The Search for Meat Patties

This weekend is all about finishing, from things in my personal life to this Bike Challenge but that being said you can still find time for a meat patty. As I was journeying through St. Albert on my ride I decided not to make life repetitive and took a different left turn. I wanted to do more kilometres and enjoy the ride so I went through a fun ravine with lots of hills for the pleasure of speed. After t he ravine I have to pass by downtown St. Albert I order to get home, that’s when I heard it, Island Music. They were having an Afro-Caribbean Festival and anytime I see a Festival the food calls to me. So this happy moment of spontaneity lead to a full belly and additional kilometres completed. It’s time to enjoy the ride instead of focusing on the result.

Ring-a-Ding Baby!

The gears are once again fixed and this time I hope it sticks! I took it for a late night spin and. It seems to shift smoothly through the gears for the most part but this Frankenstein’s bike is ready to go again! I also got a new bell.. ring a ding. Now that the bike is finally finished I am less worried about making my goal so the bike ride this evening was fresh, new and exhilarating! It made me remember why I loved biking in the first place. It was the freedom and the speed. It was like hitting the pause button on the stresses of life. I don’t remember smiling as much as I did on the ride today when I have free time.

Update: Broken Wheel

It continues with a broken wheel. I was finally able to get the bike into the Edmonton Bike Commuters to get the gears adjusted but that seemed to be one of a few things that needed repairs. As I attempted to work on the bike and with one of the volunteers to learn more about the derailleurs I discovered my rear axle was bent. This along with the rear derailleur also being bent didn’t really help when I was attempting to switch through gears. After spending 3 hours at the bike shop I left enthusiastic about gearing up (literally) my rides. Excited to shave down on my times and increase my distances I jumped on the bike this evening and do did a 22 km ride discovering t he residential areas of St. Albert. However 12 kilometres into my ride my front shifter became unusable. While it’s at least better than a broken wheel the work continues.

Shifting Gears

While I have been adding and adjusting parts I have stuck myself in the lower gears. As the mid-way point of the month approaches I will have to get my bike to the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters to get that bike into high gear.

New Pedals

As I complete my kilometres with a bike that I am also fixing up it becomes an interesting challenge of ride ability.

As I replace parts to increase to joy and capability of the bike to perform better I also have to continually make tweaks and adjustments to ensure the replacement parts can function. While this is a great learning opportunity it has definitely hindered the speed of the ride. However it seems as though the upgraded components are usable at least not interfering too much with completing kilometres.

7 Days Completed

So far I have completed 7 days and 46 kms. Far from the start I was hoping for, however it’s not about how we start sometimes but how we finish. I am hoping to do more tweaks to my bike to make that crossing that finish line at the end of the month a lot smoother.

While my goal is 300 km I am hoping to accomplish more than that target goal. I am hoping to complete 400 kms by the end of August. If I hope to get more than my targeted donations I will work hard to surpass my goal of 300 km. Let’s do this together and beat Kids Cancer.

Day 1

Good rides, first was with a trailer the second ride without. Just my daily commute, let the Challenge begin!

Broken Wheel

My stumbling onto the Ride to Fight Kids Cancer all started with a broken rear wheel. It was actually me that broke it… in an attempt to tune up my bike I was unable to remove the rear cassette. That launched my search into Facebook for anything bike related, I found the Great Cycle Challenge Canada page. I am not one to turn away from a great cause and I saw it as a way to inspire myself to finally finish my project bike within an allotted time, get into shape all while helping raise money for kids. All kids deserve a fair start in life and the ability to just be kids. So starts the journey today.