Getting Started

Today, in the middle of January, I rode my bike 30 kilometers, across the Lion's Gate bridge, down the north shore and back across the Iron Workers Memorial bridge.

But why, Ben? That sounds hard, and you like things that are easy!

I'm glad you asked. Why, it's because this June my friend Tucker and I are riding our bikes to Seattle in order to conquer cancer. It's called the Ride to Conquer Cancer, and we're each trying to collect a minimum of $2500 in donations so they'll let us ride along with them.

To be honest, I don't actually believe that this or any other bike ride will ever conquer cancer. It's entirely possible that cancer will never be conquered. If we ever find a cure, I'm sure that the cure itself will be found to cause cancer. You know: all human endeavour is futility, yada yada &c.

The real point is, we'd look like a bunch of chumps if we just rolled over and all died of cancer without even trying to conquer it, so I'm getting on my bike and doing my part. Besides, It's going to be wicked fun. My neighbour David Pfeiffer did this ride last year on a borrowed racing bike that must have weighed about 10 pounds, and it sounded like he had a great time.

Tucker's mom died of cancer, which isn't something you'll ever hear him bring up in a conversation, so it's up to me to tell you. My family aren't really the cancer type; we're more heart attack and stroke people, but my parents seem to lose a friend to cancer every couple of years, so yeah, what the hell, let's go and conquer some cancer.

This blog has two purposes. First of all, I need encouragement. I do like to ride my bike, but I also really like to drink beer, and consequently, I'm a good 30 or 40 pounds overweight. It's going to be a hell of a lot of work to drag my fat ass to Seattle. I'm going to need to train, I'm going to need to lose weight, and I'm going to need to somehow do it without completely giving up beer, because as I'm often heard saying, I'm never going to quit drinking beer; beer is why I do everything else.

The second purpose of this blog is fundraising. We need $2500 in donations each to even join the ride, and anything extra will just make us look like superstars in front of all of the other cancer riders. All of the donations go to the BC Cancer Society and are fully tax deductible.

As an added bonus, Tucker's employer, Encana, will match all donations to his ride up to $25,000. So once I get my $2500, everything is going to him.

— I’ve just discovered that this policy only applies to pledges made by Encana employees. Sorry for any misdirected excitement I’ve caused. —BC.

I've just I don't expect the donations to start rolling in yet; it's only January. But this is fair warning: when spring rolls around, I'm going to start passing the hat. If you don't want to give, you'd better just avoid me altogether.