Steve Leak, one of this year’s riders, has been treating the internet with a “blow-by-blow account of the 2010 Africycle travelling wondershow on one of my blogs. If you’re curious – then pop over here and give it a look-see-read. There’s no dirt, no secrets revealed, no he tells it like it really was kind of crap – just a hand holding you along through the sheer amazement of travelling 1100 kilometres on a bicycle with astonishingly cool people!”

It was a pleasure to ride with Steve – his enthusiasm for the ride was incredible, and seemed to make the hot days more bearable, and his encouragement for other riders went a long way.  I’m glad one of us took the time to document the days of the journey so well.

click here to read his words.

DB.

Will this trip happen again?  I hope so.  It’s the highlight of my year.

-Michael

Friends and Wellwishers, I just received this email from Vanderherberg. This is what is up on the ride.

Enjoy!

We’re leaving Queenston this morning. Finally the weather has turned. We’re going from 36 degree heat into rain and clouds today with a possible thunderstorm.

The trip has been great despite losing three people to various reasons. Of the initial 14, 11 are left. A highlight has been the newcomer, Steve Leak. The positive attitude and camaraderie that he has brought to the group has been really encouraging.

Another great addition has been watching World Cup Soccer in the afternoons. We had a few 5:00 AM mornings just so we could make it to a pub to watch the 2:30 PM game. So, if you see photos later on of our trip, and they’re all of us cheering for the Netherlands at a pub, please know that we actually did ride our bikes. 3 days left.

Friends and Well Wishers, we are getting ready to leave.  

The Ride for Africycle 4.0 crew will be heading out from City Hall in Peterborough at 8:30 AM on Friday, July 2nd.  We will have lunch in Port Hope and finish in Presqu’Ile Provincial Park.  Keep us in your thoughts and prayers and give generously through our giving pages by clicking the Donate tab above.

Ride for Africycle 4.0 is starting to come together. A few people have already thrown their chips in the hat and have committed themselves to participating in this years ride.

One of these people, Steve Stienstra, was the 12th person to confirm a spot in this ramshackle peloton. While Steve is a nice guy and good friend, it wouldn’t be too far off the mark to perhaps, at first, balk at his involvement in an activity consisting of sustained physical exertion. Such as a 1000-ish km bike ride.

Steve doesn’t mind me saying (I checked with him) his participation level in sports has been minimal. I can quote Steve here; “I only play sports where I can smoke and drink at the same time”, thus limiting our fair Steven to Bowling and Sunday afternoon pick up Baseball.

However, in the last year and a bit, things have changed for Steve. He read a book which had such an effect on him, his diet was drastically altered and he dropped weight in a fast, yet healthy manner. I think he cut down on smoking (but probably not) and has found a renewed sense of physical prowess. Not too mention, he is much better looking than I recall.

Steve should be an inspiration to you.

I think it’s safe to say, within your circle of friends, you dropped a bomb on everyone by signing up for Ride for Africycle 4.0. What led you to this decision?
Over the past year I’ve decided to get healthy. It started with making better food choices. Since then I’ve lost 70 lbs. Now I’d like to do something more athletic. So I’ve been biking a lot around Toronto and really enjoying it.

Then, on “Awesome Internet Site” I kept seeing things popping up about the Africycle ride. I started playing with the idea in my head and decided to go for it, to challenge myself with something I think is going to be fairly difficult.

To date, what is the longest bicycle ride you have ever gone on?
Last year I probably rode a total of 150 – 200 kms. I’ve definitely rode that much in the past two weeks. My longest ride has been about 40km’s or so and I am building up from there.

At the moment I am just trying to be on my bike as much as possible.

What bicycle are you planning to ride?
A Gios Compact H.T. It’s sexy.

What are you looking forward to the most on the ride?
I’m totally looking forward to not working. I’m treating this as a holiday as well as a sweet challenge.

Is there anything specific which gives you reservations about the ride?
Hills, Hills, Hills. They scare me. The problem with biking in Toronto is that it is really flat. I have to get out of the city more in the coming months to train on some bigger hills.

How is participating in this ride going to effect your chain smoking?
Good question. Smoking is the least healthy part of of my life. I’m going to quit in a month. BOOM! April 30th is the goal.

Based on your own decision making process, how would you pitch Ride for Africycle 4.0 to another prospective rider?
My internal decision process was, “F–it dude, let’s go biking.” Maybe I’d try that.

When are you coming to town to ride?
Hopefully sooner then later. It all depends on the next time I have a couple days off in a row and can figure out how to get my bike up there.

Well, we finally arrived back in Peterborough on Sunday afternoon, somewhere around 3:00 PM after a long and at times difficult climb up the hills from Port Hope.  The last two days of the ride were very enjoyable, as we made our way from Kingston to Peterborough, fighting our way through a steady headwind coming off the lake.  We had many different Rotarians join us for various stages of the ride, some new faces and some familiar ones that joined us last year.  Pictured here are several folks from the Northumberland Sunrise Rotary Club who joined us for the ride from Brighton to Port Hope, and were kind enough to donate $3000 to Africycle.  Ben was really excited about finally getting to take a massive novelty cheque to the bank, so we’ll have to find out how that went.

All told, the Ride was a massive success.  The countless hours that went into planning the trip by so many people has once again been worth it.  It’s amazing what a bunch of people can do when the put their minds and hearts to it.  Everyone who had a hand in this year, whether it was riding, donating time and money, cooking, driving a bus, carrying gear, fixing bikes, praying for safety – you all helped contribute and you all deserve massive amounts of thanks.

Our fund raising goal was $30,000.  We don’t yet have a final tally for you, but we’ll post it when it comes in.  From what I’ve heard though, we’re very close to that goal!

Aside from some sore muscles and a few aches along the way, we were once again spared any major incidents.  Jordon’s 3 rules of cycling – 1) Look Good, 2) Go Fast and 3) Safety First! proved to be useful as this group of good looking, fast and steady, and safe riders once again completed a circuit of Lake Ontario.  At the end of it, the little computer on my bike said we did 1025 km.  I did a few extra from time to time, missing turns, chasing down those who missed turns, or turning around to check something out on the side of the road that I missed the first time by.  It’s amazing what a bunch of people riding bikes for a little over 1000 km can accomplish.  Along the way new friendships were built, old friendships were made deeper, and many a laugh was had.  It was truly the highlight of my summer, and I can’t wait to do it all again next year.

Plans are in the works for next year’s ride, so stay tuned.

July 9
We rode from our wonderful rest stop at Fair Haven State park, through to Westcott state park.  Another beautiful park, with some pretty killer accomodations.  The ride was fairly mild today, so the riders took their time getting there and once they arrived, everyone made haste to the beach.  After an afternoon of beach/swimming/volleyball, it was another fun night of games and good times.

July 10
The shortest day of the tour, we traveled from Westcott, back into our Canadian homeland . . . by way of Kingston.  The whole team made their way to the Wolfe Island ferry, where we got to experience what is like to put a 17 000LB bus on a small ferry.  Feeling that boat go up or down a couple feet was unnerving, though seeing the 10 feet hanging off the back over the water had to take the cake.  Kudos to Dave Barber on the bus driving skills today.

We had a nice lunch on the island and then made our way to Kingston, where Ben made arrangements for us to be a part of the busker festival here in Kingston.  Thousands of people were out in the city centre, so we got a chance to connect with folks, sell some t-shirts and had a great dinner all togther at a resturant downtown.

The riding today was amazing, the weather was gorgeous and we all really enjoyed the relaxed pace of the day.

Tommorow we make our way to Presquille prov park, then it’s the truly unfortunate end of what has been, an absolutely incredible adventure.

Camp site at Westcott

bus on the ferry

riders enjoying the ride

crossing the border into Canada

lunch activity at selkirk shores, a handstand competition. Carlo won.

Mike Siddall came through with a massive update today. Enjoy:

Sunday July 5
Four Mile State Park
What an amazing day! We rode from Hamilton through to Four Mile State Park, near Niagara falls. The riders got a great chance to ride along the lake in St. Catharine’s/ Niagara and all had no problems through the border along to the camp site.

The support team, also had no problems at the border and were amazed by the courtesy and graciousness that has been extended by everyone we’ve met along the journey so far. Our American friends, can get a pretty bad wrap from time to time, but judging by what we’ve seen here so far. Everyone has been so helpful and willing to chat with you about just about anything.

The campsite and the ride were amazing today. We had great weather, just warm enough to get some nice sun and not too warm to be killer to ride in. The highlight of this leg, would have to be those couple of riders who got a little lost along the way, realizing they were lost by recognizing the Rainbow Bridge they were supposed to be on in the distance . . . and later learning the Rainbow was neither the one they were on, or the one they were looking at.

This is the beauty of the ride, even though you may get a little lost along the way, everyone made it safely and happily arrived at camp, to their first Carl Nielson (Camp Chef) specialty, a crowd-pleaser, as always.

Monday July 6
Webster Family Park
The century day.  The ride has featured a day wherein the riders experience the thrill (aka agony) of a 100 mile trek in a day.  In this case, the day happened to also be our first day of rain.  The ride itself was a good one, with plenty of good experiences along the way, including supporting one another through minor injuries, finding a lost cat and pushing through to the finish of such a long ride.

The day was capped off with a big rainstorm that soaked camp just before the riders arrived, and again just after dinner.  This made life a little more challenging for the support crew, but gave me a good chance to use my tarp hanging/tree climbing skills.  All in all, it was another great day.

Tuesday July 7
Fair Haven
A solid ride yet again, though for some, it was a bit distracting on account of the many flat tires.  If you need a flat changed, like an Indy car pit stop, Sheila is your gal.  All around the riders are in good spirits, enjoying the many sights throughout the area.

Rochester was an interesting adventure for many, most notably, Andy Guthrie.  There was poor Andy, alone and lost riding along 104.  When, all of a sudden, there is the Africycle bus!  ‘Yes, the support crew can stop and help me’ he thinks.  ‘I’ll wave them down and they can tell me where I need to go’.  ‘Hey!!’ Andy waves . . .’ HEY!’ . . .’ Good job buddy’ waves back the support crew as they jovially drive by thinking to themselves, ‘Andy Guthrie, he’s such a good guy!  I’m so proud of him.’.

We won’t repeat what Andy was thinking at this moment, on account of the small children.  However, in a twist of fate that only the Ride for Africycle could offer, along came Sheila and others to guide Andy along in their ride through the rain, headed for the next stop  on this amazing adventure.

Wed July 8, 2009
Rest Day:
The tour has been going so well, everyone has been working so hard, that a rest day was all too welcome.  After the stormy night in Webster, with plenty of wet (clothes, bike seats, tents and socks) and a long few days of riding, a good ‘sleep in’ day was had by all.

We have spent the day lounging, playing games and eating lots of good food.  The weather is fairly cool, but Fair Haven is beautiful, so it’s a nice balance.  It’s a good day to just enjoy each others company and tell stories from the journey so far.  Right Carlo?!

As Ride for Africycle 3.0 continues to wind its way around Lake Ontario (The Ride is presently somewhere in the vicinity of Rochester NY), the international installment of Ride for Africycle, that being, Ride for Africycle Malawi, has come to a close.

Ride for Africycle Malawi consisted of one fellow. Jonny Perrot.  He rode from his house in Zomba, and rounded the base of Malawi’s largest mountain.  Jonny sent me an email, which I have reposted here . . . and a video of his trip, you’ll have to get past the excessive wind noise in some parts, but please do, this clip is so awesome!

hey man

I uploaded the vid on to to the vimeo page.
It speaks for itself.
My batteries died so I only captured day 1.
total ride distance 278km
3 days.
total raised: 680$

thanks.

Jonny . . .

Ride for Africycle:Malawi from Ride For Africycle on Vimeo.

Jonny Perrot is awesome. There, I said it. Publicly.

Also, it would be foolish to mention riding bicycles in Africa and not post this epic trailer from the Zenga’s Brother’s new film. The Zenga’s are very fine friends of Africycle. Enjoy.

We’ll be back with a Ride for Africycle 3.0 update as soon as one rolls in.