Erika's BLOG

Hi everyone! This is Erika, Jer's fiancee, writing to you all from my home town of Montreal!!! Firstly, I must thank Adrian for the one-in-a-million wedding gift: a chance to be with my man for a portion of his journey! A huge thanks to Carolyn too for being my partner in this "covert surprise"! I cried and laughed and hugged and cried my way into his arms! We took a walk around the parlament buildings, huddled under a tree during a rainshower and then had a quiet supper together....how romantic!
The next morning (bright and early) we congregated at Tim Horton's for a meeting about the day's route. It was here that I only began to realize what these boys go through every day on this trip across the country!!! From getting all their drinks and supplements ready to gearing up physically (love that spandex!!!) and mentally for their ride, they're in this 100%.... Adrian was bossing me around the whole day! Go get the boys this....go fetch that....hurry, hurry....don't keep the boys waiting! All jokes aside, these boys are NOT professional cyclists?....coulda fooled me. They owned the road! I was like a proud mum watching them push off each 20 km interval. And the driver is just as important as the riders themselves. The driver gets up earlier, looks at the route, prepares ALL the meals and supplements, checks the bikes (tire preasure etc..), futses with the GPS (recallibrating!!!), makes sure that the road conditions are safe....basically has the boys' back the whole way. I was honored to ride with Adrian in the RV.
Another thing that surprised me was that the boys are getting along sooooo well! What a band of brothers! They're all bloody halarious! I don't think I've laughed as hard and as much as I have in the past two days. Steve is a walking comedian...I love it! And I MUST say that he handled the Montreal driving with balls of steel!!! And the beautiful women in Montreal aren't too hard to handle either!
I have been trying my hardest to show the boys a good time while we've been here....as long as they're eating, they're happy!!! We've had chinese food at Mr. Ma's restaurant, a greasy breakfast at Cosmo's and some Greek grub at Arahova's....Italiano is on the menu tonight! I'm gonna fatten them up if it's the last thing I do! Muuuuahahhhahaha!
The keggers at the Montreal Keg were spectacular! Area partner Mike Chisholm made it ( the boys met him in Oshawa) and RCMP officer Andy Wilson and his wife Carolyn were kind enough to make an appearance (they dine at the Keg all the time and are avid supporters of the Cycle for Spirit) and gave Adrian a big kiss all the way from Jessica at the St. John's Keg!
So it's off to the Montreal Jazz Festival and of course, Italian food! Thanks again to all those that kept my arrival a surprise and to everybody reading this- These boys are travelling 8900 kms with every inch of their strength, their mind, and their spirit. GO BOYS GO!!!!!!!!