Ed Helmus

We Have Arrived

Well here we are in BC getting ready for the trip of our lives. I arrive here on Sat Morning and was met by Linda & Murv. They treated me well and we spent a great day or so together. On Sunday they took me to Erin’s family and I spent a good day or so there as well. Everyone has been great and are wishing us well.

It is now Monday and the riders and volunteers are slowley arriving. Typical for BC it has been raining all day and as a result the mechanics have had to assemble our bikes in a small room rather than outside as planned. All of the riders are assisting were possible. The mechanics are making final adjustments to all of the bikes. There are some very nice ones here.

You can feel the excitement from all of us. We are pumped for this. There are many meetings and information sessions planned for the next few days so we will be busy. It won’t be long now before the big moment.

Fund Raising

We have reached and surpassed our goal of $25,000. There are a lot of people that I need to thank for this. First of there is our team that did all of the arranging for the various activities such as spinning at the many Sears stores, Jeans days at work, silent auctions, Yuk Yuk’s etc. The team consisted of Marijana, Phil, Sarah, Grace and Will as well as my Wife Christine and our future daughter in law Jen. Without them this would not have been possible. Thank you.

Many family and friends have been very generous as well. And then there were our Sears facilites, Calgary, Regina, Belleville, Vaughan and Valleybrook Fitness centers who donated from funds that were collected from the various activities within each of these facilities.

Many thanks also to all of the people who participated in raising funds and spinning at the 24 hour spin that was organised by the Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation. The day was a blast.

Then there are the hundreds of people I met while spinning in the malls who also donated. A little change sure grows into a large sum of cash as we found out time after time. These people don’t show on the marque but without them all I couldn’t have made the goal.

So to everyone, thank you so much for your support in this cause. These are much needed funds. May God bless you all.

Bags are packed

Like the words in the song, ‘My bags are packed I’m ready to go’. Like some of our other riders I’m not liking this ‘tapering’ a whole lot. But it has given me the time to iron my tags on everything I own, just like going to camp when I was a kid, and packing all my stuff. My bike was dropped off at Michael’s and is by now on the way to BC.

We have received our rider kits and they are incredible. I think they are the best yet and I am so proud to be able to wear them. After 10 months, lots of fund raising activities, lots of K’s training, lots of emotional moments the time is almost here to start the last part of this journey. There has been a lot of support from many people some we know and others complete strangers, the ride to date has been incredible. There has also been a lot of support from my family. My Mother was incredibly proud of me and the cause. Sadly she passed away today so a part of me will be riding in her memory.

This past Sunday The Community Christian Reformed Church in Frankford Ontario prayed for the safety of all our riders as well as success in raising awarness for the cause. May God bless and protect us all.

K’s and more K’s

I can’t believe how fast this is all going. We are only about 7 weeks away from the start of the 3rd annual Sears National Kids Cancer Ride. It doesn’t seem that long ago when we were starting our testing and doing a 20k training ride. Now there are days when we are well over the 150k mark and all feels fine.

This summer has been great for training, a little hot maybe at times and many jugs of water to keep ourselves hydrated but rather favourable conditions. Jeff, the founder of Coast to Coast indicated to us in a recent rider call that riding in the rain is rather enjoyable. I have done 2 such rides of 165k each and have not been able to find the enjoyment part yet. But you know, it is nothing compared to what the Kids with this horrible disease suffer. This is the least I can do.

Your donation will help, please sponsor me for this worthwhile cause. Thank you

Boston Pizza Fundraiser

Thanks to our friends John and Ann Williamson from Bowmanville who suggested this fundraiser and provided the information to follow up with it … 

Michael Johnson and Debra Kennedy Johnson graciously hosted a Celebrity server fundraiser for Erin and I on Thursday June 3rd at their restaurant at 951 Taunton Rd. East in Oshawa.  Unfortunately it poured rain and there wasn’t the turn out that we had anticipated.  I must say that although the weather was dreary the atmosphere at the restaurant was enthusiastic, warm and welcoming. 

There is potential with Boston Pizza for significant fundraising.  You pick the date, provide some volunteers to assist the servers in promoting in our cause, invite everyone you know to come out to dinner and 10% of their food check is donated to our cause along with all the other patrons!  As well some of the franchises allow silent auctions, raffles etc. to add to your fundraising goal.

Calgary Support

A work related trip brought me to our Calgary facility in February 2010.  Once they heard about the SNKCR ride that I was particpating in they enthusiastically wanted to come up with ways to fundraise to assit both Erin and myself with our fund raising goals and support this worthy cause. As you can see they put alot of effort into advertising this cause and our participation as National Riders for 2010. 

Along with the organisers in Calgary I would like to thank Clayton Skagen and the wonderful staff at RIP’s Pub, Millrise South West Location, for providing the opportunity to fund raise in support of the myself and Erin taking part in the Sears National Kids Cancer Ride. They provided a steak supper night and 50/50 draw which raised $1423.50.  Clayton supplied the tickets and meal at a reduced rate. Also, a special thank you goes to Lee Pederson, a recently retired Sears associate who donated his karaoke machine and DJ service for the evening. The evening went very smoothly and a good time was had by all in attendance.

The Calgary NLC associates have been very supportive of the Kids Cancer Ride fund raising events. They have raised over $4000 to date with more activities planned. Events already taken place are a facility bottle drive, prettiest pet photo, silent auction, RIP’s Pub night, pizza lunch with bake sale and donations. Everyone takes pride in helping fund raise for this very worthwhile cause.

A very special thank you to Robert Wellspring for all his enthusiasm and assistance for all of this.

I ACTUALLY WON SOMETHING WORTH WINNING!

Unfortunately it was not the jackpot for Loto Max, but the next best thing!  My wonderful wife entered me in another contest..I am always ribbing her about this…and this time we won, and won big! I got an e-mail from Julien indicating that I had won the wheels

Thank you so much Julien Papon of Vitess Bicycle Corp. for the carbon fibre wheels. They are incredible. We went to the Vitess show room and spent some time with Julien and his team. He explained the wheels to us as well as his main product, the Vitess bike. I took it for a short ride and was impressed. I was hoping to use it for a few days but Jeff Rushton booked it for the week.

The wheels are amazing.  They tracked true.  And are very aero dynamic, cross wind has very little effect.  I love them!  I would love to own a Vitess bike some day ( I just bought the bike I’m on and promised Christine it was my forever bike). 

If you are in the market for a new bike you just have to check out the Vitess bike. It is incredible. On their web site is an incredible review by Scott Judges. Check it out. 

Fundraising is going well.  In the works we have a Yuk Yuks night June 24, 2010.  If you are interested in tickets let us know.  Also a Boston Pizza Night and Sears Pickering Town Centre May 15, 2010. 

Thanks so much for every one who is supporting me financially and emotionally.