Richard Cloutier, co-host of the News on 680 CJOB, 4 to 7 p.m. weekdays, is sharing his adventures during the Cycle of Hope in support of Habitat for Humanity.
It’s not spin class!
My bits are sore. It’s mostly a good sore after cycling 112 km Tuesday along the Pacific coast. The Louis and Clark trail also took the 35 of us on the 2018 Cycle of Hope in-land from the coast at Astoria, climbing 900 metres and then hugging the Pacific coast south.
Hills turned into mountains.
It was hard. Hard like you don’t look up at the road too far ahead but just two metres in front of you. Breath harder. Pump your legs. Get to the top.
Henry Van Dam, 65, talked me up the mountain. The retired senior Monsanto employee swooped in from the rear, passed and helped set the pace.
“You got this Richard.”
This is Van Dam’s inaugural Habitat ride. He too is here to help a family get into a home later this summer. He has cycled for 15 years, completing in the Golden Triangle ride in the Canadian Rockies.
“The scenery is spectacular. The cause incredible,” Van Dam says. “You make life-long friends on rides like this.”
Highway 101 and beach communities brought spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean. The journey is not just about the cycling, it’s about discovering the view around the next corner, making new friends and raising money for a Habitat family.
Tuesday also brought holiday traffic. Most drivers are patient as we hug the shoulder line, negotiate the bridges and tunnels. Then there were a handful of haters in over-sized pick-ups that relished accelerating past us blowing thick black, choking smoke.
I hit the wall just before lunch. The ‘I need Advil and some cream for my bits’ wall.
Help came out of no-where.
This is the ninth ride for Brian Dyck. The 54-year-old Winpak employee keeps paying it forward helping inexperienced cyclists like me setting a steady pace and knowing when to stop and look at the view.
“You finished, that’s the key,” Dyck told me.
“You saw some incredible scenery and completed the longest ride you’ve done ever!”
True.
We finished Tuesday’s ride in 5 hours, 32 minutes excluding lunch and nutrition breaks along the route. Van Dam’s calorie counter flashed 52-hundred calories expended.
And Christy Weiss and the team @wpg-cycle deserve all the credit in the world for turning me on to getting fit physically and mentally. (Middle daughter Meagan introduced me to spin two years ago). Long-distance cycling is a natural progression.
“You did a spin class every time you climbed a mountain today,” Dyck said.
That’s a lot of spin in one day!
We turn east midway through Wednesday’s 149 km ride, climbing new heights to Monmouth, Oregon. While Brian and Henry will be available and at my side if needed, I hope this will be my Independence Day.
Click here to support Richard on his ride.
Click here to track him on GPS.
Comments