Hey, I’m Nicholas Arnold your midday guy here on 89.7 Sun FM and I’m chronicling my experience of being on the 2024 Tour de Rock team. The 14 day and over one thousand kilometre bike ride has been done every year since 1997 and raises funds for the fight against childhood cancer. I won’t be able to get everything that we did today into this post, but here’s the highlights.
Today we awoke in Campbell River. I actually made it downstairs to the van ahead of schedule – which is very rare for me. We bussed over to breakfast and while we ate saw the weather switch to monsoon season. Water pelted us on all of our stops today. More on this to come.
We took the inland Island highway down to Campbell River which was actually a real nice ride. Overall it was pretty flat and overall we were just allowed to focus on what was around us instead of huge hill climbs.
One fun thing at a stop with the Oyster Bay Fire Department, I got to climb a ladder fire engine that they had set up waiting for us. As someone who loves heights, it was really cool.
Today’s homecoming was Const. Keeley Deley. She had a bunch of friends and family make their way out to a stop to support her. She said it was certainly an emotional day.
Highlight of the day: Miracle Beach Elementary School
We turned off of the highway and peddled through a rural subdivision. We got to the end of the road and saw some playground equipment. So I thought, “Oh we must be making a school stop.”
As we approached, we saw an external door to the gym open and could hear a thumping of applause from inside. We dismounted outside and still the noise continued. Kind of like a playoff hockey game, where the building is constantly buzzing but somehow finds a way to get louder when someone scores, somehow the raucous cheering increased in volume as we crossed the precipice to the gymnasium.
What we saw inside was probably 200 elementary school kids getting excited and ready for us. After we introduced ourselves they all stood, to my surprise, and started to sing she perform a dance routine. It was an incredibly well rehearsed and performed version of High School Musical’s “We’re All in This Together” with a couple of lyrics switched out for Tour de Rock references.
It was overwhelming and cool to see that they had put hours of practice into something that they would perform one time for us. The power of the Tour de Rock.
Riding in the Rain
So, I mentioned that we have been riding a lot in the rain. Today was insane. We stepped outside after breakfast and rode to our first stop less than five minutes away and were absolutely drenched from the inside out.
Riding in the rain is like swimming in a cold pool. It’s awful getting in, but once your body is used to it you can stay in pretty much as long as you like. The worst parts are when you get off the bike for a stop and then have to put your raincoat, soaking helmet, and slimy wet gloves back on. But once you’re back on the road it’s almost therapeutic feeling the gentle pitter patter of the drops hitting your body.
Plus, you get to aim for puddles to try and splash the person behind you (kidding, but also not kidding). If the wind picks up or the temperature continues to decline, I’m sure I’ll be singing a different tune about riding in the rain. But we’ve been lucky so far.
I know that many people donate out of sympathy for the cause when they see that we’ve been riding through heavy rain, if you were interested in donating you can at tourderock.ca
Tomorrow we roll to the Parksville and Qualicum area. Here’s hoping to stay a little bit dry
Total kilometres ridden on Day 5: 81.9 km
Total kilometres ridden: 437.49 km
Total sodas consumed on Day 5: 2
Total sodas consumed on Tour: 25
