Current Location: Okotoks, Alberta!

Hello again from Okotoks!

I hope all is well with everyone "back East" as they say out here, and that you all had fantastic Mother's Days!

So, to get you all up to speed; we hit the road from Kamp Kiwanis on Friday, and took the Trans-Canada Highway into Calgary. What a great ride that was! Much better than my first - probably because it was mostly downhill al the way into Calgary, and partly because the wind was at our backs, but also just because I think it's cool that I got to bike on the Trans-Canada Highway! How many people can say that?

In Calgary we visited the Good Life, a local bike co-op founded by former Otesha tour members! The mall it was located in was a really cool, earthy kind of place as well, and while we were on our break I managed to stop in at the Good Earth (a really awesome coffee shop out here) and pick up a fabulous fair-trade chocoloate brownie!

After the stop, we headed out again, this time bound for Okotoks. Just as we were leaving (I was biking with Lucy and Seth), it began to rain very hard. It was driving down on us for the most part of our trip out of Calgary, and started to let up as we hit the highway headed south. Just as we neared Okotoks, the skies cleared and the sun came out! There were still isolated storms all around us and out to the West (it looked really cool to be surrounded by dark storms, blue skies, and mountains!) but we managed to miss them all when we pulled up to the Okotoks United Church.

Upon our arrival, Doug, the minister, and an active church member named Elizabeth had concocted this fantastic feast for us, with two kinds of soup, tuna sandwiches (for the non-vegans!) and dessert! Doug had also set up our whole team with billets, and so myself and my teammates Kayla and Katryna got to stay with Elizabeth. The rest of KMT stayed with other members of the Okotoks United Church. Elizabeth has been the most hospitable and caring host to us; she allowed our whole team the use of her basement kitchen, and has even left her garage and back door open to allow for us to come and go as we need!

The reason we were staying with members of the Okotoks United Church is because the 2008 KMT team had stayed and performed with them the year before, and they loved Otesha so much they invited us back for another performance this year. As a special treat, they even set us up with a tour of the Okotoks Recycling Depot and a tour of a partially off-the-grid home just on the outskirts of town. Both were really interesting and informative trips - especially the house! Even though it wasn't totally self-sustainable, it was really cool to see all that the couple had done - including using old tires as roof shingles! And on top of that, it was gorgeous and luxurious - now that's the kind of sustainable home I can be comfortable in!

That afternoon we were given the opportunity to hang out with the youth group of the United Church, who were in the middle of World Vision's 30-hour famine. We talked with them about their passions, and gave them some information on why were were there supporting our causes, and crossed our fingers that they would come to our performance the next day! Oh, and for Jess and Akili; they were playing Rock Band when we arrived, and for once I was one of the "skilled" people playing! I taught some of my teammates how to play the drums and guitar :)

On Saturday night we were given access to the school gym (where their church service is being held as their church is renovated) to practice for our first-ever official performance outside of training week. During that practice we all realized that after 2 days of time off from the play, we were pretty rusty and needed to work on our lines and transitions. We came back to Elizabeth's basement kitchen that night and worked on the play until almost midnight!

On Sunday morning we were ready to go. We performed during the church service to a fantastic audience, who laughed along with our silliness and were so supportive of our cause! We had so many great comments and tons of positive feedback afterward that people even asked for our autographs. I couldn't believe the impact we had made! I truly enjoyed hearing about the community members' ways that they were working to help their community and the environment, and I felt truly inspired by the active nature of the United Church congregation. I think some great things are going to come out of Okotoks, Alberta!

Sunday afternoon was reserved as personal time, so I gave my family and Kareem a call and then went for a walk with Elizabeth in search of the first crocuses of spring. We ended up seeing two deer and multiple crocuses on our walk! Spending time with Elizabeth was great - she is a well-traveled and passionate woman, who works hard at preserving her community and the environment. I truly believe that we have a lot to learn from her example! In the evening, Kayla, Katryna and I spent some time looking through Elizabeth's travel pictures to Cuba and Gabon (in Africa) and we learned that she once had a Cuban band stay in her basement while they were on tour in Alberta!

I've really enjoyed my time in Okotoks and I'm really going to miss this vibrant, active and sustainable town. Tomorrow we hit the road again; cycling 54 km to Nanton, Alberta! We are only staying over one night there, as the next morning we will be getting up and biking 84 km to Fort MacLeod. Lots of biking in the next few days - I hope my legs can handle it! Not far now until we travel through the Crow's Nest Pass, and on to BC!

That's all for now - I really should be getting to bed since I've got the craziest cycling schedule ahead of me. Take care, stay safe, and I'll talk to you all again soon!

Cheers,

Sarah

Training Week!

Hello from Bragg Creek, Alberta!

I'm currently sitting in a real estate... store? shop? establishment? typing away while my fellow Oteshites do the same! The people here have been very hospitable - I think we've taken over the place.

So, training week is almost over! We are currently on our "day off" - 24 hours from today at noon to tomorrow at noon - so I biked out to this town, just down the road from our training camp, and I'm getting my fill here on the internet and will be picking up a few necessities, like warm socks and sunglasses!

We have spent the majority of our week out at Kamp Kiwanis, where we have been learning how to facilitate groups, how to conduct workshops, and how to work together as a team. My team, called the Kootenay Mountain Tour, or KMT for short, already feels like a family to me: we all get along really well even though we are all so different! Everyone has a lot of love to give and is really supportive, so I'm more excited than ever to spend two months with them on the road.

Since I've been out here I have taken on a completely vegan diet - it's been interesting for my digestive system (to say the least) but for the most part it hasn't been much different from what I normally eat! Just a lot more tofu, grains, lentils and beans, and whole foods. Oh, and a ton of bananas! The chef for the week went to a number of grocery stores and markets looking for food donations, and a grocery store must have donated crates and crates of slightly bruised bananas for us - it's amazing how much food you can get just by asking a store what they are planning to throw away! Seriously; if you're looking for ways to feed a large group of people cheaply, just try this tactic, it's amazing.

We have spent a few nights sleeping in cabins and a few out in our tents, to test our gear. I've discovered that my sleeping bag is wonderfully warm, but my feet still manage to get cold. I'm planning on picking up a pair of woolly socks while I'm here in Bragg Creek. My tent is great too - so easy to set up and take down, and really roomy! Two people would easily be comfortable in it. Funny anecdote: there are currently 4 Hubba Hubba tents out here at the moment: two on my tour and two on the other! Looks like MEC made a lot of money off of us!

I'm really looking forward to hitting the road on Friday, but first we have our first real performance on Thursday evening out at Kamp Kiwanis. I'm nervous about it, but it's amazing how quickly my team has learned the play and our parts! I think it's going to be really good already, and it's only the beginning.

I'm concerned about some of the bigger rides (I'm currently not anywhere close to the fastest rider on the team) but I think with the support of my teammates and if I really stick to it, I'll get my speed up! I also think I may have overestimated the number of toiletries I needed, which is just adding to the excess weight. Some people have camp soap and a toothbrush, and that's it! I gotta learn to be more of a minimalist. :)

Oh, and an interesting fact for my family: there is a Danish girl heading out on the Prairie Sky Tour! Her name is Mille, and she flew here from a town just south of Copenhagen. It's been really cool talking to her about the places I've seen and sharing some words in Danish!

Alright, that is all for now! There are other people waiting to get on the internet and I don't want to keep them waiting. I'd just like to say hello to my family, my friends (thanks again for the hilarious card - I've read it so many times!), and to my old team at YCI - if you're reading this, I hope the hunt for the new Admin Assistant was successful! Miss you all!

Much love,

Sarah

Oh, and PS - I didn't pack my camera cord, so I currently don't have a way to post the pictures that I've taken! (Mountains!!!) I'll try and figure out a way to get them uploaded as soon as possible, so you can see what I'm seeing as I hit the road on my crazy adventure. Take care!

And so it begins...

Hey everyone!

I am in Calgary! Woo! After a very long couple of days, I am so glad to be here and settling in before my big ride begins tomorrow. Why were my last few days so long, you ask? Well, let me tell you...

So, the night before I'm set to fly out to Calgary, I stop in to pick up my bike at the local bike shop; the staff of which promised me they would box up my bike following it's tune-up at no charge. I thought, "what a great deal; why wouldn't I take them up on this?". Bad idea...

I get to the bike shop just before 4 pm, and my bike is in pieces, tucked away in the tiniest box possible! There was no room in the box for any of my bigger items like my tent and sleeping bag, and what's more, they had removed so much of the bike that it looked more like a giant metallic puzzle than a mode of transport. Needless to say, I freaked out.

I called up my boyfriend, who quickly put me back together and told me he'd bring home a nice big Greyhound box. I don't know what I would have done without him!

We spent the rest of the evening and into the wee hours of the morning boxing up my bike, packing all the extra items neatly between the frame, and as a finishing touch, we made sure to lash everything down tightly so it wouldn't move around during the flight. I thought I was home safe.

Not quite.

Sending the bike off through the oversize baggage check-in was no trouble - in fact, WestJet didn't even charge me! I was thinking I had finally gotten through the worst of it, and everything was going to be fantastic once I arrived in Calgary. I would get my bike on the other side, take it back to the hotel with me, and easily reassemble what little parts I had originally removed! Of course, this was not the case.

My bike arrived at the oversize baggage claim in Calgary, with no less than two giant holes on either side with both wheel hubs sticking straight out, and the corners of the box sagging and barely holding their own weight. Not to mention, the guy at the baggage claim handling my bike literally threw it down the ramp to me. Not what I'd expected!

I hoped for the best as I drove toward downtown Calgary, and when I finally got my bike up to my 5th floor room (with the help of a nice maintenance dude and the cab driver), I was all set to rip open the damaged box and get to work putting together my bike! I was almost finished - just adding some air to the tires before fitting them on the frame - when I noticed my derailleur looking a little crooked. Hmm.

Great. It's the night before my big journey begins, and my back wheel won't fit on the frame due to this bent-out-of-shape part! Before having another meltdown, I called the woman at the front desk who quickly gave me the address of a local bike shop only two blocks from the hotel. I was so grateful I grabbed my bike and literally carried it the two blocks to the shop - I didn't want to waste any valuable time.

The folks at the shop were a godsend - the girl who was working on my bike didn't even charge after she heard my story. All she asked for was a green tea latte in return for her hard work, and I gladly obliged (I needed some serious Starbucks at that point myself). I came back to the shop just in time to see her pumping up my tires, fixing the alignment of my handlebars, and tightening up my brakes! I walked back to the hotel, latte in one hand, and wheeling my bike with the other, feeling like the biggest weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

Now I can (hopefully) relax a little more while making sure my gear and panniers rest just right on my rack tonight - after today, I don't think anything will surprise me. I just have to thank the bike shop folks and the other friendly Calgarians who helped me through the day. I doubt they even know it, but their hospitality kept me sane!

So, as you can now see, I am truly grateful for the end of the day, and excited to hit the road tomorrow and really get my bike in motion! I'm hoping that my bad luck has finally run out, and I can head out with the Otesha crew tomorrow with no worries! (At least for now... )

Okay, I must go find some food, but I will be sure to post again as soon as I can! I'm not sure at this point when that will be, but I can definitely say the next post will be a good one - training week begins tomorrow! What's not to love about team-building, ice breakers, games, and theatre??

Take care everyone; miss you and love you!

Kisses and hugs,

Sarah

New Gear!

Hey all!

It's been a couple of weeks since I last blogged, and a lot has happened in that time! I've reached the $1000 mark online thanks to so many generous donors (thanks Rebs for helping me reach that mark, by the way!), and I've made a couple of major purchases in preparation for my trip!

Since deciding to embark on this adventure, I knew I'd have to make a couple of major buys in order to make the trip out west a positive one (for example, my old bike weighs about a thousand pounds and is in no shape to make a 2,000 km journey!). So, in the past couple of weeks, I've bit the bullet and spent some money on a new tent and a new bike!

The tent is an MSR Hubba Hubba; a small 2-person tent that should be quite comfortable for just me! The goal with purchasing this one was to be able to use it once I get back from Vancouver. It's durable and quick to assemble, and shrinks down to a very movable size and weighs about 4 lbs when it's all packed up and ready to travel - the perfect hiking and biking tent! It came highly recommended by my coworker Gabe, and I must say, it should prove to be a really great investment while I'm out there.



The bike is a Gary Fisher Katai, a small, lightweight hybrid bike (meaning it works great for both road riding and mountain biking) that has a few key features that I think will come in really handy on my long trek. First, it has disc brakes - kind of like what you would find on your car - instead of the typical brakes that squeeze the sides of your tires to slow you down. I'm really excited about this feature, as this should mean that I won't have to tune them up nearly as often! The next great thing about this bike is that it has lockable shocks on the front wheel - so when I'm riding on roads, I can lock it up so that it doesn't absorb any of my energy as I'm pedaling, but when I'm riding on light trails, I can engage the shock to absorb any jarring movements my bike may make as I ride over rocks, dive into sharp turns, or decide to tackle a steeper slope.

Overall, I think I've made a great start on my gear purchasing! The buying of the bike just made it that much more real as well - only a few more weeks and I'm off on my adventure! But of course, this obviously means I've spent a good paycheque in the process of getting these items, so if you have any bike or camping-related gear that you aren't using, but you think may come in handy, send them my way! I'm definitely in the market for a small sleeping bag, small sleeping mat, or any bike accessories like reflectors, lights, or mirrors. Oh, and small bungee cords are always welcome!

I promise to keep the posting up now that the date is coming ever closer - every day I get more and more excited!

Cheers,

Tucks

And so it begins!

Hey all!

Welcome to my blog. This will be where I will post my triumphs, my setbacks, my frustrations, my hurdles, and my adventures as I prepare for the journey of a lifetime. I hope you enjoy my ramblings!

To get you all up to speed: My fundraising campaign is in full swing, and I have begun to step up my gym attendance in the hopes of preparing my out-of-shape frame for the daunting task of pedaling 2,000 km in a couple of months.

Essentially, I hope to rake in millions in donations and become ripped in the span of 60 days! (No, not really, but one can dream!)

In a nutshell, I have been to a total of 3 spin classes, and I think I upped my gym attendance from 1 day a week to 2. Hmm... I think I need to get a little more serious about that part.

In terms of the fundraising - it's coming along! I've already got the moral support of so many great people - it's convincing them to part with their hard-earned dollars during an economic downturn that's the hard part. Wish me luck!

I'll try to keep this blog as up-to-date as I can, and I will be sure to add photos and links as I continue in my preparations. In the meantime, if you are yearning for some more info, check out http://www.otesha.ca. If you're rearing to donate and can't wait to plunk down your plastic, then head on over to my personal fundraising page at http://www.canadahelps.org/GivingPages/GivingPage.aspx?gpID=2950!

As they say at Otesha,

Peace and bicycle grease :)

Sarah