Day 27: L'Ecole Tache, and almost to Ontario!

Today we got up to the most amazing weather on the entire trip!
No wind, and no rain!

And we rode with big fat smiles on our faces right to within 10 km's of  the Ontario border.

Then, we raced back to visit a special francophone school, L'Ecole Tache. It was SOOOO fun!
We did the entire presentation and magic show in French, and it so fun, but so hard and mentally exhausting!

Vern doing magic for the students

Thank you so much Nathalie for arranging this.  The blogpost all in french is especially for you!!

The best part of the entire day was a special donation from our little friend Naeem Piquemal.

Merci Beaucoup Naeem!

Matthew, the reporter from the French Magazine: Liberte, trying to get a picture of us!

Time for a tune-up! We have to take good care of our bicycles - maintenance is imperative on a long trip like this one!!!

Can't forget to maintain the trailer!!!

It has been an amazing day!! And we are pumped and ready for tomorrow!

Anybody else have a school or a group they want us to meet while on our way?? Drop us a line and let us know! 

Oui! J'taime l'Ecole Tache!!

 Aujourd'hui nous avons visité l'École Taché!

Nous avons rencontré une dame extraordinaire nommée Nathalie Piquemal et son fils Naeem.

Naeem et Vern

Nous avons fait une présentation spéciale et un spectacle de magie pour environ 54 enfants de l'école maternelle...

Merci Nathalie pour votre énorme soutien pour notre balade... Nous vous aimons!!

Day 26: Onwards in the sunshine!

Today we visited a little elementary school in Winnipeg to talk about the Chain Reaction Ride.

It was so fun!!

Kid's LOVE Vern's Magic!

Kyle Bakx's Mother came to the school to meet us and see our presentation. And she made a very generous donation to the cause. Thanks Rose! We love you!

Sharing the dance with the elementary school!

The weather finally broke and the sunshine came to Winnipeg in the late afternoon, so we got 2 hours, and 50 km's in, and rode towards the Ontario border.

We met RCMP Constable Colin:

Our new best friend!!

We reached the longitudinal centre of Canada!

The MIDDLE!!!

We visited the famous Portage and Main (windiest spot in Canada).

Overall, a great and fun day!!!!

Another day is in the books and we are getting ever closer to our goal of reaching Halifax, and our goal of raising $250,000 to build an Education Center in Gindotown Ethiopia!!!

Help us out!

Like our facebook page, and tell your friends!

Keep the Chain Reaction going!!!

Day 25: All the way to Winnipeg

Yup... We are crazy... 
Started out in the rain at 6:45 am.... 
Rode 50 km's until the pouring rain stopped.... 

Look at how clean our drive lines are! Thanks Mark!

And then got excited about just clouds and wind.... 

That way to Halifax.

And rode past our destination of Portage la Prairie and all the way to Winnipeg!! 

We are spent.... Finished the ride at 5 pm and are ready for bed...

Riding 100 to 200 km a day, day in and day out in all the weather you can imagine, takes more than just physical strength.... You just have to switch off the pain and keep going no matter what your body is telling you. It is a huge emotional quest.... More than you can ever ever ever imagine folks...


But we are doing it! Day by day!


So tell all your friends, and help keep us motivated!

Day 24: Moosamin to Brandon!

Today we rode 146 km's from Moosomin, Saskatchewan to Brandon Manitoba. Winds were blowing from the east at 18 km/hr. rode for 5 hours. This has been a good week for us as we rode a total of 850 km's, crossed the entire province of Saskatchewan and are now within 200 km's of Winnipeg. 

Check out our new youtube channel! We have so many videos of Mark dancing.....

We have now traveled 1/3 rd of the distance to Halifax... And surprisingly, we have also raised about 1/3 rd of our goal of $250,000.
Thank you to everyone for your support. We love all of you!!

2 bikers were killed in 2009 on hwy #1.... This can be very dangerous... And serious safety and caution is needed. Once wrong move can prove fatal. We are very blessed that all is well thus Far. Please keep us in your prayers

But we still love riding our bikes!!

Day 23: Against the wind to Moosamin

Today we rode 171 km straight into the wind...grueling, but fortunately Vern was able to draft the whole way behind Mark.
Mark took all the wind head on and in effect pulled Vern the entire distance.
Thank you Eldon Mark Bishop!

Started at 9:00 am and finished at 8:30

The long, long road to Moosamin

Happiness is: Riding my Bike!!!

There is no such thing as insomnia when you spend all day pedaling your bike.

Stop the madness....

Tah dah!!!

"Wind Gusts" Yah, no kidding!

Who knew Saskatchewan had wind??

A very tough but good day.

Ride shadow RIDE!!

Day 22: Elementary School Day!

Today we visited two elementary schools. One in Pilot Buttte and the other in Balgonie..  These are the friendliest little towns we've visited yet!!! The principals were the nicest Ladies in the world.
And the children and communities proved to be the most generous. With only one weeks notice, we were greeted by excited kids.

Who between the two schools raised over $2,000.00 for our cause!

These kids helped us to help other children who want an education, in Ethiopia.  The children enrolled in the programs in Ethiopia are sponsored through Canadian Humanitarian.  Many of them still need sponsorship! If you are interested in sponsoring a child in Ethiopia, send Canadian Humanitarian a note.

"the dance"

We love you Pilot Butte and Balgonie....

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

After that awesome morning and afternoon, we managed to end the day by riding for 1.5 hours in the rain and sleet.....

We froze to death... But are alive and well.

And Day 22 is in the Books!

Day 21: Hello Regina!

What a DAY!

Today we rode 135 km's... The best part of  the day was the gale force 30 km per hour winds behind us....

 Saw the royal couple and prime minister's motorcade... 

Got a flat tire... 

Mark got hastled by RCMP (not) and got the motorhome stuck in the mud and had to be towed out at the rv park 

A fantastic day

We had to wait for the prime minister and the royal couple to drive by and met constable Ryan... We are now BFF's

And now to end the day... 4 wheeling in the rv park... Followed by a rescue by the tow truck

There is a video up on our facebook page of Mark with Constable Ryan! Don't miss it!!

Day 20: Swift Current to Moose Jaw

It was a wet and blustery day!

The day was  a grind and it eventually beat us up and wore us out!

Exhausted after 7 hours of pushing against the wind and the rain..

But we kept going!!  We have an Education Center to build with Canadian Humanitarian!

The last few kilometers.

Beautiful countryside, nonetheless!!

We met a lady at a stoplight named  Becky. We gave her a Chain Reaction card, and she pulled out a $20 and donated on the spot!

Met a guy on the highway who needed some help, named Calvin! We gave him our card as well, and were graciously surprised to receive a $100 donation online!! Thanks Calvin!

You can help us out too! Use our online Donation Station!

We made it to Moose Jaw today! Another day of riding in the books.

Tomorrow we push on to Regina.

More rain and wind to come,  but we will be ready!

Day 18 and 19: Rest day, and on to Swift Current!

We took a day off to rest and rejuvanate after our big shindig in Medicine Hat. We had a great turnout at Echodale!! Thanks everyone for coming, and for those who worked hard to make it possible!

Mark; taking a snooze.

Monday:

WOW! What a day!

We made it to Saskatchewan!

We rode 98 km's to Maple Creek - arrived at 12:30! We had lunch and then said "Let's keep going! We feel great!"

Lo and behold, we rode until 9pm and did an extra 138 km's and made it to SWIFT CURRENT!

Our rapt audience on the road...

We picked up an extra day, and set a personal best for both Vern and Mark!

The only problem? Vern 'bonked' at km 217 (hit a wall and ran out of energy completely), and finished the last 19 km's at turtle speed.

Tired, tired Vern.

Don't plan on doing that again!

But we still made it! And day 19 is in the books.

More of our wildlife supporters along the road.

Join the Chain Reaction Ride! Follow us on our blog, or on facebook! Share us with your friends, and help us build an education center!



Day 17: Suffield to Medicine Hat

Saturday we woke up to perfect biking weather.

17 of us rode the 40 kms in to Medicine Hat where we were met by 100 people at the Gas City Campground!

We were met by CHAT TV!

Crestwood School organized a family ride with us out to EchoDale and we had 60 to 75 riders join us for the 6 km ride.

More people signing our trailer!!

Thanks to Lions Club, we enjoyed a BBQ which was accompanied by a magic show, cotton candy donated by Allen Parker, a jumping bouncy slide, balloons, rub on tattoos and more. It was awesome!

A great day for all.

And we raised just over $2000.00 towards our goal!
Thank you so much Medicine Hat!

You can help us too- donate to our cause!