Frank Molinari

Up early at 5:30 and get ready to roll by 7:30.  It’s quite chilly and I’m determined to have a great ride today.  We are headed to Peggy’s Cove under police escort the whole way.  Chris drops a chain.  Along the road 5 riders get flats.  I’m feeling good and feeling strong.  We arrive at Peggy’s Cove around 10am.  What a beautiful place.  Now we head for Halifax.  Big hills and I’m feeling really good.  No way was I going to miss today! We arrive at the Sears store to lots of people and a great buffet lunch with coffee and desserts.  We also pick up a stuffed toy for the kids at the hospital. We ride to the IWK Children’s hospital and hear from Dr. Bruce Crooks and the hospital administrator.  Have some and I see a cute little girl in her dad’s arms and I give her the Toy…its Othello from the movie Frozen.  She is just part way into her treatment. This is a fabulous facility! We now head to Pleasant Park another short ride away.  I see Rita waiting.  I’m feeling super emotional.  We dip our front wheels in the Atlantic Ocean and the ride is complete!!  Champagne celebration and then we shuttle to the hotel.  Clara, Deanna and Lorena, Cousins from Toronto greet us and will be having dinner with us.  I find out that the pictures that Rita took from the wheel dipping onwards have been lost.  My heart drops but Super woman Fiona Steele saves the day for me. What an experience!!

After a great ride in PEI yesterday, today we wake up to cold and rain.  Somehow I knew it would not work out so well.  It was very cold and with the constant rain my body just couldn’t handle it and I started to shiver as well as numbness in my hands and feet.  Lots of climbs and as we progressed I got weaker and weaker.  I decide to get off the ride.  Heat blankets are the order of the day.  At the rest stop heat blankets are distributed to all.  Very hard to get warm.  I decide not to return to the ride as tomorrow is an important day.  Some riders proceed to the next stop which is a fire hall.  Chris finds out that Sean’s best friend growing up is a fireman at this location.  Team Captain calls it a day as many of the riders were going to stop.  We get news that there has been an accident with team 2. Shuttle to community centre in Lower Sackville and a nice hot shower.  Dinner is at Tom’s place restaurant and its fish and chips for me along with a beer.  I’m stuffed and ready for my sleeping bag.

McDonalds for breakfast and back to Sears Store.  Get dressed and ready to ride.  Dedication will be at another location.  We ride to the cemetery where Sean is buried.  Sean is Chris and Lisette’s only child.  Chris delivers an emotional dedication.   It’s a very beautiful day as we head to Cape Pele and are greeted by the kids at the school.  We also meet Kayla who has been cancer free for 5 months.  She is given a jersey that has been signed by all the riders.  She is really happy and the kids love it.  A little later some special needs people join us and are excited by our bikes.   Off we go to the “bridge” and along the way I notice the French flag with a star.  Chris tells me that’s the Acadian flag.  The Cajuns were sent to Louisiana back in the 1700’s but they are still proud. We get to the bridge and shuttle across.  Lunch at the Canadian Legion at Borden.  Nice lunch and then off to Charlottetown.  Who said PEI was flat?  There were some big climbs today but I held my own and we arrived at the Sears store to a fantastic lobster dinner.  Absolutely supreme!  We met Harrison who is 7 and has been undergoing treatment for the last couple of years.  They are looking forward to his cancer going into remission in the next couple of months.  He got a signed jersey from the riders. Riding the hills for the last 50k was a surprise for me and I was actually doing really well.

We left Edmunston under heavy fog and cold.  There was only one washroom for everyone to use.  Amazing how we can organized.  I’ve been holding my own and getting stronger and faster.  We arrive at St. Leonard, have a snack and back on the road.  We stop at Perth to a scenic setting in the park that was so beautiful.  Covered from the sun, we had tortellini with meat sauce plus all the cookies you could imagine.  The scenery getting here was fantastic.  We stop in Florenceville at the Sears outlet store.  “Suns out, guns out”  we took off our jerseys and rode with vests only to the covered bridge in Hartland.  Photo op time.  First time in all my years of riding that I’ve done 182km distance.  Good dinner and now off to Moncton  Sears store.

September 20  Day 14 Today we ride for Katie Montreal to St. Augustine Started the ride at Maskinonge.  Really cool and foggy but it was good.  Close to Trois Riviere and I got another flat, also noticed a hole in the tire and the tube was starting to bulge out.  Dan changed it at lunch.  So up to now I’ve had 3 flats, a broken chain and had to replace a tire.  Except for the some fantastic scenery the ride was uneventful and we ended at the Louis Garneau plant where we were treated to a fantastic dinner and the best Poutine I’ve ever had.  It was fantastic!

September 19 Day 13 Today we rode for Thomas Martin What a fantastic day!  We left the Pickering Sears store after a great breakfast and headed east to Newcastle as our first stop.  Team 1 was split in 2 as we were getting a little larger.  I was happy to be holding my own on the hills but I knew today would be a special day on the ride.  As the day went on, I got stronger and stronger.  We reached Newcastle Library had our snacks and rest stop goodies and headed for Cobourg. Roger Gallant joined us in Newcastle and lead the way.  Arrived in Cobourg to a great reception at the Sears store and had a fabulous lunch.  Burt Reynolds pose for Kerry with all the balloons and we’re off to Brighton.  I’m feeling super good and riding well.  No need to test for EPO, i’m just on a personal high.  What everyone doesn't know is that I’m thinking of Chris, Margie and Fiona and Scott all day.  Day before must have been difficult and I cant imagine how they felt.  I’m choked up and in tears.   Brighton was great!  Small towns have been so wonderful to us and welcomed us with the most amazing food things.  one of the women at Brighton made the best muffins.  Now I’m on fire all the way to Belleville and even managed to keep up to Damon for a while.  A whole bunch of kids lead us in to the Sears distribution warehouse parking lot.  There was the cutest little girl training wheels and she was just pedaling away like crazy.  It was awesome!  The Sears distribution warehouse was amazing and huge.  They used golf carts to bring us to the showers and then to a fabulous turkey dinner.  Many speeches and we heard Ken’s story of Meaghan his daughter, and we met little Marlo.  She is 7.  She has been undergoing treatment for the last 5 years after she was diagnosed at age 2.  Absolutely broke my heart.   Another surprise on this great day was a birthday cake for me!  and with Prosecco!  Tracey, I love her, made all the arrangements. And as today was full of surprises, I was greeted by Debbie Anderson nee Hegadorn.  She was a student of mine at Durham College.  After almost 30 years we re-connected on this ride and she gave me a special message that I will not forget.  Love you Deb it was fantastic to see you and thanks for the blast from the past picture. Chris, Steve and I had a couple of drinks and now we’re heading to the east side of Montreal.

We get a police escort in to the Hospital for Sick Children.  Awesome.  Just prior to riding into the sick kids driveway, we gather in front of the research centre on Bay Street. Coast to Coast has a panel signifying they are and have been a major contributor to the centre. Then to the front of the Hospital and as we pull up the driveway and to my surprise, I see our dear friend May. I’m fortunate enough to see family and friends at all 3 stops in Toronto area. We hear from a young man Andrew, that loves playing soccer and is about to make the provincial soccer team when cancer takes the knee and femur of one of his legs. He battles it and is now back to the soccer field with artificial femur and knee. We shuttle to Pickering Sears, I get organized, and off to dinner at Jack Astors where I inhale a plate of pasta. It feels great that we’re getting some warmer temperatures. Tomorrow is going to be a big day!

Great riding morning.  Approximately 7 km before lunch on a climb, I break my chain.  Really angry about this, it was new 2 weeks before we started this adventure.  Luckily Dan our mechanic had a spare and he made the repairs during lunch.  we have a great BBQ lunch of course, prepared by Scott and Fiona at Thessalon Marina.  I’m feeling strong and am actually pulling the team this afternoon.  Feels good to be contributing.  Great ride in the afternoon and we end up having dinner at another Marina in Blind River.  We shuttle to Barrie.

We had a really good pasta dinner at the Rotery Club Seniors centre and then off to shuttle to Sault Ste. Marie 

Lakehead University for showers and Pizza then shuttle to Marathon. 

Another cold morning and we leave Winnipeg under police escort.  Traffic is just as bad if not worse than it is in Toronto.  Chris Collins, MLA, Speaker of the house for the province of New Brunswick, joins us to ride to Halifax.  this morning I was feeling really good.  Strong winds from the south but we worked as a team and managed to do fast rotates.  Bright sunny day for a change and we had a great ride in to Falcon Lake. Now we shuttle to Northern Ontario.

We arrive in Winnipeg and I’m starting to feel better.  we go to the Cancer Care Manitoba hospital.  Paedeatric centre is amazing.  See my Facebook post.  Sears has been providing so much welcome support expecially with all this cold..

Another cold start.  Never really got over yesterday with cold shower at the end.  Today I pull off at lunch and just cannot ride.  We have dinner at the curling rink.  Three families in this little town are affected by childhood cancer.  we hear their stories.

Really cold and rainy morning to start the ride today.  40k into the ride and I cant feel my fingers and toes.  I get off the cycle train and ride in the support vehicle with a heat pack on my chest then move to the RV heat up and back on the cycle train after 30k.  we stop at Parkbeg Saskatchewan.  It has become a 9 year tradition to sign the house.  This year the last letter signed with Blue to honour Taissa.  we continue and stop at Estevan for the night. 

I cant believe I’m actually organized, finally!  Big tail wind today and we’re rolling at 30-40km per hour.  Very emotional morning for me.  We arrive at lunch at a small place called Piapot.  we have lunch outside the town saloon.  Of course we have a great lunch by Scott and Fiona.  We continue after lunch with a great tail wind.  170km complete to Gull Lake.  Shower and have a super BBQ dinner.  We are at a campground that has Stock Car races!

SNKCR day 11- Today we rode for Alexander We started out in foggy coolish temps in Sault Ste Marie and had a great breakfast at the Sears store. We started riding in cool foggy temps and at a good pace. The team worked supremely well today, double line or single line as required. Quick rest stop in the middle of nowhere and then off to Thessalon for lunch. 8km from lunch and on a climb, my bike chain breaks. Really pissed but Dan our mechanic managed to fit a new on my bike and I was good to go. The Thessalon Marina was spectacular and we were treated to BBQ lunch by Scott and Fiona who of course, knocked it out of the park again! Feeling strong after lunch. I managed to do some extra pulling and had some additional speed. Dinner and treated to some great views at the Spanish municipal marina. What a fantastic day! Alexander died in 2010. His parents donated his brain to research which created the worlds first and only cell line at the university of Calgary. I've attached a photo of his story. This is why we ride, so that children and their families shouldn't have to endure or deal with these types of issues. Need to catch up on older blogs.