Cycling 200 Miles - Fundraising for Freedom From Human Trafficking
- Greg Luesink
- Jun 18, 2022
- 10 min read
TLDR: I biked 333 km from Chilliwack to Vancouver and back in a day, raising over $2,000 for charity. Check out Ally Global to see how they combat human trafficking: https://ally.org
Written Nov 2024
After my 200 kilometre ride in 2021, which you can read a brief story about here, I felt the desire to push myself a little further on my bike... 200 miles had a good ring to it. However, the 200km ride felt like a selfish pursuit, and therefore a little empty. It didn't serve a greater purpose other than to test my endurance on two wheels. Nothing against personal goals, I just figured that if I was going to dig deep, I'd need something more meaningful to motivate me than my own achievement.
So, instead of riding for myself, I started to contemplate riding 200 miles (320km) to raise money for charity. My friend Nate had done a 100 mile charity ride a few years prior, so I asked him about the experience. He said it made it a whole lot more meaningful to have something to work towards. In the buildup to this charity ride, Nate and I actually ran an ultramarathon in April of 2022, which was a personal goal for us and was super rewarding in its own way! After the ultra, I turned my attention back to preparing my ischial tuberosities for sitting on a bike for a lonnng time.
Back to the charity aspect.
Ally Global Foundation
One organization that inspires me is The Terry Fox Foundation. Terry's brother Darrell lives in Chilliwack and organizes an annual Ride of Hope to raise funds for cancer research, cycling a total of 360km in one day. I wasn't sure if I was capable of that feat, especially in a group format, which I had never done before. While I wasn't confident enough to sign up for the Ride of Hope, I still wanted to see if I could cover the distance while also fundraising for charity. So, I opted to do a self-directed charity ride. Nate recommended that I look into Ally Global Foundation, a Vancouver-based charity that works to prevent human trafficking and rescue victims. Here is some information you can also find on their website about what they do! This felt like an important cause to support with my time and effort, so I started sharing my plans with family and friends.
The Route
As an extension of my 2021 ride, I thought it would be pretty neat to encircle the entire Fraser Valley. Starting from Chilliwack, I would ride through Agassiz, Mission, Coquitlam, Burnaby, Vancouver, Delta, White Rock, Langley, Abbotsford, and back home - totalling a bit over 200 miles. Above is a picture of the actual route from the day. It turned out to be slightly different than I planned, but I'll get into that later.
The original plan was for my friend Jesse to join me for the entire ride. Unfortunately, at the last minute he had to bail due to sickness. Thankfully, I still had several other friends joining me for sections from Chilliwack to Coquitlam.
Preparation
After my, ahem... numbness issue from riding 200 kilometres in 10 hours in 2021, I realized I needed to upgrade my bike seat. Also, inspired by Jesse, I got some aerobars to put on my bike to add extra riding positions. I rode my bike frequently, starting as soon as the roads were dry enough in March. I needed to harden my sit-bones so they could support me for what I expected could take up to 20 hours!
I mentioned in my Vedder-Cultus Ultra post that I was dealing with a strained my left hamstring that I injured at the climbing gym. So, while I couldn't run a lot before the big run, I was able to bike more comfortably and maintain my fitness. In March I did a handful a fairly large rides, including a 120km ride. As I ramped up my running for April, I didn't go on any significant bike rides, with nothing above 50k on the bike. But, as soon as May hit, I got straight back on Al, my Kona Rove, by then equipped with Aerobars and a new seat!!
My biggest training ride was about 3 weeks before the main event, when I rode 180 km in 7 hours, weaving around the farm roads of Chilliwack. That ride was confidence-inspiring: my bike-fitness was really clicking into place for the massive effort.
In addition to my new bike seat and aerobars to switch up riding positions, I also incorporated P3 pain-cream and Squirrel's Nut Butter into my riding tactics. These two items were revolutionary to me, and made it much more comfortable to ride longer distances. Everything was falling into place... I just had to commit to a date and hope that the forecast would be good enough.
I settled on June 18th, a Saturday. I prayed and asked God to bless the day with no rain. As the day got closer and closer, the forecast was looking dubious at best. So, I put on my bike fenders, packed my rain jacket and pants, and my friend Jeremy graciously lent me his overboots to keep my feet dry.
200 Miles for Freedom
I awoke at 2:30 am to my alarm after a fitful sleep. As per usual, I had a bowl of Vector cereal, but I felt sick to my stomach from the nerves. To say that I felt uncertain would be an understatement.
Was I physically capable of this feat? Was the weather going to hold up for me?
So many doubts plagued me as I readied my bike and finished packing my small backpack with extra food. But, despite the doubts, I needed to just get on the bike and get after it. The last action at home was a quick Facebook update on the Fundraiser Page, and I started the Live-Tracker so that people could watch my progress real-time.
At 3:12 am, I departed from home to meet Ben at his house across town. Dressed in safety vest, rain jacket, and rain pants, my front-light and headlamp lit up my path in the pitch black.
Soon, I arrived at Ben's house, and we started making our way along Hope River Road. To my surprise, the rain was only a misting, and I was able to take my rain pants off.
Next stop was Agassiz, where we picked up Nathanael on the other side of the Agassiz bridge (which, it turns out, is a lot less scary to ride at 5 am). After running 55k with Nathanael in April, I was excited to link up again for an adventure. Unfortunately, my other buddy Nate wasn't able to make it on the day to pace me, but he was cheering me on from home! We made our way over Mt
Woodside, where I briefly donned my rain pants again. Nathanael had to turn around along Highway 7 to get back to his family before his young kids woke up, so Ben and I continued until Mission. There, Ben began his return home via Sumas, while my friend MK picked up where Ben left off at the 75km mark. MK was an absolute champ as we tackled the hilliest part of the day through Mission all the way to Coquitlam. After a bit of kerfuffling with navigation, we arrived at a coffee shop where her husband drove to pick her up. Now, 135km in, I was set to ride solo until my brother Eric met me on Vye Road between Abbotsford and Yarrow. This would be about 100 miles of the ride entirely by myself. It was a little daunting, but I had no choice but to continue!
The absolute hardest part of the next 100 miles was navigating my way through Port Moody and Vancouver. I was ill prepared for the level of route-finding in completely new-to-me areas. I stopped at a nice icecream shop in Port Moody to have a snack and give my watch a chance to recharge as it tracked my adventure. At this point, I had been using tape to secure my phone to my aerobars as I used Google Maps to navigate, so that I didn't have to rely on in-ear directions.
Disaster Strikes... temporarily
Just after I left the icecream shop, maps took me on a gravel trail. I was cruising along, but I hit a root in the path, which dislodged my front derailleur and my chain got jammed. I had to yank my chain out so that I could even pedal, but the force damaged the derailleur meaning that I couldn't shift into my larger gear.
I was completely hooped if I couldn't access my higher gears.
Thankfully, the nearest bike shop was a mere kilometre away, so I turned my bike into a foot-scooter to get there. Cap's Bicycles was an absolute life-saver. After I explained my situation, they stopped what they were doing, and fixed my derailleur. I also picked up a new front light and a phone holder while I was there! I was elated to have my ride back on track after an almost certainly ride-ending mechanical issue.
I had no more issues for quite a while, passing some cool architecture, a parade, and the Canucks stadium. The next problem I encountered was that my phone battery was rapidly dying as I used Google Maps to navigate. The charging cable that I brought did not seem to be working, so I stopped in at Cycle City and asked to use a phone charger and to replan my route. I had bailed on Stanley Park due to the parade and lost time, but I had to make-up some kilometres to get to my 200 mile goal! I decided to cross over the Alex Fraser bridge, which had one side closed.
In a moment of panic, I didn't think to check if there was another path on the other side. So, I risked hitting a dead end, hopped the barrier with my bike, and started crossing anyways, hoping not to lose more precious time.
Mid-way, I met some construction workers, who said it was probably fine to continue since they were just painting. Their supervisor, however, was pretty fired up about me disregarding the signs and insisted that I go all the way back and cross the other side. Suffice to say, it was Not easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. Ironically, by the time I backtracked and crossed the other side, the painting crew was at the other side too all done for the day.
The supervisor said to me "now that wasn't so hard, was it?" I laughed and kept pedalling.
Later, my parents recounted that, to their dismay, my live GPS tracker had suddenly stopped on the Alex Fraser bridge. I had also turned off my heart rate sensor, to save battery on my watch... so the live tracker wasn't even showing my pulse. My family was worried I'd been smoked by a car! But, to their relief, I started moving again, albeit backwards across the bridge at first.
My last saviours came in the form of a firehall somewhere after Google Maps betrayed me and took me on a rough gravel and dirt path in the bush. With 1% battery left, I routed myself to a firehall that I spotted on the map, and memorized the directions. Not long after, I popped my head in the bay doors.
"Hello?"
"How can I help you?"
"Well, I'm from Chilliwack, and I'm doing a charity ride to fundraise for preventing human trafficking. My fender is rubbing my wheel and I need to charge my phone."
"You rode all the way from Chilliwack?! I'll grab you some tools, and you can use my charger!"
Seriously, the guys at the firehall were so kind, let me refill my water, charge my phone, use the bathroom, and they directed me to a 7-11 to get a new charging cable for my battery bank.
One last stop before bee-lining for home: Crescent Beach in White Rock. I felt pretty exhausted by this point, but the hardest part was behind me. I dipped my toe in the ocean, and got back on Al, with "only" 85 km to go. I was already about 17 hours in at the point, and it would take me about 4 hours to get home. I told myself, "that's peas compared to what I've just done." This realization gave me enough power to push on towards Langley, Abbotsford, and Vye Road where I'd meet Eric. I remember absolutely jamming to tunes as I neared the Abby Airport. One song came on that HYPED me up: Stuck by SolaFide!. I was bombing down a hill and just pedalling and singing my heart out as I neared the last section of my grand adventure.
Eric had biked out from Chilliwack to meet me on Vye. I was so glad when I finally saw his blinking lights coming towards me along the dreadfully endless road. We kept the conversation going all the way back through Yarrow and into Chilliwack, catching up on the day's events.
As we got close to home, my dad came out on his bike to ride the last few kilometres with us. I was nearing 330km... and my numerical OCD kicked in. Meandering around Garrison Crossing, I biked until I reached 333.33 km. What can I say, I like repeating numbers!
Epilogue
What a crazy ride. It felt like I had just time-traveled, floating through several days. Each portion of the ride felt like it's own separate and unique experience. In reality, it had been 21 long hours (17 hours in the saddle), totalling 333.33km and 2,600m of elevation gain and loss. Certainly my longest and most challenging bike ride to date. In total, I raised over $2,000 for Ally Global and their efforts to combat human trafficking.
This ride would not have been possible without so many contributors. From friends and family, to bike shops and fire halls, it was amazing to see how God used people along the way to help make this day happen. A few that I didn't mention were VMBC, where I bought and get my bike serviced. Rob, one of the owners, who encouraged me to get after it and try my best. My grandparents, Uncle Dave, Carl, Iris, Jeremy, and many others who texted me with encouragement as I felt the exhaustion in the later stages. Finally, to everyone who shared about and donated to this great cause! That was massively rewarding: to challenge myself while using my ride as a platform to help other people. It created a whole new level of satisfaction amidst the personal achievement.
Closing Thoughts
A big lesson I learned from the ride, is to take the experience as it comes and be flexible. I can't control all of the variables, but I can control how I react to them. There were many moments when I could have broken down and screamed or cried (or both) at all the things that seemed to be going wrong. But, somehow, I remembered the importance of smiling! I learned to laugh when things didn't go as planned, and even the serious mechanical issues weren't nearly as stressful. Sometimes I forget this, but writing this story has helped me remember how impactful that nugget of truth is; no matter what life throws at me - smile right back.
When Eric met me, and all the way back home, I felt like I could just keep biking. I'd been eating well all day and the tailwind drinkmix was working super well...
How much further could I go if I didn't have to navigate... ?
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