An unfortunate end :(

So the end of this week was interesting to say the least. And I suppose it was forecasted by the foggy start to Friday’s ride 😆 (picture’s attached) I left early Friday morning to drop off something downtown before work, so I got a pretty cool view of Lake Thomas, just absolutely clouded.

Anyway, since Wednesday I’ve been riding my Sirrus, since the rear wheel of the Bombtrack wasn’t holding pressure Tuesday, and I didn’t want to get stuck on the bridge like I did on Monday 😔 …

SO, when I left my last day of work at Halifax water Friday afternoon, I quickly noticed that I had a flat on the front wheel of the Sirrus 🙄 and at that point I just about had it, so I found my way home by other means, and didn’t have time today to diagnose problems and patch tires, and ride what I needed to make up for the lost time. As a result, I have an outstanding 75km left to be ridden, and it is officially September. It’s too bad, absolutely, but I feel I got pretty darn close 😂 I plan on bringing the Bombtrack into a shop to be professionally serviced at some point this week, so that it’s in top condition while I’m in the city, and the Sirrus I may be able to fix up tomorrow morning.

So, if I can get it working, I may bring the red rocket out for one last ride this Monday the second before school starts on the third, and put in 30km or so to make a dent. I’ll post something from that on the gram for anyone interested.

But as a final message…

I feel incredibly privileged to have such a generous group of people around me who are willing to support projects I pursue, just like this. To everyone who I’ve thanked in person, I appreciate all of you in more ways than you could imagine. Anyone who’s stayed anonymous, thank you so much for donating to this cause, even if I’ll never know who you are for certain (though I am very curious, I’ll admit 😂) but I very much respect your decision.

I hope I haven’t let anyone down too bad in not reaching the goal, haha! 92.5% of the way there officially. But I trust that my updates and stories of the journey there over the past four weeks have somewhat made up for it.

Thank you once again, and God bless!

Jack.

The final stretch!

We’re in the final week! Unfortunately, it began with some technical issues. The ride this morning was pretty spectacular (and fast, hehe…) but this afternoon I found that my rear tire had lost basically all of its pressure, so I had to take the bus home. I have a couple ideas how that happened, currently troubleshooting. So I may be riding the red rocket tomorrow instead of the Bombtrack. Either way, it’ll be another early, foggy day.

All this means I’m gonna have a fair bit of mileage to make up come the end of this week. My current plan is to take care of business either Friday evening after work, and a good dinner, or Saturday morning. But the challenge will be completed!

In lieu of a picture from today, as it was a little foggy, here’s something I took on Friday. This is the little walkway in Shubie, just as you climb the hill away from Dartmouth crossing, towards the greenway.

End of the week!

Just got off the bike a minute ago to close out week three. Beautiful weather this afternoon, so the ride was pretty awesome. Here’s a picture of Lake Thomas, facing across the water, towards Cheema. I’ll see you next week!

Second half here we go!

So today I was only able to add about 30k to the total. Morning was extra rainy, so I only rode to the bus stop, and then bussed into the city. Tomorrow I’m getting a ride to work for the same reason, but the afternoon should be clear.

Anyway, in the end, due to inclement weather, I may need to make up a couple days over the weekend, but I can definitely do that, and I could get some cool shots for the blog from different trails.

As for now, we’re cruising through this thing. Here’s a beautiful picture just off the Shubie park from last Thursday.

End of the week

This was my view looking back towards the base after crossing the Macdonald this morning. Halifax is a foggy town today. I am officially half way to my goal of 1000km by the end of August! My ride home this evening will put me 25km further into the remaining half. Thank you again for all the support!

Rainy week

This week has been quite rainy to say the least, and I had to miss another ride because I forgot my helmet at home, but today I finished off strong with what I’m pretty sure is my 25k record for the way back from work. I limit myself on Shubie for safety, but Waverley road and Dartmouth is all full steam ahead, and it’s fun! I still have about 30km of contingency, so I’m more than a quarter of the way through the challenge. Ahead of schedule! And I’m no doubt going to do a little bit of riding this weekend. Thank you for all the incredible support I’ve received so far, I’m so so lucky to have so many awesome people around me who want to contribute.

See you next week!

Rainy Day

Unfortunately today due to the rain in Halifax, I’ve decided to take the bus into work, and so, will not be updating the km ticker again until tomorrow morning. Now luckily I have a bit of a buffer built into my riding schedule this month, so a few off days like this won’t prevent me from reaching my goal.

Here is a lovely view of Haligonian public transit:

First official week

I took the Red Rocket (My Sirrus) out of retirement with new rear break pads while the Bombtrack is in for maintenance (both projects being completed by my personal mechanic, Mr. Keith Brown, for whom I am very grateful). The ride felt great! Feeling good.

Start gun!

Today was the first of my August riding challenge. Over the next 29 days I will be covering the remaining 938km needed to reach my goal, primarily through my morning and afternoon commutes. (Strava map to come shortly) I’m rocking a new bike (my new Bombtrack gravel bike, featured in the image) and am loving how it feels, so it should be an enjoyable, however challenging, 1000km. Looking forward to it!