside from some road rash and a few damaged bike parts, the team was up and riding again in no time. The one thing that protects us every time there is a crash is our helmet, today it was me who was thankful that I was wearing one, because the impact on the road caused it to split in half. Kids always always wear your bike helmets, it will save you every time.

Once we arrived to Curve Lake the kids were lined up outside waving hand made flags they had designed and decorated themselves. It was awesome !!!!!

One of the special head shaves was none other than Curve Lake Constable Brad Filman, long time team member on the Pedal For Hope team and one the first officers to bring Cops For Cancer to the Peterborough area. We also watched as a few parents had their pony tails cut and a few heads shaved for the cause, and of course who could forget the tiny grade 1 & 2 kids who lined up to have their head shaved.

After Curve Lake the team rode into Lakefield to visit Ridpath Public School. The kids were lined up on the street and although due to a damaged bike, I had to ride in the team van, the sight of all the kids cheering gave me chills. It was awesome to see.

This was Ridpaths fundraising kickoff assembly so we didn't shave heads or cut pony tails but we will return in June to see how they make out. As for the show, well it was a sight to see and each time I watch it I laugh just as hard as the first time. I don't think you will see any of our team members in the movies or on a broadway stage, but they do try hard and they definately make the kids laugh.

Special guest appearance at the school today was Mr. Larry Taylor from the Lakefield Lions Club. Each year Larry and his team of Lions club members join up with Ian and Ross Bledsoe of IGA and host a BBQ lunch. This year it is being held on Saturday in Lakefield and the team will be riding in at 12pm. Activities include a bouncey castle for the kids, BBQ, and the Honda Civic police cruiser will be on hand for video game players.

Hope to see you there !!!!!

John Townsend

Pedal For Hope

Cardiff to Apsley

2010-04-27T14:00:00.000-07:00

This morning we picked up right where we left off last night, in Cardiff. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the way we left it last night. This morning we woke up to a very chilly 3 degrees, so that meant the winter gear came out of the gym bags quickly. Thermal under clothing, boot covers and winter gloves were quickly put on before riding into Cardiff Public School.

The ride might not have been so cold if we didn't spend extra time traveling down a residential road to a dead end. Once ' Wrong Way Ricky ', our lead vehicle driver from the R.C.M.P figured out where we were, we managed to roll into the school fashionably late.

The students were excited to see us and although they were the smallest group of students we will visit on this tour they were loud and did a great job fundraising. Congrats to their top fundraiser, Chantelle for doing an

awesome job !!!!

Our second stop was in Apsley, which is about 33 km's south. The good thing for us was it may have been cold out, but the wind was strong at our backs for a change. For those who are not familiar with road cycling, when you have the wind blowing directly at you it' a rough ride. Picture a big guy like me fighting thru the wind, it's like holding up a sheet of plywood in front of you, very hard to cycle. But.......when the wind is at your back, well the fun begins. Speeds increase so much when the wind helps you along. Today we were cruising at 40-50 km's per hour and it was barely work. The team made it from Cardiff to Apsley in just over an hour which was awesome.

After a quick bite to eat it was into the new Apsley Public School where we always enjoy visiting Donna and her students. We started off the show with a few head shaves and some pony tails were cut off as well. Special congrats to Emerald for not only donating her pony for a wig but also shaved her head to support the cause.

Apsley was our 22nd school of the tour and we still haven't seen our Olympic Champion, Frederico take the podium. The kids are just too fast and too quick to eat the ice cream.

After Apsley we still needed to ride to Buckhorn to set us up for tomorrows presentation. So on to the bikes and 45 km's later we rolled into Buckhorn.

John Townsend

Pedal For Hope

A Day For Dawson

2010-04-26T12:38:00.000-07:00

After spending the night at Graceland North watching highlights of Drucer’s famous playoff performance, the team prepared themselves for another emotional school visit.

Today we started the short ride to Archie Stouffer Public School, where we met up with Dawson’s parents, teachers, friends and classmates. Every second of the ride we knew our good buddy Dawson was looking down on us smiling, and at times, maybe even joking that we were going too slow.

As we approached the school we could hear the kids cheering us on, something that continues to motivate us each kilometer we ride.

After the Prime Ministers of the school went thru some morning announcements it was time to get the school ‘rockin’. We shaved a few heads, cut a few pony tails and again watched as a couple of little girls shaved their heads for the cause.

I'm sure as Mark Elliott was presenting a framed Pedal For Hope jersey to Heather and Scott everyone in the gym thought of Dawson and the great memories he shared with each and every one of us. For the team there is no greater memory than the day Dawson travelled with us from school to school. He was, and always will be a true inspiration to us all.

Special thanks to Nadine from the Canadian Cancer Society for making the trip to

Minden to be part of our special day remembering Dawson. She is a huge supporter of Pedal For Hope as well as a great friend to Dawson's family.

Our second trip of the day was about 60 km's away in the little community of Wilberforce, but first we had to stop and enjoy lunch with Tanner and Heather at Subway in Haliburton. Once we left Haliburton it was all up hill from there, including Dovers Hill and the famous Vinegar Hill.

I decided to take a much needed rest today so as my bike remained on the trailer I was able to take pictures and video of the team from our Honda Civic Police Cruiser. I did however learn one valuable lesson today, you shouldn't try to squeeze a very large man thru a very small sunroof. Going out was okay but trying to get back in the car was, well, not so easy.

As we approached Vinegar Hill, it was all nerves for one team member. Our newest member Ashley had to conquer the hill to officially become part of the team, and she wasted no time climbing one of the toughest hills on the tour. Not to say it wasn't tough, but like we say, no hill will ever be as tough as the battles our Special Friends go thru. Ashley was a true champion conquering Vinegar Hill !!!!! All our Special Friends would be proud.

Once we arrived in Willberforce you would swear the school had 600 kids rather than 60, they were loud and happy to see us. This is the only school on the tour that we do

our show outside. We don't have a choice, it's a very small school with no gym. Luckily we have never been rained out in 6 years. Thanks to our three guest riders who made the day fun and exciting. Constable Peter Sejrup, Constable Vince Way Nee, and one of the guys responsible for helping us get Pedal For Hope started, Greg Hammond from Shimano Canada. Greg even went one step further and shaved his head for the cause.

From Willberforce the team was back on their bikes and off to Cardiff for tomorrow morning.

John Townsend, Pedal For Hope

City of Kawartha Lakes

2010-04-23T15:08:00.000-07:00

Well the last day of the first week and the team is looking strong. After breakfast at Subway we were out on the highway to Cameron. After a quick 17 km ride we pulled into Fenelon Township Public School.

The hair was quickly hitting the floor, especially for this young girl who not only cut her pony to make a wig, she shaved her head for her Papa. A sacrifice that no guy could ever imagine.

After the show we were quickly back on the bikes and another 18 km's to Fenelon Falls to visit Langton Public School. This was an extra extra special trip because we had our Special Friend Eli riding into the school with us, and we had another Special Friend, Julie riding in the R.C.M.P cruiser leading us, sirens and lights blazing !!!! Julie is still currently in treatment but managed to get a pass from the hospital to come spend the afternoon with us.

The enthusiasm at Langton was thru the roof, Ms. Steele and her crew know how to throw a party. It was amazing, starting the night before in a couple of tents and a heater!!

When it came to head shaves, there has never ever been a head shave so emotional

than Julie's friend, Julia shaving her head to support Julie. The party temporarily came to a halt so we could embrace the moment. If the head shave was not touching enough, to have Julie get up on stage and remove her hat for one of the first times at her school. There were very few dry eyes in the house !!!

I know I have typed it more than once already this week, but I am going to type it again. Kids like Juile are true heroes, plain and simple. These kids are experiencing more in their early life than most of us will ever have to go thru in a lifetime.

No hill, no weather, and no pain will ever compare to what these children are dealing with. Because of that, we will never complain !!

Thanks to Ms. Steele for doing an awesome job and thanks to my good friend Mrs. McNamee for reminding me to get this blog done !!

Our last stop of the day was 20 km's down the road, Bobcaygeon Public School. As we pulled into the school the kids were just running out to greet us. Once again we spotted two of our Special Friends who inspire us to keep cycling, Ben & Vicky.

When we got down to the head shaves, Vicky quickly jumped up to shave team member Gary's head. I think she likes it just a little too much.

After this school the team cycled to Kinmount. Monday brings another tough day as we get ready to visit Dawson's school.

John Townsend

Pedal For Hope

Rolling Along !!

2010-04-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

The tour is rolling along without a hitch. Today we started our day off at Subway for breakfast and than off to Chemong Public School in Bridgenorth. This school has been a Pedal For Hope supporter since we started in 2005 and a Cops For Cancer supporter since......well, since before most of the kids we were visiting today were born.

Deb has done an amazing job year after year raising money to support Cancer research. Not only does she organize and help fundraise, she also shaves her head every year to support those living with Cancer.

Chemong Public School does such a great job that we could easily spend

the entire day at the school. We shaved or cut pony tails 56 times today. We also had the following special guest getting their head shaved. S/Sgt Davis of the Peterborough Lakefield Police, and our very own Gerry of the Ontario Provincial Police.

Of course who can't forget our top fundraiser and family spokesperson who has many reasons why he helps the cause.

Our second stop today was Ennismore where we visited St. Martins Catholic School.

Our guest rider today was Shawn Sylvestri from the EMS. Although they built this school on a hill, it's still fun riding there and we love the greeting we get as we are riding down the road. It was even better when we spotted our Special Friend Victoria in the crowd. Cute as a button and doing great !!!!

It was than back on the bikes and off to Lindsay to visit another one of our Special Friends, Tessa at Leslie Frost Public School.

After a great lunch at Subway we rolled into Leslie Frost to cheering students and

teachers. This is another new school to join the Pedal For Hope team in their fight to improve the lives of children living with cancer.

Our special guest at Leslie Frost included a number of police officers from both City of Kawartha Lakes Police Service and the Kawartha Lakes O.P.P.

The officer in the picture to the left didn't plan on shaving his head but

he got caught up in the moment and off it came.

Outstanding !!!

Even our newest member of the Pedal For Hope team decided to get caught up in the moment. Her hair didn't come off, but it did change colours as she let Tessa dye it pink !!!

Welcome to the team Ashley !!!

John Townsend

Pedal For Hope

Another Day of Fun and Sun

2010-04-21T16:25:00.000-07:00

The weather continues to be nice as we entered into day 3 of our tour. Today we started off at Subway, one of our sponsors who makes sure we have breakfast and lunch each day.

Our first stop of the day was Keith Whiteman Public School where we enjoyed more

head shaves and pony tail cuts. Joining us today were some very special guest from the Canadian Cancer Society, our very own Anita Record, unit manager here in Peterborough and Mary Hobbs, Regional Director from Ottawa.

Keeping with tradition, Cops For Cancer and Pedal For Hope have always included the signature head shave as part of their shows, and this year is no different. Joining us today at Keith Whiteman was Constable Ryan Donaldson of the Peterborough Lakefield Police Service.

Our second stop was at Armour Heights to see Ms. Self and her team of excited students.

This school was pumped up and ready to eat some ice cream. The

girls made sure they showed the boys how it was done, and although this little girl had more ice cream on her face than in her belly, she took the gold medal away from the boys !!!

Constable Mike Self of the Peterborough Lakefield Police Service joined us to have his head shaved for the cause. To be honest, I don't think he had a choice, his mom is the principal !!!!

Our third stop today was at R.F Downey Public School where we were able to spend some time with our Special Friend Matthew. Healthy, Happy and beating this dreadful disease every day. He is a true hero and a champion to us!!

One of our guest at this school was Mr. Steve MacLean, Manager of Baskin Robbins, one of the best tasting sponsors we have !!!!! Steve was there for two reasons, one because he is a huge supporter of the team, and the other reason was he was going to be a guest head shaver when his son took to the stage to get his head shaved. The only problem is nobody told his son he was coming. So it was a cool surprise !!

It was then on our bikes and riding to Omemee, where we visited Scott Young Public School. It is always a great sight seeing the students wearing their intramural team colours. They are one of the most enthusiastic group on the tour.

It didn't take long for the hair to start hitting the floor, than on to the ice cream eating. Again the girls represented by easily taking the gold medal.

Another great day on tour. We couldn't think of a better way to spend three weeks of holidays.

John Townsend

Pedal For Hope

Sierra's Shining Down

2010-04-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

We have never had a start to the tour with such great weather..........until now, and that can only be attributed to one reason.....Sierra !!

For those who knew her, you would agree when I say she was a ball of sunshine every time she smiled, and she has been smiling down on us every day of the tour. The 2010 tour is being dedicated in the memory of two of our Special Friends we lost, Sierra & Dawson.

Today was one of those days the team had to be not only physically ready to ride, but emotionally ready to visit Sierra's school. The first time back to the school since she lost her battle.

But as emotional as it was going to be we still had to visit three other schools first. Our first stop was at St. Catherines Catholic School and the students could be heard half way down the street. It's been a few years since we have visited this school and they wanted to make up for lost time. It was awesome, but for me it was extra special for two reasons.

The first reason is I am usually one of the first riders to take a spill on their bikes during the tour, but today Trevor took all the pressure off the rest of the team when he decided to fly over top of his handle bars and crash in front of all the kids. Good job Trev!!

The other reason why St. Catherines school was special for me today because I was able to spend time with my Special Friend Madison and her sister Emma. It's always nice to visit a school that one of our Special Friends attend and show the school that we are making a difference. Madison is a happy, healthy little girl who I am looking forward to riding with on the last day of the tour.

Once we actually got into the school the show was awesome. We shaved more heads than I could count. Some of the special head shaves included Sgt. Ogrodnik, Constable Mark Hubble and our very own team member Mark Elliott.

Our video had a guest appearance by Mrs. Ogrodnik advising she believed in Pedal For Hope so much she was going to shave her head..........and she did !!! Congrats to the Ogrodnik family, two head shaves and a cut pony tail. Each year

we see more and more family head shaves, its awesome !!

It's exciting when a guy shaves his head for the cause, but we have seen it over and over again and we guys know it's going to grow back. Not a big deal. But when a girl shaves her head, it's a huge sacrifice !! Two other ladies shaved their heads at St. Catherine's and it was an amazing gesture on their part. Also shaving his head for the cause was Constable Dave Currie of the Peterborough Lakefield Police Service.

Our second stop of the day was at Otonabee Valley where we were lead in by one of their teachers, Mr. Leek. It was great

to see all the students, but especially one particular Otonabee graduate, Destiny. I have known Destiny since she was toddler and am very proud to ride for her. Destiny is another success story that we are making a difference.

During the show, we shaved Mr. Leeks head as well as crowned some champion ice cream eaters. Frederico, our Olympic Champion did his best but did not make it to the podium in any of the events.

Our third stop was around the corner at St. Patricks School where again it was great to see one of our Special Friends, Ajay. Not only is Ajay a success story, but he also did an awesome job this with his fundraising. Ajay had his head shaved by our team member Trevor and than it was the passing of the clippers as Ajay got to shave Trevors head.

This was also our first time to St. Patricks and we are happy to have them join the Pedal For Hope team. They did an awesome job exceeding the original goal they had set for themselves.

Three schools down and now one of the hardest ahead of us, Kawartha Heights. As we rode towards the school the team seemed quieter than usual. Concentrating on how the show was going to go, concentrating on how we could claim to 'believe', when we just spent Christmas Eve at Sierra's funeral.

As we arrived at the school the energy was high and the kids were excited we were there, but one quick scan of the parents and teachers in the crowd and you could easily see how the loss of Sierra impacted the school. Thanks to Mrs. Alison Payne from the Canadian Cancer Society for helping remember Sierra and supporting the team.

We started the assembly off by presenting the school a framed Pedal For Hope jersey in memory of Sierra.

The students sang "Let the sun shine in" which was emotional for the team but like I said earlier, this week has been the best weather the team has ever had at the start of the tour, and it can only be because of Sierra.

One by one, students went up on stage and either cut their pony tail or shaved their head in memory of Sierra. Every one of them wearing a Pedal For Hope tattoo and smiles decorating their faces. There were tears of joy, tears of sadness, but at the end of the day Kawartha Heights had raised over $11,000 dollars in memory of Sierra and her smiles.

John Townsend

Pedal For Hope

2010 Tour Begins With Sunshine

2010-04-19T09:10:00.000-07:00

After a quick stop at Shimano to say hello to a great sponsor we were off on the highway for the first day of our tour. Our first stop of the day was at Westmount Public School.

It was awesome to see so many familiar faces lined up in front of the school wearing the new Pedal For Hope tattoos. It was great to see the memory of Graham still lives on, he was a great special friend of ours and he will never be forgotten.

Once everyone hurried into the gym, the party really began. Our new Olympic theme was unveiled and received a thunderous applause. Our head shaves included two of our own team members, Marc & Dave.

As usual, this school is on the top fundraisers list for Pedal For Hope and the team appreciates all their hard work and dedication to the cause. Ms. McImoyle excelled in the past and Westmount has carried on that tradition.

Our special guest watching the show included Chief Rodd & Deputy Chief Streeter of the Peterborough Lakefield Police Service, Anita Record & Darlene Clark of the Canadian Cancer Society. We appreciate their support and encouragement during the tour.

After a bunch more heads were shaved and ponytails cut, we were packing up to move to the next school. We even packed up the awesome Pedal For Hope banner they made, I have saved every picture and every banner from every school since the tour began in 2005. I have quite a collection!!

Our next stop of the day was at St. Teresa's Catholic School. This was our first time visiting St. Teresa's and the students were awesome !! Ms. Atkins and her staff did a great job, and it felt like we had been there every year. The kids were excited !!

We watched as Inspector Hawthorne of the Peterborough Lakefield Police Service and his son Liam shaved their heads for the cause, as did many many more. Plus, who could forget all those pink hair extensions. The girls in that class looked fantastic.

Way to get in the fundraising spirit girls!!!

Our third stop of the day was at Queen Elizabeth Public School where the students greeted us as they stood on the sidewalk cheering and clapping.

In all my years of riding on this tour, there is no better feeling than hearing those kids as you get closer to the school. The work they do before we arrive with their fundraising and school spirit is a true inspiration to the team. As I have said many many times, the students and our special friends are the true heros, we simply ride bikes.

Another bonus at Queen Elizabeth was getting to visit with our Special Friend Cameron.

Our final stop of the day was another new school to us, Immaculate Conception Catholic School. The team kicked off their fundraising earlier and the students were so excited to be part of the tour. Thanks to Mary Reynolds, Lisa Walker, Kim Driscoll and Lil Rankin for their outstanding efforts, not only did they meet their fundraising goals in the first year, they shattered it!!!!!

The fundraising apple doesn't fall far from the tree, because this schools top fundraising student ended up being Mary's son, Jayden. As a bonus, Jayden was rewarded with the honour of shaving my head, or at least the sides, not much on the top anymore !!!!!

Two other special guest at the school were Lil Rankin who is not only a parent but also represents another great sponsor

of ours, PepsiCo Canada, who provides us with all the

Gatorade and snacks we need for the tour. Lil was made an honourary member of the Pedal For Hope's "Ice Cream Team", not really what she was expecting though.

Welcome to the team Lil !!!

The other special guest attending Immaculate was Mr. Pat Marren, Chair of Relay For Life. Pat does an awesome job coordinating Relay For Life and together our two teams are making a difference !!!!

John Townsend

Wet Final Ride

2009-05-09T22:14:00.000-07:00

I had very little sleep last night as I watched the weather reports and worked on the computer building a photo slide show for the team.

Rain, rain, thunder showers, rain...........not very good. Even if I use Marc's formula for being positive it still left me with a 0% chance of sun.

We still went on as scheduled, leaving Milbrook at 10am, pouring down rain. The only blessing is that the temperature was warm, so the rain didn't feel too bad. Not sure about the thunder and lightening in the distance though.

We had 15km's to cover and we were using highway 115 as the route. Our final ride in always ends up traveling down highway 115 to Peterborough. Police vehicles on all sides of us we cruised along the wet roads at 40km per hour. Water spraying off the bikes like they were jet ski's. Surprisingly the ride was fun and fast, despite the weather conditions.

Today we were joined by 4 guest from Shimano Canada. Greg, Ben, Stu, and Phil have been sponsoring the team since we began. If it wasn't for these guys, and the rest of the staff at Shimano, we would never have become as successful as we are. Thanks Guys !!!!!!

As we arrived at the Memorial Centre the rain was coming down so hard you could not see the bike in front of you. It was crazy. We spent a next few hours insode the Memorial Centre with our special friends and their families.

Due to safety reasons it was decided not to continue with any of the festivities at Del Crary Park. Everyone joined us at the Memorial Centre and even though it was raining, we still had a great time.

A huge thanks to John Preston and the staff of the Memorial Centre for allowing us to camp out with our crew.

John

The Final School Day

2009-05-08T21:38:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that the tour is coming to an end. We have had so many great times and created thousands of memories and now it's ending for another year.

We started off with another rare appearance off our scheduled route. due to scheduling conflicts we were back in Peterborough to visitJames Strath P.S before heading out to Milbrook.

Our day started off with being joined by 3 special guest. The first 2 guest are members of our Western Pedal For Hope team in London Ontario. Don from the London Police Service and Terry from the Ontario Provincial Police spent the first 4 hours of their morning driving from London so they could ride with the team. Our other guest was one of our Special Friends, Ajay.

There is nothing like a super high energy show and some ice cream at 9am to get the students hyper for the rest of the day. What I didn't know about this day is there was some plotting and planning behind the scenes, courtesy of my dear sweet friend Mary from the Canadian Cancer Society.

For those who were not involved I will quickly rewind a couple of days and give you the scoop on how this all started. You see, in the past the team has been know to grab an un-suspecting audience member and bring them up to the front of the school for a little ice cream eating contest. the fun part of that is, once we hand cuff them they rarely get any ice cream in their mouth. The team, okay....maybe just me, smears ice cream all over their face. the kids love it.

Over the last few years we have smeared teachers, police officers, principals and yes, even some Canadian Cancer Society officials. So this year I think everyone coming to see our show was a little on edge thinking they may be called upon to be the victim of a long standing team tradition.

Okay, so now fast forward to this years tour. After some threats, dares and challenges between Mary and I it was decided at the first school, without me knowing, that the team was going to hand cuff me and Mary was going to do the honours of 'smearing' me. So the entire time we were at James Strath, this planning was going on in the background until finally common sense prevailed. You see getting smeared with ice cream is not bad, but having to go all day with sticky melted ice cream all over your cycling gear is.

So it did not take place, but again without me knowing..........(and yes I am the captain, so you would think I would know everything, but this was not the case) the planning was still in the works.

We were off to Milbrook and our second stop was at Milbrook P.S. It was a great ride to Milbrook except for 2 things, the giant hill you have to climb to get into Milbrook, followed by the giant hill you have to climb to get out of Milbrook. Funny how that works, it's like milbrook is in this giant crater.

Our final stop of the day was at North Cavan, where again we climbed a giant hill to get to the school. We were greeted outside by all the students, staff and one more special friend, Tommy was right up front as the team rode in.

A group of students entertained us with a touching poem about the team and the staff treated us with a celebration lunch as they do every year since we began the tour.

I between the poem and the celebration meal the ice cream smearing plot that started in the morning finally took place, but had an interesting twist. Mary appeared at the front of the gym and I was called up to have an ice cream show down. What Mary didn't expect is her plan was about to back fire on her. All the time she was expecting the hand cuffs to be put on me, but they were put on her and I proceeded to keep tradition alive by smearing ice cream all over her. She did get some help from the team because I was also smeared with ice cream, so I guess we both ended up sticky at the end of the day. Ha Ha.

It was all in good fun and Mary is a great sport.

John

Rainy Day Turns Sunny

2009-05-07T21:16:00.000-07:00

Today we started our day just outside of Port Hope, we have 2 days to go before the final ride in. I have been watching the weather reports closely for the last 48 hours and it's not looking good. Marc Habgood has been trying to change the way I think about the weather predictions. Every time I go to him and say "the weather is calling for 70% chance of rain" he always looks at me and says "T, that means there is a 30% chance of sun". As much as I laugh I still can't help but be a little concerned as the rain splashes down into the puddles on the road.

I had to put it out of my mind for today, nothing could be done about it and nobody could change the weather, so I thought.

Our second stop of the day was at Howard Jordan P.S where we always take great pleasure in meeting up with a true honourary special friend of the team. A cancer survivor who we affectionately know as 'Sunny'. You can call it coincidence, you can call it spiritual, whatever your beliefs in todays world it was an awesome feeling for the rain to come to a complete stop as we rolled into Howard Jordan P.S as we looked over, 'Sunny' was waving and smiling at the team. For 5 years she has been attending the school to support her children as they raised money for Pedal For Hope. Now her children have moved on to other schools but 'Sunny' still comes to Howard Jordan every year to support the team. To show our appreciation, this year she was presented with a plaque acknowledging her continued support. It was hard not to get choked up as her eyes welled up. Even now I am getting choked up just typing this, remembering how tight she hugged me and thanked the team for doing what we do. She is a survivor who is a true inspiration to anyone fighting this deadly disease.

Our third stop of the day was in Bowmanville, about 25km's away and only a little over an hour to get there. This was our first time entering into Durham Region, it was a great feeling to know that the team's fight was expanding into different areas of the province.

As we arrived at the school I was amazed at the size of Holy Family Catholic School. It was huge, I have not seen so many students standing outside the school, lining both sides of the parking lot. They had signs and cards and poems and were cheering the team on as we rode in. Students shaved their heads, cut their pony tails, and dyed their hair all different colours to support the team. At the end of the day Michelle, Amy and all the students presented the team with over $10,000. It was un-believable !!!!!

What a great day.

John

McHappy Day

2009-05-06T20:50:00.000-07:00

Busy day for the team today. We had our usual riding to do, visited 3 schools and than it was off to Peterborough to join in on McHappy Day.

Our day started off at 6am as usual, once on the bikes we rode into Grant Sine P.S where the students gave us a thunderous reception. We than left Cobourg behind and rode to Plainville P.S in Gores Landing. The students were excited to see us and waited in line for autographs, treating the team like rock stars. I always feel weird when a student comes up and hands me a piece of paper and a pencil and says "Can I get your autograph". Not too many people can say that happens to them every day. one of these times I am going to turn around and hand a piece of paper back to the kid and say "no, but I would love to have your autograph" These kids are and always will be the true heroes of the team.

Our next stop of the day was at South Monaghan P.S before packing up and heading back to Peterborough.

About 3 months ago the team received a great phone call from Angel Post, marketing & media relations director for McDonalds. She advised the team that Jamie Campbell, the local owner of 9 McDonalds franchises had decided that the 2009 McHappy Day campaign would be dedicated to Pedal For Hope. It goes without saying that the team was ecstatic to hear the news.

So the team headed back to Peterborough to help out at the local McDonalds restaurants. I use the term 'Help' out fairly loosely because when 13 team members converge on the store, helping out is not always accurate. Its more like chaos for the staff and customers. The teams guest appearance at three locations was not just standing around shaking hands and waving. We pretty much took over and worked our magic. The team had a great time making burgers, fries and ice cream deserts. We even had the Pedal For Hope bear causing havoc in the drive thru line.

I would like to send out a special thank you to Angel, Jamie, and the entire staff of the McDonalds corporation for dedicating this year to us and having so much patience while we were in their store.

John

Our Final Week

2009-05-05T20:30:00.000-07:00

Well I haven't been able to complete my blog last week due to other team commitments so I am going to try to wrap everything up in one or two more blog entries.

We started week 3 heading to Warkworth and Brighton. The first stop was at Percy Centennial school, stops 2& 3 were in Brighton. The ride was awesome, especially heading into Brighton where once you cross over the 401 you begin a downward ride for 5km's. It was very fast and very fun.

Once we arrived in Brighton we attended East Northumberland Secondary School and joined in on their 'Relay For Life' assembly. The students were pumped up and I know they are going to do great things for the Canadian Cancer Society.

Our second day took us to South Cramahe, Cloborne, and Cobourg. The weather was great, the students were excited to see us and the fund raising was awesome. The students worked so hard to raise money for Pediatric cancer research, they are true heroes in our books.

John

Lakefield Day

2009-05-02T16:40:00.000-07:00

The team didn't have much sleep last night but that didn't stop us from riding into Lakefield for our annual community BBQ. We have to thank Larry Taylor and his Lakefield Lions for organizing and cooking all the delicious food. We also have to thank Ross and Ian Bledsoe from Lakefield IGA for donating all the food and allowing us to camp out in front of their store for a few hours.

You guys are great and we really appreciate the support !!!

Mid Life Crisis Rocks The Junction

2009-05-01T16:31:00.000-07:00

Friday continued after the ride to the Junction in Peterborough where we rocked the night away.

Uniform Charlie took to the stage to open for the headliner, Mid Life Crisis. They are awesome, they are talented, and they are generous. They do it for the cause, and have always been proud supporters of Pedal For Hope. I will wear my band T-Shirt with pride, because as much as they support us, we appreciate and support them.

Around 10pm Mid Life Crisis went on stage and rocked the house down. Seven hundred people went crazy for the next 3 hours as the band sang every rock'in tune you could think of. It was awesome.

A the end of the night Mid Life Crisis, Uniform Charlie, and the Junction raised alot of money for Pedal For Hope and the Canadian Cancer Society. Just how much you ask.......well you will have to come to the final ride in May 9th at Del Crary Park to find out. The bands will be presenting us with a cheque and announcing their total for their first Pedal For Hope concert.

Stay Tuned !!!

A day of riding, A night of celebrating

2009-05-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

Not much riding today, spent the day riding around Campbellford visiting 3 schools.

What was cool though is we had 2 guest riders with us today, Marty Silvestri from the Wolf 101.5 FM and CHEX Television and Sarah Deeth from the Peterborough Examiner.

Marty had ridden with us before so he knew what to expect, but Sarah on the other hand was on her first ride with the team. When she arrived to meet the team it was an interesting site to say the least. A light blue cruiser style bike with a basket on the front and of course a bell.

I have to be honest it was a cool looking bike and even I had to take it for a test ride.

Once we arrived in Campbellford it started at Kent P.S. One of the best things about visiting this school is they have a monster slide in their playground.

Our second stop was a huge ride from Kent P.S to St. Mary's, okay okay, it is across the street.

Our third stop of the day was at Hillcrest P.S where I realized that there are some people out there that actually read my blogs. It was very much apparent when I walked in the school and they had designed a bulitin board covered with cool stuff from our web site, including my blogs. So just for the kids at Hillcrest P.S........"YOU ROCK !!!!!!"

We ended the day by driving back to Peterborough to do a show at Queen Elizabeth P.S. They couldn't squeeze us in when we toured thru Peterborough so we decided to make a special trip in to see them.

We made Sarah an honourary member of the team by throwing her into the show. Not as the bear, not as the cowgirl, not as the member who picks the kids for ice cream....no,no,no, we let her eat ice cream, handcuffed, and getting some 'helping hands' from Keith. I don't think she actually ate any ice cream, that would have needed Keith to actually get the ice cream in her mouth instead of everywhere else. She was a trooper, no complaints, she fit right in.

Although the schools were done for the day, the team was not. We still had to get ready for our Mid Life Crisis concert at the Junction.......no sleep for the team yet.

John

Heading East

2009-04-30T15:32:00.000-07:00

Today we toured east towards Norwood & Havelock. The weather was perfect for riding, one of the better days we have had. Warm and the sun even showed up every now and then.

Our first stop was Norwood P.S where we battled construction and traffic to put on our show. The kids loved it. They were full of energy and enthusiasm.

From there it was on to Norwood Secondary School where the students lined up on each side of the drive way and clapped and cheered as we rode in. Janine does an awesome job motivating the students to help raise funds for the cause. It was great seeing Milli and we can't wait to spend more time with the both of them.

After a short ride along Highway 7 we arrived in Havelock and stopped for lunch at our favorite lunch time sponsor, Subway.

After lunch we rode around the corner to Havelock P.S where we were part of a great assembly and announcement that the new playground was ready for use. The kids were deafening with their screams to find out they could now play on the equipment they worked so hard to build.

After Havelock we rode to Campbellford to set us up for Friday's schedule.

John

Sunshine & BBQ

2009-04-29T14:32:00.000-07:00

Today was a quick 60 km day filled with 3 schools.

We started off in Lakefield and rode to Douro where we could here the students from St. Joseph's chantting "5,6,7,8 Cops For Cancer is really great". It was awesome !!!! We are heading back there in June to shave many many heads. Looking forward to it. We had a special guest attend the assembly in Douro, Mary Reynolds, a representative from the Canadian Cancer Society. Watch out Mary, next year your getting the full Pedal For Hope treatment !!!!

Our next stop was Warsaw where we did our show and then were treated to a BBQ by the staff and students. Nothing like fresh BBQ'd hamburgers to keep you cycling along the highway, some riders ever got to taste their hamburgers twice, if you know what I mean. HA HA.

Our final stop was in Hastings where we attended Hastings P.S. It's an awesome feeling when you are riding along the highway, struggling to climb yet another hill and you look up and see so many kids lined up on the side of the road outside their school. That was the case in Hastings and it made that last hill just a little easier.

The Board of Educations around the province must have been worried about flooding because it seems every school is built on top of a hill. HA HA.

Well another day tomorrow, back on the bikes at 7am.

John

Waterlogged

2009-04-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, I think we have seen enough rain for one spring. Bring on the sun and the shine.

Today we started just north of Apsley and rode in a major rain storm. The taste of dirt and sand in your mouth as spray flies off the bike in front of you is not exactly a day at the beach.

We arrived in Apsley and had the pleasure of performing in the community centre while Apsley P.S waits for their new school to be built. It was a great show despite the team dripping water all over the place.

Our second stop of the day was Buckhorn P.S where the kids were awesome. We kicked off their campaign and they enjoyed an afternoon filled with ice cream treats.

Our final stop of the day was at Lakefield High School, where we watched quite a few students shed their locks for the cause.

Hopefully the sun will be out tomorrow, were riding from Lakefield to Douro and than on to Warsaw where I hear we are having a BBQ. MMMmmm.

John

Kicking Off Week 2 With More Hills !!!

2009-04-27T16:06:00.000-07:00

After 1 day off we were back on our bikes Sunday afternoon riding from Burleigh Falls to Apsley. Not a bad 30km ride but unfortunately again it was in the rain and the wind. Which as all cyclist knows, creates challenges. We had a good ride and logged in some kilometers that we will need later in the tour. Sometimes between schools we have too many kilometers to ride so we ride those kilometers when we get spare time during the tour. That way we never miss riding a single kilometer of the tour and we are able to visit all the schools.

On Monday we started out back in Haliburton at the home of the Red Hawks. We had a great show and in the process got the opportunity to spend time with our special buddy Dawson.

From Haliburton we made a right turn heading out of town and right into the incline of Dover Hill. A 1.9 kilometer climb at an 8% grade. I really can't explain all the technical road jargon, lets just say "it was steep and long". Once we put that hill behind us it was on to Wilberforce E.S, but first we had the infamous Vinegar Hill between us and the school. Now this hill is only 1km long but it has a 14% grade, now again the only thing I need to say is look at the picture below the blog and you will get an idea of what I am talking about. For most it was a small challenge, for me at 235 pounds, it was a huge accomplishment.

Once we arrived at Wiberforce E.S we shaved, danced, and ate ice cream. Two students mom's shaved their heads and the school presented us with a cheque for $2,300. Awesome job team !!

We finished our day in Cardiff, another school with less than 50 students, but when they lined up in the parking lot yelling and screaming, you would think there was 200 students.

Tomorrow we begin our day heading to Apsley.

John

First Week Ends With Hills Hills Hills

2009-04-24T20:08:00.000-07:00

Our morning started off in back in Fenelon Falls where we kicked it off at Fenelon Falls Secondary School. My old high school, 22 years ago I graduated from F.F.S.S., GO FALCONS !!!!!

We spent the morning shaving a few heads and being entertained by students attempting to ride pocket bicycles across the gym in a relay race. Not as easy as it looks.

It was a short ride across the street to Langton P.S, and it's a good thing the team knew where we were going because once again our lead vehicle didn't. You would think after visiting the same school for 5 years R.C.M.P officer Rick Allen, who is affectionately known as "Wrong Way Ricky" would know the route, but not this time. The team rolled into the school without a lead cruiser, giving the best impersonation of a police siren as they did.

As usual, Langton put on a fantastic demonstration of a community coming together to help friends and families in need. From Jello throwing, to head shaving, to cricket smoothie eating, everyone in the school played a role in coming together for a common goal, to encourage Julie to stand up, cancer can be beaten !!!!

From Fenelon we headed north for 37km's to Coboconk to visit Ridgewood P.S. The weather was sunny and warm, a perfect day to ride. For the first time this week the team was able to shed some of the warm clothing and ride in shorts.

Ridgewood P.S kicked off the assembly with their traditional pie in the face contest which is always a hit with the kids. Some of those kids wind up like they are trying out for a major league baseball team, I am surprised some teachers don't get whiplash in the process. For me it is always an emotional school because I have the privilege and honour of riding for Trevor Bartley, a young man who lost his battle to cancer as a teen. A young man who I never had the honour of meeting yet will always be in my heart and I will always ride in his memory. To ride into the school and be greeted by the Bartley family means a lot to the team.

After Coboconk we had a long ride ahead of us to Haliburton. The only problem with riding a bike between Coboconk and Haliburton is the amount of huge hills you have to climb to get there. We managed to do it though, riding into Haliburton around 6pm. One of the nicest rides of the tour, there is nothing more breath taking than the scenery in the Haliburton Highlands.

A the end of the day we had travelled 93 km's and visited 3 schools. I couldn't imagine doing anything else with my holidays.

The team is looking forward to Monday when we get to tackle the infamous Dover Hill and Vinegar Hill.

John

Riding In The Wind !!

2009-04-23T17:42:00.000-07:00

Today was one of the most challenging rides I have ever experienced in the 5 years Pedal For Hope has been in existence.

We started off at 7:30am leaving Omemee and were expected at Fenelon Township P.S in Cameron at 9:00am. That meant we had to travel 37 km's in 90 minutes. Now normally this would not have been a problem at all, the team is used to averaging a speed of 27km-35km per hour, unfortunately mother nature decided to turn the winds up on this cold drizzly morning. So 37 km's riding directly into the wind is very challenging, if you are not sure what I mean, get your bike, put a parachute on your back and then try to ride to the end of your street. At times it felt as if I was riding while holding on to a sheet of plywood.

Never the less, it did take us 30 minutes longer than we had anticipated but we did make it and never gave up the entire time.

We arrived in Cameron and the party was on. The students were pumped and the hair was dropping to the floor.

Our second ride of the day wasn't as bad as the first, we started into the wind but after about 10 km's we made a right turn for Fenelon Falls and the wind changed in our favour. What a difference a little wind pushing you will make. Earlier in the day reaching a speed of 30 km/hr was a challenge, now with the wind at our backs we were cruising at 40 km-45 km/hr and hardly working.

We cut through Fenelon Falls on our way to Bobcaygeon P.S arriving there to a reception designed for rock stars. Students outside waving and cheering. No matter how challenging the ride, no matter how wet and cold the clothes, there is no better feeling than riding into a school to the sound of kids cheering and clapping. You can't get better motivation than that. Another piece of the puzzle that keeps us going was standing outside the school to greet us, one of our special friends Vicky, a little bundle of happiness and smiles. Just to see that she is doing well tells us we are doing something right.

From Bobcaygeon we had to detour from our normal 1000km route to Curve Lake. Due to scheduling conflicts we had to trailer the team to just outside Curve Lake where we rode into Curve Lake P.S. Now I know what your thinking and don't worry, we are going to ride those kilometers at a later point of the tour, we still need to visit Buckhorn P.S and Young's Point, so don't worry the team never shortens the kilometers, we just needed to visit Curve Lake and this was the only time we could do it.

And Boy Oh Boy, was it worth it, as we rode into Curve Lake it was awesome, families running out of their homes to the end of their driveways to cheer us on. As we arrived at the school you would have thought the cheers were coming from 200 kids, but that was not the case, you see Curve Lake P.S is home to a mere 45 students from kindergarten to grade 3. We had so much fun spending the afternoon with these students. The entire community rallied around these students and as a result they presented us with a cheque for $9,100. !!!!! Unbelievable !!!!!

When we left Curve lake the sun was shining and the wind had calmed down so we decided to ride 20 km's to make up some lost distance. At the end of the day we had covered 91 km's and visited 3 schools.

John

100 km's Down, 900km's To Go

2009-04-22T18:00:00.000-07:00

Well the weather started off fairly nice but turned nasty after lunch.

We started off riding from Peterborough to Bridgenorth where we attended Chemong P.S. WOW, over 50 head shaves all in an hour and a half and still time to do our show.

From Bridgenorth it was into the highway and a short ride to Ennismore where we visited St. Martin's school for the very first time. We liked the ride so much that when we arrived at the school the kids were still inside, so we rode down the hill and climbed back up to the school a second time. WHEW !!! we made it though. Why does it seem that every school in Ontario is built on a hill?

After lunch, at Subway of course, we rode 25km's to Omemee, where we were greeted by students Scott Young P.S dressed in their house league colours. We had a great time competing in mini bike races, ice cream eating and our famous head shaves.

When we finished in the school we came outside to a down pour of rain. We cut our day short but that doesn't mean we get to cut our kilometers short. We now have to start riding at 7:30am to be able to make it to Cameron for 9am. Well at least it is calling for some sun tomorrow.

John

Day 2 and Still Going Strong

2009-04-21T18:29:00.000-07:00

Well the weather today was better, but still cold. We headed to Westmount P.S and enjoyed the morning with some dedicated, enthusiastic students. We had some fun, did some head shaves and most importantly remembered Graham as we put on our show. At the end we were entertained by the students as they danced to their favorite song.

Our second stop was Adam Scott C.I where we had some mini bike races, did some head shaves and watched as students got to 'Tar & Feather' their teachers. The students were not kind as they took turns pouring every type of sauce, condiment & salad dressing over their head.

From there we were off to King George P.S where we were greeted by yelling and screaming students as they finished up their lunch break. The best part of the video was watching the students reaction as they seen their school highlighted throughout the show.

We finished our second day off at Kawartha Heights where we greeted by students, teachers, photographers, video crew, news reporters. It was like being in Hollywood, but I am sure Caldzy already knows what that's like, he is always being chased by reporters. Mrs. Williamson did an awesome job getting students to help in the fundraising effort. At the end of the day the school presented Pedal For Hope with over $7,000 dollars. On top of that we were able to stay after school and enjoy a pizza party with the grade 2 class who were the top fundraisers.

After 2 complete days Pedal For Hope has almost reached $30,000 dollars !!!!!

John

Off To A Fantastic Start !!!

2009-04-20T18:13:00.000-07:00

Day 1 started off as a cold and drizzle filled day. Something we are getting very used to riding in. But once we arrived at our first school, Edmison Heights, the temperature in the gym sure heated up. The kids were dancing and jumping, it was awesome. We spent the morning shaving or cutting pony tails on over 20 students. The school raised an amazing $7,200.

From there it was off to St. Annes where we did some more dancing with the students. The team was presented with a great plaque filled with sponsors who helped Jacob raise over $2,500 last year.

Our third stop was at Armour Heights where we kicked off their fundraising campaign, the students are pumped and we can't wait to go back and see how they did. We may even be going for a bike ride with some of the students after the tour.
It was at this school that we were entertained by one of our own team members when he fell off his bike and then showed us he could hold his bike up in the air while lying on his back so he wouldn't scratch the new paint job.

And finally, our last stop was at RF Downey P.S and had a great time with the students. This is the first time back to RF Downey since 2005 and we were excited to return. The students were so excited, it was a great way to end our first day.

John

The Final Ride

2008-05-10T18:15:00.000-07:00

The skies were clear, roads were dry, and we were surrounded by all our friends. the day could not have been any better.

Today the team had the honour of being joined by our friends from Shimano & Louis Garneau as we completed our last kilometers to the finish line.

22 cyclist left and headed southbound on the 115, led by 2 police motorcycles. It was a sight I could only imagine as awesome. We travelled along the 115 to Airport Road and then straight up Brealy Drive to Lansdowne Street.

As the team made the turn onto Kawartha Heights we could hear our Special Friends cheering. After spending some time with our Special Friends and getting their new bikes set up for the ride, we were off to Canadian Tire for the celebration.

There is no sight so spectacular, so emotional, and so amazing as seeing the team ride with our Special Friends for the last couple of kilometers. As we pulled out onto Lansdowne Street traffic came to a stop. Drivers were honking and waving and cheering the kids on.

I know there are other bike rides, and other events that have a large group of cyclist travel along the road, BUT this is different, these kids have all fought cancer, and some are still fighting. Some of these kids such as my very special friend Destiny have not ridden a bicycle in years due to her illness.

So when these kids get up just enough courage to ride their bikes for just a short distance it is truly inspiring. Most of us grumble and complain when the line up at the grocery store is longer than we would like. I think sometimes we have to take a step back and realize that if that is the worst thing that happens in our life, we are getting off a thousand times easier than these kids.

As we rode into Canadian Tire we were greeted by parents, friends, family, & sponsors. The music was courtesy of our friends from Uniform Charlie, a great band made up of police officers from our service. After a short meet and greet it was on to some head shaves and lunch provided by Subway.

Overall I could not be happier with how the day went. It was perfect in so many ways.

We have a few events to complete in May & June, we will take July and Aug off and planning for next year begins again in Sept.

THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR A GREAT TOUR !!!!

Week 3 Day 5 - May 9 2008

2008-05-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

Well today was the final school day for the team. There were mixed emotions from the team today. Most members felt really excited and happy that the tour was coming to an end however deep down inside we all knew that there was a sense of saddness that it was coming to an end.

For most of us today would be the last day we visited schools before returning to work next week.

Today we visited South Monaghan, Milbrooke P.S & North Cavan. It was a great time at every school. No matter how big the hills today, the students yelling and cheering us on made us put the pain of the hills aside.

It was a nice feeling to have teachers come up to us today and let us know they already have ideas for next year.

Week 3 Day 4 - May 8 2008

2008-05-08T21:34:00.000-07:00

Although today was a very light riding day it didn't mean the team wasn't still busy. We visited 3 schools in Port Hope today. Howard Jordan Public School, St. Anthony’s Elementary School, George Hamilton Public School, & than on to North Hope Central Public School in the Ganaraska area.

We had a few head shaves today and met up with a long time supporter, Sunny. We appreciate everything she does for the team.

Today we received news that the team has been invited to Ottawa to meet Prime Minister Harper. This is a great honour and everyone on the team is looking forward to the trip next week. Stay tuned for pictures and a story on the website.

Week 3 Day 3 - May 7 2008

2008-05-07T21:27:00.000-07:00

Today we were in the south, usually people would take that as being somewhere warm, like Florida. We didn't quite get that far south, but we did manage to make it to Cobourg. it wasn't warm that was for sure, and it definately wasn't the ocean we were staring at as the wind cut thru our cycling suits.

We still had a great time visiting Merwin Greer Public School, St. Michael’s Elementary School & Dale Road Public School. Today was full of fundraising kick off's. We can't wait to return later on and see how the schools did. When we left Dale Road they were so pumped up they were even talking about plans for next year.

Week 3 Day 2 - May 6 2008

2008-05-06T17:07:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of the final week. Where has the time gone, it seems like the tour just started. Today was an awesome day for the team. We visited South Cramahe in Colbourne, Colbourne Public School and than took a drive back into Peterborough to visit Kenner Intermediate.

The weather was great, one of the few days we didn't have to wear rain gear. The team was well received by staff and students as they danced, cheered and tried to become the new ice cream eating champion.

Although we are away from work riding bicycles we are still police officers, and when needed we have to jump into action. That was exactly the case today when we were returning to Peterborough to visit Kenner Intermediate. The team came upon a serious motorcycle / car collision on highway 28 just seconds after it occurred.

12 police officers had to jump into action, helping the injured, directing traffic, and calling for assistance. I can only imagine what it looked like with 12 police officers in cycling gear running around taking control of the scene. After emergency personnel arrived in more appropriate clothing, the team was off again towards Peterborough.

We were fashionably late to Kenner Intermediate but that didn't stop us from putting on a great show. We had another collision once we arrived at the school, however it was between Keith Calderwood and the gymnasium floor as he went over the handlebars of a miniature bike. Luckily in both collisions today, nobody was seriously hurt.

John

Week 3 Day 1 - May 5 2008

2008-05-05T16:46:00.000-07:00

Well today the weather was nice, the wind was nice, the uh er hills......not so nice. We travelled from Campbellford to Warkwarth and than on to Brighton. The last part of the day was the worst. It was nice travelling into Brighton because the last 4 km's is completely downhill, unfortunately we had to turn around and travel back up the hill at the end of the day. Than we turned on to Little Lake Road and it was like being on a roller coaster. Except this roller coaster had to be powered by me pedalling.

We visited some awesome students at St. Mary's Elementary, Percey Centennial and Brighton Public. As usual the kids were pumped and they didn't stop yelling and cheering until we were well gone.

Lakefield BBQ

2008-05-03T16:39:00.000-07:00

It started early with a ride to Young's Point for breakfast. The weather was grey and windy and we were trying to decide if we were going to have the BBQ or not.

We started to ride towards Lakefield and it seemed like the a magical force took over the weather. We didn't get wet until we were ready to pack up.

The day was fantastic and we owe it all to Larry Taylor and his great crew of guys at the Lions Club. We would also like to thank Ian & Ross Bledsoe and their great staff at Lakefield IGA. Without the support of these great community members we would not be able to do what we do. As I travel around the province on this great cycling tour it amazes me how many individuals will go above and beyond to support a cause. These gentlemen I mentioned above are perfect examples of community involvement.

For that Pedal For Hope thanks you and is proud to have you on our team in the fight against childhood cancer.

John

Week 2 Day 5 - May 2 2008

2008-05-02T15:07:00.001-07:00

As the rain was pouring down the team un-loaded the trailer and got ready for another day of riding. It was cold today, the kind of cold that stays with you long after you get off the bike. You try to fight back the cold by wearing a winter touque under your bike helmet, rain pants, rain jacket, and plastic bags in your shoes so your feet stay dry.

I did all that and I still ended up soaked, cold, and tired. We still managed to start off our morning with a smile as we rode into Havelock P.S to a small but loud group of students hiding under shelter. We had a great time and the students presented us with a cheque that shattered their fundraising last year. Way to go !!!!!!

It was a bone chilling ride to Cambellford to visit with the Flames. Talk about a school with spirit. Their student council did an amazing job with so many great events. I even learned how to DJ dances prior to the tour starting. We cut a few ponies, shaved a few heads (and mohawks) and learned who the champion 'Monkey Bike' racer was. The team was presented with a cheque for over $5,000.00 and they are not done yet. This is another school who shattered their last years total. Awesome job team !!!!!!

We ended up our day at Hillcrest P.S for a short visit with a small school with a tonne of spirit. We had our signature head shave and a couple of rounds of ice cream eating. Good thing we were there at the end of the day because these students were pumped up and hyper when we left. We were very appreciative of a group of girls that stuck around after the show and let us know that we were the best assembly they have had all year adn how much they look forward to our visit. For that we say thank you girls, it means a lot to the team.

2 Weeks down and one to go !!!!

Week 2 Day 4 - May 1, 2008

2008-05-01T14:57:00.000-07:00

Well today was the start of May but the weather suggest something a little different.

Today we started our day travelling down highway 134 towards Keene. Our first stop was North Shore Public School where we were again greeted by some pretty enthusiastic students.

Afterwards we headed along County Road 2 all the way to Hastings P.S. The school that is situated right on a hill when you come into the village. Students lined the street as we started to climb up the hill towards the driveway. High fives all around.

As we continued east our next stop was Norwood Secondary, home of the Saints. We always get a great welcome from these fine teenagers. Once in the gym we were entertained by a dancing duo who had some great moves. From there we watched some head shaves and some ice cream eating contest. The 'Monkey Bike' races seem to be a hit with the students.

We ended our day at Norwood District P.S where we watched as 25 students got creamed with pies by other students and teachers. I felt sorry for the custodians when we left that school, there was whip cream and pudding all over the gymnasium stage.

It was then a short 10km ride into Havelock to be ready for the morning.

Week 2 Day 3 - April 30, 2008

2008-04-30T14:19:00.001-07:00

Today was one of the shorter riding days. After making an un-scheduled stop into the 980 Kruz & Wolf 101.5 radio stations we were on our bikes and heading for Lakefield.

Our first stop was St.Pauls in Lakefield. This school was awesome, the kids were pumped up and ready to go when we rounded the corner and rolled into the driveway. The first smiling bright face we seen was our special friend Danielle and her parents. Our ice cream eating champion from Scotland took on the teachers and again came out on top.

Congrats to the boys that decided to shave their heads to raise money for us as well as Constable Jeff Morgan of the Peterborough Lakefield Police Service who gave up his hair for the cause.

Extra high fives go to a pair of sisters who not only cut their pony tails but went on to shave their heads bald. This is an amazing feat when a boy does it but when a little girl decides to shave her head bald for the cause, it's truly amazing.

We stayed in Lakefield for a bit longer so we could visit the teens of Lakefield Intermediate. We had a blast as a few brave soles shaved their heads for us. We had a few bike races around the gym and found out that the girls are tops when it came to eating ice cream and riding a miniature bicycle. Great job girls !!!!

After re-fuelling at Subway we were off to Douro to visit St.Joseph's school. It always makes me smile when the students take the time to make posters and sign welcoming the team. As we came into town we could see the signs and posters in the distance. They will now decorate the inside of our trailer when we are on tour. Inside the school we shaved an O.P.P officers head and of course ate ice cream. We will be returning back in a few weeks for a big head shaving party.

We had a short 5km ride down highway #134 until we arrived at highway #7. We will start from there tomorrow when we head to Keene.

Week 2 Day 2 - April 29, 2008

2008-04-29T14:08:00.000-07:00

The weather was definitely dryer today but still very cold. We arrived in Wilberforce today around 9am to 65 screaming students. They are small but mighty. Even the smallest school on the tour still manages to dig down deep and raise funds to find a cure. Our lovely team member Lindsey decided to change things up on us by forgetting to bring the ice cream, but thanks to a quick stop at the local grocery store our ice cream champ was quickly transformed into the pudding champion.

The tour than headed down the highway to Apsely P.S where we had fun with the students and teachers. We missed our favorite radio personality's wife due to an illness, or maybe she was hiding from the ice cream punishment she received last year. Either way we wish her a speedy recovery.

After Apsley it was off to Buckhorn where we met all the great kids at Buckhorn P.S. They were pumped when we arrived and even worse when we left. Good thing it was near the end of the day. I do not know how the teachers would ever get them to concentrate on school work after we have been there.

Overall it was a great day, very cold but the team managed to survive.

Week 2 Day 1 - April 28 2008

2008-04-28T17:57:00.000-07:00

Rain rain rain......and than when we thought it couldn't get any worse, we arrived in Minden and it snowed, and not just a couple of flurries, the snow was staying on the ground.

We managed to ride thru the rain and thru the snow and up the hills, finally arriving at Ridgewood P.S. We were so cold and so wet that the staff let us come in and dry our clothes in the Kindergarten classes dryer.

Once the show started it had an emotional moment when the team presented a framed jersey to the school to always hang in memory of Trevor Bartley. Trevors family was on hand to view the presentation. Their support means the world to the team.

From there we were on to Minden to visit Archie Stouffer P.S and when we arrived they were quite, but when we left they were as loud as any school we have visited on the tour.

After our stop in Minden you would think we were done for the day, but that was not the case. We still had another 50km's to ride in the rain to get to Wilberforce. It was slow and steady but the team managed to endure the elements...........that is until about 20km's from Wilberforce when the team members started dropping like flies.

You see we learned a valuable lesson, when your cold and wet you tend not to want to drink fluids because let's face it, your cold and wet. The last thing you think about is cold drinks. That definately causes a problem, because when you don't take in fluids and ride for 80km's on a bicycle your muscles cramp up really bad.

One by one riders had to drop out as muscle aches and fatigue took the best of them. The final 1km of the ride was up Vineger Hill in Wilberforce. This is a hill that is one kilometer long and goes straight up at a 9% grade. What does that mean........well it means your off your seat pumping your legs and it seems your not going anywhere real fast.

As we reaches the bottom of the hill I witnesses 3 of our team members jump off their bikes and fall to the ground like they had been tasered. I didn't know whether to laugh or be concerned as they rolled around on the ground cramped up and exhausted. This left 2 members of our team riding to the top, cheering on the other members not knowing then that they would appear a short time later walking up the hill. Trying to stretch out their legs......vowing that next year Vineger Hill will not get the best of them.

"We will return"

John

Week 1 Day 5 - April 25, 2008

2008-04-25T11:19:00.000-07:00

We rolled into Bobcaygeon Public School first thing in the morning and were greeted by a thunderous applause that was loud enough to wake the neighbourhood. Than there was our sweet special friend Vicky, who thrilled us with her news back in January that she was clear of cancer.......however today unbeknown to us, she would devastate the team with news that the cancer had returned and she needed more treatment.

The look on her face when she uttered those words was enough to make us ride a million miles to raise money to find a cure. No child should ever have to go thru this.

From there the team left Bobcaygeon and rode 106km's to prepare for the school visits on Monday.

Week 1 Day 4 - April 24, 2008

2008-04-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day for riding, sunny, mild, and no wind. We started off our day in Little Britain where we visited Dr. George Hall Public school.

We then moved along to Fenelon Township Public school where we met up with our special friend Eli. We also had fun with our favorite 'dancing machine' who never fails to entertain us with his high energy moves.

Our final stop of the day was at Langton Public School in Fenelon Falls. The scenery in Fenelon Falls is worth the trip alone, so beautiful riding around that area. We had a great time at Langton and soon afterwards found out thru our website that we were appreciated by a very sweet grade 8 student. The team thanks you for your kind words.

Week 1 Day 3 - April 23, 2008

2008-04-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

Well today we finally left the city of Peterborough and headed onto the county roads. But first we stopped at Edmison Heights where we watched Abbey unselfishly cut her hair to make a wig for cancer patients. But it didn't stop there, Abbey than went on to shave her head bald.

We than met 6 fine young gentlemen at Adam Scott Intermediate who took it upon themselves to raise over $2,000.00 for Pedal For Hope. Great job guys, we really appreciate it !!!!!!

Our next visit was to Chemong Public School in Bridgenorth. We had a couple of head shaves, Retired O.P.P constable Brad Filman & our own team member, Gerry Smith. We also had some ice cream eating and learned our new special friend Cassandra is a champion ice cream eater. The best is yet to come when we return on June 21st for the BIG head shave event.

We wrapped up the day in Omemee, at Scott Young Public School. We met up with our special friend Tessa and she helped us rock the school. The students were pumped as they displayed their intramural school teams. We shaved a couple of O.P.P officers heads and ate a lot of ice cream. They did a awesome job of beating their totals from last year. Way to go !!

Week 1 Day 2 - April 22, 2008

2008-04-22T19:45:00.000-07:00

Day 2 brought more sun and more school visits. After a quick check of the bikes, we were off to James Strath where we could see our names on the sign on front of the school as soon as we crested the hill.......talk about motivation.

As the students seen us they began to cheer and clap. It's such a great feeling to hear the cheering and see the kids lined up just waiting to high five the riders.

Lot's of hair dye and shaves at James Strath.

We were then off to St. Catherines where we rocked the school and watched as Sgt. John Ogrodnik and our very own team member Mark Elliott had their heads shaved.

After a quick stop for lunch we were off to Otonabee Valley to meet our special friend Destiny and all her fellow students. It was awesome to see all the hand drawn signs and posters welcoming the team.

We ended up our day at Armour Heights where we were greeted by a group of tiny tots just waiting to give us a personal escort into the gymnasium. Once inside we were greeted with even more cheering and a massive group of head shaves.

Week 1 Day 1 - April 21, 2008

2008-04-21T19:32:00.000-07:00

Our week started out a way it never has before, we seen the sun !!!

We left Shimano headquarters at 8:30am and headed for our first school, Westmount Public. We were soon greeted by a sea of white T-shirts bearing the Pedal For Hope logo. Students cheering and teachers clapping as the team arrived.

Our ice cream champ was replaced by the Westmount champ, the team debuted the their new dance routine......'Cha Cha Slide', but the highlight of the day was when the team presented a framed Pedal For Hope jersey to Westmount Public School in memory of Graham Clarke.

From there we were off to St. Anne's, Kawartha Heights and Keith Wightman.

BATTLE IN THE SADDLE RAISES $9,700.00

2008-03-31T16:11:00.000-07:00

It was an awesome time at Lansdowne Place participating in the 3rd annual Battle in the Saddle. Six teams competed and the overall champions ended up being the Peterborough Fire Dept.

They lasted the full 24 hours, travelled over 12ookm's and raised nearly $4,000 dollars in donations.

Other teams involved in the competition were NuBodies Fitness, Goodlife Fitness, Runners Life, Peterborough E.M.S, & us, Pedal For Hope.

All the participants had a great time, we were entertained by Haley Heinze's amazing singing voice, played wacky games in the wee hours of the morning and quickly found out very few of us were 'Smarter Than A Fifth Grader'.

As usual it will take days or even months for everyone's backside to heal, however no matter how much pain I was in as I crawled into an Epson salt bath, it was worth every painful kilometer.

John

Rolling Along

2008-03-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

Well, we are just 6 short days away from the 2008 Battle in the Saddle at Lansdowne Place.

24 Hours of spinning. Come on down Saturday and join in the excitment as teams start spinning for 24 hours straight. There's also a silent auction featuring sports items, leather jackets, artwork, and spa treatments.

Than it's 28 days until the start of the Tour. I can't wait, everybody on the team is excited to get started. We have over 40 schools to visit in just 14 days, hope the team trained in the off season.

Next week I will update you on the Battle in the Saddle totals and all the highlites from the event.

John

Welcome

2008-03-15T18:55:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Pedal For Hope's new blog page !!!!!!

Leading up to the tour I will be updating the blog page once a week, once the tour starts on April 21 I will be updating it every day.

Please visit often and keep track of our progress as we ...............

Pedal For Hope

Who knows, we may even be writing a story here about you or your school. See you on the tour.

Constable John Townsend

Peterborough Lakefield Police