Tour Alberta for Cancer Recap
That’s it! The 2024 Tour Alberta for Cancer is a wrap. I was once again blown away by all the support I received, and then by the event itself. A few thoughts as this year’s tour is behind me and next year’s lies ahead!
I know it’s a cliche, but it’s genuinely hard to believe how fast time flies. Not only am I over a year into this career break–a fact that I continue to have trouble processing–but now the 2024 Tour Alberta for Cancer is done and dusted. To my surprise, despite the trepidation I felt this time last year, in a lot of ways 2024 was the easiest Tour yet.
Why?
Well, I’ve said it so many times already, but the greatest credit goes to the many people who donated to my campaign this year. Its through your incredible generosity that we were able to raise $2,783 this year, well past my $2,500 goal. As for the Tour overall, we were able to blow past the $6M goal, raising an incredible $7,576,204!
Even more heartening for me is the rise in participation. While last year saw over 1,200 riders on the Tour (which is a fantastic number!), this year saw that number grow 17% to over 1,400 participants. While I’m far from an old timer (this was my third in person ride following the COVID shutdown of 2020), I was thrilled to encounter so many first-time folks, and did what little I could to make them feel supported and welcome. Let’s all hope that, like me, they find themselves compelled to join future Tours.
And yes, if you’re reading between the lines a bit, you can guess that I did indeed sign to participate in the 2025 Tour Alberta for Cancer! But I promise to give everyone a break from the fundraising emails… for a little while anyway (it turns out last year there was an early match in the fall of 2023 so you might see some canvassing a little earlier this time around, assuming I stay on top of things).
With all that said, let’s get to the fun stuff, and that begins with an announcement of the third and final sock draw winner!
The Raffle
The winner of the third sock draw winner is none other than Kimberly Zielinski! To recap, our full set of winners are:
- Howard Fiderer (early bird prize)
- Lizabeth Fox
- Amy Conner
- Kimberly Zielinski
For those of you that didn’t win, there’s a good chance I’ll be doing this raffle again next year, so you’ll have plenty more chances!
Meanwhile, thank you to all the winners! I will be reaching out to all of you with information and instructions (e.g. how to measure your feet!) as I get my knitting act together.
The Ride - Day 1
As I’d mentioned earlier, this ride felt like the easiest one yet, and while that’s true on the fundraising side, that’s also true on the physical side. Fortunately, as I’m still on a planned career break, I had a lot of time to train, and I took good advantage of it! Despite travel that ate up the first few days of the month, I managed to get 21 hours on the bike across 8 training rides, while covering over 500km on Alberta’s highways. Not too bad!
As a result, this year I rode the 208km at a very respectable (for me) 25.9kph with an average estimated power output of 106W. Most importantly, I felt great both starting and ending each day. I really was in just that much better shape (despite not doing nearly enough hill training).
So how did those two days break down?
Well, as I mentioned in a previous update, on day one I had planned to complete the new challenge route, which is something the Tour introduced this year. This route took the already challenging 108km ride and extended it to 140km while adding additional elevation gain as well.
Now, I say “planned”, but I freely admit I called an audible the day of. Paul and I set a plan to stay together to the lunch stop, 40km into the ride, and then at that point make a decision on which way we’d each go, with me deciding between the 140 and the 100, and Paul choosing between the 100 and the 75. But it wasn’t long into that first 40, tucked in behind a pace group1 and feeling fantastic, that I realized I was in the mood to take on that challenge!
As we headed down the final stretch to lunch I saw the signs indicating the challenge route was straight ahead and lunch to the right. Naturally, I figured I’d stop for lunch, say farewell and good luck to Paul, eat, and then get going.
But alas, it was not to be.
As I exited the lunch area, following the directions of tour volunteers, I repeatedly asked “challenge route?” or “140?” and was emphatically waved in a direction that seemed to be the exact opposite of the way I wanted to go. But, trusting they heard me and knew what they were doing, I kept going.
Right onto the 100km route.
Damn.
Worse, unbeknowst to me, Paul also decided to do the 100!, so we could’ve continued to ride together! Ahh well.
But, I figured I could still make this a challenge, so I decided to really push pace, attaching to an excellent southbound pace group led by some ATCO riders that, between the tailwind and a nice draft, had me cruising at well north of 30kph, and up some challenging hills well over 20. It wasn’t until the turnaround and a little beyond that the group pulled over for water and I kept going.
And I won’t lie, I kinda regret not just sticking with them. Riding in a group is so much better than riding alone (doubly so when it’s a group that isn’t rotating the lead rider for some reason…), both for the effort you save but also for the feeling just being with other people facing the same challenge.
Eventually, with 30km to go, I reached the last pit stop. A quick message to Lenore to update on progress, and a couple of bananas and a lot of sport drink later, I was back on the road and feeling incredible. I can honestly say I never stopped pushing, all the way to the finish, which brought me in shortly after 1pm and before the heat of the day really set in.
Paul, meanwhile, just kept at it, rolling across the finish line a little over an hour later, having completed the long route under intense afternoon sun that pushed temperatures well over 30C. It was a truly impressive effort!
As for the evening, I fully admit Lenore and I packed it in early, grabbed some dinner close to our Airbnb (so much rice!), and then I crashed hard at 10pm, not waking until my alarm buzzed at 5:30 the next day.
The Ride - Day 2
You’d think I would’ve awoken tired after that push on day one, but between decent ride nutrition and some solid recovery eating, aside from some mild aches, I honestly felt ready to attack the second 100km that lie ahead!
And so, like day 1, I packed in some breakfast calories and then we lined up and got going. As on Day 1, Paul and I planned to ride together until the lunch spot, though we would discover this time that lunch was set up to happen after the first long route extension, meaning he and I would have to separate early, he off to lunch while I continued onward.
Again, that first 40km or so was a pretty easy comfort cruise, with pace groups readily available and very little wind to speak of. It wasn’t until I said my goodbye to Paul and pushed on to the first big climb of the day that I would find myself challenged.
And my god was I challenged!
Now, in hindsight, had I been familiar with the hill, I suspect I would’ve attacked it differently. My bike is not set up with easy climbing gears–it was originally built for someone who planned to get into racing, and when racers climb, they climb–so my options are either an average cadence push at high effort or slowing down and just mashing those pedals. And so, in that first half, I pushed hard. And then naturally the hill steepened, and as my heart rate spiked over 170, my breath began to come in ragged gasps, and I began to feel just a little bit faint, I realized there was no way I’d be able to maintain that pace all the way to the top.
At that point, I have to admit I very nearly pulled over and stopped. But dang it, I just do not have quit in me!
So I found someone taking it a bit more slow, got on their wheel, slowed down my cadence and started steadily cranking. And as my heart rate dropped to 170, 168, 165, I knew I’d be able to make it.
Let me tell you, there are very few things in life both as relieving and as satisfying as cresting a hill climb like that.
The route then took us down the other side (losing no more than half the elevation than we’d gained) and eventually to a pit stop, after which we had to turn around and return. But, fear not dear reader, the return was much easier, not the least of which because I got in with a good pace group and took it a little easier.
And then I get to enjoy that downhill! I had my bike computer set to show my heart rate so I could manage my effort, so it wasn’t until after the ride that I realized I’d hit a top speed to 70kph. That ain’t Tour de France speeds, but it ain’t bad…
The rest of the ride certainly had its challenges, with still more elevation gain (though at a lesser intensity), but the real pleasure was in closing out the ride behind a perfect pace group that kept me moving.
And then, crossing that finish line, I looked to my right and saw my wife Lenore, holding up a sign made by two of my absolutely favourite people in the world.
It was a pretty easy decision to sign up for 2025.
The Event
As for the event itself, as always, the organizers did a wonderful job. Recognizing the heat wave, they added a lot more shaded areas, added misting stations, and opened up an air conditioned building to escape the heat. The organizers also arranged for air conditioned coach buses at each of the pit stops, cooling towels, volunteers with water guns (the best!) and more water available on the route than I saw on either of my previous years riding. They really did a fantastic job.
Of course, as always, the volunteer cheerleaders along the route were amazing! There is nothing more motivating than a group of people clapping and encouraging you on (and one cannot understate their dedication; did I mention it was hot?).
Oh, and a shout out to the DJ’s at the pit stops! I’m a lover of music and nothing gets me more pumped than a good beat. It’s amazing how such a seemingly little thing can give you that extra energy to push on!
There’s so much more to say here–from the people keeping us hydrated and fed to the folks keeping everything organized and running efficiently–that it’s hard to do justice to the effort. The Tour is an exceptionally well run event and they seem to learn and get a little bit better every single year.
Of course, I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: I couldn’t do this without Lenore’s support and encouragement (and, when needed, gentle cajoling). Whether it’s encouraging my training, getting me to and from the event, booking accommodations, soliciting for donations through her own network, or even just reminding me to re-register each year, I cannot imagine doing this without her. Lenore, you never fail to amaze me!
Onward to 2025!
So, 2025. Have I already registered? Yes!
Am I looking for more team mates? Absolutely!
Have I already found one? I certainly have!
Who?
Why none other than the woman, the myth, the legend: Lenore Kosinski!
Yup. It’s official, Lenore has decided to ride in 2025!2
Of course, that means splitting our donor pool a bit, so things will be even more challenging on the fund raising front. Here’s hoping that, by then, I’ll have a new employer who might be able to provide some support. Barring that, well, we’ll just have to work that much harder to nag and cajole and push and prod.
Meanwhile, I’m thrilled to say Paul has also re-registered, so we’ll be riding again next year.
The question, now, is: who wants to join us? Come on. You know you wanna…