Bonnie back on the bike

Here I go again. The Ride For Karen is on September 8th, and once again I’m nervous. Even though I did it last year, it is still the hardest ride I have done. That’s despite having completed the 2-day, 100k-per-day Tour For Kids just two weeks ago. That one wasn’t easy, at twice as long, but the hills were definitely not as numerous as the Ride For Karen route.

Still, both rides are such a worthy cause that I feel honoured to be taking part. Jeff Rushton of Oakville, Ont., and a few partners founded the Tour For Kids, which has a few fundraising rides across Canada each year. They raise money for Rushton’s charity, Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation, which is dedicated to helping kids and their families deal with childhood cancer in various ways, and to funding research. As for Ride For Karen, brothers Kris and Kirk Tobias founded it in their mom’s name’she passed away from cancer a few years ago’in order to help raise money so that kids with cancer can go to summer camp.

It takes training and fundraising to participate in these rides, and many hundreds do each year. Some, like me, ride alone, but other people bring along their whole family, and that is awesome to see. If anyone wants to join me, please sign up now for Ride For Karen! And if you want to ride with me, note that I am not that fast on a long ride! My average is 22/23 kilometres per hour. But it’s the journey that counts.

Have you recently completed a charity challenge? Tell us and you could be featured in a future issue of Best Health or online at besthealthmag.ca. Go to besthealthmag.ca/challenge.

Related:
‘ 5 ways to make sports a family affair
‘ Completing a 100-km cycling challenge
‘ How to prepare for a charity walk