Well seems a little hard to believe that after all the planning, organizing and training that it has been almost two full weeks since the PEI TIP to TIP ride.
I have to start by thanking a whole bunch of family and friends that made the ride possible. My In-Laws for getting me to the North Cape starting point the night before the ride, being able to stay in the Motor home over night made getting going in the morning a whole lot better, it was also nice to know that they were back there with an eye on traffic.
My Sister Pat and Brother Mike for all the pre-planning and ride day coordination. You both went above and beyond in order to make sure the million details that needed doing were done. Keeping everything moving on time, setups at the rally points, food and generally making sure I was safe and had everything I needed.
Of coarse none of this would have been possible without the support and inspiration of "My Girls", Tracey, Megan and Abby.
A big thank you to the Maritime JDRF team that made the trek to PEI for the day, and helped out however they could, Marilyn and Lara thanks again.
Thanks to my wife's work and the generous support of our sponsors including the Wharf Rat Rally in Digby http://www.wharfratrally.com/ Magic Lamp Software http://www.magiclampsoftware.net/ to go and all our PEI golf partners, Belfast Highland Greens, Red Sands Golf Club, Mill River resorts, Fox Meadow, Anderson's Creek, Green Gables, Glasgow Hills resort, Glen Afton, Rustico Resort and Stanhope Golf and Country Club.
As luck would have it I choose to ride from the most north/western point of PEI to the south/east, and unfortunately the wind decided to blow straight out of the south/east, at 30km gusting to 60km, which mean we had a solid head wind for the entire day, but such is the luck of the draw, at least the rain held off for the day so staying dry was not a problem, though staying warm was, as the temperature only hit about 12 or 13 c.
Saturday started with a strong breeze, but the rain stopped over night and the sun actually came out for few minutes, took off from the parking lot at the North Cape Light House at 5:55am and began heading south. The first run was from North Cape to Summerside where we were meeting up the other support crew, as well as the team from JDRF and other family. From North Cape to Summerside, I travelled the route 2 which has a very wide shoulder and nice new pavement. Head winds were strong but, we arrived in Summerside in just under 4 hours. Thanks to the very nice folks in the little white car that stopped and handed me a handful of toonies.
After a short rest, food, and refill water bottles it was time to swap out bikes for the trail ride from Summerside to Charlottetown. The Confederation trail in PEI is a great ride, that takes you through some very beautiful country with only very slight grade I think it's less than 2% up or down. One of the PEI Trail guides joined me in Summerside and gave me some company as well as some background about the areas we were cycling through. Stopped in Hunter River (where I lived for a few years) and had a whole bunch of my brothers children and boyfriends and girlfriends show up, it was great to see everyone. From there it was a nice ride into Charlottetown on the trail, which also gave a little shelter from the wind.
The rest of the support crew had gone on to setup in Charlottetown, we had a chance to meet with a bunch of folks that stopped by as well as a reporter from the local paper was there to take some photos and do a story. After about an hours rest it was time to take off again for the final section of the ride, swap bikes again back to the road bike and back onto route 2 heading south east. The wind only seemed to blow harder for the the trip east, I don't think I will ever forget the long hill coming into St Peters with the wind gusting from the side, that I thought a few times would blow me over.
After about 13 hours on the bike and coming into the final few kms it was great of my brother to jump on his bike and ride with me into East Point, it was getting pretty dark, cold and the wind just kept howling, but seeing that lighthouse in the distance slowly get closer felt pretty good.
It was a day I will not soon forget. Can't wait to start planning next years ride that will be bigger and better.
Thanks everyone for the support so far. Megan and I are getting prepared for the next big trip Quebec City to Digby. Sorry it took so long to get this story out.
Stephen
www.cycle4jdrf.com
