They build bike riders tough in Texas.
Take for example, Ian Denning, one of the 78 Texas 4000 cyclists from the University of Texas raising money for cancer research and support services on a two-month trip from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska.
Denning was 22 days into his 70-day ride on the Sierra Route, heading through wine country in California’s Napa Valley when he was swallowed by a pothole.
Travelling downhill at about 60 kilometres per hour, he hit a patch of gravel and wiped out, landing hard on his shoulder.
Luckily Denning, a former junior hockey defenceman from Houston who played in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League for the Waywayseecappo Wolverines, is used to throwing his weight around and sacrificing his body to stop pucks coming at high velocity.
Luckily for him the only thing that broke on impact with that California road was his helmet.
“I was really lucky, the way I landed I just rolled and my helmet hit my head and my first thought I have to buy a new helmet but that was a good problem to have, I’ll be alright,” said Denning, who rode in from Quesnel Thursday, July 12 for a Prince George pi stop, where his group of 25 Sierra riders met up with 26 cyclists following the Rockies Route on their trek to Alaska.
Denning, 26, a public health/government major at the University of Texas, still has a bit of road rash but was otherwise unscathed. After a rest day he was to be back on his bike Saturday morning on the way to Vanderhoof. His group expects to be in Dease Lake by next Friday and they plan to meet up with the Rockies riders in Whitehorse on July 23.
From there, they’ll have 10 days left to get to Anchorage for the end of their trip on Aug. 2.
The Rockies riders, who rode in Wednesday from Purden Lake, left Prince George Friday bound for Vanderhoof. They left Austin on May 25 and have been averaging about 140 kilometres per day. There’s also a group on the Ozarks Route travelling across Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. to connect to the Alaska Highway
Rockies Route rider Krishi Manem, a 21-year-old native of Chicago who lives in Dallas, was blown away by the mountain scenery in Banff and Jasper national parks and he also had good things to say about Prince George hospitality and the warm reception they received from the locals.
The weather so far for the Canadian tour stops has been just about perfect – warm and sunny, with no tornado warnings or 42 C heat indexes like they encountered early on in Texas.
“Every five or 10 miles we had to stop and drink a whole bottle of water to keep us hydrated, those days were the toughest, weather-wise,” said Manem, a neuroscience major heading into his senior year at UT-Austin.
“We climbed up Pikes Peak (in Colorado) a couple weeks ago and it felt so rewarding to do the whole thing. We did 13 miles and started at 9,000 feet and climbed 5,000 feet. The hardest part about that isn’t the climb, it’s the altitude change. Once you get above 12,000 feet the air is super thin.”
Sarah Brager, 21, a journalism sophomore, grew up Buda, Texas. She says they don’t have the luxury of having a massage therapist to work the kinks of their tired muscles by the end of the day but the support van that carries their camping gear has an electric muscle stimulator for a bit of therapy.
They encountered a few rude drivers on some of the narrower roads earlier in the trip but Brager has been impressed with the courtesy of passing motorists on her first trip through Alberta and B.C., where highway traffic is relatively light.
“I feel like the drivers are less aggressive here, they’re friendlier,” said Brager. “It’s been absolutely gorgeous scenery, The Canadian Rockies have been lovely. I also liked Pikes’s Peak but my favourite ride was Banff to Jasper, our longest ride yet. We did 155 miles in one day. We woke up at 3 a.m. to get on the road as early as possible. It’s the most beautiful scenery.”
The 51 riders and their support teams who converged in Prince George had a hot meal waiting for them at First Baptist Church, cooked by volunteer Monica Peacock, and spent the night at the Ewert camp on Ness Lake.
The Texas 4000 first started in 2004 and its known as the longest annual charity bike ride.
Each rider was required to raise $4,500 US and most have exceeded that. The money is mostly targeted to communities that are underserved by cancer treatment services. More information is on the website.
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