For details on bike, click "older posts" at bottom of page.

Details on ride below pictures.

Hi everyone.

The bike ride was a big success. Thanks so much to everyone who donated and supported me.

I ended up leaving my house around 10:30 a.m. when I had originally planned to leave around 8-9a.m. I brought breakfast, water and a lunch in my backpack. Confident that I had more than enough time to reach Kingston before nightfall, I made my way slowly through hull towards the parliament buildings. I stopped to eat some of my food and didn't really exert myself at all. I made my way up the Ottawa river to Moodie where I realized that I was becoming pressed for time. On top of that I had a lot of trouble finding the beginning of the Ottawa-Carleton trail-way, an abandoned railway filled in with gravel. I asked several people where it was and they all seemed to have a different answer.

When I finally found the beginning of the trail, I was 2 and a half hours into my ride. It was time to get going. The trail-way was incredibly boring. It was 45km of crushed gravel, a straight line the entire way. I put my ipod in for the entire distance. This part of the ride wasn't to interesting although it did pass through several scenic marshes. When I finally arrived at Carleton place, I immediately started north keeping to residential highways. The ride was relatively flat until the ride to Westport. The road in between Perth and Kingston has many large hills in it. I had to face these after cycling over 100km, a distance I had never rode before. A lot of the time I stopped for a water break before attempting to climb them.

I arrived in Kingston without incident along the way. The whole thing was more mentally taxing that it was physically challenging. It took me about 10 hours in total. I regretted going slowly through Hull and Ottawa. More than once I had to check my maps to assure myself that I was heading in the right direction.

Fortunately I didn't have to sleep at a camp-site. My parents ended up meeting me in Kingston and we slept in a hotel for the night. I had a massive craving for pizza when I arrived and sure enough, my Dad had ordered one from pizza pizza. After eating, I fell asleep almost immediately.

The next morning I left to head home around 10:30. Another late start. I left with the looming feeling that I was going to get a flat right of the bat. Six kilometers after my departure from Kingston, I got a flat. I changed the tire as fast as I could as I was eager to get going. After another 20km, I took a look at my back tire. Apparently the reason for my previous flat had been a hole in the tread itself. The inner-tube that I had just put in was sticking through this hole like a tumor on the side of the wheel. I knew this was going to burst soon but insisted on seeing how far it would take me. 7km later I got another flat on the same tire and had to change the tire as well as the tread. I got the new tread that was lying in my parents' van. They passed by in the van about 20 mins after my flat.

Frustrated at the delays. I sped all the way back to Ottawa, pushing hard and keeping my speed above 25km/h. By the time I got to Carleton Place, my left knee was paining me. So much so that I ended up riding the whole trail-way back to Moodie on just my right leg. Again, I put in my ipod the whole way. I just really wanted to get home. I took the bike-path along the Ottawa river, mentally and physically exhausted all the while. I hot-shot cyclist came around a corner into my lane and almost hit me head-on. I wasn't too polite with him.

As a general rule for the past two years, I had made a conscious effort to stay above 2 and 1 gearing at all times. When I got to hull, I was forced to go to 1 and 1 gearing (the granny gear) for many hills because of faulty knee and general fatigue. The final challenge was the massive hill up to my home on my rode. One kilometer of loose, fresh gravel to finish of the ride.

I had a lot of coffee when I got home and didn't fall asleep til late. Work the next day wasn't too bad. My knee was starting to feel better and by the end of the day it was fine. I've continued to stretch since then and my legs are fine now. I did, however, loose 4-5 pounds during the ride.

So in the end, the ride was success. I had never attempted something like this in my life and it was an interesting way to spend two days. I got a nice view of the rideau lakes, and was able to take quiet back-roads as opposed to highways abundant with trucks zooming by all the time. It was extremely challenging. I don't think I'll be doing something like this again anytime soon. I'm definitely not Tour de France material. I'm also appreciative of the help my parents gave me along the way.

Again, thank you so much to everyone who donated to my Canada World Youth trip. I'll try to keep updates flowing through this blog as much as I can. More details on the program coming soon.

Donations end August 7th.

Hi everyone. I just got back from my 400 km ride and I'm exhausted. I'm definitely not Tour de France material. Time for a shower. Donations are ongoing. Thank you to everyone who donated. Thanks so much for your support. I need to stretch. Details and pictures on my ride coming tomorrow.