Ron Mitchell

COAST TO COAST — DAY 6 REPORT

After a Day 5 with so many emotional highs, it seemed almost certain that Day 6 would have a hard time maintaining the mood. It arrived cool and quiet, distant even. As though miffed, it gives the riders a cold shoulder: a brisk early morning easterly wind off a troubled-looking Lake Huron. The early morning sun tries to warm the team as it travels across the Mackinaw Bridge, spanning the confluence of lakes Michigan and Huron. Below the bridge’s span, waters from these two great lakes push and shove for mastery, aggravated by a wind that taunts them further. Adversity abounds.

Adversity

Each year around this time, we hear from professional hockey players that a team cannot advance and win the Stanley Cup without enduring some adversity: a key player out with injury, facing elimination, a team drama. True of life as well, it seems that no goal can be achieved without facing some adversity. Adversity makes the achievement more enjoyable and memorable, to be savoured for a lifetime. The champions know that because of the adversity they faced — their proximity to calamity and defeat — they grew stronger as did their commitment to achieving their goal. They upped their game when needed and prevailed. As true as this is for NHL hockey players in June, and as true as it is for the Coast to Coast team, it is also true of every person who ever faced the news that their life was being threatened by cancer. Cycling and hockey adversities fade to irrelevance as the riders think of those to whom this ride is dedicated.

Halfway Home

The Mackinaw Bridge into northern Michigan marked the halfway point of the 2003 Coast to Coast Ride Against Cancer… exactly 3600 Kms from the start and finish. An important milestone, the crest of the uphill and the beginning of the long, easy slide home. Or maybe not. As if to remind us all right away, that the team would have to face adversity, things got off to a rocky start early. Hamish and Scott are left to ride south toward Cheboygan, while the team races ahead for rest, fuel, showers and provisioning. Slowly, the team realizes that Hamish and Scott have likely been directed to an incorrect route. They are at least 2 hours off course, and 90 degrees lateral to the planned route. Hastily, another team gets on the proper course and churns an urgent pace southward. The RV team is left to determine how to treat this dilemma. Do we lose the 2 hours Hamish and Scott spent cycling along the shore of Lake Huron, or simply consider it part of the distance and time covered, picking up the route an equivalent distance further on? A difficult choice, but the team decides to avoid the easy way out, and instead opts to face the error, absorbing the time that is lost. As if to reward the right choice, the wind gathers momentum and shifts itself from the north, pushing the team even faster southward toward Bay City and Port Huron. Finally now into a rhythm, the team quietly thinks of the Day 6 dedications and in particular the adversity that Chris Steffan, a son, husband and father, faced during his 19-year battle with cancer.

Too Busy to Understand

Mid afternoon, midweek, northern Michigan. This is a busy place and people seem to be in a hurry to cross this vast peninsula that separates Lakes Huron and Michigan. Cars, trucks, vans, motorcycles all blast by the RV, seemingly in their own worlds, exiting their thoughts only long enough to express their displeasure at being held up by a bunch of cyclists doing 30 Km/H. It’s discouraging for the team and tense for the RV drivers as they try to protect the riders while limiting the traffic disruptions on this busy commercial thoroughfare. It seems to the team that no one on this road understands why they are doing this Ride… no one takes the time to actually read the back of the RV, to understand that this is about a fight against cancer.

The Courage of a Dozen Men

As the evening grows darker, Scott and Hamish make their final easterly sprint toward Port Huron and the bridge to Canada. Shouldering a strong crosswind that is more hindrance than help, it’s tough slogging. Many attempts are made to find alternate routes that shelter the riders from this energy-sapping northeasterly blast. They push on anyway, inching closer to home. Maybe the most energizing solution has nothing to do with wind direction or velocity. Jamie reads a dedication to Scott and Hamish. It’s for George "Brit" Britton, a young boy who died of cancer long ago, never having seen high school. He was Scott’s best friend. The dedication describes Brit’s fight against his cancer. No complaints. No upset. Stalwart. The courage of ten men. Scott rises from his saddle, stands on the pedals and accelerates into the wind.

Welcome to Canada

Just after midnight, the lights of the border and bridge can be seen. With gusting winds, the Blue Water Bridge from Port Huron, Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario is off-limits to cyclists. The riders climb aboard the RV for the quick run across the bridge. On the far side, amidst the welcoming sight of fluttering Canadian flags, a small car with a mountain bike on top parked just off the road past the Customs and Immigration booths, its driver offering a welcoming wave. He knows we’re coming and has made the journey from London that evening to help us get through Sarnia and onto the highway toward London. After a brief stop for greetings and instructions while the riders re-mount their bikes, the team is off, following our guide as he deftly leads us through Sarnia’s maze and out onto open road. As the team waves their thanks, they reflect that it’s been a long time and many miles since someone has been at the side of the road to offer assistance and direction. It’s a warm and comforting feeling and each team member quietly hopes that everyone suffering with cancer has someone at the side of the road to support and guide them along their difficult path.

Road Side Reflection

The route through London Ontario has been carefully and deliberately altered. Freddy Carlberg spent many years here. Happy and loving years shared with his parents. Until cancer stole them from him. They were returned to the homeland, but Freddy and his siblings honoured their parents in their adopted home with a special tree and memorial in a park in London. At three in the morning, while London slept, the team, lead by Freddy, quietly navigated a sleepy neighborhood finally arriving at the memorial site. A moment’s quiet reflection by Freddy, with the love and support of his Coast to Coast team at his side. His personal dedication of the Ride to his parents — his reason for being on the Coast to Coast team — is now clear.

Other dedications

Through the night, other dedications were read to the riders, including Sarah Ray, a breast cancer survivor with a new purpose in life… to find a cure. Also, a short, touching story from Rebecca about her Nana. Other inspiring stories of love, support, courage and strength: Carol Hogg, Douglas Gates, Lynda Martel.

As the team churns toward Woodstock Ontario in the last hours of darkness, the loneliness of Day 6 is now quickly being left behind. Ahead lies an almost-endless string of hometown arrivals and a day that will be filled with a range of emotions: triumph, love and an overwhelming sense of support being just a few.