The TDC 2022 cyclists assembled at Signal Hill in St. John's Newfoundland for a last group photo. 21 riders began the tour and 18 finished. Riders were in a congratulatory mood. The most distant point of land in the background is Cape Spear, the easternmost point in North America.
In the front row: Don, Eric, Bill, Laura, Roger and Mariah
For many of the cyclists, riding across Canada was a many year or even decades long dream. The happiness in their faces registers the accomplishment of that dream.
We were so very fortunate to have our British cycling guides, Julie and Simon, included in the tour. They were so extremely helpful to the success of the endeavor. Julie helped us stay on course by programming the Ride with GPS files of the daily routes and where necessary helping to load the files on Garmin devices. Simon helped many a rider with bicycle maintenance issues, helping them get necessary maintenance done, while avoiding the costs of unnecessary repairs. The Brit pair would go out of their way to assist both TDC cyclists and other cyclists in the campground with issues. Their skill at interfacing with TDC management smoothed out wrinkles that could have developed into chasms.
We thank Julie and Simon for going above and beyond, even so far as entertaining us at the final banquet with a poem and a mystifying card trick, and for assembling and presenting some interesting statistics for the tour.
On a personal note, I left more than my share of weight in Canada, dropping over 2 pounds in each of the 10 provinces.
I haven't been so trim since graduation from the USAF Academy. I am sure that I can now easily fit into the uniform that I wore then, and still have now, after retiring from the Air Force in 1992. Perhaps riding centuries was a contributing factor. Canadians counted 160 km as a century ride. As an American, we count Imperial Centuries of 100 miles or more. Several Canadians thought it humorous after a ride of say 95 miles, when immediately after reaching camp I would leave and ride the additional miles to complete an Imperial Century. That way I was able to complete a total of 13 centuries on tour. Several more were there for the taking early in the tour, but at that stage of conditioning all I wanted to do was get to camp and collapse. The conditioning built up during the tour made it easier in later stages of the tour to complete the feat. I'm sure that we all felt stronger and able to ride longer as our conditioning improved, provided that we had been able to eat enough protein to strengthen our muscles. We all took pride in our physical transformations.
PS - X-rays after returning home confirmed that I did fracture my wrist on the fall on
the ride to Quebec City. The call from
the hospital of Université Laval that I received during the day riding away
from Quebec City and asking me to return to the hospital to put a cast on my
wrist was accurate. At the time I wasn’t
sure, since my wrist just felt like it was sprained. The triquetral bone, one of eight carpal
bones between the hand bones and the arm bones, fractured and is healing
well. Since that bone is in the region where
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can occur, I plan to use a wrap or brace on the wrist as
needed for 6 to 8 weeks following the injury that happened 3 weeks ago to allow
it to heal properly. Restrictions from
my doctor are to avoid actions that cause wrist pain. Luckily for me that does not include
bicycling. I am sooo happy to have been
able to complete the tour!
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