Hey, it’s Nicholas your midday guy on Sun FM. I’m continuing to chronicle my journey on the 2024 Tour de Rock team. This isn’t as much a news story as a first person account of being in a staple Vancouver Island event.
Today, our second full day of riding, will be our longest ride of the entire tour. I’m not sure we were fully ready for this one, but we were all packed and ready to roll out of our hotel rooms by 7:45am. We took a picture and presented a plaque to the hotel that has housed Tour de Rock riders since 2006.
From there, we went and had a delicious sausage, bacon, and egg breakfast at the Port McNeill Legion with about 20 folks from the area. I had the pleasure of spending some time talking with a dad and his two kids about why they decided to come out. They shared their connection with the Legion and why they support Tour de Rock… But as an aside, the dad was loaded with tattoos and I asked him about them. He allowed his 12 and 19 year old children to tattoo him with a tattoo gun they had. Talk about bravery.
Another picture and a plaque, then we were off to our first school stop. We rolled up to a high school and saw their entire student body waiting on the stairs outside the front door. They say you never forget your first time, and I certainly can’t forget my first school visit. There was talk of an “interesting fundraiser” going on inside, and my God was there ever. The team headed inside to investigate and stumbled upon:
The school’s principal was raising money by letting her students buy a strip of duct tape to stick her to the wall. Incredible. Our 20 minutes at the school ended quickly and we continued to the elementary school.
As we continue onwards, I won’t be able to talk about every school stop we do or all of the amazing fundraising initiatives that they’re doing, because it simply won’t all fit in one post. However, this elementary school will live forever in my heart because of one little girl – whose name I’ll never know.
As a team, we grouped up outside the school and walked into the gym. It was bedlam. The kids were cheering and we were waving. As I walked through the crowd I made eye contact with a girl, no older than eight years old. She waved, got super excited, and said something like, “I remember you from last year!” Throughout our team introduction she was looking right at me and waving with a look of awe, wonder, amazement, and reverance. It’s a lot of complex emotions that children so young aren’t generally aware of, but the look is reserved for superheroes and their favourite Disney princesses when they meet them at Disney World. Thinking we as riders could hold that kind of reverance in the hearts and minds of children across Vancouver Island made me verklempt.
As we rolled out of the gymnasium and I was still dealing with that revelation, we gave our Tour de Rock Camp Goodtimes cheer and it was met with the same enthusiasm as hearing Captain America say “Avengers assemble.” That pushed me over the edge and my hair-brained belief that I would have a dry-eyed two weeks went up in smoke.
Now to the ride, we made our way down to Woss in what was a long trip. Another first, as a collsion occurred while going up a hill. Two riders touched tires and three or four people wound up on the pavement. We were very lucky to only have minor scraps and bruised egos. After the incident we made a stop and in a wonderful display of care, I watched while every rider checked in with each other to make sure we were all mentally and physically ready to continue on. Further proof that this team is such a blessing to be a part of.
In Woss, we were greeted with bagpipes as we biked through town and a potluck lunch. It’s a legendary stop because of the level of support from such a small community. We didn’t have a ton of time with them because of our crash and so we got back on the road.
Antics from the ride included a lesson in vocabulary and music history from Saanich Police rider S/Sgt. Jereme Leslie and a kareoke sing-along for the ages of Mr. Brightside with 107.3 Virgin Radio’s rider Bailey Parker as we rode into Sayward.
We closed with a potluck dinner in Sayward and an interaction with another really cool kid, who I’ll talk about tomorrow because I’ll be seeing him again. In all, a great day.
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.
Taking you behind the curtain, one of the ever continuing side quests of the Tour is to try and perfect the art of wardrobe selection. The folks at Tour have blessed (and cursed) us with a plethora of cycling attire. Long sleeve fleece jerseys, short sleeve jerseys, a riding jacket, arm and leg warmers… Honestly the options available make me ponder my clothing choice with more scrutiny than if I were to go on a first date with my celebrity heartthrob, Camila Cabello.
Is it going to rain today? Are the clouds going to part and allow any sun to shine through at all? Should I wear yellow or a darker tint in my sunglass lenses? I’m constantly second guessing my decisions and asking other riders what they’re gearing up with for the day.
The worst thing possible would be to have a terrible wardrobe malfunction… The term, coined in that infamous Superbowl halftime show, was personified when our team’s very own Janet Jackson flashed some of his skin on day two. Const. Warren Kongus with North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP had one of his leg warmers slide down his leg revealing his right calf to the world. It was an issue that he couldn’t fix until we stopped about a half hour later. The incident, which will live in Tour de Rock and Vancouver Island history forever, put the team on notice: Make the right clothing choices, or face mild discomfort and irritation until our next stop. A horrifying outcome.
For days like today, the decisions made are amplified when you’re considering that you’ve got to wear or pack your clothes for a 147 km ride, which is likely to take around eight or nine hours to complete. And while weather changes and our wardrobe isn’t necessarily set in stone. For example, I started the day wearing two pairs of padded bike shorts, since it was an over 100 km long ride doubling up helps with saddle fatigue, a long sleeve shirt, and rain covers for my boots, since it had rained yesterday and there was still going to be water on the road and I didn’t want wet shoes. I wound up changing the long sleeve to a short sleeve, and got rid of the rain covers by lunch. Writing this out, it really doesn’t seem like a huge deal, but it’s another part of preparation for the rides we do each and every day.
Tonight we’re sleeping in a gymnasium again with all of our members in the room. As it approaches midnight, the low rumbling of snoring has begun, and so I too shall try to catch my ticket to slumber town eager with anticipation of what day four and our trip to Campbell River will bring.
Total kilometres ridden on Day 3: 147.79 km
Total kilometres ridden on Tour: 247.28 km
Total sodas consumed on Day 3: 7
Total sodas consumed on Tour: 18
PS. Warren’s legendary beard lost its first piece today raising a few hundred bucks.
