Fundraising on the road :)

Hello family and friends!

Upon my return from Halifax, I will be heading straight to Barrie to participate in the Terry Fox Run. This year's run in particular is very special to me. The Terry Fox Foundation has dedicated the run in Barrie this year to my dad, Jim Dirmeitis, who passed away last October.

The Terry Fox Run was a very important event for my dad as his father passed away from cancer as well. He made it a family event for many years. I have memories of him and I jogging the 10 km along the lakeshore, having water fights and just being silly :)

I know that my dad would think this bike trip to Halifax is super cool. I think of his smile and excitement every time I get a nifty new piece of gear or go on a long ride. My dad definitely passed his love of athletics to me, from forcing me to take swimming lessons, coaching my baseball team, to being my high school rowing team's biggest fan. 

Cheering us on at a regatta on Lake Scugog :)

I've heard from other cycling tourists that people on the road are pretty interested in what you're doing. My hope is that I can chat about fundraising for the Terry Fox Foundation and pick up some donations for cancer research on our travels.

I would love if anyone could donate to my family's team this year, The Jimmy D Warriors. If you click on the link below you can donate online :) 

https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/FundraisingPage.aspx?registrationID=2341618&langPref=en-CA

Thanks so much for everybody's love and support!

Mary

Flashing a smile at the Terry Fox Run

He gave hugs that could squish the life outta ya! 

Where it all began ...

Gill and I have been planning this trip for four years. That's right, four! Well, we came up with the idea four years ago on a bus in Ecuador :) I thought I'd do a historical post of where our friendship, and this bike adventure took root! I don't think we have an actual photo of the bus conversation, but here are some snapshots of that lovely nine months.

Anique, me, and Gill! Pretty excited about going to meet a friend at the airport in Quito!

Gill, our Kichwa language teacher Enrique, me, and Amanda. Enrique was one of the best teachers we ever had. He taught through music, stories, and experience - so lucky to have been his students!

Celebrating Gill's birthday at the top of Mount Ilalo! I enjoy climbing mountains in ladylike attire :)

Gill serenading the city of Cuenca.

A night at the beach in Esmeraldas.

Mary (almost) does a Barrie ride!

Hello everybody!

In an attempt to see what a real day on our trip from Toronto to Halifax would be like, I (Mary!) set out to bike from Toronto to Barrie for a 100km day.

My ink cartridge ran out, so I drew out a map and put it in my new and handy handlebar map holder! Thanks to Velotique in Leslieville for all of their awesome advice!

Beauty at Derrydowns park on my way north out of the GTA

Time for a break north on Jane St.

A piece of advice from other bike tourists was to eat apples! They are convenient, delicious, and hydrating! I took their advice and brought four.

Alas, a forecast of scattered showers turned into a severe thunderstorm watch while I was biking away unwittingly. After fear of being a human lightening rod (do my tires really ground me?) I hid under this vegetable truck on Woodchoppers Lane in Bradford.

A little sad but not defeated. A few lessons to bring on our trip to Happyfax: if you see clouds ahead, check the weather forecast! Even if you did that morning. Also, bring warm things! Either one of those thermal blankets or some light woolens. As I waited for the storm to pass (30 min after the last thunderclap!) I got very chilly. Luckily, as the storm didn't seem to be passing, my sister from Barrie came and rescued me! Thanks sis!

Although the weather put a snag in my plans, doing this solo trip was a lot of fun! I rode about 60 km and it was beautiful. So excited to begin our adventure :) :)

WE ARE SO EXCITED!

Look at this enthusiasm for biking, eh?

We are an unstoppable team

We can't wait for amazing scenery EVERYDAY

The countdown begins...less than a month!

Gill does the berry ride!

On July 5th, I (Gill!) biked with 24 friends to Wittamores Farm to participate in the 3rd Annual Whitney Houston Memorial Ride to Cure Berry Hunger. From Kennedy station, the bike horde traveled through scarborough, past the toronto zoo, and onto Markham to pick delicious strawberries, sugar snap peas and some mighty beets under a beautiful sun. The ride was about 40km in total, and I'm happy to say we all avoided sunburns. Check out the instagram links and pics!

Fearless leader Tom and a handy flag

http://instagram.com/p/qEspQKDGiA/

A creative road name to stumble upon

http://instagram.com/p/qE6TnrDGsA/

A mid-ride popsicle break. Thanks food basics

http://instagram.com/p/qEx1OajGr8/

All the riders after our big harvest!

http://instagram.com/p/qHdVDLwkZ3/

Picking delicious strawberries

The haul!

Practice ride!

Hello blog town!

For our first big ride (65km!) we rode from Warden Station to Darlington Provincial Park in Clarington :) It was lovely and challenging :) On our way we said hi and bye to Scarborough, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, and Oshawa. So many places and faces. For those of you who don't know, the waterfront in Pickering looks like Florida. We appreciated the clean public washrooms. What a nice place. After the ride, we enjoyed a lovely day at the beach with even more friends. Here are some fun pics!

READY TO RIDE (baby Kirk in the background)

Extremely relieved and ecstatic to arrive!

Tired and windy ride home. We love our bikes but thank god for a car ride here and there.