The Money Mustache Community
General Discussion => Share Your Badassity => Topic started by: Le Poisson on January 03, 2018, 09:05:54 PM
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Backstory:
I'm a pretty normal Dad with a couple kids. the kids are pretty cool though. One of them, my eldest son, is an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) kid. He bounces in and out of treatment centres and therapies and has a hard time at school. He's a great guy one on one, but in a crowd or around other people, James falls apart. He is not a model child by society's standards.
As our summer vacation was winding down last year, I asked James what he thought would be a fun thing to do with just the two of us, and he mentioned a park in Ottawa that he had seen a TV program about, and how it would be fun to go there to play. Since Ottawa is about 500 km from home, my mind turned to hotels and highways... but he wasn't done. He wanted to ride his bike there.
Now most 9 yr old kids wouldn't come to their dad with a proposal to ride their bike across the province to play on a swing set, but in James' mind this was perfectly reasonable. And my mind went straight to all the times he hears "you can't" - both at home and at school. So I didn't say that. In fact I was very careful with what I said next. What I said was... "If you can ride your bike from our house to the CN Tower in Toronto, then we'll figure out how to ride to Ottawa." Since its about 70 km to the CN tower from here, and James has a crappy Schwinn on 20" tires, I figured I was safe. No way the kid could get that far on that bike.
And so, three weeks later we rode our bikes to Ottawa.
A fellow mustachian suggested that we set up a GoFundMe account before heading off, and maybe we could think of a local charity that would benefit from the ride - and I shrugged it off. But then I mentioned the idea to a few other people and they all agreed, so one night before we left I set up an account, naming the treatment centre James attends as beneficiary of our ride. I wasn't sure how much to put in the goal amount. If we did this, I wanted the ride to be a success and I didn't want James to feel bad about missing a money goal I had tagged on.
Since it was Canada's 150th birthday (I'd say sesquicentennial, but I can't spell it) I set the goal at $1500 and crossed my fingers that we'd make it. Then I called a DJ at our local radio station and asked him please to announce the thing on the air and get us rolling.
Within 3 days we had raised our goal amount. By the end of the week we had doubled it. We rode to Ottawa and picked up media attention in every town we came to. Once the ride was done, we had been on national news, a dozen local papers, had scout troops meeting us on the road, and felt like celebrities. Icing on the cake came when the prime minister of Canada tweeted his congratulations to James personally. Wow.
After the ride we came home and presented our treatment centre with a big fat cheque for $10,800. Not bad at all. The press came out and one reporter hounded me for an answer of what we were going to do next. I answered that I was happy our ride had been such a success, and we could return to school. He asked again... "What's next?" I talked about all the things that the treatment centre could do with these donations and how great it was that so many people had learned about ASD through our ride, and that we were completely pleased with all the support... and again he asked, "What's next?"
I never answered him, but through this thread, I'm going to share with you - and enlist your help so that "what's next" is answered, and hopefully, so that you'll be part of the 500 more kms we are riding this year.
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I can't say what's next, not just yet, but we have a line drawn on a (Google) map, and this ride will be as ridiculous as the last. It will be longer, more difficult and will involve crossing into the US.
We have picked up an early endorsement from the Boy Scouts, both in Canada and the US. Our local politicians at the local and federal levels are aware and encouraging. Our charity is happy to have us on board again, and we have picked up a second charity in the US.
It looks an awful lot like we are set to go - except that we don't know when we'll do the ride, haven't set up SAG stops along the way (backyards to camp in), and have no idea what legalities there are about crossing a border for this. I imagine we will need a visa of some kind. I would guess that we will have to worry about moving money to our charity. There are a billion details to work out. But follow along, and maybe sometime between now and when we finish up you can help with an answer or a cheer, or just a few encouraging words.
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following
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Awesome!
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I thought this thread was going to be a reference to this song.
https://youtu.be/tbNlMtqrYS0
Well it wasn't, but maybe it could be your theme song for this ride.
Where in the US are you planning to ride to?
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Following.
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I thought this thread was going to be a reference to this song.
https://youtu.be/tbNlMtqrYS0
Well it wasn't, but maybe it could be your theme song for this ride.
Where in the US are you planning to ride to?
This is what EVERYONE wants to know. Its also the piece I can't really put out in the open just yet. While I endorse speculation, I can't confirm any guesses. I will give one hint though so its a sport instead of a wager. We're going to ride a roller-coaster. Because who doesn't love a good roller-coaster ride?
At this point I need help from folks who know anything about US travel visas. I need those answers sooooo bad.
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At this point I need help from folks who know anything about US travel visas. I need those answers sooooo bad.
You will need a notarized consent letter from your wife if she's not accompanying you: https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/children/consent-letter - note that the letter itself will not open if you're using Chrome.
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https://ca.usembassy.gov/visas/
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This is so inspiring!
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https://ca.usembassy.gov/visas/
Thanks for this link - it was among my first places to visit. I guess the question all boils down to this sentence:
Other entrants, such as journalists, temporary workers or NAFTA professionals, must present all necessary supporting documentation and/or approved petitions directly to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officer at the Port of Entry.
Are we temporary workers if we are doing a charity bike ride? If so, do we need to get the "approved petitions"? What do those look like? I'm calling my Member of Parliament's office now to ask. Hopefully they can put me in touch with the people who know these things.
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Following. I didn't catch on to your previous ride until it was over and I want to support this one from the start.
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As a former long-distance rider, I totally support your efforts. And I will do anything to
get that worm out of my head offer a mustachian hand. Gleefully P2F.
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This is so kick a$$ and I am happily P2F your journey and offer any support that I might.
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Prospector, that/this is fantastic!
I wonder if local bike shops/MEC would be willing to throw some support your way either monetarily or with other means.
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Why not just call the embassy and explain the situation and ask for advice?
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Let's see if I can apply google-fu to your visa questions:
(edit: not intended as lmgtfy snark - I like to think I have above average google-fu and I have lots of cross-border googling experience, so hoping these help or lead you down helpful paths)
These people got in trouble trying to cross the border for volunteer work that was deemed too much like actual work - some details may be relevant to you: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/hamilton-church-volunteers-denied-entry-to-u-s-so-they-wouldn-t-steal-american-jobs-1.4022969 (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/hamilton-church-volunteers-denied-entry-to-u-s-so-they-wouldn-t-steal-american-jobs-1.4022969)
This seems to indicate that a B-1 could be iffy due to accepting/soliciting donations: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/getting-us-visa-b-1-do-volunteer-work.html (https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/getting-us-visa-b-1-do-volunteer-work.html)
And here's more text I believe from the same part of the regulations: https://www.quora.com/Can-I-volunteer-in-the-United-States-on-a-B1-B2-visa (https://www.quora.com/Can-I-volunteer-in-the-United-States-on-a-B1-B2-visa)
Since the purpose is charitable you may be able to get free info/services from someplace like this: http://visaservicescanada.ca/ (http://visaservicescanada.ca/)
You asked about taxes elsewhere - if you get the charities to setup the gofundme or otherwise accept donations directly, that could sidestep the income tax issues. And chances are you could cross at the border without explaining the secondary (fundraising) aspect of your ride but that's not without risk. Ultimately I think you will have to consult an expert and/or read the laws themselves, if you want to be sure of avoiding border/tax issues.
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Why not just call the embassy and explain the situation and ask for advice?
Maybe that's the route to take. For now I think I'll follow up with a couple other leads I've got - first with our MP and then with an immigration lawyer in Buffalo who specializes in Canadian cases. We'll see where this ends up.
Let's see if I can apply google-fu to your visa questions:
These people got in trouble trying to cross the border for volunteer work that was deemed too much like actual work - some details may be relevant to you: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/hamilton-church-volunteers-denied-entry-to-u-s-so-they-wouldn-t-steal-american-jobs-1.4022969 (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/hamilton-church-volunteers-denied-entry-to-u-s-so-they-wouldn-t-steal-american-jobs-1.4022969)
This seems to indicate that a B-1 could be iffy due to accepting/soliciting donations: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/getting-us-visa-b-1-do-volunteer-work.html (https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/getting-us-visa-b-1-do-volunteer-work.html)
And here's more text I believe from the same part of the regulations: https://www.quora.com/Can-I-volunteer-in-the-United-States-on-a-B1-B2-visa (https://www.quora.com/Can-I-volunteer-in-the-United-States-on-a-B1-B2-visa)
Since the purpose is charitable you may be able to get free info/services from someplace like this: http://visaservicescanada.ca/ (http://visaservicescanada.ca/)
You asked about taxes elsewhere - if you get the charities to setup the gofundme or otherwise accept donations directly, that could sidestep the income tax issues. And chances are you could cross at the border without explaining the secondary (fundraising) aspect of your ride but that's not without risk. Ultimately I think you will have to consult an expert and/or read the laws themselves, if you want to be sure of avoiding border/tax issues.
I almost crossed posts with you Novik - thanks for that google-ing. On our FB page a lawyer has been suggested. I'll start a friendly ask there, but ultimately I think this will take the advice of someone more professional than I am. I think Tardis has a point though - a letter from our local consulate saying we're legit would be the best. I'm hoping our MP's office can hope with that. We'll see.
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I think Tardis has a point though - a letter from our local consulate saying we're legit would be the best. I'm hoping our MP's office can hope with that. We'll see.
Family bike ride + good cause + official paper to wave at the border guards = hopefully success!
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Can I ask what route you took up to Ottawa? I'm planning on taking four or five days and riding up this summer with my wife. I'm trying to find the safest way to go traffic-wise (most of highway 7 looks kinda miserable to cycle on for example . . . no shoulders, single lane, high speed limits) that doesn't put me on really rough farm roads, long unpaved stretches, and too far away from civilization so we can risk going very lightweight.
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That is so cool - and as a Mum who has a son with learning issues (not AS) I think you are an awesome dad! How amazing that James gets to celebrate success and be applauded for what he is good at!
Ps - I clicked on the link for the title :) like others now I can’t get the worm out of my head.
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Wait, how long did it take you two to ride 500KM? It takes me 2 days to do half that, and now that I've done the KM to miles conversion I am in complete awe of both you and James. Wow!
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Can I ask what route you took up to Ottawa? I'm planning on taking four or five days and riding up this summer with my wife. I'm trying to find the safest way to go traffic-wise (most of highway 7 looks kinda miserable to cycle on for example . . . no shoulders, single lane, high speed limits) that doesn't put me on really rough farm roads, long unpaved stretches, and too far away from civilization so we can risk going very lightweight.
We left Durham Region on the Waterfront Trail and followed it to Hay Bay. Then we skipped north through Lennox & Addington County to the start of the Cataraqui Trail in Strathcona (just outside Napanee). Although the Cat. Trail was my favourite part of the ride, it is not good for a road bike, being mostly packed gravel with some mud and water - but the scenery is fantastic - especially for a rail trail. The last 30 kms of it are on sod (as though someone drove a riding mower through fields and called it a trail). We ended the Cat Trail in Smith's falls and followed the Rideau canal from there to our destination using a route published on the canal website.
Fire me an email or send your email addy in a PM and I can send you our Google earth file. Only thing I would change is to avoid the loyalist Hwy through Prince Edward County. In fact, skip PEC altogether. Apart from Bloomfield bikes, I have nothing redeeming to say about that part of the trip. I'd suggest just following HWY 2 past Trenton and Belleville instead and skip the county altogether.
Although we took 5 days for the trip, we met many others since who have done it in three or 4.
FYI, James and I will be presenting on our ride at the bikeminds workshop on March 21 in Toronto if you want to come out and have a coffee/chat. ( https://beyondtheautomobile.ca/bikeminds/ )
Also: http://ctv.news/ajXUy2H
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The charity on each end collecting donations directly (and issuing tax receipts to donors in their country) sounds like the easiest thing. Should be easy enough to set up a separate donation page on their websites. This avoids any money touching your hands.
I hope you don't have to work too hard to get an answer on the visa. Ten years ago I flew to L.A. to run in a 10km race that raised money for charity. I paid an entry fee with a donation embedded. I earned no money for my athletic efforts (the trip cost me money). Regular schlubs like me do not earn money for such activities so I wasn't stealing a job. I entered as a tourist (no visa) and it was fine. I'm hoping the answer is that uncomplicated in your case, as well.
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Wait, how long did it take you two to ride 500KM? It takes me 2 days to do half that, and now that I've done the KM to miles conversion I am in complete awe of both you and James. Wow!
We went really, really slow. Left home Sat. AM and arrived on Friday AM. We could have made it Thursday evening, but we had to schedule our arrival to coincide with tv crew schedules.
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The charity on each end collecting donations directly (and issuing tax receipts to donors in their country) sounds like the easiest thing. Should be easy enough to set up a separate donation page on their websites. This avoids any money touching your hands.
I hope you don't have to work too hard to get an answer on the visa. Ten years ago I flew to L.A. to run in a 10km race that raised money for charity. I paid an entry fee with a donation embedded. I earned no money for my athletic efforts (the trip cost me money). Regular schlubs like me do not earn money for such activities so I wasn't stealing a job. I entered as a tourist (no visa) and it was fine. I'm hoping the answer is that uncomplicated in your case, as well.
This is where GoFundMe works so well. Anyone, anywhere can donate to them, and they simply pass along the proceeds after taking a 5% cut. Larger donors can get tax receipts by giving directly to the childrens' centres but there it becomes a bit of a wickey sticket for cross border donations. I think the easiest for us is to open 3 accounts - one at with Grandview for direct doantions, one with the US charity for direct donations, and one with GFM for folks who don't care about tax receipts. Sadly, marketing a 3-stream giving approach is ugly. In a news interview you just don't have time to name 3 accounts.
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Wow!!! That is really inspiring, Prospector. Such a great way to let your son shine!
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I think the easiest for us is to open 3 accounts - one at with Grandview for direct doantions, one with the US charity for direct donations, and one with GFM for folks who don't care about tax receipts. Sadly, marketing a 3-stream giving approach is ugly. In a news interview you just don't have time to name 3 accounts.
Can you make three accounts and then prominently link the other two within the Gofundme text? And then the elevator pitch is just "See our GoFundMe site for complete information on how to donate."
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After watching used ads on kijiji for a couple months we've had terrible luck coming up with a James-sized bike that would work well for this trip. Very few bikes his size have made an appearance, and worse, the ones that do tend to be BMX or beater bikes that really aren't suited to the task.
I found one that looked perfect, called the guy up and was told it was already spoken for. I told him that if his sale fell apart, we were interested. I followed up a week later and got no response. Figured the sale was done and we were out of luck.
Yesterday we stopped in at a local bike shop and tried a few frames for size. There were only 2 bikes in the shop that would fit James. One was $1500 (Specialized Allez Junior) and the other $950 (Specialized Women's Dolce XS) plus a number of modifications needed to convert it to a touring bike bringing the price up over $1500...
Our local beneficiary has kindly offered to get a bike for James through their therapy aids program, but I can't put that kind of a bill on them, so I asked them to hold off while we kept hunting. I'm not eating up resources of our charity while we try to raise cash for them.
Then last night, the guy with the bike on Kijiji called me back. His sale fell apart and the bike he has is available for $250. It needs a new front derailleur and the brakes and tires will need replacing, but we should be able to have this thing set up and on the road for under $500. The charity will do the mods, and we will buy the bike. I can live with this much better than buying a new bike. Especially since whatever we get will only fit for a couple years as James hits his pre-teen growth spurts.
So I'm headed out in 30 minutes to pick up James' new bike... will post results soon-ish.
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Oh, so exciting! Standing by for an update...
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Awesome!
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This is so cool!! What a kid :) And what an accomplishment!
If you happen to ride through Minneapolis I can guarantee my bike shop would accommodate you, housing/camping would be no problem, and my bike club would almost certainly do a group ride with you guys.
Cuz, you know, "the US" is so small and your chances of riding here are so high ;)
I'm definitely looking forward to following your journey no matter where it takes you!
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Congratulations. Way to teach a can-do attitude to your son and encourage others. O how much is achievable when we try and don't let our feelings of what is "normal" to do hold us back.
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Well - we have a bike. I'm not sure that its 100% perfect, but its pretty good. Tire clearances may preclude putting on gravel tires (its really tight) but maybe of we go down to 24" rims (it has 26") it will clear up space and we can put on something beefy. And the seatstays have braze-ons for a rack, but the dropouts don't. Weird.
I'll reach out to Louis Garneau (who made the bike) share our story, and see if they have any advice. Worst case is they wish us luck on our ride, best case is they have ideas/gear to make it work. Daydream is that they send us a bike rack and panniers.
For now the bike is stashed in a friend's garage until James' birthday in April. One thing sortof off the list.
Congratulations. Way to teach a can-do attitude to your son and encourage others. O how much is achievable when we try and don't let our feelings of what is "normal" to do hold us back.
Love this - thanks for the encouragement!!
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This is so cool!! What a kid :) And what an accomplishment!
If you happen to ride through Minneapolis I can guarantee my bike shop would accommodate you, housing/camping would be no problem, and my bike club (look up Joyful Riders Club on the internet - I'll prob delete the name later) would almost certainly do a group ride with you guys.
Cuz, you know, "the US" is so small and your chances of riding here are so high ;)
I'm definitely looking forward to following your journey no matter where it takes you!
I mean its not like USA is massive huge, but it is pretty big. If there are roller coasters in Minneapolis, we might be going there. Then again, there might be other roller coasters in America as well.
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Valley Fair in a suburb https://www.valleyfair.com/play (https://www.valleyfair.com/play) and inside Mall of America https://nickelodeonuniverse.com/rides/ (https://nickelodeonuniverse.com/rides/) :)
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Awww I just watched the news stories. Your telling here is of course better, but this really is so inspiring!
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Awww I just watched the news stories. Your telling here is of course better, but this really is so inspiring!
Thanks Kat! We'll probably be tweeting out the ride again this time around. I suggest you follow along on Twitter. #RideJamesRide - of course we won't have much to tweet for a couple months, but as things progress we update there.
This morning I reached out to Louis Garneau for more info on the bike we picked up and what recommendations they have for outfitting. I also made an ask for support with bags/gear/etc. I wonder if they will come through. I suspect they will be checking the twitter etc. before replying, so having followers helps. It would be nice to get our twitter up over 400 followers - our peak 'followership' during the ride was 450. Not bad for an account set up three weeks earlier!
Today it is miserable cold out there. Everyone stay in and dream of warmth.
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Wait, how long did it take you two to ride 500KM? It takes me 2 days to do half that, and now that I've done the KM to miles conversion I am in complete awe of both you and James. Wow!
We went really, really slow. Left home Sat. AM and arrived on Friday AM. We could have made it Thursday evening, but we had to schedule our arrival to coincide with tv crew schedules.
Damn paparazzi! :)
You mentioned changing from 26" wheels to 24" wheels, this probably won't work unless the bike has coaster brakes because the brake calipers won't reach the wheels. Unless someone sells long brake calipers for such a conversion.
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My dormant twitter account is now following you. Go James!
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I find that Gears bike stores have pretty engaged teams, and they list Louis Garneau bikes, so they should be able to help modify.
When I was a teen doing tris, finding a bike mechanic who cared about modding a bike to my specs was essential.
PS. I was all ready to let you know that you name dropped, and after reaching the end, I decided it's intentional.
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Wait, how long did it take you two to ride 500KM? It takes me 2 days to do half that, and now that I've done the KM to miles conversion I am in complete awe of both you and James. Wow!
We went really, really slow. Left home Sat. AM and arrived on Friday AM. We could have made it Thursday evening, but we had to schedule our arrival to coincide with tv crew schedules.
Damn paparazzi! :)
You mentioned changing from 26" wheels to 24" wheels, this probably won't work unless the bike has coaster brakes because the brake calipers won't reach the wheels. Unless someone sells long brake calipers for such a conversion.
Good call on the brakes. hadn't considered that - and definately not swapping to disk brakes.
I'll pop into a bike coop with the bike in a week or so and see what they suggest if Garneau doesn't come through for me.
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I find that Gears bike stores have pretty engaged teams, and they list Louis Garneau bikes, so they should be able to help modify.
When I was a teen doing tris, finding a bike mechanic who cared about modding a bike to my specs was essential.
PS. I was all ready to let you know that you name dropped, and after reaching the end, I decided it's intentional.
Yeah - it was a tough decision but we feel like making this ride personal is important. People need to feel a connection or we won't be reaching our goals.
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So inspiring! You and James make a great team. I am here to help in any small way I can.
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This is fantastic.
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Just sent emails to Gov. Cuomo and MP Celina hoping to get answers on the visa question. We'll see where that leads (pessimistic over here... think I'll be reaching out to the embassy/consulate but I'm trying not to since they are not very welcoming).
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Are you doing any cross-border trips before the ride? could you just ask a border guard?
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Are you doing any cross-border trips before the ride? could you just ask a border guard?
No, we aren't. I thought about stopping in and asking when we went to Niagara over the New year's break, but didn't. The kids were restless.
James' Twitter feed is full of other young achievers doing similar trips. I love reading about the ones hiking cross-Canada on The Great Trail. This girl recently completed the trip: https://thegreattrail.ca/news/sarah-jackson-completes-the-trail/ and this one has only just began: https://twitter.com/BetweenSunsets?lang=en Incredible perseverance for these people. I don't think I could do a hike like that. Bikes and canoes are so much easier.
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Sounds really awesome and wishing you guys all the best. This is the kind of thing I look forward to doing with my boys soon.
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I thought I'd mention this just in case it wasn't on your radar - apologies if I'm repeating info you already have:
There's a European bike brand called Canyon which has been hugely successful selling directly to customers. They expanded into the US about a year ago, and already have a pretty high profile among hardcore racers, but something like your ride might be a good fit for them marketing-wise to get their name in front of a wider north American audience. It might be worth dropping them a line and seeing if they'd be amenable to potentially helping you out with equipment.
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Loads of great news today...
Our charity on this end has reached out to the bike shop locally that builds kids bikes for therapy and special needs kids. They are working with the bike shop to outfit this bike to match James' needs on the ride. I hope they can transform it into a "gravel bike" or touring bike.
Also exciting, a recently retired NHL player has picked up our twitter feed and asked if he can have a chat with us since he has some ideas about athletes working cross-border and doing charity work as a Canadian in the USA. I am excited about this. adding such a high-profile name to our feed is a great step. We now have a retired CFL football player and a retired NHL player. If these guys start promoting us through the major league sports networks, things could get pretty darned big. The potential here is pretty amazing!
Fingers crossed that we can get him promoting us... Or at least that we can crash at his condo in NY.
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Wow! Your post reminded me of my own son's bicycle exploits, but then I got to the "9 years old" part !! When my son was 19 he wanted to ride across the country. His mother (my wife) freaked out, and I negotiated it down to a 1 week father/son bike trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was awesome, and I thought it got the whole XC thing out of his system. 2 years later he was 21 and road solo from Boston to Seattle. His bike was my 35 year old 12 speed. His northerly route took him through Canada from Niagara Falls to the Bluewater Bridge, where customs took him over in a van (no bicycles allowed on the bridge).
I am surprised you need a visa at all to come in as a tourist from Canada to the U.S, but of course things are tighter now than they used to be.
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Wow! Your post reminded me of my own son's bicycle exploits, but then I got to the "9 years old" part !! When my son was 19 he wanted to ride across the country. His mother (my wife) freaked out, and I negotiated it down to a 1 week father/son bike trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was awesome, and I thought it got the whole XC thing out of his system. 2 years later he was 21 and road solo from Boston to Seattle. His bike was my 35 year old 12 speed. His northerly route took him through Canada from Niagara Falls to the Bluewater Bridge, where customs took him over in a van (no bicycles allowed on the bridge).
I am surprised you need a visa at all to come in as a tourist from Canada to the U.S, but of course things are tighter now than they used to be.
Thanks for your post! We don't need a visa to visit as tourists. its coming across representing an organization and fundraising that is the fly in the ointment.
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Just posting to say you restored my faith in humans today and are a wonderful father.
From,
a shithole American.
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Isn't it funny how things on the internet pop up every now and then. I just found this radio interview (https://soundcloud.com/95-5-hits-fm/chris-potvin) I'd forgotten all about from day 3 of our ride last year...
Wow I talk fast!
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I cycle 3600KM each year commuting into work. People think I am nuts.
When I get in, I have porridge, costing 5c a portion.
Its a good routine to have - I am probably more ERE than MMM.
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I've been waiting a few weeks to hear from our beneficiary. They have a local bike shop that they work with to outfit disabled kids, and they thought that they could work a deal with the shop to outfit James' bike for our ride. So I took our "new" used bike into the shop recommended by our beneficiary today to see what they had to say.
The feedback was less than positive when I described what I wanted for teh bike. I thought it was all doable, but apparently not.
- Gravel tires
- Pannier Rack on the rear
- secondary brakes on the handlebars
- replace brake lever/shifter that's broken
- lights and bell, safety stuff
The bike mechanic who has been custom building therapy bikes for special needs kids just shook his head. Apparently the tires are a non-starter. Not enough frame clearance for a more rugged tread. And the frame has braze-ons for a rack at the top of the seatstays, but nothing down at the dropouts - they'd have to weld in brazeons and custom build a rack to fit the frame since the geometry is wrong for a standard rack (its a small frame with a 28" standover height). For the secondary brakes - they could be done, but we'd end up having to buy a whole new set of brake levers/shifters to replace what we've got. He could outfit it with lights and a bell though.
By the time he was done with his list, he was shaking his head and saying we'd probably come out further ahead selling this bike and just buying a new one. He walked me over to a wall rack and showed what he thought would be perfect... $1200.
But he said to hold tight. He's going to reach back to his corporate head office and see what is sitting in corners of warehouses, and whether the chain would be interested in sponsoring the ride. If that happens, I'll be as happy as a mouse in a cheese factory. At the very least he's going to look into a deal to bring the cost of a bike in line with repairing with this one. Fingers crossed.
I'd still prefer to go with a common "everyday" bike to bring home the message that this is do-able, but if its more expensive to fix up this old bike, well, I guess I'll settle for something fancy. ;)
Luckily we haven't shown James this bike, so whatever the outcome is will be just fine. Everyone cross your fingers that it's positive!!
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Fingers (and more) crossed!
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Great news!! Arkel Bags - a really well respected Canadian Manufacturer of cycle-touring bags and gear has reached back to me with an offer to outfit James with a set of bags. This is amazing stuff and makes me super happy.
Other news - the bike shop has looked at fixing up our used bike and determined that it wouldn't be worth it. Their best suggestion for an alternate comes with a $600 price tag before outfitting. Woe is me.
Other-Other news - I reached out to the CBS for visa information and got caught in phone tree hell. I believe this is intentional. As far as I can tell at this point we are likely OK, but likely is a whole lot different from definitely. My MP has turned out to be not as helpful as I had hoped. I was expecting them to get me a contact at the US embassy or consulate. That did not happen. They got me phone tree hell.
We've narrowed our date range and it looks like ours will be a late-summer event.
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Wow what a weekend...
Friday I sent out an email to alll of "Team Quirky" as Momma says. It was a bit of an update on where things stand and a bunch of messaging on what we need to accomplish moving forward. In the message I mentioned that Phone and Data were a missing piece in our puzzle and that we still don't have a bike for James. Got a reply from the folks at Arkel Bags (who are kitting James with a Pannier set) saying they had reached out through their network to see if they could help with a bike, and from our beneficiaries saying they had a phone for us. This made me happy.
On Saturday I went to the "Coldest Day of the year ride" in Toronto and spent a lot of time chatting with the president of "Ontario by Bike" and a bunch of reps of other advocacy and gov't departments, including the City of Toronto's manager of Active Transportation. A great time.
Sunday I got an email from a cycling advocate in with a bunch of route info and a suggestion I give him a call. So I called him up and an hour later had clarification on a bunch of really good looking trails to tie up the last couple days of our trip. Looks like we can make a lot of off-road miles. This makes me happy. We also talked bikes and expectations and he suggested some brands and shops that I could reach out to. I mentioned to him that I had already contacted FROG bikes via email and he said that he had a direct link to the president of US sales and would put a word in for us. We only hung up because my phone's battery was dying, but it was a really good chat.
This morning at 06h00, I got an email from FROG saying they would have a youth touring bike sent to us. I am thrilled by this. I'm hoping we can kit it out with with a rack and bags, but if not, I have ideas to reach out to a company that manufactures bike trailers and to kit it that way. We'll see what things look like once we have a ride.
Excited to see things progressing so much, so early!!
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THAT IS AWESOME.
Prospy makes shit happen.
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THAT IS AWESOME.
Prospy makes shit happen.
Indeed!
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That is a great update. I'm excited to see the bike setup you build for James.
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Oh - and forgot to mention - we got a phone with a US data plan pre-loaded with all the normal social media stuff through one of the orgs we will be representing. So that's another huge box checked off.
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This morning at 06h00, I got an email from FROG saying they would have a youth touring bike sent to us. I am thrilled by this. I'm hoping we can kit it out with with a rack and bags, but if not, I have ideas to reach out to a company that manufactures bike trailers and to kit it that way. We'll see what things look like once we have a ride.
In many ways, I'd have thought that a bike trailer is superior to panniers. I'd have no issues going that route if necessary.
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This morning at 06h00, I got an email from FROG saying they would have a youth touring bike sent to us. I am thrilled by this. I'm hoping we can kit it out with with a rack and bags, but if not, I have ideas to reach out to a company that manufactures bike trailers and to kit it that way. We'll see what things look like once we have a ride.
In many ways, I'd have thought that a bike trailer is superior to panniers. I'd have no issues going that route if necessary.
A trailer is fantastic - but we have a lot of miles to put in on single/doubletrack. A local company (https://www.wicycle.com/) makes a really nice single-wheeled trailer that I think would be great for James. For now though, its a wait-and-see position while we work out details on the bike.
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Just an FYI, I've got a wike two seater bike trailer for my son to ride around in. It was well made, and has stood up well to three years of regular use.
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More happy news - our local MPP nominated James for a Junior Citizen award with the Ontario Community Newspaper Association. he was one of 12 kids selected to receive a medal, a $400 cash prize, and a private audience with Her Honour the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. She will take him and the 12 other recipients on a private tour of the legislative block of Queen's Park in Toronto. We need to buy him a suit.
Fallout from this is that we now have media interviews this week to recap the ride and why we're being recognized - plus more media in Early March to cover our award ceremony and him meeting the Lieutenant Governor. Pretty heady stuff for a little kid. Hope he keeps the social issues in check.
Read about the award here (some of the other recipients are really truly amazing!!) http://www.ocna.org/juniorcitizen
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Posting to Follow. Amazing story.
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So much goodness happening. Love it!
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Huge congratulations to James! (Can you get a suit at Once Upon a Child or another second hand store?)
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Media interview at 10 this AM. They want to talk about James' award, our progress with therapy, and our future plans. Should be a stick-handling event - we aren't ready to announce our destination yet, the therapy has been good - but none through our charity, and we know nothing about the award except that we will receive it on the 5th. The interview is allotted 1.5 hours and all I have is 3 sentences to say. I wonder if we can stretch it with homey fun stuff. Maybe putting the wheels on James' cub car. Or playing with legos. I dunno.
Right now we aren't in a happy space with the whole therapy/treatment thing. I mean James is doing well, but we are still waitlisted for the treatments we are supposed to be getting and are privately funding all his care. I have made it a point to keep our messaging positive, but I can't see how we turn around the reality that we've had one assessment done since our ride in the fall and nothing else. The reporter has already told us that this is the story she's chasing - how kids are actually getting care. Huh.
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Tell the truth? There is a systemic problem and it needs attention. Public awareness can turn into political action. You can be a small part of creating change, especially in an election year.
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This story is melting my cold, dead heart!
Cedar Point in Ohio? Because, really, what other roller coaster park is worth going to?
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Positive part is that the two of you are stepping out and doing something to help the charity have more resources to do more, better with the therapy?
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Wow, Prosp, you (and James) are really rocking it!
I'm curious to hear how you ended up handling the interview. An acknowledgement that the charity is overwhelmed and can't (yet) meet the need?
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Wow, Prosp, you (and James) are really rocking it!
I'm curious to hear how you ended up handling the interview. An acknowledgement that the charity is overwhelmed and can't (yet) meet the need?
I tried to go down that road, but it came out sounding more like Snacky's response. I try not to be a negative whiner, but sometimes it shows through.
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Great story.. Did James enjoy the ride, is he pumped up to do something like this again?
Nice that you raised some money for a good cause along the way.
Might be interesting to do a group bike ride with other parents/kids in a similar situation to raise money for Autism.
One suggestion would be to use the Guelph to Godrich trial, this way you don't have to worry about cars/traffic etc and it's 127km which would be more managable.
http://www.g2grailtrail.com/
Mike it an annual event, perhaps there is even a camping ground or something about 1/2 way.
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Great story.. Did James enjoy the ride, is he pumped up to do something like this again?
Nice that you raised some money for a good cause along the way.
Might be interesting to do a group bike ride with other parents/kids in a similar situation to raise money for Autism.
One suggestion would be to use the Guelph to Godrich trial, this way you don't have to worry about cars/traffic etc and it's 160km which would be more managable.
http://www.g2grailtrail.com/
Mike it an annual event, perhaps there is even a camping ground or something about 1/2 way.
I didn't know about that trail - thanks for sharing!
Well - here's how today's news looks. I think its pretty acceptable. Jasmine does a great job and she's really cool to work with.
https://www.facebook.com/globaldurham/videos/2254181484623769/
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nice!
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You are both handsome, articulate, and photogenic. Congrats on a job well done!
And I don't think that sounded whiney at all. More appropriately and reasonably frustrated, like a parent who is trying to advocate for his kid while being all Canadian-reasonable.
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That was so cool. Well done, both of you.
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I was having dinner and watching my local news tonight, when I recognized a friendly face.
Congratulations to James for the well deserved Junior Citizen award.
Also, great job to both of you with your upcoming ride, to raise further funds for such an important service.
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This story is melting my cold, dead heart!
Cedar Point in Ohio? Because, really, what other roller coaster park is worth going to?
I need to acknowledge your guess. Cedar Point sounds fun! Ohio is nice and close! We are going far...
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I was having dinner and watching my local news tonight, when I recognized a friendly face.
Congratulations to James for the well deserved Junior Citizen award.
Also, great job to both of you with your upcoming ride, to raise further funds for such an important service.
Well - if our story made it all the way to Steeltown, we are getting famous-er!!
Thanks everyone for your kind words. I continue to move toward the mark. I'm thinking we should announce our destination soon. We are riding a high of good news right now and it would be a good way to launch. I have a conference call with FROG bikes on Wednesday and will broach the subject with them then.
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Well done! I hope the story gives you extra momentum in your fundraising.
P.S. Your pronunciation of "out" is appropriately Canadian and both you and James have strong toque game.
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Because it's #WinterRideYourBikeToWorkDay and its Friday and I'm feeling generous - here's what our current (tentative) plan for the 1st two days of riding looks like. You can start guessing where we're headed...
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Wait...are you riding to THE far theme park? Sleepover at Hellboy and lhamo and meer in the way? Because j2 will probably want to meet you there.
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Wait...are you riding to THE far theme park? Sleepover at Hellboy and lhamo and meer in the way? Because j2 will probably want to meet you there.
That's too far. But good guess! Do they still have space mountain there? I can't think of any other roller coasters in that park.
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Wait...are you riding to THE far theme park? Sleepover at Hellboy and lhamo and meer in the way? Because j2 will probably want to meet you there.
Well, if they're riding that far I'll be part of the welcome committee!
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It's only 5 solid days riding. You don't need sleep
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It's only 5 solid days riding. You don't need sleep
Yeah... Nope.
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Prospector, great interviews! I've been on TV before re issues. You did just fine.
What an exciting trip.
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More of the "Good Stuff" and a question for folks who use Tile.
Good Stuff - FROG Bikes is definitely sending us a bike. I spent an hour on the phone with their Canadian Central rep last week working out details and sizing. it sounds like they are sending a full riding outfit (jersey, shorts, etc.) and a bike. I am told that there is a sponsorship contract in the mail.
More Good Stuff: after working out this stuff with FROG, I chanced to meet a dad who has three Red Bull athletes for kids - a daughter who is on the Trek Factory Team, a son who is a wilderness photographer/mountaineer/adventurer, and a third child who is a motorcross racer. He gave me some tips about working with sponsors and presentation. Since his kids come across as super high quality people - even when doing insane stuff, I saw the product and the method - and it made good sense. I hope we can pull off what he is suggesting as a first step on a ladder to success. The tips were small but important - like washing the bikes daily, zipping up the jersey whenever there are photographers around, getting important pictures with important people, and being sure logos are plainly visible when needed. And always presenting ourselves in a way that doesn't compromise our values, or our sponsor's. Watching his daughter's videos (https://www.instagram.com/emilybatty1/?hl=en) is like a primer of what to do when we start producing content. Bikes are always clean, jersy always tidy, and conversation always polite and on topic.
I think I can work with that.
Now for Tile (https://www.sportchek.ca/product/332500740.html#332500740=332500789) - last year we had a pretty good challenge communicating our position to Momma and the people following us back home. Its been suggested that we use Tile for this. If we carry a Tile, maybe we can set up an app to ping it hourly from home and update our position without eating up the phone battery with tracking. The GPS would still need to be on all the time, but the Tile would give our position as we went. Does anyone use one of these? Have you got stories?
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Congrats on the sponsorship!
I've only heard of using Tile to locate items; I guess I'm confused how it would be more useful than your phone for tracking location, since it needs to use an app on your phone.
There are a number of apps that will show your location in real time if you plan on leaving GPS on anyway. My social bike group uses a real time tracker so those of us joining in halfway can find the group.
I've looked into a SPOT tracker for myself since I am almost always doing long rides and weekend camping trips by myself but last year I was close enough to cell service most of the time I didn't jump on the purchase.
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Six Flags New England?
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I've looked into a SPOT tracker for myself since I am almost always doing long rides and weekend camping trips by myself but last year I was close enough to cell service most of the time I didn't jump on the purchase.
I've used a SPOT before during offshore boat trips. If you are going to be out of cell range or in areas of limited coverage, a satellite tracker is about the best option.
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Six Flags New England?
Keep guessing!
I thought this thread was going to be a reference to this song.
https://youtu.be/tbNlMtqrYS0
Me, too!
Came for the Proclaimers reference, staying for the adventure/the cause....
Glad you're here!!
I've looked into a SPOT tracker for myself since I am almost always doing long rides and weekend camping trips by myself but last year I was close enough to cell service most of the time I didn't jump on the purchase.
I've used a SPOT before during offshore boat trips. If you are going to be out of cell range or in areas of limited coverage, a satellite tracker is about the best option.
@katscratch @LifeHappens - I think you guys are right. We spoke with another adventure athlete who had been using a Tile this way, and apparently it turned out be a total trainwreck. I guess Spot (or similar) is the best option. I balk at the cost though - the initial $200 purchase I can manage, but after that its an annual subscription of another $200 USD. Thats a lot of peanut butter.
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How about pursuing another sponsorship for the tracker? You would be posting your position daily, so they would get lots of mentions.
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Great news on all the planning. Re sponsorships, look at the Olympic skiers - they always have the ski brand free of snow and facing the camera while they wait for their marks. And they are always smiling no matter how good/bad the run.
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Great news on all the planning. Re sponsorships, look at the Olympic skiers - they always have the ski brand free of snow and facing the camera while they wait for their marks. And they are always smiling no matter how good/bad the run.
We were noticing that last night too - and that the stronger the skier the less likely they were to show the brand. (First place in Womens half pipe never took her skis off. Last place polished the face of them. Funny.
I wrote a piece about the Florida shooter's Autism for our FB page this AM, but fear it may be too raw for general consumption. Any Americans/Floridians want to read and give an opinion? PM me your email addy. I'm not sure I want to bring up the politics of that situation in our campaign - but its early, and can be buried.
We picked up the bike we had bought from the LBS on Friday, and James spent most of the weekend bombing around the neighbourhood on it. He is convinced that a drop-handlebar "race bike" (its a touring bike) is just perfect. I am torn. The bike FROG is promoting is a flat-bar since their 'cross bike isn't set up for carrying bags. In a worst-case scenario we can swap out a different handlebar on the bike he gets - but then the geometry will be all different. I'll talk with the rep today and see what he thinks.
In other news, our contact at the end of the ride is using up a lot of my energy with suggestions and changes to the route, to resoiurces, and just in general. I don't think he understands the urgency in getting a route set, and he keeps changing his mind on what is best. I'll call him tonight to settle things down.
Hope everyone had a good long weekend.
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Can you put Jones bars on? Or at least those extender things? That would give him a little better ability to move his hands to different positions over a straight bar without changing the cockpit geometry too much.
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Can you put Jones bars on? Or at least those extender things? That would give him a little better ability to move his hands to different positions over a straight bar without changing the cockpit geometry too much.
Jones bars would be great - honestly I'm not sure how much we can mess with a sponsor's bike, or what bars are available in kid sizes. The LBS is suggesting they can put ends/extenders on the straight bars which I think is the best alternative. I need to compose an email today... but so much other stuff to do.
Anyone want to build us a website? That's on the list too. Ergmaherd. This was easier last year.
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Have you considered the giant saddlebag/frame bag approach to bikepacking? This let him ride the drop bars that he wants, seems to be easier to set up on bikes not designed for touring, and is a fair bit more aerodynamic than panniers:
(https://www.adventurecycling.org/default/assets/Image/blog/Touring_Gear_Tips/7_ACA_NAHBS.jpg)
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Posting to follow the amazing amounts of awesomeness that are in this thread. Ride James ride!
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+1 to getting a sponsor for your tracking / GPS system. That ought to be a slam dunk if you can find the time to reach out to them. (Best laid plans, but hey...)
Prosp, I really love the part where you pick up on your friend's tips about how to be a good sponsee - polish the bike, face the camera, and so on. I have always been grateful for the secure upbringing I received, but as a person with strong lack of instinct for social cues, I only realize from stories like this how many bits of social training I DIDN'T get. Now I realize that my parents were as socially clueless as myself. That you are able to note these things and share some of them with your son is to me at least as important as this amazing adventure itself. I cannot tell you how much this moves me. Hats off to you as a fine parent.
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Got the sponsorship contract from FROG last night. It all looks good to me with the exception of one clause - in it there is a condition that we must wear the supplied clothing (FROG shirts and shorts) for the whole ride and in all media. Great idea for FROG... except that we also need to put out charities up front. I need to call back to our point of contact with the corp and make sure we are OK if we are micing between charity threads and Frog threads.
I've also started playing with our route more. I fear that I'm stretching out the days too long for James - but until we get him out there with a bike we can't say for sure. I wonder how much of a difference a year of maturity and a better ride will make for him. I believe 100 km days are doable - but does he? Who lives in a 100 km radius of us and wants some sweaty cyclists to drop in for milk and cookies this summer? We need to start training as soon as the trails are clear.
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Is Ottawa 100km North?
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Is Ottawa 100km North?
Nope. Ottawa is 450 KM Northeast. We did that last year.
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I'm about 75km. My Oakville clinic is 87 (using your GO station to calculate). Either can have treats available and then a GO train home, or push yourselves a few more stops before you turn around. @avrex might be right around 100k.
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You could do a 100km circle.
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FROG clarified their contract to us and they are treating our T-shirts from our charities as "local club" gear, but are asking for a few key photos in the FROG shirt - which is all cool. So at some key stops on the ride we will take a bunch of pics with different clothes on. We can handle that.
After work we met with a reporter from the Oshawa Express and shared our story once again - I tried to craft my answers into a bridging/leading story that yes we did a really cool thing and we are about to receive some really cool recognition for it, but now we are embarking on ANOTHER really cool thing that will go further and see more and we hope will generate even more compassion and care. Its always fun to see what the reporters choose to do with our story. This one asked that we let him know how things go with the award ceremony and that we do a follow up after we get the award, after our announcement of this year's ride, and again before we head out. I can manage that.
Our beneficiary has asked us to sign a third party legal agreement stating our intent to represent them in a wholesome manner and that all funds from the activity will go to them etc. We never had to do one of these last year - because we surprised them from out of nowhere. Tonight I have to read through that agreement and fill it in. Funny thing is that the agreement with FROG is 2 pages plus a signature page, while the agreement from Grandview is about 8 pages. I guess its easier to receive than to give. Whatever - we'll get the paperwork out of the way and then move on with our planning. I'm happy to be getting all this stuff aside early, and I knew that planning an actual campaign/event would take more "permits" and red tape than just going.
Right now a pizza is in the oven - its a good time to be sifting through all this.
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It might be helpful to study the Instagram accounts of a few sponsored athletes so you know how to stage photos. Maybe @Stasher can give you some pointers. There's a subtle art to giving your sponsors good coverage while not looking like a cheap billboard.
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It might be helpful to study the Instagram accounts of a few sponsored athletes so you know how to stage photos. Maybe @Stasher can give you some pointers. There's a subtle art to giving your sponsors good coverage while not looking like a cheap billboard.
Authenticity is everything...lots of promotions in my instagram account for my sponsors and companies I have worked with and not having it right in your face. I need to read this whole thread now to catch up on the context of this discussion @LifeHappens , thanks for the mention.
Here is my Instagram account for those wondering
https://www.instagram.com/stasher_bc/ (https://www.instagram.com/stasher_bc/)
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Its been a couple weeks...
What's happened... Um... well, the family had lunch with the Lt. Gov. of Ontario, collected a prize, and have started pseudo-announcing this year's ride. Dropping hints and building our network. Scouts Canada ran our story in their "Canadian Path blog" but they never proofed the draft and its full of grammar/spelling errors. Oh well. I guess it feels more organic. We've picked up more follows and more shares off that, which is good. Scouts has been fantastic to us for network building.
Meanwhile, our emails have gone cold. Dunno if everyone is suddenly busy, but we're just not hearing back all of a sudden. I hope we haven't tired our network out already. Although, this morning I found an email from GOBike Buffalo in my inbox, a pleasant surprise. They are helping with routing through town and will try to send out a handful of riders to escort us through the busy bits. Yay!
Early last week, I emailed BSA and they told me they would reach out to Scouts Canada to verify who we were then get back to us before sharing our information with their councils. None of our scout contacts have had a call, and I haven't heard back from BSA. Huh. Maybe I'll follow up in a day or two.
I also rejigged the timing of our segments and rerouted our last 2 days of riding. This cut a lot of miles and gave us a better (I think) route for our final days on the road. Right now we would end the ride on a Thursday though. I may need to stretch things out a little.
Meanwhile on the admin side, we've set up a fundraising page with Grandview and are set to build a GFM page for general donations. I think we should have those both open before our next media appearance. Which is at the end of the month.
For training (I mean practicing - we don't train) I've signed us up for a mental health ride locally ($35 and kids ride free) which will give James a taste of riding in a group. I'm also signing us up for the local Gran Fondo - mostly because the organizers know me, and should slide us in for free. In both of these we'll aim for the 80 km routes with the option to boost ourselves up to 100 km.
I was going to sign us up for the Becel Ride for Heart in Toronto (100 km on the Gardiner Expressway - but entry fees on it are ridiculous. Similarly, GOBike Buffalo has a skyride on their freeway, but we will be away that week. I would have liked to enter it just to ride around Buffalo. The bit between the border and through town freaks me out - we'll have to get used to US infrastructure and driver differences. I guess 3 organized rides will have to be enough. The weather lately has been marginal, but James has been riding his "practice bike" whenever he gets a chance. I think he likes it.
Anyway, here we are making small advances toward the big goal.
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It sounds like you're moving forward with your plans for upcoming ride. Great news.
In the past, I've biked the Niagara-on-the-Lake to Fort Erie trail. It was a nice scenic ride. You guys will enjoy it.
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Lunch with the Lt Gov? Small advances indeed, better kick it up a notch! LOL
Joking aside, what was that experience like for your son?
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It sounds like you're moving forward with your plans for upcoming ride. Great news.
In the past, I've biked the Niagara-on-the-Lake to Fort Erie trail. It was a nice scenic ride. You guys will enjoy it.
Erm... right now we're not doing that section. The plan is to dive south at St. Catharines and scoot across to the rainbow bridge. It cuts half a day of riding off our schedule.
Lunch with the Lt Gov? Small advances indeed, better kick it up a notch! LOL
Joking aside, what was that experience like for your son?
Ummm... well to James she was an old lady in a green dress who smelled like perfume. To me, she was cool and all that, but I was a little nervous that the kid would lose his stuff. We did great at making friends with the only younger kid at the event though. That went really well!
After lunch we had a tour of Queen's Park and then did a grip-n-grin with Kathleen. Yes... that Kathleen. James didn't hold it together for that part and we ended up outside on the front steps of Queen's Park so he could blow off steam where it was less echo-y. Kathleen smiled nicely but I didn't try to talk to her at all. Never even shook her hand. We managed to get home without a major show of emotion, so that was nice.
He is very proud of his trophy and lapel pin though. He took them to school to show his teachers and has had to pull them out to show a number of visitors.
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As I was wrapping up a late meeting at work tonight, I got a text from Momma - apparently there was a big package at the house with James and my names on it, and James wanted to open it up!! When would I be home?
Half an hour later I was at the house, and James opened the box. Our bags from Arkel are here!
They sent us:
- 2 Orca 25 waterproof panniers (https://www.arkel-od.com/en/orca-25-waterproof-front-panniers.html) for James
- 2 Orca 35 waterproof panniers (https://www.arkel-od.com/en/orca-35-waterproof-front-rear-bike-panniers.html) for me
- 2 handlebar bags (https://www.arkel-od.com/en/small-handlebar-bike-bag.html) - one each
- 1 shopping pannier (https://www.arkel-od.com/en/shopper-foldable-share-the-road.html) for me to take to work.
Everything is in matching red. I wanted a bright, visible colour and this makes me super-happy. I made a comparison of the handlebar bag to the bag I bought from MEC (https://www.mec.ca/en/product/5035-450/World-Tour-Handlebar-Bag?gclid=Cj0KCQjwv73VBRCdARIsAOnG8u3eEzutkKHg0quLm_Dq8WSIFI18Te8ehuBlwa-Yie31WniS3iSjphUaApSyEALw_wcB) for our ride last year and these are head and shoulders above in terms of quality.
I mean the MEC bag is a lot cheaper, but it's handlebar clamps are plastic - Arkel's are steel. The MEC bag has no lining, the arkel has a zip-in washable nylon liner. The MEC bag just hangs from a plastic frame, the Arkel bag is formed around a moulded plastic shell. A different animal altogether. I recall I was pinching pennies when I bought the MEC bag, and now I feel a little embarassed. That bag nearly cost me a cell phone a number of times when it fell out of the top of the bag. These Arkels won't see that sort of thing happen ever. They can't. Anyway, I'm a happy camper right about now.
Tomorrow we are supposed to be doing a live interview at the local radio station. I need to call the DJ and make sure that is still on schedule. Then we have our BikeMINDS presentation on Wednesday and a media announcement of this year's ride on Thursday. Some where in between all that we need to go live with 3 fundraising pages and prepare a script for the media event. Yay us!
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As I was wrapping up a late meeting at work tonight, I got a text from Momma - apparently there was a big package at the house with James and my names on it, and James wanted to open it up!! When would I be home?
Half an hour later I was at the house, and James opened the box. Our bags from Arkel are here!
They sent us:
- 2 Orca 25 waterproof panniers (https://www.arkel-od.com/en/orca-25-waterproof-front-panniers.html) for James
- 2 Orca 35 waterproof panniers (https://www.arkel-od.com/en/orca-35-waterproof-front-rear-bike-panniers.html) for me
- 2 handlebar bags (https://www.arkel-od.com/en/small-handlebar-bike-bag.html) - one each
- 1 shopping pannier (https://www.arkel-od.com/en/shopper-foldable-share-the-road.html) for me to take to work.
Everything is in matching red. I wanted a bright, visible colour and this makes me super-happy. I made a comparison of the handlebar bag to the bag I bought from MEC (https://www.mec.ca/en/product/5035-450/World-Tour-Handlebar-Bag?gclid=Cj0KCQjwv73VBRCdARIsAOnG8u3eEzutkKHg0quLm_Dq8WSIFI18Te8ehuBlwa-Yie31WniS3iSjphUaApSyEALw_wcB) for our ride last year and these are head and shoulders above in terms of quality.
I mean the MEC bag is a lot cheaper, but it's handlebar clamps are plastic - Arkel's are steel. The MEC bag has no lining, the arkel has a zip-in washable nylon liner. The MEC bag just hangs from a plastic frame, the Arkel bag is formed around a moulded plastic shell. A different animal altogether. I recall I was pinching pennies when I bought the MEC bag, and now I feel a little embarassed. That bag nearly cost me a cell phone a number of times when it fell out of the top of the bag. These Arkels won't see that sort of thing happen ever. They can't. Anyway, I'm a happy camper right about now.
Tomorrow we are supposed to be doing a live interview at the local radio station. I need to call the DJ and make sure that is still on schedule. Then we have our BikeMINDS presentation on Wednesday and a media announcement of this year's ride on Thursday. Some where in between all that we need to go live with 3 fundraising pages and prepare a script for the media event. Yay us!
Score! So exciting! I've done some long distance rides with full camping gear (Nova Scotia, California Coast). Just reading this gear description gave me a thrill. I can only imagine how James feels.
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And here's James with his new bags!
https://twitter.com/RideJamesRide/status/976052387717591040
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And here's James with his new bags!
https://twitter.com/RideJamesRide/status/976052387717591040
So cool!
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This afternoon we had a radio interview with the local FM station where we announced our ride for 2018, our sponsorships and our fundraising goals. The station gave us about 10 minutes of airtime at 4:00 PM and I was surprised at how well James did. Usually he is nervous and shy for these things, but today he came out of his shell told what we were up to and even made a couple jokes. Really nice seeing the growth and confidence.
While we were at teh station the DJ toured us around and showed us the Classic rock station's space and the country station's space. James saw how the DJ software works and how "the magic of radio" operates. It was a fun afternoon.
We got a few twitter followers out of the airtime but more importantly we let our local followers know what we're up to for 2018 and we supported the station (and DJ) who started us off on this path in the first place. If it weren't for these guys and @tomatops, the whole fundraising/media outreach element of this ride never would have happened.
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We are not rock stars, but we feel like it.
Last night we hopped a train to Toronto laden down like pack animals with the bags from Arkel. James brought his bike on the train, and Momma and I rode empty handed. We arrived at Exhibition station just after the evening rush, rented a pair of BikeShare bikes, and rode with James to our big speaking engagement at #BikemindsTO. <--- check out the hashtag for the speakers etc.
BikeMinds is a monthly gathering of bike-minded people sharing stories and enjoying each other's company. The template is that there are 6 stories shared. 5 of them are ten minute tales and the last is a half-hour long "headliner" - we were the headliner. Which was fun for me, scary for Momma, and James flitted up and down from the speaking area to his seat as the whim struck.
We explained where James' progress is and what is unique about him by using the starfish story (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SlH0cg2xy0), and then explained that no only was James one of the Starfish on the beach, but he was also the child saving them. We discussed the families we befriended on our ride and the places we saw. We talked about the strangers we met along the way and people who helped us - as well as the people we helped. We talked about ice cream and hot chocolate and trails and starwars and bikes.
After the presentation, so many people wanted to meet James, to talk with him, congratulate him, cheer for him, and tell him how inspired they were by him. Our twitter popped up by about a dozen followers and we were flooded with positive feedback. So much good stuff.
At the end we revealed our "draft" route for 2018. And we got a room full of people asking how they could help make our 2018 ride a success... and I guess since they all know, and since tonight our local media will know, I can share that with you too.
Does anyone here want to know where #RideJamesRide is headed this August?
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Does anyone here want to know where #RideJamesRide is headed this August?
Somewhere with ice cream! Obviously.
Glad he got the rock star treatment last night! I'm guessing that the more fun he has at community and media events the more he will be comfortable doing them and look forward to them.
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Does anyone here want to know where #RideJamesRide is headed this August?
Somewhere with ice cream! Obviously.
And roller coasters. I think someone already guessed Cedar Point.
You and James are doing such a great job. The Twitter photos of the bags were nice. Your sponsor seemed pleased by them. At the rate you're going, your ride is going to be 10x more successful than your modest goals.
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That's so awesome.
Looking forward to more announcements.
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I think I saw Coney Island somewhere, but I'm holding out hope for Hershey! Come ride the rides and eat all the chocolate!
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I think I saw Coney Island somewhere, but I'm holding out hope for Hershey! Come ride the rides and eat all the chocolate!
My first thought was Cedar Point, but I see above that was dismissed as too close. Both Hershey and Coney Island would be a good stretch distance over last year. I'd love to see Busch Gardens (Williamsburg), but that's over twice the distance of last year's ride.
I'd pay a visit if it's Hershey, and host/support the through ride if Busch Gardens.
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You did see Coney Island somewhere!!
We are going to ride our bikes down the Waterfront Trail and then through Niagara to the Rainbow bridge. After that, we'll pick up the Erie Canal Tow Path and follow it across NY state past Rochester and Syracuse to Albany. In Albany we will be met by a handful of NYC cyclists who are planning to escort us all the way down the Hudson Valley to the USS Intrepid Museum. We will spend some time touring the museum and then the next morning, ride to Coney Island and ride the roller coaster, eat hot dogs, and have fun.
Million dollar question - are we coming through your hometown?
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Million dollar question - are we coming through your hometown?
You sure are! At the moment my office is about a mile from the Intrepid.
I don't even like taking the subway to Coney Island because it's so far from Manhattan. Let alone from Canada! And on a bike!
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Ah, you'll be passing by my childhood home! But my family hasn't lived there in several decades. Erie canal sounds like a great trip. I can see why you wanted different tires for the bike.
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You are coming through mine! Let me know a date when possible and I will come say hi!
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I hope the press announcement went well! :)
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Yay for big announcements. Sounds like a lovely itinerary. Go James!
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Not sure if you're familiar with www.warmshowers.org (http://www.warmshowers.org), but that might be a good resource for finding some hosts for your trip.
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Not sure if you're familiar with www.warmshowers.org (http://www.warmshowers.org), but that might be a good resource for finding some hosts for your trip.
We're super familiar with it, we're a host family!! Warm Showers is our backup plan!
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For those wondering, here is our current take on the route for 2018... This will change as we refine trail connections, find host families, and massage travel distances.
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Amazing.
Do you know your approximate date of departure?
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Amazing.
Do you know your approximate date of departure?
We plan to head out on Aug 17 or 18 and arrive on (or about) Sept. 1
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I know that this isn't meant to be a sightseeing tour, but around that time, you'll be cycling by GlassBarge on the canal.
GlassBarge (https://www.cmog.org/glassmaking/demos/hot-glass-demos/glassbarge), with it's hot glass making demonstrations, is also travelling the historic canal this summer with stops in the ports of Brockport (Aug 17-19) and Pittsford (Aug24-26) at around the time you're passing through.
You probably won't be able to stop, as you've got some serious miles to ride each day, but I just wanted to note it as something interesting along the canal route.
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Are the pushpins your expected sleepover spots? If so, and you guys like cats and living room floors, I will add you to the calendar. If not, I will add you to the waving and treat giving calendar
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Are the pushpins your expected sleepover spots? If so, and you guys like cats and living room floors, I will add you to the calendar. If not, I will add you to the waving and treat giving calendar
The pushpins are... how big is your backyard ;o)
I'll keep your cat-filled apartment as a backup. Right now I am hoping to get a tent space at one of the yacht clubs close to the Waterfront trail. The nice thing about that is that the club will have to notify its membership that there are visitors onsite... which is free publicity to 100 boat owners. Also, the YC is next door to the scout shop which gives a nice tie-in to that network.
Speaking of publicity, we broke through a barrier this week!! I finally got a US news anchor to reply to a message! Looks like a station in Buffalo wants to talk to us. Fingers crossed that we can start pitching our story to US stations and build up some respect and brand recognition. It has been surprisingly difficult to get American stations to talk to us. I'm not super-worried since our ride is still months away and many media outlets work in a minute-to-minute (high stress) schedule, but still its nice to know our pitch was heard and that some interest was piqued.
I have also heard though that US local media is more fragmented than Canadian networks. I guess folks move around more here and share stories between stations, willingly passing a story down the line from market to market within their own network. From what I've heard, the US is more protective of stories, not wanting to share contacts and sources as freely. Dunno. All I can do is keep knocking on doors.
Finally, we now have giving sites set up with the charities on both ends of the ride, which is exciting. It means I can set up a website as a central point of contact and then redirect donations from there. The tri-fold site will show an avenue to give directly to Grandview (where James is waitlisted), To cover the ride expenses, and to support EJ Autism in NYC. Anyone have advice on low-cost web hosting services? Any advice on a platform to use to build the site - for a guy who has never built anything fancier than a Blogger blog (that failed miserably to hold anyone's attention).
This is the good stuff.
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Speaking of publicity, we broke through a barrier this week!! I finally got a US news anchor to reply to a message! Looks like a station in Buffalo wants to talk to us. Fingers crossed that we can start pitching our story to US stations and build up some respect and brand recognition. It has been surprisingly difficult to get American stations to talk to us. I'm not super-worried since our ride is still months away and many media outlets work in a minute-to-minute (high stress) schedule, but still its nice to know our pitch was heard and that some interest was piqued.
I have also heard though that US local media is more fragmented than Canadian networks. I guess folks move around more here and share stories between stations, willingly passing a story down the line from market to market within their own network. From what I've heard, the US is more protective of stories, not wanting to share contacts and sources as freely. Dunno. All I can do is keep knocking on doors.
I imagine that one of the national morning news magazine shows (Today, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning) would pick up this story. If nothing else you'd be very likely to get picked to highlight from the crowd on the Today show if you show up at Rockefeller plaza with James holding a sign reading "I rode my bike here from Toronto Canada".
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Speaking of publicity, we broke through a barrier this week!! I finally got a US news anchor to reply to a message! Looks like a station in Buffalo wants to talk to us.
I lived in Buffalo for about 5 years. I don't have any media contacts there, but would be glad to share any links with my FB friends there (as long as I don't decide to #DeleteFacebook).
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Knock yourself out! Our FB page is: www.facebook.com/RideJamesRide and our twitter is #RideJamesRide
I'm mostly active on Twitter - although I had linked the two accounts at one time... but I didn't like it so now we're unlinked.
This morning I re-read the Ottawa citizen's article on us from last year. Its a good one to share: http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/welcoming-party-greets-father-and-son-as-they-complete-ride-for-autism
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Will there be a new GoFundMe page for this ride, or will it be added to the previous GoFundMe page?
Hey Avrex...
Please remove the URL tags - there will be a new one. The structure will go thusly:
1. Donate to Grandview Childrens' Centre (http://support.grandviewkidsfoundation.ca/site/TR/Events/diy_fundraising_2017?team_id=1040&pg=team&fr_id=1060) where James is waitlisted
2. Donate to EJ Autism in NYC (https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.crowdrise.com/dashboard/ejautism/ridejamesride1&source=gmail&ust=1522358290453000&usg=AFQjCNHi7lDzR_ljp9XBkHFyTN7YjH-vrQ)
3. Donate to GFM which will cover travel expenses and incidentals, with remaining funds being split between the two above named charities.
We will open our own incidentals account closer to our departure date since it doesn't take much cash to ride a bike, and the other accounts are the important ones.
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My balcony is small and cat free. I will message you seperately, but I think that the port credit BIA and less so the Oakville and Bronte BIAs will be interested in the ride. I would expect you to be well fed and cheered in port credit.
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Excerpt from radio interview last week...
https://twitter.com/RideJamesRide/status/979127574122053632
The full interview will be posted to the Facebook tomorrow AM sometime.
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A few days ago a small box arrived from FROG bikes. The delivery coincided with one James' rougher days at school, so we've been holding that box as a reward for when he vindicates himself of bad behaviour. In the interim, I've been concerned by the label on the side of that box that says "1 of 2". because, 2 of 2 is the bike. And if FedEx was going to lose one of these two boxes, I really really hoped it would not be the bike.
So it was with great relief that I received a pic from Momma this afternoon of the big box on the porch... which is the bike. All is well with the world. We now have a bike and a bunch of riding clothes and some bolt-on bike accessories.
We will take the bike to a local bike shop for assembly and kitting out with fenders and racks etc. We should get it back looking like a kid-sized touring bike. New bike day pics will be posted as soon as new bike day really happens. Right now it's just new box day.
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Meanwhile, I've been building our network and researching towns. Today I focussed on creating a directory of all the social stuff I could find for community service groups, news outlets (print and broadcast) and elected officials in Albany. I need to create this listing so we can start building a web across the state as the weather turns in to summer. We will repeat the exercise for Syracuse, Buffalo, the Hudson Valley, and Western NY. It is a lot of searching. Anyone want to tackle a city? I'd be happy to share.
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I've promised myself that over the long weekend I'd also build a website. I even made a login on Wix. I do not like making a website. Even on Wix. This may not be fun. I think I'll make it on paper first and then try to translate my scribbles to a web platform. Anyone want to tell me a place where I want to go to build and host a website? Are there advantages to Wix over GoDaddy over others??? This thing has to work for 8 months and just share who we are and give outlinks to our charities. I'm not even worried about SEO since we'll just be driving traffic to it from interviews and social media. I do want it to look professional though.
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very impressive!
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I bought my domain from a domain place because I don't want to be tied to a platform. BUT, if you build in WordPress, you can just click a button to buy the domain. I would expect blogger etc to have this option.
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This weekend I did indeed build a small, but pretty website. A few folks around here beta tested, and now that it is perfect, I will hear back from our charity partners with their thoughts before releasing it. Of course it would have been ideal to have built the site 2 weeks ago and released it today on autism day, but alas. No Dice.
Today the whole fam-damily jumped in the minivan alongside James' bike, my bike, the bags from Arkel, and a handful of other gadgetry and headed over to Bike Depot of Pickering, where the new bike is to be assembled and mine is to be cleaned up and have a variety of doo-dads attached to it.
Once done, both bikes will have fenders front and rear, racks (front and rear on mine, rear only for James), lights and bells, kickstands or framestands, and so on. Basically they will be converted to touring bikes. Then we will return and do "New Bike Day" photos and go for our first "practice ride" home from Pickering.
We also got a big surprise this weekend when my parents (referred to as "the Outlaws" because our relationship is a rocky one) volunteered to buy us a Spot tracker, (https://www.thesource.ca/en-ca/gps,-car-and-marine/gps/wearable-and-personal-gps/spot-satellite-gps-messenger/p/108032428?bid=sPexa3Rar8sw&CATARGETID=120216120000074831&cadevice=c&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIi62Ejeic2gIVCVYNCh2i3AcAEAQYAiABEgKdtPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)and to pay for a 1 year subscription to its service. That was a really cool surprise since its worth a lot to us (about $400) and because it was a big question mark on our programme. Meaningful tracking is a valuable thing for us. We are buying the tracker poste-haste, and we'll test it on summer vacation and on our practice rides.
Today we were also surprised when Scouts Canada promoted us as a model of scouting for Autism Awareness day. We were all over their twitter feed all day long. What a nice touch!
All the pieces are coming together. We just need to stay the course!
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I'm glad you're getting a Spot. I, for one, will feel better knowing you have it. It's great James' grandparents are supporting the ride.
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Yup. Cheapskate me is concerned with growing "operational costs" - the subscription to the SPOT and the website are both ongoing, and we will likely opt for 2 yr subscriptions to each (James is already asking where we will go next year) so although they are not huge costs (about $15 USD each per month) these things add up. And being a cheapskate, I hate ongoing costs that sap your earning potential. This is the challenge with a Mustachian running a charity event. You need to balance the mustachy stuff against the professionalism of the event.
SO we're getting hosting through a mass-produced platform that delivers a pretty sharp website template, and we're getting a safety device that has better protection than a cell phone app. But we'll still keep Strava going on the phone. We could do cheaper on both - but then we'd have a crap web presence and sketchy tracking. If this weren't for a charity, that would be OK. But its not. Stop wrestling with your principles, Prospy. Just do the things that need doing.
In order to offset the costs of the web site, we've added a sendoff party to our schedule. Grandview will host it. We're going to have "Coney Island Style" hotdogs and pop and charge for them. If this event raises $500, then we're in the clear to cover the web costs. Anyways, the site is built. I need one more sign off and I'll push the "Go" button. Aiming to have it available for public consumption by the weekend.
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How does NORAD track Santa? Would that tech work?
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Only if their bikes go into the sky.
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Only if their bikes go into the sky.
Comme ca?
(https://media.treehugger.com/assets/images/2011/10/bike-movie-scenes-ET.jpg)
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Or if They are REALLY good at bunny hops.
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So, I've built a website:
www.ridejamesride.com (http://www.ridejamesride.com)
Yay me. Go visit it and say it looks pretty.
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WOW!
It looks great... however, I have two comments. Firstly, it goes off the screen on my iPad Air 2 - on both sides. I cannot see the third charity - presumably you, and the Thank you page starts at k. Also, the light grey is almost invisible against the picture (in the events section) perhaps it could be yellow? Secondly, should the pictures be of James hooning around with his sponsors gear? I really like the pictures.
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WOW!
It looks great... however, I have two comments. Firstly, it goes off the screen on my iPad Air 2 - on both sides. I cannot see the third charity - presumably you, and the Thank you page starts at k. Also, the light grey is almost invisible against the picture (in the events section) perhaps it could be yellow? Secondly, should the pictures be of James hooning around with his sponsors gear? I really like the pictures.
Yeah - its not optimized for mobile. I'll get to that.
As for photos, we don't have the new gear yet!! We'll update photos as stuff comes in.
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YOU ARE AWESOME! Looks fantastic!
Just a typo in the dates - unless you are organizing for 2019 already?
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I understand that you won’t actually have sponsor photos yet - that was why it was a comment, rather than a suggestion or anything else.
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YOU ARE AWESOME! Looks fantastic!
Just a typo in the dates - unless you are organizing for 2019 already?
Ruh-Roh. Better check on that... The calendar widget is messy to use.
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Awesome website!!!!
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Very cool!
At the very bottom, where I assume it says "Thank You", all I see is "Ank You", and the left side of the A is cut off. I'm not viewing in a full-page screen, so this may be fixed when you optimize for mobile...
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Very cool!
At the very bottom, where I assume it says "Thank You", all I see is "Ank You", and the left side of the A is cut off. I'm not viewing in a full-page screen, so this may be fixed when you optimize for mobile...
Are you on an apple device? Everything we own is Droid, and it seems to be OK. Everyone having issues seems to be on Apple. At least that's my theory
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Very cool!
At the very bottom, where I assume it says "Thank You", all I see is "Ank You", and the left side of the A is cut off. I'm not viewing in a full-page screen, so this may be fixed when you optimize for mobile...
Are you on an apple device? Everything we own is Droid, and it seems to be OK. Everyone having issues seems to be on Apple. At least that's my theory
Good theory. I'm viewing on a MacBook Pro.
On the other hand, you're fundraising, so you should be targeting people with apples, right?
(I feel forced to add that 1. I'm a contractor, 2. It's my "work" machine that I do my work on, and 3. If I want my husband to help me with IT support, it has to be an apple. I hate doing IT support. Thus, ...)
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New Bike Day today...
Things went really well. We got the bike and bags back (mostly) outfitted the way we asked. A few substitutions were made - only one of which really bothered me, but that's OK, I can adapt. If I have to. Which I guess I shall. They did the outfitting for free with parts at 25% off retail. Considering that James' bike and bags were donated, I'm not complaining. Pics to follow.
Donations have started to happen too - which is nice. We'll watch as that grows over time. I still haven't figured out bugs in the website. Seems like folks on Apple devices are having a hard time with the borders.
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What I could see of the website on my not-an-ipad thingy looks great! (Most, but not all is visible, FYI)
Question: is there a way to give directly to defray ride costs? Most places, including GFM, take a haircut. I'd rather see 100% mustachian utilization if reasonably possible. Alas, I do not live in Canadia. Thoughts?
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What I could see of the website on my not-an-ipad thingy looks great! (Most, but not all is visible, FYI)
Question: is there a way to give directly to defray ride costs? Most places, including GFM, take a haircut. I'd rather see 100% mustachian utilization if reasonably possible. Alas, I do not live in Canadia. Thoughts?
GFM takes 5% but I think its worth it since they optimize social media and MSM beyond what I would be capable of on my own. Seriously last year they boosted us by way more than the 5% haircut they take, so I'm all for that.
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Nice going!! The matching shirts look sharp.
Yeah, my iPad 2 does not like the site. Looks great when viewed on a laptop, though.
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Busy weekend.
On Saturday I sent our core organizing group an email outlining our progress through March and what our goals for April look like. I like MailChimp since it lets me see who I'm reaching and who is ignoring me. Not many emails got opened on Saturday, so I was bummed - but then I got a reply from fwd. It was a person in Albany who wanted to host us in their backyard. Yay!! one city down. And Albany is a bit of a big deal since we are using it as a stopover for a rest day - this means we'll camp out for 2 nights there. During our rest day we can visit the State Capital and do tourist things. I hope the city is walkable/bikeable.
The family that is hosting us in Albany is connected to town hall, has one parent that is a prof at the local college, and is active with the local Autism Advocacy group. They've already done a bunch of outreach in town and are promoting us to local media and politicians. The web is growing.
This morning, a bunch more people opened our email, and one of them was our key contact with Scouts Canada. They had forwarded us down a chain, ending up at a scout camp in St. Catharines... the scout camp has connected us to 4 "Scout Huts" - the Scout Huts have connected us to local troops. I love when a big organization built to do good for the community pulls together. We now have lodging at the scout camp for night 2 of our trip, complete with dinner and a private cabin and a couple of scout troops coming to meet us. Sounds like it will be a fun night.
So we're 3/15ths planned for sleeping arrangements. I'm hoping the scouts will keep growing the web in Canada, and that the US network will take root as well. Fingers crossed...
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Things are shaping up for our billets. Its super early and I'm nervous about families making a commitment now and then having changing plans through the summer, but hey, I'll take whatever I can get.
So far it looks like this:
Clarkson, ON - Staying with a family right on our trail (yay!)
St. Catharines, ON - Cabin at Scout camp
Medina, NY - Mayor's Office making arrangements
*Rochester NY - Nothing
Savannah NY - Nothing
Chittenango NY - Nothing
Utica NY - Nothing
Fonda NY - Nothing
*Albany NY - Staying with college Prof.
Red Hook NY - Nothing
Carmel NY - Nothing
Hell's Kitchen NYC - Hopeful that we can sleepover at the intrepid Museum.
Coney Island NYC - Nothing
Blue - billet needed
* - layover/rest day
Right now its way too early to sweat billets, but I'm disappointed that the Boy Scouts in the USA aren't as welcoming to us as the Canadian scouts are/were. I'm not sure if its a difference in cultures or an organizational difference. Up here we've been given a whole cabin at the scout camp and our name has been passed through the regional scouting community. Scouts Canada has put us up on their twitter and Facebook and is actively working to make this a success. BSA meanwhile has responded with a resounding "Meh."
That's OK though - in a month or so, we'll be making a presentation to two different Rotary clubs in town, and I see that there is a strong Rotarian network in NY State. If we need to move our focus away from the Boy Scouts, then I'll lean on Rotary to use their network to move us along. Rotary has a lot of business and community leader types in it, so our message will still be spread wide and far, and likely reach a media audience faster through that network.
I feel bad that the scouts can't ride our wave down there though. I know the organization has found value up here.
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1) please provide materials I can distribute to promote night one and day two
2) if things feel at all wobbly about night one, I can find you lots of backyards. Actually @plainjane can probably find you some nice ones too for that night.
3) I'm pretty sure I also know guiders near here, and a bike shop near here that I'd like to tell about you.So that we can cheer
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1) please provide materials I can distribute to promote night one and day two
2) if things feel at all wobbly about night one, I can find you lots of backyards. Actually @plainjane can probably find you some nice ones too for that night.
3) I'm pretty sure I also know guiders near here, and a bike shop near here that I'd like to tell about you.So that we can cheer
I'm hoping to have some postcards made up to take with me to the Ontario Bike Summit (April 17-18) - wow that's coming up fast - maybe I'm going to miss that date. Anyway, as soon as I have stuff, I'll let you know.
I should have that Clarkson night firmed up soon though. If I need to fly a batsignal, I'll let you know. If locals want to ride with us in your area, I'd encourage them to watch our dot move from our SPOT tracker or to join us in the morning when we leave town. Our travel times can be wildly variable according the whims of James and what parks we ride past, whether an ice cream shop looks tempting, and how many frogs need to be rescued from the trail.
Another option for you might be to grab a GO train. Since we are ending in your hood, you may want to take a GO train into the city and meet us near downtown then ride toward home.
Mornings tend to be faster and more predictable riding. The later in the day it gets the more ridiculous the reasons we need to stop.
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1) please provide materials I can distribute to promote night one and day two
2) if things feel at all wobbly about night one, I can find you lots of backyards. Actually @plainjane can probably find you some nice ones too for that night.
3) I'm pretty sure I also know guiders near here, and a bike shop near here that I'd like to tell about you.So that we can cheer
I'm hoping to have some postcards made up to take with me to the Ontario Bike Summit (April 17-18) - wow that's coming up fast - maybe I'm going to miss that date. Anyway, as soon as I have stuff, I'll let you know.
I should have that Clarkson night firmed up soon though. If I need to fly a batsignal, I'll let you know. If locals want to ride with us in your area, I'd encourage them to watch our dot move from our SPOT tracker or to join us in the morning when we leave town. Our travel times can be wildly variable according the whims of James and what parks we ride past, whether an ice cream shop looks tempting, and how many frogs need to be rescued from the trail.
Another option for you might be to grab a GO train. Since we are ending in your hood, you may want to take a GO train into the city and meet us near downtown then ride toward home.
Mornings tend to be faster and more predictable riding. The later in the day it gets the more ridiculous the reasons we need to stop.
Those bits will be formed up later. I may want to force ice cream or fancy burgers on you. Or have small people sleep over and ride together.
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Cool - well we leave Whitby on the 18th and leave Clarkson on the 19th. Everything else can be worked out later...
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@plainjane can probably find you some nice ones too for that night.
I should have that Clarkson night firmed up soon though. If I need to fly a batsignal, I'll let you know. If locals want to ride with us in your area, I'd encourage them to watch our dot move from our SPOT tracker or to join us in the morning when we leave town. Our travel times can be wildly variable according the whims of James and what parks we ride past, whether an ice cream shop looks tempting, and how many frogs need to be rescued from the trail.
I am pretty sure I can get you a couple of bedrooms in Clarkson with a shower etc, or a backyard where you can put a tent up (we did that more than once). It might even come with a professional photographer if you're interested (or it might be a requirement in return for the space, photographer are sometimes hard to discourage). I'm not much online atm, so email or bat signal are the best way of making sure I see things.
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Clarkson got firmed up this AM - its a great spot right on the trail and with a family who wants to ride along with us the next morning. Yay!!
Thanks for getting back to me EF and @plainjane - but if your friends/photographers want to come ride with us, the trail is wide open!
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Just sent emails to Gov. Cuomo and MP Celina hoping to get answers on the visa question. We'll see where that leads (pessimistic over here... think I'll be reaching out to the embassy/consulate but I'm trying not to since they are not very welcoming).
How cool is this!
Probably a silly question, but I take it the concern is that you'll be "working" in the US by asking for go fund me donations? Or are you concerned about crossing the border on bikes? Because crossing the border as a tourist certainly wouldn't come with any issues normally.
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Just sent emails to Gov. Cuomo and MP Celina hoping to get answers on the visa question. We'll see where that leads (pessimistic over here... think I'll be reaching out to the embassy/consulate but I'm trying not to since they are not very welcoming).
How cool is this!
Probably a silly question, but I take it the concern is that you'll be "working" in the US by asking for go fund me donations? Or are you concerned about crossing the border on bikes? Because crossing the border as a tourist certainly wouldn't come with any issues normally.
I think we've put the visa question to rest. If we get any trouble, well, we'll just have to adapt.
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P2F
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Looking seriously impressive. Best of luck with it.
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I think there is a map somewhere on this website with where mustachians are from. Might be worthwhile to reach out to some of the New Yorkers? The only one I can think of offhand is @Dollar Slice .
Website looks great.
James must be excited about the new bike!
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I think there is a map somewhere on this website with where mustachians are from. Might be worthwhile to reach out to some of the New Yorkers? The only one I can think of offhand is @Dollar Slice .
Dollar Slice would have already offered if she were able to host ;-) Alas...
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Hey new ppl - thanks for following along!
We are just over the $500 mark in donations received. This brings great joy! Thanks to all the MMM crowd who jumped in early to support the ride. This puts us at about 2.5% of our goal, with months to go!
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I had another thought ... wow! Two in one day. How about asking Pete aka MMM to Twit about it? He has a huge following.
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I had another thought ... wow! Two in one day. How about asking Pete aka MMM to Twit about it? He has a huge following.
I emailed him last week - sometimes Pete takes a few minutes (days) to get back to folks. In other exciting news we have been asked to be on a podcast for an ASD Research/Treatment group in NY State, and have a lead on a cycling podcast out of Edmonton. We'll see where these inquiries lead us!
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James and I got out for our first meaningful ride of the year yesterday.
We left home and rode about 10 km north to a playground. Then James played while I rode my bike around the neighbourhood doing work stuff. The president of our local cycling activist group pinged me to ask about the Strava track I was laying down, then came up and met us.
After I had completed my observations of the neighbourhood infrastructure, the three of us headed south back toward home... along the way, another cyclist who follows the activist group on Strava came screaming down the road. This guy has three sponsored athletes for children, and is a high calibre cyclist himself - for an old guy. Together our pack made our way home.
As we rode, my phone rang. It was the Mayor of Medina New York - a small town east of Buffalo/Niagara Falls. He had arranged a place to stay for us, as well as a speaking engagement in town. We are thrilled. This means that 1/3 of our nights are set.
We have also locked down our schedule now. If you live in or near one of the towns below, please reach out to your BIA, Chamber of Commerce, or Mayor and see if they want to rally behind us. We aren't having a lot of luck with Boy Scouts in the US. We do have speaking engagements with our local Rotary clubs in June, so we hope we can clean up the remaining nights with them then...
Aug 18th - Whitby ON to Mississauga, ON (Clarkson neighbourhood) via the Waterfront Trail - Staying with a host family
Aug 19th - Mississauga, ON to St. Catharines, ON via the Waterfront Trail - Staying at a scout camp
Aug 20th - St Catherines, ON to Medina New York via Niagara Falls, many on-raod sections until we reach the Erie Canal Towpath - Mayor Sidari making Arrangements.
Aug 21st - Medina NY to Rochester NY via Erie Canal Towpath - Need Accommodations
Aug 22nd - Rest Day in Rochester - Need accommodations
Aug 23rd - Rochester NY to Savannah, NY via Erie Canal towpath - Staying with a host family
Aug 24th - Savannah NY to Chittenango NY via Erie Canal Towpath - Staying at Canal Boat Museum
Aug 25th - Chittenango NY to Utica NY via Erie Canal Towpath - Need accommodations
Aug 26th - Utica NY to Fonda NY via Erie Canal towpath - Need accommodations
Aug 27th - Fonda NY to Albany NY via Erie Canal towpath - Have host family.
Aug 28th - Rest day in Albany with Host family
Aug 29th - Albany NY to Red Hook NY via various trails - Need accommodations
Aug 30th - Red Hook NY to Carmel NY via various trails - Need accommodations
Aug 31st - Carmel NY to Hell's Kitchen NY via various trails - Need accommodations
Sept 1 - Hell's Kitchen NY to Coney Island NYC - Need accommodations
Sept 2 - NYC layover day - Need accommodations
Sept 3 - Return home.
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I spent this past weekend focused on getting a place to stay in Rochester. You'd think that the big cities would be easiest for us, but for whatever reason, Rochester is proving to be a riddle without an answer. The Strong Research centre for Autism replied to my emails and was excited to see us coming to town - they even posted about our ride on their closed facebook group asking their community for a back yard to camp in... but unfortunately the only response that got was from a family northeast of town - not really in our path, and adding 5km to our ride on the arrival day, and 15 on the next.
At least we have a backup plan.
Our ideal destination would be south Rochester, but if that fails, Downtown would be the next-best thing. We keep hunting.
Surprisingly, smaller towns are a much easier target. I have ahd good luck in both Medina NY and now in Savannah NY with reaching out to the Mayor's office and BIA/Chamber of Commerce and having them make a presentation. This week I need to keep working our way east through the path to nail down places to stay in other communities. I updated our website (www.ridejamesride) to show our schedule as a table. I think it better shows where we are staying and when. Take a boo.
We are eating this elephant one bite at a time.
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Have you checked the AirMnM thread/spreadsheet? Just another potential resource.
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Just caught up, how cool is it that you now know old man Batty! Was going to recommend a SPOT, good to hear that is sorted.
Not much I can do from down here, i.e. hosting ;)
Are you interested in a Garmin eTtrex 30 or 35T to have the route on, leaving your phone (and its charge) free from routing details and able to take plenty of happy snaps?
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The Battys are an awesome family. Really awesome people. Very approachable and down to earth. Highly recommend going for a beer with them, but don't go riding. You'll hurt afterwards.
Important news this AM - we have accommodations in Savannah NY. The Cooperative Extension hooked us up with a family who has space. Yay!! One more town ticked off!!
We also have a standing offer from a family in Chittenango, but they aren't in a convenient location. We have a similar situation in Rochester. With Chittenango, I feel like I have options available (Canal Boat museum, town park on the trail) but with Rochester I am really confused at why its so difficult to find a place. Surely there are people close to our route with space.
In any case, camping arrangements for Savannah are made.
This weekend we did two middle-distance rides. James wasn't feeling it, but we got miles in which is good. On our first day we headed over to Oshawa for an easy 25 km day after planting Scout Trees early in the morning. On Sunday we headed out 35 km to Scarborough and then caught the train home. Neither day really did much apart from get miles in - no big hills, no really challenging areas, but good to get used to the new bikes and knock off the winter dust. I'm hoping that by this weekend we'll be up over 60 km and can start talking about doing "real" rides. If we hit the Beaches in east Toronto or make it out to Bowmanville and back, we'll be doing OK. After that we're away for a couple weeks and will have to start over.
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Just after posting this morning, I got a confirmation from the Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum that they have space for us and will be waiting. It sounds like it has potential as one of the best nights of this whole trip. When we go to Algonquin park up north, james loves the logging museum where he watches the blacksmith and loggers and sees the way things were made way back when. This place looks like it will be right up his alley! And the town looks like a load of fun too. This will be a good stop!
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Hi: I'm in Syracuse. How might I be able to help? I see you have overnight plans on either side of the city. I could offer you gratis lunch or dinner at my place of employ (a really good restaurant IMO) that looks to be right on your way.
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Hi: I'm in Syracuse. How might I be able to help? I see you have overnight plans on either side of the city. I could offer you gratis lunch or dinner at my place of employ (a really good restaurant IMO) that looks to be right on your way.
Pizzabrewer, I can feel your goodness already! Would love to dine with you!! Can you get your restaurant to follow us on Twitter ( @ridejamesride ) and make your offer there - we'll give you a nod and blow it up as we come through. Our current rest stop in Syracuse is at the canal Museum (not to be confused with the canal boat museum) is your restaurant close to there?
We are hoping to make some media noise in Syracuse as well, so if we can get some buzz going on at the restaurant, that would be fun. Fire us an email or message on twitter and we can work out something fun!
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I sent you a PM.
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The last couple weeks have been full of ups and downs - but mostly ups as we accelerate toward the ride...
Yesterday we had an interview on our local radio station - unfortunately James was having an "off Day" so he didn't participate well, but it still came out alright. The DJ does really well with us, and is basically a big kid himself, so it's always fun in the studio. Plus the studios are at our small-town airport, so its fun watching the Cessnas and corporate jets take-off and land while we're there.
In the past week, we've heard from the Children's museum of Albany and a Children's treatment centre there as they are trying to arrange a place for us to stay. Fingers crossed that between them, they come up with a place for us.
Next week we have an interview with the Anderson Centre for Autism to be featured on their podcast, which has a pretty strong following, so that is a good thing. I hope its not a clinical conversation... I can't talk Dr. I can talk Dad.
We have made a presentation to out local Rotary club, which was very impactful and meaningful to them. The club is a big supporter of our charity (Grandview Childrens' Centre) and it was good to give back to them.
We have a cycling activist group in New York City that is working on finding us a place and thinks they have something secured on the upper east side (did I get that right?) Anyway, 96th Street - near the Intrepid Museum. We still need to find a place for the rest of our stay in NYC - nearer Coney Island. I have a forumite to reach back to on that front.
Many of our stops already have accommodations, but we continue to try to find a place in Rochester. For a big city, you'd think it would be easy. Alas, it is not. There is a peppering of small towns that we still have to work through - mostly along the Hudson Valley.
One of our local craft breweries (Five Paddles) has expressed an interest in a RideJamesRide collaboration brew if we can find a NY brewery to work with. @Pizzabrewer - what does this mean? Would a 3-way collaboration work with your restaurant and a third brewery in NYC (Brooklyn Brewery maybe?) What does it mean to have a collaborative brew, how do we set it up, and can 3 players be part of it?
And finally (I think) our local charity is putting on a "Coney Island Style Hotdog" sendoff for us the day before we head to New York. They will be cooking up dogs and getting us set for our trip. We need to wrassle up some voluntolds and a BBQ, but apart from that, I think the charity will be taking care of everything else (food, permits, advertising, etc.)
We have a lot going on right now.
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Lots of fun news! :-)
If you're interested in a smaller brewery (as opposed to the larger Brooklyn brewery) you might reach out to Threes Brewing. Also in Brooklyn, they seem like good people and they support progressive causes. They have done a couple of beers to raise money and awareness for orgs like the ACLU and HRC (Human Rights Campaign). So it's possible they would be interested.
And I think it was Upper West Side, not Upper East Side. :-)
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James and I are fresh back home from a 90 KM "Practice Ride" he wasn't very cooperative or fast and he didn't have fantastic stamina, but he made it through and we only stopped for ice cream once.
This bodes well for building up to our NYC trip. If we keep doing 90 km days, we should build it up to being the new normal and be ready for the trip by August. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself.
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Seems legit.
I wish I could go out for a 90km bike ride.
I'm heading out on the Karakoram next weekend for the Melburn Roobaix. Only bike with big enough tires to get me through all the cobbles.
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This Sunday, James and I will be in the www.ridedonthide.com Grey-Bruce ride. I entered us in it to get him familiar with riding in a crowd, and to give him a chance to get longer miles on a timed course. We'll see how he does. We signed up for the 80km course, but now I see that they want us off the road in 5 hours. No way that kid is keeping up a 16+ km/h pace for 5 hours straight. I think we'll start with the 80 km riders, then turnaround at the 50 km turnabout and sneak over to a loop intended to stretch the 80 km route to a 100 km route if he's feeling well enough/going fast enough. (Map: http://ridedonthide.com/on/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/map_route_logistics_signs_2017.pdf)
The organizers may hate us, but I'm OK with that. We don't go fast, we go far. After the finish line party, we may tag on another 20 km, just to make it a legit day. We need to cover at least 80 km.
I also need to get a hold of a cheap cycle-computer for James' bike. I think seeing his speed is a boost for him, and makes him feel like he's accomplishing something. Sometimes I think the monotony of a day on the bike gets to him.
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Something like a Garmin Edge 20 or 25? Or something super simple like a Cateye Velo?
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Something like a Garmin Edge 20 or 25? Or something super simple like a Cateye Velo?
Leaning toward something like the Cateye. All he needs is to see his speed, distance and what time it is. Last year we bought some no-name units off amazon, and they worked but kept resetting when the battery contacts made/lost connections. It kept deleting out distance travelled, resetting the clocks, and deleting his wheel diameter. It was better than nothing, but only barely. Also I have spending $$$$ on bike computers when I have my phone, the SPOT tracker, etc. already on me.
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Would a donation of a bike computer be acceptable in the general scheme of things? Rather than you forking out the $ maybe someone else could donate one? I might know someone who'd be happy to donate to the cause as they're far away and can't join in on the ride or offer a place to stay...
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Would a donation of a bike computer be acceptable in the general scheme of things? Rather than you forking out the $ maybe someone else could donate one? I might know someone who'd be happy to donate to the cause as they're far away and can't join in on the ride or offer a place to stay...
If someone far away chose to do that, it would be way cool!
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Two cool "gifts from strangers" moments occurred this week...
1. When Momma stopped to pick up the mail one afternoon, a car rolled up alongside her and its drive waved her over. They gave Momma $40 and told her to make sure James got an ice cream out of it from them. Its nice when neighbours come together to support each other.
2. A package arrived this week from AMazon - a stranger from a faraway land sent us a cyclecomputer and heart rate monitor. It will be cool for James to see how fast he's going and how hard he's working. I like that it also came with a cadence sensor so he can see when he needs to pedal faster/harder. With the Tour de France starting next week, we'll start talking about how fast the cyclists legs are moving and hope that James tries to emulate them. Thanks internet stranger!! You bought him a unit that was way more better than we expected!
And on the administrative side...
Last night I sat up until 02h00 writing up a blog post for Frog bikes. Their initial response was super positive, so I hope that it goes on the website quickly. I need to get them some pics of James in his shirt and on their bike. Its hard to find good pics - the darn kid really prefers riding to posing, and hides from the camera all the time. I wish he understood how important the smiling for the camera part is. He prefers to scowl or hide.
We also have our accommodations in Utica and Coney Island sewn up now, so we have a quickly diminishing list of places where we still need accommodations. Some will be easier than others, but I have so much work to do that at this point I've pretty much take a hiatus from nagging town councils for rest houses. We'll find them in time. It will work out.
Tomorrow night we are hosing some warm showers cycle-tourists who are riding here FROM NYC en route to the west coast. I'm hoping to pick their minds for routing and rest stops and things to look out for. Maybe they have contacts in the towns that are still outstanding and can help us out a little too, who knows.
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Not all strangers are danger.
Can understand the pic thing, so hard to get a decent natural one of kids without some sort of face contortion.
P.S. A soft silicone case for bike computers are somewhat useful in protecting them from drops. Says the bloke who scratched his Edge 810 screen on the first day he had it, before getting a slicone case...
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My mum knew I had friends involved in #ridejamesride last year....this weekend we were talking about how the main participant took over my Netflix and then did a training ride the next day.
Eventually it clicked that I know James and his organization team. I suspect that she will be spreading the word more through.the area James rides though first.
Do you have postcards or posters hat people can drop in along the route?
Do you have 45 minutes to make some using canvas, that supporters can print and post?
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My mum knew I had friends involved in #ridejamesride last year....this weekend we were talking about how the main participant took over my Netflix and then did a training ride the next day.
Eventually it clicked that I know James and his organization team. I suspect that she will be spreading the word more through.the area James rides though first.
Do you have postcards or posters hat people can drop in along the route?
Do you have 45 minutes to make some using canvas, that supporters can print and post?
Ugh - I was going to make up something like this months ago. It never came together. The combined impact of my unartistic lilt and a lack of inspiration.
I should do it. Excuses and all that.
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Had a very busy weekend on the cycling side of things...
On Friday, some cycle-tourists were coming for a visit. I suggested a route to our house for them, and then headed out from the office to meet them and escort them through town. They were distracted along the way, and took a different route. Meant I got to finish my workday with a 20km ride through a part of town I usually don't get to. It also meant the cyclists beat me home.
Since the cyclists were vegetarians with an array of food allergies, we weren't sure what to feed them. This was made simple when they volunteered to cook for us! For dinner we had Tacos with beans and rice filling, and an array of veggies for toppings. Delicious.
In the morning we had scrambled eggs, and then rode with them to Toronto. A nice and familiar 60 km ride to the roundhouse... in the rain! Not really ideal weather-wise, but great for us to see that even in poor weather we can tick off the miles. James really wanted to ride the mini-train around the Roundhouse Park, but it was out of service due to weather. He was bummed, but alas, such is life.
We got on the Go Train back to Whitby, packed, put the bikes on the car, and drove to Owen Sound for Ride-Don't-Hide ,a charity ride for mental health that we had signed up for months earlier. We got to a hotel at about 1:00 AM and I carried James from the car to bed.
Waking up the next day, we had missed the alarm, and were late to the bike ride. Because of this we didn't get into the 80km ride that we had signed up for, and instead we had to go in the 50km ride. In the rush, we didn't get breakfast or fill our water bottles and a pile of other nuisance things were out of place. We ended up on the second-last start of the 50 km ride, almost an hour behind the start time we were planning on, without breakfast. Ugh. At least we made it to the ride.
As we hopped on our bikes, James stuffed his face with ride-supplied granola bars and a banana, and packed his handlebar bag with fruit.
We rode with the crowd keeping up nicely. I was pretty proud of James for keeping pace and even pushing our pack a little early on. Then, when we came to the first rest stop, we ducked in and got our water-bottles filled while everyone else rode on - really the stop was not needed, except for the bottle fill. This bumped us to the very back of the 50 km ride. Ugh.
James pedalled hard, and we passed a few people, eventually finding a couple of folks with a pace close to our own. We stuck with them until we came to the second rest stop at the peak of a tough hill. This stop was needed, and James decided to eat everything on his handlebar bag, grab more food from the table, and visit the folks at the stop. Then, when we should have really left, he decided to use the washroom. There was a lineup. We waited. While peeing, the call came out that the 50km sweep was leaving, anyone still at the stop would be cut from the ride. Crud.
We ran from the bathroom to the bikes and rode with the sweep 15km to the next stop. James put a plan together as we rode. At the next stop he was going to just get a banana and a drink, and then leave right away. So we did that... and it worked. On the ride back to the start/finish, we did great, and finished the 50 km ride just ahead of the sweep for the 25km event.
So over the weekend we rode just over 100km - which is pretty respectable. But more important is that we upped our speed by oodles. The 50 km Ride Don't Hide event we started at 8:00 AM and finished around 11:15. Very respectable.
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The threat of the sweep will up the average speed in my experience.
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We continue to work up our miles and go on practice rides. This past weekend that meant a ride from Exhibition GO in Toronto back to our home in Whitby - not long, but challenging because the Toronto Molson Indy was on, which meant crowds and noise from race cars.
Loud noises can be a trigger for James. Crowds are not a thing he manages well. The Waterfront trail was closed between the GO station and the trail we use. I was perplexed - and yet, we managed. We got from teh GO station to Strachan Street, around teh closures, through a park and then... we were on familiar ground biking home.
We've got our SPOT tracker working well now, so folks wanting to can follow along on our adventure as we go. The link is here: https://bit.ly/2Nigel8 - it only shows a tracklog of 50 points though - so you won't see a full history of our adventures there. I tried to set up a feed from the tracker to our website and other stuff... not having any luck although I know others have managed to build a link somehow.
Most of our stopovers are now defined. We are missing three communities (Fonda, Red Hook, and Carmel) - but most of our stops are with families who have offered dinner and laundry along with space for our tent.
Our list of outstanding items is very short - we need notarized letters to enter the US, a few supplies, and those three layover spots. We will be fine. Support is starting to grow as folks realize how close we are getting to doing this. Hopefully our donations follow as media and local events boost us. We have a ways to go before we can start talking up our goals.
In any case, things are putting along nicely. We will get there soon. In a month actually.
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^ Mileage, speed, adventures, preparation - AWESOME!!
Like many others, I continue to feel a warm glow of admiration and happiness for the wonderful upbringing you are giving your son.
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So things are continuing to continue. I just posted a thread to twitter (https://twitter.com/RideJamesRide/status/1022131190386573312) discussing how folks can be part of the ride. Donations aren't where I was hoping they'd be by now, but meh - whatevs. If we hit our targets, James will feel like a hero. If we don't, then this can be a lesson on striving hard and feeling good about it despite the outcome.
I've had a foot act up late last week and went to a physiotherapist on Monday... amazing results. Felt better as quick as treatment was applied.
It meant we missed our practice ride last weekend though - which was disappointing. This weekend though, the Great Waterfront Trail Adventure is rolling through our town, so we'll hop in as a ridealong and cover some 90 km alongside 200 other folks for the stage. The ride ends in Cobourg where they have a really nice beach - James should enjoy that.
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Just spent an hour recording a podcast with Eliza Bozenski at the Anderson Centre for Autism. If you are hooked on podcasts, watch for it to come out soon. I am not eloquent, but I try.
Also, we still need places to stay in Fonda, Red Hook, and Carmel NY. If you know anyone in these communities, share our story and lets see if we can find reasonable backyards! (With only 3 communities outstanding, we can stealth-camp if we must, but I would rather not.)
Our updated plans can be found on the route tab at www.ridejamesride.com
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Conversations about NY state infrastructure lately got me thinking about worst case scenarios, which the rational brain knows are statistical outliers, but the lizard brain needs to be fed. WE are carrying the SPOT tracker so we can get a quick response in an emergency, and we will have folks following us virtually, but I wanted to be sure of medical coverage in case a hiccup puts us in doctor's office (it would really suck to catch some flying gravel with my eye for instance - not even entering the territory of a collision).
So I called CAA (like AAA, but Canadian) about traveller's medical and got a quote. $250 for James and I for our travel period. Additional cost for Momma and J2 when they drive down to meet us, if we chose to cover them as well. Not an outrageous amount, but still not a number I wanted to spend.
Next I called my "travel hacking card" and talked with them. I had previously been told (before leaving for our last vacation) that as long as air tickets or hotels showed up on the card, I shouldn't worry about the card covering us, but I had assumed that since we aren't travelling with tickets or hotels, we wouldn't have proof of travel, and not be able to get coverage. The person I spoke with at the bank wasn't sure how this would work, so she transferred my call to a claims person working for the insurance company that handles claims.
The claims person asked about the trip, where we were going, for how long, and what we were doing. I told her the RideJamesRide story, let her know we were fundraising, talked about James and his challenges. She replied that we have $2,000,000 in travel medical coverage on our card, including transport. She placed a note on file of when we were travelling and where, and asked that we buy something small on either side of the border when we cross (her suggestion was a bottle of water on each side) as proof of crossing the border that day. Then, a 21 day counter would begin - and we would be covered for anything that happened in that 21 day window.
She paused after explaining everything, as if not sure how to say what she wanted to... then ended the call with a comment along the lines of "Your son is inspiring. I hope his ride is a success."
So for a 10 minute call, I saved $250, put the lizard brain at ease, and got a feel-good moment. Not a bad return for the time spent.
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Great!!
You might also have coverage through work benefits.
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So for a 10 minute call, I saved $250, put the lizard brain at ease, and got a feel-good moment. Not a bad return for the time spent.
~$240 saved: you do have to buy something on both sides of the border. Great job.
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Well done, Tamer of Lizard Brains.
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Thanks for the positive feedback folks, and welcome to the ride @spartana - right now, I'm going to encourage everyone to bookmark our spot tracker (https://bit.ly/2Nigel8) and follow us on twitter/fb/instagram where we exist under the #ridejamesride hash.
There are about 15 days of useful time before I am in a tizzy with planning/interviews/releases, etc. so I may not remember to keep these links at the forefront. I suggest you bookmark now, before I forget.
@ElleFiji - some time ago you had mentioned notifying your BIA and local media about the ride. Do you still have those contacts, and are you able to let them know we are coming through town on the 18-19th? I'd be happy to do a phone interview.
@avrex - if you know any local media in your town, we will be coming across the harbour on the morning of the 18th. Maybe a tip off to the newspaper or radio would be picked up?
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Hey everyone, do me a favour, and if you have twitter, please go an like/retweet this: https://twitter.com/AutismONT/status/1025041733070073857
Autism Ontario is trying to drum up some support for us at the NYC end of our ride.
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Do you have a work benefit plan? Most of them include out of country medical insurance. We had to use it once in Las Vegas for a very large medical bill and private air ambulance home.
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Do you have a work benefit plan? Most of them include out of country medical insurance. We had to use it once in Las Vegas for a very large medical bill and private air ambulance home.
Work just re-released our benefits package, so we need to check our coverage there.
Folks... two weeks from this moment we will be at our sendoff party. Two weeks tomorrow, we are on the trail. Is anyone planning on joining us for a few miles of riding? @GuitarStv @ElleFiji @plainjane
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It's on my calendar. But it's also my next opportunity to go on a boat or go camping. So I will probably do as the calendar tells me. But no promises.
And I can choose between two days!
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Hey everyone, do me a favour, and if you have twitter, please go an like/retweet this: https://twitter.com/AutismONT/status/1025041733070073857
Autism Ontario is trying to drum up some support for us at the NYC end of our ride.
Done. Happy to support your journey together in every way I can.
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I'm not sure if I can join. The weekends are a bit in flux atm.
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So... with some help from @J_Oden, we put together a tracking map that peels out GPS data off our SPOT tracker and exports to a data aggregator. This will be embedded into the www.rideJamesRide.com website once we start our "real" ride. It's a three step process to make th ewhole thing work, and I couldn't figure outthe bits, luckily J_Oden was willing to spend a fenights working on it, and boom - cool toy.
Click this link (https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=1a6bf5b62521c85273)to see our ride yesterday, and then if you click on any of the points along the trail, you can see what time we were there, how fast we were moving, what direction of travel, etc. etc.
Thanks for the help J_Oden. This will give Momma a level of comfort and it will be a tool for us to reach out if we need help.
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i knew this was a thing, but somehow missed this thread!
Best of luck to you all!!
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Do you have a work benefit plan? Most of them include out of country medical insurance. We had to use it once in Las Vegas for a very large medical bill and private air ambulance home.
Work just re-released our benefits package, so we need to check our coverage there.
Folks... two weeks from this moment we will be at our sendoff party. Two weeks tomorrow, we are on the trail. Is anyone planning on joining us for a few miles of riding? @GuitarStv @ElleFiji @plainjane
Where are you going to be next Saturday morning? I could probably meet up with you somewhere.
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Do you have a work benefit plan? Most of them include out of country medical insurance. We had to use it once in Las Vegas for a very large medical bill and private air ambulance home.
Work just re-released our benefits package, so we need to check our coverage there.
Folks... two weeks from this moment we will be at our sendoff party. Two weeks tomorrow, we are on the trail. Is anyone planning on joining us for a few miles of riding? @GuitarStv @ElleFiji @plainjane
Where are you going to be next Saturday morning? I could probably meet up with you somewhere.
Saturday the 11th, we will be swimming in our pool! On Sunday the 12th, we'll be riding in the United Way Gran Fondo (http://support.unitedwaydr.com/site/TR?fr_id=1040&pg=entry), likely aiming for a headstart on the 100km route. A good stress test.
On the 18th, we will be coming across the GTA on the Waterfront Trail. I think that CycleToronto is going to set up a welcoming committee near the Rouge Hill Go Stn. or just on the Toronto side of the Rouge river. Be cool if you were in the gaggle of folks. Hint: watch for a kid on a bright green bike with big red pannier bags. he looks a lot like this: https://twitter.com/RideJamesRide/status/1026434300143534081
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Do you have a work benefit plan? Most of them include out of country medical insurance. We had to use it once in Las Vegas for a very large medical bill and private air ambulance home.
Work just re-released our benefits package, so we need to check our coverage there.
Folks... two weeks from this moment we will be at our sendoff party. Two weeks tomorrow, we are on the trail. Is anyone planning on joining us for a few miles of riding? @GuitarStv @ElleFiji @plainjane
Where are you going to be next Saturday morning? I could probably meet up with you somewhere.
Saturday the 11th, we will be swimming in our pool! On Sunday the 12th, we'll be riding in the United Way Gran Fondo (http://support.unitedwaydr.com/site/TR?fr_id=1040&pg=entry), likely aiming for a headstart on the 100km route. A good stress test.
On the 18th, we will be coming across the GTA on the Waterfront Trail. I think that CycleToronto is going to set up a welcoming committee near the Rouge Hill Go Stn. or just on the Toronto side of the Rouge river. Be cool if you were in the gaggle of folks. Hint: watch for a kid on a bright green bike with big red pannier bags. he looks a lot like this: https://twitter.com/RideJamesRide/status/1026434300143534081
Yeah, I could probably make the Rouge Hill Go station thing. That's just 10k from my house. Do you know what time you'll be passing by?
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Do you have a work benefit plan? Most of them include out of country medical insurance. We had to use it once in Las Vegas for a very large medical bill and private air ambulance home.
Work just re-released our benefits package, so we need to check our coverage there.
Folks... two weeks from this moment we will be at our sendoff party. Two weeks tomorrow, we are on the trail. Is anyone planning on joining us for a few miles of riding? @GuitarStv @ElleFiji @plainjane
Where are you going to be next Saturday morning? I could probably meet up with you somewhere.
Saturday the 11th, we will be swimming in our pool! On Sunday the 12th, we'll be riding in the United Way Gran Fondo (http://support.unitedwaydr.com/site/TR?fr_id=1040&pg=entry), likely aiming for a headstart on the 100km route. A good stress test.
On the 18th, we will be coming across the GTA on the Waterfront Trail. I think that CycleToronto is going to set up a welcoming committee near the Rouge Hill Go Stn. or just on the Toronto side of the Rouge river. Be cool if you were in the gaggle of folks. Hint: watch for a kid on a bright green bike with big red pannier bags. he looks a lot like this: https://twitter.com/RideJamesRide/status/1026434300143534081
Yeah, I could probably make the Rouge Hill Go station thing. That's just 10k from my house. Do you know what time you'll be passing by?
Really depend how long our Mayor et al. want to wish James well at departure. If you count on about 15km/h we should get there about 2 hrs after leaving town - I would guess around 10 - 10:30. Follow the tracker (https://spotwalla.com/publicTrips.php?un=RideJamesRide) and you'll see us approaching.
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So today James and I rode in a local charity ride - we did a metric century with the bikes fully loaded. James was the only kid out there. We were definately at the back of the pack when we were done, but not in last place. The sweep never found us.
We completed the ride in 6.5 hours. Not bad for a little dude on a hilly course with all kinds of stuff hanging off his bike.
Most importantly, we know we can do it, we know how long it will take each day. We rode 50 km yesterday and a full 100 km today, so we know we can do it on back to back days.
We're ready to tour.
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Following. Ride James Ride!!
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Following. Ride James Ride!!
Thanks aschutt. The more, the merrier!
I just sent an email out to all of our host families with a sortof rundown of what to expect of us. This triggered a cascade of replies and whatnot - which is good. The more folks we reach early the less surprises on the way.
In other news - we now have a place to stay in Carmel! The person we are staying with in Carmel has friends in Red Hook... All of our housing woes are sorted.
In even more news, the GPS tracker sortof worked right today. Momma has been instructed in how to patch it if it acts up, and she performed teh patch, and it worked!! Yay.
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Way to go James & Prosp!
Good to hear that all the accomodations have been sorted. That must be a load off your mind.
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That's really good news!
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I somehow completely missed that you were
doing this big ride this year. Was super impressed with James's accomplishments last year and am excited to follow along the ride this year. This is amazing, memories-that-will-last-a-lifetime type stuff. Kudos Dad!!!
Sent from my STH100-1 using Tapatalk
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I realize you have a million details to keep track of so sorry for interjecting a question. Do you think you will stop for lunch/dinner at my workplace at Destiny USA in Syracuse on August 24? The invitation stands open and we have a secure place to lock your bikes and belongings. Your meal would be our treat.
If so, would you also want to spend time at any of the other attractions in the mall (Wonderworks, Dave & Busters, go-karts, mirror maze, escape room, etc)? I realize you are on a tight schedule and may not have time for any of this but if so I can arrange it.
If none of the above I'll be happy to bring cold drinks and snacks to your route as you pass by.
Best wishes.
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I realize you have a million details to keep track of so sorry for interjecting a question. Do you think you will stop for lunch/dinner at my workplace at Destiny USA in Syracuse on August 24? The invitation stands open and we have a secure place to lock your bikes and belongings. Your meal would be our treat.
If so, would you also want to spend time at any of the other attractions in the mall (Wonderworks, Dave & Busters, go-karts, mirror maze, escape room, etc)? I realize you are on a tight schedule and may not have time for any of this but if so I can arrange it.
If none of the above I'll be happy to bring cold drinks and snacks to your route as you pass by.
Best wishes.
We'll take you up on lunch for sure, but I'm not sure of our time to visit the other attractions. Are you able to tweet to us or reach out on FB as we get close and then we can move the conversation to twitter DMs? I doubt I'll be on the forum much as we ride. Our twitter/FB handle is #RideJamesRide.
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I am losing my mind.
Have a major report to revise before friday at work. Have media interviews tonight and tomorrow. The office is relocating and i have to pack my cube. Have 2 bikes to outfit and a twitter monster to feed and a FB crowd to cheer. Cycle Durham and CycleTO are buzzing me for details to put together a relay ride. I have a photog asking for locations to take shots.
I just got our "Travel alone with a minor" paperwork notarized/commissioned. Our host family in Medina just dropped out. We may end up "ghost camping" on the trailside that night.
But physically and emotionally, I think we're ready.
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Ack! That is one crazy week ahead.
You. Can. Do. This.
So very very impressed with what you and James have accomplished.
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Camp Mustache Toronto (Sep 21-23) is where all the cool Mustachians will be gathering for meatball parties, karaoke in the bell tower and VolleyHockeyBall!
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Don't know if it would be of any use to you but I did this ride in 2013. Toronto > NYC
A bit of it is here but I never finished the trip report...
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1mr&doc_id=12960&v=3f
Let me know if you have any specific questions.
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This is amazing and you're such a good dad.
I have a small donation to give - where would be most helpful - direct to Grandview or to your GoFundMe page to support the ride logistics?
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Don't know if it would be of any use to you but I did this ride in 2013. Toronto > NYC
A bit of it is here but I never finished the trip report...
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1mr&doc_id=12960&v=3f
Let me know if you have any specific questions.
Thanks for the triplog. Will read tonight.
We aren't going as far each day, or as fast, but that's what touring with a 10 yr old does... it gives me excuses.
Our trip looks like this:
Segment 1 - Familiar spaces:
Day 1: Whitby to Clarkson GO via Waterfront Trail (WFT)
Day 2 - Clarkson to Wetakiwin Scout Camp (St. Catherines) via WFT
Day 3 - Wetaskiwin to Rainbow Bridge on-road, then Rainbow bridge to Medina NY via Erie Canal Towpath (ECT)
Day 4 - Medina to Rochester via ECT
Day 5 - Rest-n-Mend in Rochester
Segment 2 - Crossing NY
Day 6 - Rochester to Savannah via ECT
Day 7 - Savannah to Cittenango via ECT
Day 8 - Chittenango to Utica via ECT
Day 9 - Utica to Fonda via ECT
Day 10 - Fonda to Albany via ECT
Day 11 - Rest-n-mend Day in Albany
Segment 3 - The Hudson Valley
Day 12 - Albany to Red Hook - Bike Rte 9/etc.
Day 13 - Red Hook to Carmel - Putnam Cty trails
Day 14 - Carmel to USS Intrepid - Putnam Cty Trails
Day 15 - USS Intrepid to Coney Island. - NY Greenway
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This is amazing and you're such a good dad.
I have a small donation to give - where would be most helpful - direct to Grandview or to your GoFundMe page to support the ride logistics?
So kind - thank you!!
Head to www.ridejamesride.com and choose the bin of your liking. For US Donations, the EJ Autism link gets tax receipts. For Canadians, Grandview does the same. The GFM is being treated as our operating fund, but it gives no tax receipt and takes a 5% cut.
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Do you know about the Play Museum in Rochester? It is pretty darn fantastic. http://www.museumofplay.org/ This will totally hijack your whole trip though...
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Do you know about the Play Museum in Rochester? It is pretty darn fantastic. http://www.museumofplay.org/ This will totally hijack your whole trip though...
We have a rest day in Rochester...
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I've confirmed with my weekend plans and will be cheering and possibly offering treats on day two somewhere between st. Catherine's and Burlington. I'm trying to get more people hyped about it between Whitby and Burlington.
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Do you know about the Play Museum in Rochester? It is pretty darn fantastic. http://www.museumofplay.org/ This will totally hijack your whole trip though...
We have a rest day in Rochester...
It is not a 'restful' place for a kid. A parent may find rest there, if you find watching your kids have a fantastic time, restful and can ignore all the squeals of delight the other children are making. My kids demanded we go back for a second weekend in Rochester so we did. This despite, adding the new word 'abbomit' to our family lexicon on this trip. As in "he is going to abbomit, stop the car". It really is a wonderful place and every kid should experience it.
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Do you know about the Play Museum in Rochester? It is pretty darn fantastic. http://www.museumofplay.org/ This will totally hijack your whole trip though...
We have a rest day in Rochester...
It is not a 'restful' place for a kid. A parent may find rest there, if you find watching your kids have a fantastic time, restful and can ignore all the squeals of delight the other children are making. My kids demanded we go back for a second weekend in Rochester so we did. This despite, adding the new word 'abbomit' to our family lexicon on this trip. As in "he is going to abbomit, stop the car". It really is a wonderful place and every kid should experience it.
Yeah - a rest day is mostly a chance to something other than peddle. Playing is good. Abbomiting is not. The people we're staying with in Rochester are right DT, so I think we'll enjoy the town.
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I've confirmed with my weekend plans and will be cheering and possibly offering treats on day two somewhere between st. Catherine's and Burlington. I'm trying to get more people hyped about it between Whitby and Burlington.
You get top points as an elite cheerer-on!! Thank you!
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Do you know about the Play Museum in Rochester? It is pretty darn fantastic. http://www.museumofplay.org/ This will totally hijack your whole trip though...
We have a rest day in Rochester...
It is not a 'restful' place for a kid. A parent may find rest there, if you find watching your kids have a fantastic time, restful and can ignore all the squeals of delight the other children are making. My kids demanded we go back for a second weekend in Rochester so we did. This despite, adding the new word 'abbomit' to our family lexicon on this trip. As in "he is going to abbomit, stop the car". It really is a wonderful place and every kid should experience it.
Yeah - a rest day is mostly a chance to something other than peddle. Playing is good. Abbomiting is not. The people we're staying with in Rochester are right DT, so I think we'll enjoy the town.
the science museum is also cool but I think the hotdog at the cafe there was the source for the abbomitting.
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Making my token appearance at the office... media interview at 10:00 that I need to bike to. Means I leave the office in 30 minutes. TG for understanding bosses.
#TheCameraAdds10lbs #ThatOnesNotMyGoodSide #NeitherIsThatOne
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Wishing you well on the ride. Lots of e-cheering coming from western Canada. Hope all goes great for you and James.
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Wishing you well on the ride. Lots of e-cheering coming from western Canada. Hope all goes great for you and James.
Thanks PG! Here's what welooked like on the news tonight...
https://globalnews.ca/video/4392396/whitby-boy-with-autism-gears-up-for-ride-to-raise-20000-for-children-with-special-needs
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Great promo video, Prospector, for a great cause.
I wish you and James a great ride.
Have fun!
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Sammy just hit her weight loss goal, and has picked RideJamesRide as her donation recommendation for this segment. I hope you see an influx of donations in the next couple of days. (made mine 2 minutes ago.)
I hope you and James have a wonderful trip, and that all the speed bumps are fun ones.
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I'm confused on the schedule. Was the sendoff party last night or is it tonight? The "Route" segment of the website indicates they start riding tomorrow, but the "Schedule" segment of the website says they started the main ride 7 hours ago. The tracker shows a training ride from the 8th.
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I'm confused on the schedule. Was the sendoff party last night or is it tonight? The "Route" segment of the website indicates they start riding tomorrow, but the "Schedule" segment of the website says they started the main ride 7 hours ago. The tracker shows a training ride from the 8th.
Party was just now. Sendoff is in the morning. How can the schedule be wrong. Going now to look...
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Hope the party was fabulous. Hope tomorrow's send off goes smoothly and you hit the pavement tomorrow looking forward to an incredible two weeks!
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Camp Mustache Toronto (Sep 21-23) is where all the cool Mustachians will be gathering for meatball parties, karaoke in the bell tower and VolleyHockeyBall!
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Its too early to be up on a Saturday, but here we are.
We've been the beneficiaries of $7500 in donations so far, and countless well-wishes. Last night we held our sendoff party and the local paper came out to take photos and make news. Our MPP was there as was a bunch of the scouting crowd and some of our supporters.
Now we're having cream of wheat for breakfast (James' choice) and then we're off to the Whitby pier to meet some friends and get going.
Thanks for following along thus far. I won't be posting here a whole lot while we're on the road - more likely you'll find our updates on FB and Twitter - look for #RideJamesRide on both and you'll find us pretty quick.
Ready, Steady, Go!
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Best of luck team #RideJamesRide
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Seems physically risky and unfair to put a child through this.
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Since it was the kid's idea to begin with, I think it's great for a parent to get behind it, find the ways to make it less risky, and help a kid with challenges that doubtless impact their self esteem to achieve something pretty impressive.
Also, I'm side-eying your timing on this post.
#RideJamesRide
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I agree. So incredibly amazing for a parent to get behind his child's dream to make it a reality. Instead of pooh-poohing his child's farfetched idea, he starts working on the nuts and bolts of how to make it a reality. Showing his child that the impossible can be possible. I take my hat off for this dad. And this special kid who has learned how to dream big dreams.
#RideJamesRide
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Camp Mustache Toronto (Sep 21-23) is where all the cool Mustachians will be gathering for meatball parties, karaoke in the bell tower and VolleyHockeyBall!
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Much less risky than dumping him in front of a TV screen all day and feeding him Cheetos.
#RideJamesRide
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I'm way late to this party, but I'm getting choked up just thinking about James out there accomplishing his dream. Donating now. Ride, James, ride!
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So incredibly amazing for a parent to get behind his child's dream to make it a reality. Instead of pooh-poohing his child's farfetched idea, he starts working on the nuts and bolts of how to make it a reality. Showing his child that the impossible can be possible. I take my hat off for this dad. And this special kid who has learned how to dream big dreams.
+1. So fabulous. Go, James!!!!!!! Go, Dad!!!!!
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You just showed up in my facebook feed (via the Arkel page)!
I saw the video and thought for sure it was you guys. Came here and saw the link. Hope your first day has been wonderful!
#RideJamesRide
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We were 3 hours too early passing Whitby to watch the send off party Friday. See you crazy early tomorrow at the lakefront park where I try to convince James to play instead of ride
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So incredibly amazing for a parent to get behind his child's dream to make it a reality. Instead of pooh-poohing his child's farfetched idea, he starts working on the nuts and bolts of how to make it a reality. Showing his child that the impossible can be possible. I take my hat off for this dad. And this special kid who has learned how to dream big dreams.
+1. So fabulous. Go, James!!!!!!! Go, Dad!!!!!
Agree! You two and your whole support system are incredible.
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I'm writing to you tonight from an rv parked on the edge of Medina ny.
We've covered 300 km in 3 days, and now we're longhauling on the Erie Canal towpath. We spent a night in a very nice home in Mississauga overlooking the Rattray Marsh. Last night we were in a very rustic cottage in St. Catherine's.
We had a headwind all day yesterday and today. It hasn't been easy so far, but I'm told we should have tailwind soon.tomorrow we head to Rochester. We aren't fast, but we get where we're going.
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300km in 3 days is pretty darn amazing. You guys rock!
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Camp Mustache Toronto (Sep 21-23) is where all the cool Mustachians will be gathering for meatball parties, karaoke in the bell tower and VolleyHockeyBall!
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Enjoying seeing your progress on the tracker! Sounds like you are getting some great distance in; despite the headwinds hope there's some fun, too!
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Saw your Twiiter pics and and a Strava ride report from a NFBC member today. Sorry I couldn't make it but glad I helped make that connection.
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keep at it -- you are on an amazing, awe-inspiring journey!
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My wife and I spent a very enjoyable hour or 2 with James and his Dad. Both were in good spirits and seemed to be enjoying their adventure.
My hat is off to you Prospector. You are doing an amazing thing for and with your son. A memory certainly to be cherished for a lifetime.
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Big thumbs up! And hey - your fundraising is just shy of $11k CAD right now. Already surpassed last year's big goal!
@Pizzabrewer - thanks for being a supportive friend on their journey and for the update. :)
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We're in Utica. Every day has been different, and all has gone well. Our plans for tomorrow have changed. We are now going to canajahorie rather than Fonda. This will mean a very short day tmrw, and a very long one the next day.
After that, it's a rest day in Albany and then we grind our way over a mountain and into the Hudson river drainage.
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Glad to hear things are going well.
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...all has gone well.
WONDERFUL!!!
After that, it's a rest day in Albany and then we grind our way over a mountain and into the Hudson river drainage.
You guys are amazing :))))
What memories you're building together, too. For him to have this always to look back on, to fill up his body and soul...
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Awesome. Really glad to hear it's going well.
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I've been checking the twitter feed every day to see where you are. I'm glad you both seem to be holding up well, and you manage to fit some fun in too.
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Tomorrow you'll pass within 8 miles of my childhood home. Wish I could be there to cheer you on.
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That is amazing! Thanks for updating this thread.
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Tomorrow you'll pass within 8 miles of my childhood home. Wish I could be there to cheer you on.
Ooh, you didn't turn away from the river at State St. Now you are even closer! I'm going to have to keep tracking to see how close you will get. If you continue far enough along the river you'll be within four miles.
I hope you have a lovely rest day tomorrow.
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I just caught up on your Twitter feed and made a donation in honor of Sailor Sam's weight loss. You and James are doing so well! What an amazing trip for both of you.
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Just found this thread - this is so COOL!
I have a college friend who lives in Michigan now. Actually, both the husband and wife are my college buddies. They have 3 kids. The dad is a big cyclist, so each summer he has planned a big bike trip with one of his kids. This year, it's his daughter's turn.
Last year he and one of his boys biked from San Francisco to Los Angeles (I live in Santa Barbara - they camped nearby, but did not have time to hook up!)
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I've been following your progress on the tracker. You guys are killing it! How are the legs holding up? How is James doing? How are you doing?
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I see you are headed through Sleepy Hollow today. Watch out for the Headless Horseman!
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Sorry... We weren't on the forum much while travelling. Today we reached Coney and got royal treatment by everyone here.
Next week I'll update this thread with stories, thoughts, and ideas. Watch the NYC news tonight though and you should get the idea of how this went.
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Congratulations, James and Prospector! Looking forward to the stories. Hope you are eating, resting, and celebrating. 🎉
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Yay! You made it!
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Congrats! Take your time to have fun at the fairground and beach.
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https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/warmington-whitby-boy-10-bikes-to-coney-island-to-raise-money-for-autism#comments
(https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/warmington-whitby-boy-10-bikes-to-coney-island-to-raise-money-for-autism#comments)
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http://brooklyn.news12.com/story/39008968/boy-with-autism-father-finish-600-mile-bike-ride-at-coney-island
(http://brooklyn.news12.com/story/39008968/boy-with-autism-father-finish-600-mile-bike-ride-at-coney-island)
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Awesome. Congratulations to both of you.
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Lovely!
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Thanks for the links, Pizzabrewer. So exciting. The articles make me so teary.
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Yes, great links. So wonderful to see the grand finale on the monster wheel.
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Way to go James & Prospector!
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Thanks for the links, Pizzabrewer. So exciting. The articles make me so teary.
Me too.
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Thanks for the links, Pizzabrewer. So exciting. The articles make me so teary.
Me too.
Me three.
Way to go, James and Dad!
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Thansk for posting those links PizzaBrewer... but there's another one.
https://www.insideedition.com/father-son-duo-bikes-canada-coney-island-support-autism-organizations-46456 - this one has nearly a million views on its Youtube version. Not bad.
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Not bad.
Not bad at all. How much did you finally raise?
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Not bad.
Not bad at all. How much did you finally raise?
We're still a few thousand short of our goal money, but we're hoping that some of the "After" press will help boost us.
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Thansk for posting those links PizzaBrewer... but there's another one.
https://www.insideedition.com/father-son-duo-bikes-canada-coney-island-support-autism-organizations-46456 - this one has nearly a million views on its Youtube version. Not bad.
The need to send the revenue that clip makes on Youtube to you guys.
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Awesome news coverage!! Congrats to your entire family on being so great! The publicity is well deserved.
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If anyone following this thread works for a large mass media outlet, could you reach back to me through a PM? I've done enough interviews and shoots to have a handle on thigs, but I just got a request that's a little different by someone who resells content and I'm not sure what to do with it.
If you have related industry experience and can offer some guidance, please reach back quickly and I'll share details.
Thanks.
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If anyone following this thread works for a large mass media outlet, could you reach back to me through a PM? I've done enough interviews and shoots to have a handle on thigs, but I just got a request that's a little different by someone who resells content and I'm not sure what to do with it.
If you have related industry experience and can offer some guidance, please reach back quickly and I'll share details.
Thanks.
You also might want to check with monstermonster.
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It occurred to me yesterday that I never shared the full story of our ride with the folks here who supported us so much.
Going from memory, here is what things looked like... If you find the storytelling boring or lacking in detail, let me know and I'll add dragons. Dragons make things more exciting. FYI, I'm mostly relying on pics from twitter here, but if I have others at home I'll add them in later.
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Day 1 tracklog here. (https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=1bb3c5bc893bec0f4a&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes)
\We left home on Aug 18th at about 07h30, aiming to be at the Town Pier for 8:00. Its a short 10 km ride down to the pier, so we figured we could easily do it in a half hour. Momma and J2 hopped in our family van and drove down to meet us there. When we arrived, there were a number of local dignitaries and some representatives of Grandview kids to see us off. The crowd also included a handful of Cycle TO folks who wanted to ride with us into the city, some old friends, and some kids from Cadets where I used to be a volunteer, and some scouts and scouters. The rag-tag crowd of riders was perfect - this is who cycling is. The folks at Cycle TO had put together a FB promo for us, encouraging their cyclists to meet us through the day, and although we were aware and excited, James and I expected a little uptake, but not a lot. The schedule they posted set a pace for us that proved to be the biggest challenge of the trip going forward (more later)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dk1lEMDWwAMaEON.jpg:large)
(Click image for full size)
Grandview talked a little bit about their goals and how much fundraisers like ours meant to them, and then we shared the Starfish story, talked about what lay ahead, and said goodbye to everyone. We hopped on our bikes, and Mom got hers out of the van to ride along for the first few km. <Departure video> (https://twitter.com/GrandviewKids/status/1030791915275350016)
We rode around the harbour - familiar ground to James and I, and our group of about a dozen friends followed. The chain of riders was great, and we had fun chatting and sharing stories. Once we were past the first neighbourhood, Mom and the smallest scout turned back, and James and I were on our own with our crowd of friends. We rode along the Lake Ontario waterfront headed toward Toronto, stopping briefly in the towns we came through, sharing the local history with our entourage, and talking about the importance of the places. We also stopped to play at a few playgrounds, like the ones at Ajax Rotary Park and at Pickering beach.
While we were playing at Pickering, I was surprised to find my boss waiting at the trailside. She had brought her kids to the beach to play, and they were waiting for us to cheer us on. We stopped and introduced the group, her kids and James played for a bit, and then we continued along. It was nice to have support from her and her kids.
Since Pickering abuts Toronto (ok, Scarborough, but that's one of Toronto's "Boroughs") we were excited to keep going, and the folks from Cycle TO were tweeting updates constantly letting folks know we were getting close. When we reached the Rouge beach, and Rouge Canoe club, two more riders were waiting for us. And to add to our rag-tag collection of cyclists, one was on a Brompton folding bike, and the other was one of my coworkers - who had told me he would never be crazy enough to bike into Toronto - he was riding on a department store bike. We had also been joined by a firefighter riding with his mascot, Molly the firedog - an adult Dalmatian in a kids bike trailer behind him. We now had a deaf scouter in his '70s, pre-teen kids, lycra warriors, a dude in jeanshorts and t-shirt (not helmet), James and I with loaded touring bikes, and just about every other type of cyclist you could think of. The group was awesome. The only problem was - it was all guys. I wished we had some women to round out the group, but I wasn't complaining. The support was fantastic.
We followed the Waterfront Trail into the city, knowing that a few on-road sections lay ahead. For the first of these, I had read about a shortcut that went alongside a rail line, through a park, and into a neighbourhood rather than staying on-road. When we reached it, I let everyone know I was doing some exploring... and after one or two false starts we found the trail and made the shortcut avoiding a long on-road section (near here) (https://goo.gl/maps/g78FZLQ2u1D2)
What I didn't realize, was that taking the shortcut would bypass one of CycleTO's waypoints - meaning we stranded riders waiting for us there - including the president of CycleTO. Oops. Well, on tour you're supposed to be flexible and enjoy the ride as it comes to you. I felt bad, but we had to continue on... so we did.
A ways further along the trail, we came to a partly closed entrance to "The Guild" - one of our escorts who had lived in the area as a child recalled cutting through the property "back in the day", and was sure he knew a way we could get through. We decided to go on another exploring mission, and after descending a very steep, loose gravel, rough hill with washouts and all sorts of gnarly ugliness, we came to a fence. A fence we could not get around. Everyone turned around and with much chiding of Dave and good hearted laughs, we made our way back up to the main road, and found the established path. Dave became the guide after that, with everyone asking him for advice at every turn, and then doublechecking and teasing him about how it was probably the wrong way... it wasn't and he was a great guide through Toronto.
Just beyond Guildwood, the waterfront trail route cuts through neighbourhoods, before climbing the Scarborough bluffs. Here it has a climb of about 150ft over about 1km. Its a big hill, and when we were first riding, it presented a major challenge, but training all summer paid off, and although it was still a good feeling reaching the top, neither James nor I were particularly winded. Some of our entourage struggled though, so we waited for them at the top, before swooping down the other side and coming out to Kingston road - a major high speed arterial that James and I normally choose to use the sidewalks on. Today though, with our pack of cyclists nearing 15 members, we took a lane and rode all the way down Kingston Road through Scarborough, right to the Toronto Hunt club, and then down into the Beaches neighbourhood. It was like being a truant schoolboy riding along a main road where normally we would be picking our way through sidestreets and neighbourhoods - and we rode with speed, descending into the Toronto beaches at around 25 km/h carrying the weak riders and being carried by the strong ones.
James was getting hungry along here, and it was close to noon, so we popped into KFC to grab lunch. While we were ording I realized I had made a terrible mistake... I had left my wallet at home. Completing a 1000 km bike tour, in which we were relying on a credit card to do our cooking was going to be mighty difficult without my wallet. I called up Momma and let her know the problem. She and J1 were nearby staking out a spot to cheer us on as we rode past, so she drove to the KFC and they cheered us there, then they drove home (45 minutes by car) and got my wallet, and told me they'd meet us at the end of the day.
Once we reached the beaches, we turned into the Balmy Beach Canoe Club, and to take a break. Here I gave James a choice - either we could keep riding, or he could play, but if he played, we would fall off the pace set by CycleTO, and we wouldn't have time to ride on the miniature trains at Toronto's Roundhouse. James opted to keep going, so we picked up a few more cyclists and then got the Martin Goodman Trail to cross Toronto.
As we headed out, a few more cyclists joined us, and then as we rode across the Beaches, folks jumped in as we passed by recognizing us (https://twitter.com/JennehFudge/status/1030922352190742529) from the media and facebook/Twitter posts we had put up. Our group grew and grew.
We had no trouble crossing off the miles to the Roundhouse park with our escorts, and before long we had crossed under the Gardiner Expressway, and zipped along Queens Quay. As we rode we were joined by more and more riders, with more and more of them female. Now our group was truly complete - the Toronto crowd had every gender, ethnicity, and ability level. One of the riders who jumped in was a special ed teacher in from DT toronto who James really gravitated to. The two of them chatted away at the front of the group as the rest of us followed along. We were also joined by the president of Ontario by bike, by a GO Transit special constable, and by piles of other cyclists. As went people would join and leave our group and it truly became a living organism growing and shrinking and changing shape and identity as we rode.
When we reached the Roundhouse, James and I ran to catch the mini train while a few of our group ran into Steam Whistle Brewery to see if we could get a table with everyone together.
The train ride had eluded us all summer - every other time we had rode this trail the train was closed for repairs, or because of weather, or because we had arrived at closing time. In fact we had seen the train in the process of being garaged at least twice - but never been able to ride it. So tantalizing, but no reward. This time, James finally got his ride on the train...
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dk5ihrEXcAE_cdE.jpg:large)
When the Roundhouse heard who we were, they gave a round of beers to all the riders - and a pop and pretzle to James. After the refreshments, we started to see an attrition of all the east-end riders. Many took a quick ride over to Union Station to hop a GO Train home, but a few riders stayed with us - and a few new folks joined in as we continued west toward Mississauga.
Our group now was small, but excited - we were getting closer to our goal of ending at the Clarkson GO station, and we had food in our bellies. We were set to go!
We rejoined the Martin Goodman Trail, and rode across the bottom of Toronto. When we reached the Caledonia (a tall ship parked on the Toronto Waterfront) we met a family who joined up, and then as we crossed the Humber Bridge, we found a whole crowd of west-end cyclists waiting for us - the group began to grow again. We stopped for a quick nosh break at the Toronto Butterfly Garden, and then headed off, aimed at Mississauga. By now the president of CycleTO had found us, and he rode as far as Prince of Wales Park (https://twitter.com/RZaichkowski/status/1030899857983266816).
Our group had a lot of fun through all of the west side of Toronto, finally arriving at Marie Curtis Park close to on time, but feeling much tired than we had in the morning. It was a hot day, and James knew there was a splashpad in the park. He ditched his bike and went running through the water, thoroughly soaking himself. At the park, we were met by Mississauga Cycling who came out with (not exaggerating) 30 cyclists to join our ride. (https://twitter.com/bikeMississauga/status/1030910851497254912) While we were at the park, Dave (not the getting lost Dave, another one) who had been riding with us since the start of the day confessed to me that he had at least two broken spokes in his rear whell, and that he was getting worried about continuing to ride.
After playing in the splashpad, James and I rode off with all the other cyclists following us. We zipped along through Mississauga, but James was clearly losing steam. When we spotted a Dairy Queen, I diverted the ride and we got ice cream. While we were eating, Dave let me know he had lost another 2 spokes, and his wheel felt like it was going to collapse. I offered that I could call Momma since she was nearby with my wallet, and maybe she could take him and his bike to safety. Another cyclist chimed in that they knew a wheelbuilder nearby who could lend a hand. Another suggested a friend. Dave decided to go visit the bike shop while we continued on, and he would meet us at the end of the day.
After our ice cream, James and I, along with our entourage rode off to find Clarkson GO. At a point about 2 blocks from the GO station, there was a disagreement between the guides from Mississauga and half of the group took one route to the station while half took another. We all met back at teh GO station without any incident. According to the twitter tweets, we arrived sometime around 3:30 PM, said goodbye to our friends, and then rode with one of the guides to the home of our host family. Our hosts were coworkers of "Dave with the broken spokes" and when we arrived, Dave was already there - looking somewhat forlorn.
The bike shop had told him that his wheel was unrepairable, and that he should buy a new wheel - they could build him one or order one, but either way he wouldn't get a new wheel until our ride was over. Dave had wanted to keep riding to Niagara Falls with us. He was truly and honestly bummed out. Momma had his bike loaded into our van and was trying to make him feel better, but it wasn't hard to see how disappointed Dave was.
Our host spoke up after a while and asked what a bike for a ride like this needed to be, and we explained that any bike could make the trip. He suggested Dave take a look at the bike in the garage - he had bought it intended to ride to work, but had never used it. The bike had been sitting for over a year - he wasn't even sure how to change gears on it. I piped up that with the tools we had on hand, we could transfer all of Dave's lights and racks etc. to the other frame. Dave took the bike for a ride. It was a good match. We swapped out the seat and racks and other bits to match Dave's setup and he had a bike for day 2.
After that things looked a lot brighter and everyone enjoyed a great visit, talking about what lay ahead, and how the ride was going. Momma left after dinner, and James and I camped out in the backyard. One day and 107 km down, we settled in for a quiet night of backyard camping.
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Thank you so much for sharing this with us, I'm so happy to get to read about your adventures.
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Day 2 tracklog here. (https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=1bb3f5bc8949d2b9cc&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes)
James and I were up early, and tried to be quiet, but our hosts were up ahead of us, cooking up bacon, pancakes, making fruit plates, gourmet coffees, and generally putting on a massive spread. After all the food the night before, we were already full but the extra calories didn't hurt. We ate quickly - but not quick enough, packed up the tent still wet with dew, and then hit the trail. We were late onto the trail and needed to make time up. Dave of the broken spoke (DOTBS) got our host's bike and was ready to ride with us. Our host hopped on his wife's bike - his first ride in ages and rode with us as far as the edge of Mississauga.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dk9kUbnXsAEysAu.jpg)
Our first matter of business was to retrace our steps to the Clarkson GO station to make sure that any joiners would be able to find us, so we went out of our way a couple KM to check in - no one was there, but we loitered until the next train arrived anyhow, just to be sure. More lost time - problematic since our schedule was already kaked and we weren't even on the trail (a pattern emerging early that I ought to have gotten under control).
I hadn't turned on our tracker since our hosts had asked for some anonymity, and we wanted the track to appear to bee continuous from the GO station. Then the wait, then post-coffee-hafta-pee set in. Sadly the Clarkson GO is under construction and we couldn't find a bathroom. We set off down Southdown Road aimed for the Waterfront trail... and searching for a restroom. A ways down the road we found a fruit stand that was opened early. James bought some peaches and plums and tucked them into his handlebar bag, and I found the bathroom. After the fruit stand, I remembered to turnon the GPS... oops.
Near Lake Ontario, we connected with the Waterfront Trail where it leaves Southdown Road. Here the trail winds through a park, and as we entered the park, there was construction paper on the trail weighed down with pebbles. The paper had notes on it with messages about fun times ahead and encouraging words for James. As we went there were more notes and James was excited to have a treasure hunt. before long, @ElleFiji was spotted on the trail along with her love-interest and her Dad. They cheered as we came into the park, and then played (https://twitter.com/RideJamesRide/status/1031165103834587136) on the great equipment there for a few minutes.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dk9uFU8XoAEc0mM.jpg:large)
After the park, we rode on to Lakeshore Road where the trail ended and we found ourselves sharing the road with morning traffic as we went through Oakville. The beauty of our trip though was that even though it was a major road we had to ride, early on a Sunday morning, there was more MAMIL traffic than cars, so we only had bikes buzzing past us. A few recognized who we were and waved, most were ambivalent. Riding through Oakville was mostly meh. We sped along at about 20 kph on the mostly flat roads past rich people's houses.
As the day wore on, we neared a park that looked like a good rest stop, so we started watching for opportunities to cross the road into the park. Coming the other way, we spotted some familiar faces. Uncle Charles, Aunt Sue, and some cousins had come to ride with us. We were excited for the new company, but they were riding the other way, on the opposite side of the road looking for us. James and I flagged them down, and we all rendezvoused at the park ahead (https://twitter.com/RideJamesRide/status/1031186970897211394). While we played, a family with a disabled child came by and asked if we were RideJamesRide and if they could get photos with us. We talked for a while about autism and their child's struggles, and then rode off with Aunt Sue and Uncle Charles.
Aunt Sue and Uncle Charles were not accomplished cyclists. They were uncomfortable in the bike lanes and were slow and deliberate in their riding. I was glad they were keeping safe, but our schedule was already behind, and now it was getting behinder. We waited under a shady tree for them to catch up, and then tried to explain how glad we were that they had come out to support us, but that we needed to be in Hamilton on time since riders were waiting for us there. They understood and congratulated us on doing so well, then encouraged us to go our own speed... so we did, riding back at our normal pace of about 20 km/h.
We passed out of Oakville and into Burlington, where our ride continued along the Lakeshore Road bike lanes, eventually leading to a point where the waterfront trail (really its a route at this point) split two ways - either to continue into Hamilton and the Royal Bottanical Gardens, or to wrap around Hamilton Harbour on a causeway aimed at the Niagara Region. With a 50-50 chance of getting things right, we went the wrong way.
This added a few km to our route, so it wasn't a big deal, but they were uncomfortable km on a busy road, when we should have been on a nice trail... and the schedule dammit - the schedule!
We doubled back, found the trail, and got on it, headed for the Hamilton Harbour lift bridge (https://twitter.com/RideJamesRide/status/1031214273903685632). At teh lift bridge the trail is a little confusing, but we sorted it out without issue. Here you get up onto the bridge using a wheel trough on a set of stairs. It was no easy feat pushing loaded touring bikes up those stairs - and I'd hate try and take a non-traditional bike (a trike or a recumbent) up there - in any case, after hauling the three bikes up, we walked the bridge without incident. On the other side, we repeated the staircase but this time downhill, holding the bikes against gravity (with much braking) as we trudged down the steps. Crossing the bridge was an event. It meant we had crossed out of the hold of the Greater Toronto Area, and entered Niagara. Now we were on a real trail, and beside us were sand beaches filled with holiday-makers. I started watching intently for "Sharp Guy" a twitter fiend who sharpshooted first comment on many of our posts and sounded like a die-hard cycling advocate.
We found him eventually - but he was not at all what we were expecting. At heart he was a nice guy - but his workboots and jean-jacket, nicotine stained fingers, and (to steal a word from Dickens) capaciousness gave evidence that he might not be so very hard core. What he lacked in capability though, he made up for in generousity. Sharp guy waited for us despite our lateness, and he had gifts for James - buttons to add to his handlebar bag, and stickers and trinkets we could easily carry - he was thoughtful.
James however was getting tired, and my insistence on maintaining the schedule was wearing on him. I decided that we should take a perk-up break soon to keep him from losing his edge, so I asked Sharp Guy for the location of the nearest ice cream stop. Sharp Guy volunteered to lead to a place right on the trail... which he did... at about 12 km/h. DOTBS and I were exchanging looks. We tried leading ahead. We tried having James lead ahead. No matter what we did, Sharp Guy plodded along at the same speed in the same gear. I was trying to let go of the schedule, but I also knew that further down the trail we had other folks waiting for us. We needed this guy to get some kick going.
Eventually we found the ice cream shop, and got our treats. James' ice cream immediately fell into the beach sand outside, resulting in many tears. Things were starting to really fall apart. I took the sand-covered ball of ice cream inside and got a replacement. We ate our treats. DOTBS and I plotted an escape. Sharp Guy shared his stories. Eventually we just got on the bikes and started riding.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dk-bUFEXgAc5IpD.jpg:large)
(James eating Ice Cream, Sharp Guy behind him, DOTBS under tree in BG)
If I had of known how uncomfortable the next leg of our day was going to be, I might have charted a different route. Sharp guy rode alongside us for about an hour or so, and we found ourselves riding on the South Service Road alongside the QEW - the major freeway between Niagara Falls and Toronto. I had been warned by the Waterfront Trail folks that this was a tough piece of the route, but had shrugged it off (how bad can it be?) it turned out to be about the worst piece of riding in the whole trip.
As the day warmed, a headwind built. Cars on the QEW were snarled as always and we got to hear horns and listen to engines. When they weren't stopped they whizzed by at 130 km/h close enough that we felt their draught. On the service road immediately beside us were cars trying to best the travel times on the QEW - many of them feet away travelling at 100km/h.
Eventually DOTBS asked me to keep an eye out for a spot to take a pee break, and we spotted a Costco on the opposite side of the freeway. We stopped in for hotdogs and bathrooms. While I stood there a pile of folks came up and asked what we were doing, where we were headed, and a few mentioned seeing us on the news. The acknowledgement was nice.
After the break, we got back on the bikes and rode a gruelling few hours in the heat and wind. DOTBS was losing his mojo, James wasn't talking. I was unhappy but trying to keep up a good face. It was flat and harmless riding, but the environment was so uninviting that what could have a beautiful ride along the lakeshore was instead a slog through a concrete wasteland. We were surrounded by wineries and grape vines grew in rows right down to the water. All we saw though was traffic, noise walls, and concrete. And it went on, and on, and on.
As we rode, I started getting messages from the Niagara Freewheelers cycling club asking for our location and our ETA to Charles Daly park. I shared our location with them, and let DOTBS and James know that riders were waiting ahead... we can look forward to some company! The world is great! The slog will soon end! (No effect).
Eventually we came to Jordan Harbour where we saw the famous pirate ship. Then we found the entrance to the park. Somewhere nearby was deliverance. I started texting furiously while James played and DOTBS wandered. The freewheelers were waiting for us at the next intersection. They had 4 riders to escort us to our camp for the night. They refused to ride on the South Service road - it was the worst riding around. (As if we didn't know!)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dk_TEofX0AEjB4g.jpg:large)
We left the park, and sure enough at the next corner were a handful of riders - 2 women and 2 men, waiting to escort us the rest of the way to our destination.
The ride from the park to the scout camp where we spent the night was fantastic. Our escort rode this route regularly, and they knew the roads well - right down to where teh potholes to avoid were. Plus having their wheels to draught made a big difference. We rode along at 18 km/h, and enjoyed the scenery away from the busy traffic of the QEW and with only the odd farm vehicle to disturb us. This part of Niagara was really flat, so we focussed on the fruit trees and houses and gardens - and before you knew it we were pulling into the scout camp... which was decidedly not flat.
Wetaskiwin Scout Camp is built on floodplain in the bottom of a ravine that can't have permanent dwellings. The road down into the camp is loose gravel, and control on it is... variable. Our escorts warned us that we might want to walk down it. Two of them loaded their bikes into cars to drive down. We opted to ride in along with our two other escorts. It was great fun swooping down the hill, a welcome reward after a tough day. The gravel rolled everywhere as we went, and we may have skidded once or twice, but no one wiped out. At the bottom of the hill we found some scouters waiting for us. We were late - but still in time for dinner.
A bunch of kids ran and played on the property, organized mayhem as parents and leaders tried to corral them. James joined in and finally got to be a kid after two days of pictures and hurrying up and schedules and grown-ups.
A load of laundry was put on. James went swimming in the pool. We cleaned up, and then had a BBQ with hamburgers and sausages and all manner of junk food before settling into our cabin for the night.
The cabin we had is worthy of mention. It was once the camp caretaker's summer home. A simple 2-room shack. The three of us would share it for the night. We were warned to be careful about where we stepped... and sure enough the floor was covered in old highway signs. Lifting the signs showed holes where the floor had rotten through. The walls were covered in outdoor gear - skis, snowshoes, fishing poles and baskets, old lanterns, trail markers and so on. The place was fantastic. On the door frame was a plaque to memorialize a scouter who had camped there on his first night of through-hiking the Bruce Trail as a charity walk for kids.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlAfnxjX0AEu8IB.jpg)
At dinner, the camp leaders called everyone to order for an announcement, and then presented James with a plaque - it matched the one already on the door of the cabin. This one talked about how RideJamesRide had stayed here on night two of his historic ride to Coney Island, and we went straightaway to mount it on the door frame next to the plaque for the Bruce trail thru-hiker. We felt special. Then it was a campfire, and finally, off to bed.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlAN3sUWsAA-Hjk.jpg)
Total distance travelled: 205.1 km
Distance travelled today: 99.3 km. Felt like a billion. Never slept so well.
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You are a great storyteller. I'm really enjoying the tale of your ride.
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+1. I had quite the emotional and psychological journey through that post!
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You are a great storyteller. I'm really enjoying the tale of your ride.
+1. Although I almost wish he wrote this up with a man cold.
Great story so far. Eagerly awaiting the next installment.
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Day 3: Prologue
In the days before we headed out on this adventure, our day 3 host family left us a message that he had found a new job after a long bout of unemployment, and was going to be out of town when we got to Medina. Since he couldn't offer us a place to stay any more, he had arranged for us to stay at a Lama Farm/B-N-B someplace else in town.
Two days before our trip we called teh lama farm to confirm plans and let them know what to expect. The farm didn't know what we were talking about, but offered us a room at a reasonable rate, and breakfast would cost extra. They didn't do dinner.
About this time we started getting emails from a town staff saying they had heard we were out of luck on staying with their friend, but they wanted to take us out for dinner, and they would try to find room for us if they didn't hear anything.
The night before we left home, we were at a sendoff party, and mentioned what a mess Medina had become. One of the clients (a 20 yr old, wheelchairbound with limited mobility in all her limbs) told us not to worry about it, she would take care of us. I hid my skepticism. Poorly.
So, starting out on Day 3, we had no clue where we were ending the day, or even if we'd have a place. I figured that the worst case was we'd pitch a tent on the side of the trail someplace and rough camp. Best case was we'd have a backyard. </Prologue>
Day 3 Triplog (https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=1bb485bc8aafcd564f&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes)
Waking up to an empty scout camp was strange. The night before, this space had been filled with people shouting and running, but now it was Monday, the world was at home or at work, and we were the truants, out playing on a workday. We packed up our things, went over the day ahead, and got on the road on time for the first time in the whole trip. Here's our departure tweet. (https://twitter.com/RideJamesRide/status/1031501982186528769)
Today we would cross the border into the USA, we'd find the Erie canal Tow Path and begin riding it, and we'd have to figure out our nighttime accommodations on the fly. We had much to look forward to - and much uncertainty. A screw-up at the border could send us into a tailspin, and while not knowing where we were sleeping could be an issue, a bigger problem could be slighting the mayor if he showed up at the wrong place looking for us. First we had the hill to face though...
Flying down the hill into camp the day before had been exhilarating, but now facing it first thing in the morning - before breakfast even, since we lacked the foresight to set aside food the night before - was not something we were looking forward to. DOTBS was particularly unhappy about setting out without food - he's a big guy who monitors his nutrition closely with his exercise regime, and apparently working out without feeding the machine means a loss in muscle mass... or something. I forget. I also don't work out and rarely eat breakfast.
We began cranking our way up the hill, and found that it was easier than we had expected. In fact we emerged at the top with a sort of "That's it?" moment before heading off toward Niagara Falls. We were on some pretty narrow roads twisting along the "short Hills" next to the aptly named "Short Hills Provincial Park" and enjoying the views and early morning temperatures when my phone started ringing. I pulled off the road in the next driveway and called back the number expecting a Niagara Falls reporter or similer. Instead I got a person talking to me as if they knew me... while I didn't know them. The message was really short. They saw our GPS tracker moving, and wanted to let us know everything was taken care of. Camp at the Medina Methodist Church. Click. Hummmmm.
I looked at Dave and shrugged. Everything is taken care of I guess. We're camping at the Methodist church.
As we started cranking away at the pedals again, I tried to think how food would work, and if I should call back the other woman who was eager to feed us - maybe she'd be willing to arrange dinner. No worries, we'd just get there and figure things out. For now we needed to find breakfast.
We rode around the Short Hills, screaming down the steep descents at 40 and 45 km/h, setting new record speeds with each one, and grinding our way up the next rise. It was some tough riding, but not terrible, and once we were past teh ravine and river drainage, things leveled out again with the grape vines reappearing. We were really hungry, but there had been no sign of life on the road at all. Unless you count one landscaping crew burning brush along a ditchline, or the cars that passed us 2-3 at a time heading into Niagara Falls to work.
Eventually we crossed over hwy 406 - the freeway that leads to Buffalo, and teh Welland Canal, and I knew we were getting close to Niagara Falls. But the guys didn't care.
DOTBS was becoming increasingly hungry. Before long James started chiming in as well about breakfast. I diverted from our planned route to take us past a gas station with a Subway attached. Maybe a breakfast sub would be OK. It wasn't. But James and I stopped in the gas station to see what we could find in the corner store. James found gummy worms. He bought a container of them to fill his top-tube bar. I found a coffee. But no cream... and it was too hot to drink. I had a few sips, and then in the interest of keeping on time dumped the rest of it and rode off.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlC5rrRUYAIjeUv.jpg)
The ride into Niagara Falls along MacLeod Rd had us alongside some busy traffic, but we didn't care too much. We were too focused on finding breakfast. Up ahead we saw the Golden Arches, and DOTBS decided that was where he was heading. He rode like the wind, and with James went inside to find breakfast while I stood watch over the bikes outside again. I'm pretty sure that by this stage, DOTBS didn't care what he ate, he just wanted calories.
As DOTBS and James ate breakfast, a couple came by and shyly asked questions about us. Apparently they too had heard of us on the news, and they were excited to see us here on our way. The wife kept elbowing the husband as they spoke, and they were the cutest couple ever. They went to their car to leave, and then the husband came back and handed me $40 - he was embarassed and explained that sometime he didn't know why his wife nudged him. He hoped we had a great trip.
Once we were on our own, James asked if we could go to Marineland or Great Wolf Lodge, and I had to say no - we were going right past them, but we just didn't have time to go to the amusement parks. Some time we'd Come back with Momma and J2 for those things. James was crestfallen. We left McDonalds with a pretty glum chum.
It wasn't long after McDonalds that we rode into the Niagara Falls Tourist centre. We went past the "skid Row" of old restauarants and gift shops and past the Ricoh Tower and FallsView Casino, and then, we came to Clifton Hill. Here the lights and sounds of the Hill caught James' attention. He wanted to do all the things. He wanted to buy all teh stuff. He wanted to just stop the whole ride here and not get back on his bike. It took some explaining to tell him that this looked like fun, but we had to keep going, and we were going to come back with Mom and Joe so we'd do all this stuff then. We got a picture, and the poor kid rode down the hill past all the distractions. I felt like a schmo.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dp1qgoXX4AApLnM.jpg:large)
At the bottom of the hill we came to the falls. We needed to get a pic of the FROG bike with the falls in the background and James wearing his FROG gear. We tried. It went poorly. No matter what we did, it got worse. Eventually we gave up and just posted up the best of the worst photos (https://twitter.com/RideJamesRide/status/1031549025730940928). Frog never complained, so I guess that's a win. The pics got a lot of likes, but you can see that James really isn't happy.
From the lookout, we rode back up Clifton Hill (worst Dad ever) and toward the Duty Free shop and bridge to the USA. I had been looking forward to crossing on the Rainbow bridge, but in just the days before our trip I learned that bikes had to use the car lanes to cross the bridge. I was a little worried about it. I had also learned that the best photos of the falls could be had in the duty free parking lot. We stopped in the duty free lot and tried once more to get a good picture of James and the bike. here he liked the novelty of sitting on the ledge, and was a little better about the pics. His smile is still pretty forced though. Ugh. So much for the glamour shots with the bike.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlDOBrxXgAEyHm4.jpg:large)
Once the pics were done, we said goodbye to DOTBS - he wasn't continuing on in the USA with us - hopped on our bikes and rode out of the duty free lot, onto the rainbow bridge. According to our tracklog it was at about 10:37 that we left Canada. we'd been on the road for 3 hours.
Our trip across the bridge into the USA would have been without incident, except that I asked James to stop for a minute so I could try a photo on the bridge. As we took the pic, a car came across and was upset that we delayed him, and decided to sit on the horn. I wasn't sure why he would care about the delay since we were heading into the customs queues where we'd all be sitting anyways. We snapped the photo quickly and got out of there.
According to the GPS, we were in the customs queue for about 10 minutes. As we crept along behind the cars, a motorcycle was beside us. These guys were heading home to Indiana after a tour of Ontario and Quebec. We shared stories and wished each other well as we inched forward in the queue, and then, just like that, James and I were next in line for customs.
Of all the things that could go wrong in this trip, this was the one that scared me most. First, I wasn't sure whether James and I could go through together, or if we would need to be processed individually. Second, I wasn't sure how we would be treated since we were fundraising along our ride. Finally, with recent news stories, I had some irrational fears that James would be detained someplace while I was freed to go - or vice versa - and either way, without each other things would go really bad really fast - James doesn't always behave as one might expect, and on his own in a detention room, things could get tough.
We rolled up to the customs window and I handed over our itinerary (complete with host families and media contacts), passports, and notarized letter to travel alone with my son.
The guard read it over and asked where we were going. "Coney Island"
"New York City?"
"That's the one!"
"How long will that take!?!"
"We expect to arrive by labour day"
"Good luck son."
And it was over. We were in America.
We hadn't even left the customs booth when we were being waved over by Charles. He was a member of the Frontier Cycling Club, and had heard of us through a friend. he was here now to ride with us through Niagara Falls and over to the Erie Canal... let's go!
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlDRbEvX4AAllEO.jpg:large)
We rolled out into Niagara Falls roads and started away, james still gnawing on gummy worms, and Charles leading us along. James asked if there were any playgrounds nearby, and Charles said he thought he had seen one. A few blocks later we stopped at a playground and let James go. He ran and played and did kid stuff until he'd had enough, and then we rode some more.
I felt bad making Charles keep on stopping but I had to get a cheap charge on my credit card to activate our US travel insurance, so we pulled in to a dollar store and bought... something. I forget what. Then James wanted ice cream, so we stopped by a KFC to get some soft-serve. We learned that in teh USA, KFC doesn't have softserve (https://www.kfc.co.uk/our-food/treats/kream-ball-caramel-fudge), so poor James struck out again and didn't get his Ice cream ball.
We kept on riding though, and eventually we came to the edge of town. Across the road I could see a handful of folks pointing at us and riding through parking lots. We came to busy, 6-leg intersection and rode across, and when we got to the opposite side the riders met us. Apparently they too were part of Charles' club, and had been watching our progress and waiting to ride with us. We were now a pack of 6. And these Moms had brought their son to ride along.
Pretty soon we had a good pace going with the Moms leading the ride, James and the son in the middle, and Charles and I bringing up the rear of our little pack. The lot of us whizzed through what remained of Niagara Falls, and James and his new friend chatted (and shared gummy worms) all the way to Lockport.
With a friend to talk to, all of James' disappointments from earlier in the day melted away, and he chatted away cheerily about everything and nothing. Topics ranged from Minecraft to bikes to all his expertise on the things we had seen on the trip. The two boys had loads of fun. (https://twitter.com/RideJamesRide/status/1031597386018091008)
Once we arrived at Lockport, we stopped at Lake Effect Ice Cream, and there the Mom bought everyone a treat. This place had an assortment of every kind of ice cream - and every combination - imaginable. I think I got a coconut milkshake. I forget what James got. He was feeling pretty good about it.
As we ate, I got a message on my phone that we had been spotted in Lockport, and not to go anywhere, they were coming to us. Getting these messages can be disconcerting, but also exciting. sometimes the media has gotten your number, but also with how public the ride was, it could be a "fan" or a weirdo. You never know. We finished our ice cream and then wasted a little time. When no one showed up, I suggested that James and I should head over to the canal museum, and the moms and the son headed away to the rest of their day.
We went to the museum, where we were surprised that the staff didn't know we were coming (we had been tweeting them incessantly for weeks) and James loved playing with the displays and pushing buttons. Here he actually insisted that I take pictures of him - which I did. When we were done, we returned to Charles who was resting outside waiting for us.
We were surprised to find Charles wasn't alone when we got outside. Instead he was surrounded by a family - two parents and two kids - both the kids in wheelchairs... one of them very familiar.
Without an introduction the father set in and explained that everything was taken care of and we shouldn't worry about anything. They would meet us up there and if there was anything we needed to just let them know and it would be OK. The Mom kept interrupting with details and facts as though it was helpful but everything was lost on me until two words were mentioned... Methodist Church. This family was who had called me in the morning. They had set up a camp for us at the Methodist Church. The daughter wasn't their daughter. She was the girl from the sendoff party. Somehow she was here in Lockport NY, in her chair, and had arranged for these people to set up camp for us. You could have knocked me over with a feather.
We said goodbyes - after the family made sure we wrote down the address of teh methodist church and looked it up on Google Maps, and explained how to get there - and then got back on our bikes to ride the rest of the way, with Charles still escorting us.
We rode from Lockport along the trail. Its gravel was a big change from teh smooth asphalt we'd had through Niagara - we hadn't been on a proper trail since riding with Sharp Guy back in Hamilton. It gave resistance and we had to work harder on it. It was late in the day and our speed dropped by a few km/h, but we still felt pretty good. The lift of a good friend and some ice cream went a long way. We rode past our first canal towns - Gasport and Middleport and I commented on how pretty they were. I wished I had time to stop and poke around their downtowns. Oh well. We'd have to come back some time with Momma and J2.
Still though it was getting late as we rolled in to Medina and made our way past the town hall, past the Lama farm, and up to the Methodist Church to find our camp. It was no camp at all.
There in the church parking lot, parked under a big tree and next to a gazebo was a 40' Class A RV with three slide-outs (https://twitter.com/RideJamesRide/status/1031657735316627456). Under an awning a carpet was laid out and chairs were in a circle. On them sat our friends from the museum, and from inside we could smell pizza and wings. The whole of the thing was decorated with cards and posters drawn up by schoolkids - apparently our Grandview friend had a sister who taught a grade 2 class, and she had encouraged them all to draw up cards and posters for James.
I was blown away.
Charles had a slice of pizza and some wings, then hopped back on his bike - he was riding back to Lockport where his car was. I gave him our Waterfront Trail guide to thank him for riding with us. The family disappeared. Then a car pulled up, and a lady asked how she could help us out - she had wanted to take us for dinner, but she heard from the pizza shop that we'd already eaten. What else could she do for us? I asked if she'd mind doing a load of laundry, and she happily disappeared with our clothes.
James and I melted into the leather seats of the RV. He put a movie into the TV in his bunk and laid there with candy and cookies he'd found in the cupboards. I had a cold beer and pizza. Sometimes when you let providence provide, it provides really well.
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I'm not crying you're crying. The connections and community you meet and build on your rides is amazing.
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I'm not crying you're crying. The connections and community you meet and build on your rides is amazing.
Oh yes! Thank you for sharing your adventure with us.
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I am loving the story.
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Day 4 Tracklog (https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=1bba15bca125c53827&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes) - Medina NY to Rochester NY.
We awoke on time on Tuesday, and had a breakfast of all the stuff in the RV. Leftover pizza and wings, cereal with milk, candy, fruit, literally everything. Then after we were sufficiently suffonsified, we went outside to a light rain and packed the bikes. The rain looked uninviting, and I took my time, hoping it would clear.
James and I put on our rain gear, and I found a rain cover for one of the panniers. (We had 4 waterproof panniers, and 2 water-resistant ones.) Finally I decided that the rain wasn't going to get any lighter and we should just head out. We had barely turned on out lights and there was a crack of thunder, a whoosh of wind, and the rain intensified. We stacked the chairs under the awning and scurried back inside the camper to hide from the storm.
Inside the RV:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlHiNvzXoAASUSA.jpg)
I remembered having heard of awning on RVs like this being torn off the vehicle in a storm, and I was worried about ours being damaged, but I had no idea how to retract the thing, so I just crossed my fingers that all would be well. Half an hour later the wind abated, and James and I headed out in the light drizzle.
Today was James and my first day of riding entirely alone. We knew there would be no escorts popping up in rural towns, and this was our first chance to have real Dad & kid day. I hoped it would be a fun time.
We retraced our route through Medina to the Erie Canal Towpath (ECTP). The streets were quiet this early and we had no issues at all. Once we found we got on it, and found that the crushed limestone surface when wet gave off a grey slurry that coated everything. The surface was fine for riding on - it was well packed and smooth, but the spray from it was rock dust and it acted like ultra-fine sandpaper in our chains and brakes.
The ECTP runs alongside the canal on top of dikes or on the bank in a mostly straight, flat line. It has very little in terms of hills or curves. In fact the Canal is often referred to as "The Long Level." It is not hard riding, except for the rolling resistance from the gravel. Because the path is so consistent, any departure from the gravel trail is interesting.
As the towpath came into Medina, it went up onto the canal wall. Here the trail is only a few feet wide, and there is no safety railing. To make matters worse, the concrete surface is grooved with channels to take water into the canal. A tire getting caught ion one of the grooves would have unfortunate consequences. But the town - as with all the other canal towns was pretty. These small places set back 100 years - pften with traditionally painted boats and buildings are interesting and fun to see. We rode carefully along the canal wall, and passed safely through town. Video: https://twitter.com/i/status/1031885761275080704
One of the more interesting sights in Medina (especially in a rain storm) is that here the Canal is in a bridge, and the bridge passes over a waterfall. We were able to ride over the waterfall on a bridge carrying a river. It was a strange thing indeed - especially with the waterfall at high flow as it carried off the rainwater from our morning storm. (Google Map - https://goo.gl/maps/DLMH4AxDG4y )
Outside Medina, we spotted a deer lying down in a corn field. It was a big healthy deer, and we felt lucky to have spotted her. Probably the farmer didn't fell that way though.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlICzdbUcAA0o2q.jpg)
Along the canal, every town has a matching lift bridge. The bridges mostly serve pleasure boaters today, and they are all painted the
same with the town name on them. In Eagle Harbour the scene was quite nice as there was a canal boat tied off beside the bridge and rain made everything look shiny. I tried to caprture it, but I'm not that great of a photographer.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlIGn9gVsAA6T8h.jpg)
We rode past Eagle Harbour in no particular hurry, enjoying the pretty morning, and chatting about nothing and everything. The trouble with the canal though is that you ride past these towns and just get a peek into their downtown as you pass the bridges into them. I felt like Tantalus peeking into the villages but never visiting. I would have loved to stop and poke through the antique shops, walk the downtown and see what secrets were waiting to be discovered.
The next town we rode past was Albion where there is a jail, and I joked with James that we better watch for escapees - we didn't find any, but the prison did look like it was big and important over on the other side of the river. We rode past a couple of other towns. We stopped at a bike shop in Hulberton. Here the bike mechanic adjusted James' computer so it could pick up mileage properly, and we talked about how he had left a "real job" so he could explore his passion for bikes, and his wife could run a business selling her art and hemp oil products. We bought a couple coasters to take home with us, and with a working bike computer.
When we got to Holley, James said he needed a bathroom break, so we pulled off the trail into a park. James found a bathroom and I took some pictures. There was a sign in the park for a museum, and James asked if we could visit it. Without a schedule of people to meet today I thought we could afford the time so we headed off along a trail looking for the museum. We never found it though, so we just returned to the trail and headed off toward Rochester. Holley was really quaint, as pretty as any other canal town.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlI1uWnU4AAruZZ.jpg:large)
The canal continued on, quiet and still as we rode alongside in the post-rain grey, all the colours of the landscape intensified against the flat sky. As we went, we passed some trail maintenance vehicles looking for downed trees from the storm, and a crew repairing a gopher hole - these holes could breach the dike, and there is a need for constant maintenance of the canal banks.
It was lunchtime as we rode into Brockport, and James and I were talking about where to eat. I suggested we could hold off until Spencerport, and had barely finished saying so, when I smelled that mixture of woodsmoke and bacon that can only mean one thing... a pig was being roasted someplace nearby. Lunch plans were immediately changed.
We rode across a bridge into Brockport, and down into town, and sure enough, just off the road there was a fellow feeding wood into an oil drum smoker in a parking lot behind some businesses. I asked him if we could buy our lunch off him, and he told me he was cooking for a restaurant a block down the road. We headed over and took a seat.
James got pizza, and I had a Cuban sandwich made with the smoked pork. It was delicious. On our bill I wrote for the restaurant to give us a shoutout on twitter, and they did - we replied with a message about how great lunch was. It really was fantastic!
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlI7qKcU8AARB8b.jpg:large)
Today's pace was much more relaxed a than previously, and it was much more enjoyable. We saw the Corning Glass barge, and stopped at some parks. Through the day the sky cleared and the rain dried up. The ride was really quite enjoyable.
Beyond Brockport, there were more and more houses as we approached Rochester, coming through Spencerport and Greece. We passed "Henpeck Park" which made me laugh, and then we were into Rochester proper, leaving the comfort of the trail to ride through an industrial area in Rochester. We crossed a busy, industrial road, following sharrows through a part of town that was all factories and busy-ness. Just when that was over there was huge park - with a splashpad that looked like fun, but when we pulled up to play at it there was a sign that made it very clear that this park was for residents of a certain neighbourhood.
We rode on right through downtown Rochester, and finally ended the day at our host family's house where we were welcomed by the Mom and her son - a 3 year old who was very excited to have a famous person - James - stay there.
James wasn't even off his bike and the boy had gotten under his skin. For the remainder of our stay, parents had to play referee as the boy tried to be friends with James, and James tried to escape the boy. To be fair, a 3 year old only child without social boundaires is pretty hard to take when they keep pressing for attention, but on James' side, he could have managed the situation a lot better than just telling the kid to go away.
I spent a lot of the night apologizing. James just wanted to get away. This family had such high hopes for our visit, and I felt bad that we weren't better guests.
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Day 5 - No Tracklog (Rest Day)
James and I woke up in the back yard of our host family's house in Downtown Rochester to a heavy dew and the sounds of a city waking up. We had plans to visit the Strong Museum of Play and to try a "Rochester Garbage Plate". We had some chores to complete as well - we needed to get laundry done, find the "Visit Rochester" Tourism office, and to try and replace the bike light that I had given DOTBS when he had to outfit the borrowed bike. I had forgotten to take it back when we crossed into the USA, and now I felt naked riding without a tail light.
When I went downstairs to get stuff from the bikes, I snapped a pic of our mileage on the bike computer. I'm glad I did. This became a daily routine, and a way to track how far we had gone each day. We were up 379 km by now. A long way from home.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlNXlm9XoAAat0z.jpg)
Our host family prepared us a breakfast of watermelon and pancakes and a billion other things, and then offered to escort us to the museum - since she worked there, she knew how to get in quickly and could get us free passes. It was very generous of her. James and I along with our host and her son went to the museum right when it opened, and she showed us some of the rooms her family enjoyed. We visited the fish and saw the play land with construction sites for kids to play in, and the controls of a space ship, and the Bernstein bears room... then as her son tired, she said goodbye, and left us to enjoy the space.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlNjL7XUUAAf-dY.jpg)
The Strong is unlike any other museum I have ever visited. it has hardly any "displays" - instead the place is full of scenarios and imaginary worlds for kids to play in. Looking for pirates, dragons, and giants? It has them. Looking for futuristic robots and space? It has those too. Looking for a full size store with carts and cash registers? It has that too.
The special displays when we were there were pinball and video games on loan. We went into the room, played with a sphero for bit, then got tokens and started playing video games. The games took me back to when I was kid with titles like "Streetfighter" and "Galactica" - James had a blast flitting from machine to machine, playing away. I was a little disappointed though that there was only one pinball machine. When I was a teenager, I may have pumped a lot of quarters into a certain F-14 TomCat pinball machine.
It was nearing lunchtime when another museum visitor mentioned to his kids that there were more video games upstairs. When James heard this, his ears perked up, and we went hunting for the games. Now we found the museum's permanent collection of video games that was a continuum of games through the ages with everything from old oscilloscope "pong-like" games played using dials and switches up to the most modern of arcade and console games. And in the middle of the floor was a whole room dedicated to pinball machines. We played and played and played. I didn't take too many pictures though - too busy with the flippers. I did manage one of James on the Merry-Go-round.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlOh9srXoAMKZnu.jpg)
Before we knew it, it was late afternoon, and we had to get to the Visit Rochester centre to make ourselves known. We dragged ourselves away from the pinball and video games, hurried through the remaining rooms of board games and toys, and aimed ourselves at the very heart of downtown Rochester.
Along the way, we found an old-school bike shop where there was all manner of cycling paraphernalia on the walls and the floor and you had to be careful where you stepped. The owner watched us poke around and when I told him what I was looking for (a certain style of tail light that is very bright - even daylight visible) he told me what he had and grabbed it off the shelf without thinking.
As we prepared to pay, another customer came in riding a brompton folding bike, and asked the owner to put up a poster about an upcoming cycling event involving a family picnic and a ride through town. I figured the guy must represent the local advocacy group and inserted myself in the conversation, sharing some of our efforts to get more folks on bikes back home. He was thrilled and surprised to hear about our ride. Before long we were talking, and he asked if it would be OK for him to round up some folks to ride out of Rochester with us the next morning. Of course we accepted the offer.
We paid for the lights, left the shop and continued toward downtown. Along the way we passed a couple police officers on bikes, and we went through a lovely open space where we later learned a freeway had been filled in and replaced with a cycletrack. Eventually we found the address for the Rochester visitor centre... but there was just a big office tower there.
A small sign directed us to the 4th floor, and it was once we were in the elevator that I realized we were in the Rochester Administrative building - possibly the town hall. When we got out of the elevator, staff were excited to meet us and they showered James with gifts - sunglasses, buttons, colouring books, and stickers. It was great meeting these guys and seeing how happy they were that we chose to visit. I got the sense that not too many folks make it up the 4th floor of that building to see the visit Rochester offices. (Watch for the sunglasses in upcoming pictures - he loved them)
Now that we were done there we needed to get back to our host family for dinner. I had decided we would take them to dinner and get the Garbage plates since they had been so good to us - and to make up for how James had acted toward their son - so i called to let them know we were on our way home. No one picked up.
My phone was down to 7% battery life.
No worries, I'd just get an Uber and then handle things once we got there. This was when I realized that the Uber app wasn't on the charity's phone that I had been using, so I tried to download it. Battery at 5%.
The app finally loaded, but it wouldn't recognize my credit card... after three attempts, I finally got it to associate my Gmail, credit card and facebook accounts - or some combination of them. Battery at 3%.
We were outside in the bright sun,. but the screen was basically black and it was hard to see to order the car so I turned up the screen, pressed the button to get a car, and the phone died. Ded.
No worries, Rochester is fairly compact and since we were right downtown, we'd probably see a taxi or something soon. James and I started walking toward our billet, watching for taxis. We've traveled enough with him and he's seen us flag down enough cars that for James this wasn't too weird. We'd just keep an eye out.
There were no taxis. We saw cars for transporting hospital patients (couldn't take healthy people) and cars for transporting office supplies, and all other manner of delivery vehicle, but no taxis.
Eventually we were passed by a bus, and we tried to flag it down, but it just cruised past us. I could see a long delay in traffic ahead though, so James and I ran for it, getting to the bus stop while the bus sat in a line of cars. By now we were already halfway home, but whatever, a ride partway was better than no ride at all, and the bus was cheaper than the taxi or uber would have been.
We got off a block from our billet, walked through the neighbourhood, and came home. We'd made it.
The Mom didn't want to go out for a Garbage Plate, so we went with the Dad and their son. Apparently a restaurant called "Nick Tahou Hots" is the home of the Garbage Plate, and it is the real deal, so we went there. Folks, the Mom had the best dinner that night. No one was very impressed with the traditional dish of Rochester.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlPSIIdXsAAhazf.jpg)
We returned to the billets house, got teh bikes ready for the riding on the following day and went to bed having had a load of fun all over Rochester - and promising ourselves that we'd return with Mom and J2 - they'd LOVE that museum.