A New Week

I received the following message from Fran (Don's neice) and her husband Howard. Fran and Howard live south of the border but they made sure to be in Vancouver for Don's last days. As evidenced by their message, they were very touched by Don. I think I speak for Don's immediate family when I say that we were all touched by their love and support when they were here.

"We have donated and support Mark 1000% (if that were possible). His web page, words and the picture of Uncle Don absolutely brought tears to my eyes." - Fran & Howard

Thanks to Fran & Howard for their generous support.

Yesterday was a rest day for me. I was worried about training this week. I had a trial scheduled for tomorrow and, as usual, I felt a little under-prepared. I was going to need to bring home work which precludes riding to and from the office. It turns out that the trial must be adjourned so I had the evening to ride. I targeted for an hour and I hit it bang on. Going west, I was riding into a stiff headwind. I was pushing to make an average of 30 km/h but I just couldn't break through fast enough. Thankfully, what was a barrier going west provided assistance going east. Here's the log:

Route: from home to the 15th St bike route, left onto the Tatlow bike route, onto Welch St, through Park Royal and onto Marine Drive until I completed 30 minutes (which took me just past the Fisheries station). Turned around and retraced the route home.
Distance: 29.3 km
Time: 1:00:06
Average Speed: 29.3 km/h

My 1st Long Ride & Fundraising News

Last night, I broke the $1000 mark. This is the minimum required for my participation in the ride so now I am truly committed.

A quick log of my ride home last night: I rode easy after having spent the evening with a friend eating a big meal and drinking a little sangria. It was dark when I started so I kept off the road and on the bike path.

Distance: 8.7 km
Time: 21:43
Average Speed: 24.2 km/h


Today, I went for my first long ride. I did not push it too hard and I kept my fuel up by eating an energy bar along the way. But, by the time I got to the last hill, I was struggling. The hill was short but pretty steep and I was only able to take it at 8 km/h. Once on top, I cooled down on flat roads for abot 6 km. Here is the log of my ride:

Route: from home onto the W 15th St bike route, left on Tatlow bike route, right onto Welch St. Welch to Park Royal onto Marine Dr all the way into Horseshoe Bay. Turn around following the same route back but hooking onto the W 1st St bike route to MacKay St and back into my neighbourhood where I did two laps.
Distance: 50.1 km
Time 1:50:00
Average Speed: 26.9 km/h

My 1st Real Day of Training

Yesterday, I received the official Tour of Courage training program for the 90 km ride. The program expects me to ride 5 days a week, use the stepper once a week and do weight training twice a week. The rides vary from 1/2 hour, easy riding to long (80-100 km) excursions. I will have to modify my training program given my family and work committments.

Today, I started training in earnest. I am going to use this blog as my training log - I will post the basic details of my efforts each day.

Route: from home, over the Lions Gate Bridge, around the Stanley Park Ring Road once, onto Georgia St, veer onto Pender St to Beatty St
Distance: 21.3 km
Time: 43:02
Average Speed: 29.8 km

I will also be riding home but I will take the direct route and riding at an easier pace. I'll post those details tomorrow.

I've Decided to Start a Blog

If you found this blog, chances are you clicked on the link at my website devoted to the Tour of Courage: www.tourofcourage.ca/goto/markbussanich. If you happened upon it via some other path, please take the time to visit the link above and donate to my ride to fight cancer.

I thought it would be useful to create a blog to post my progress regarding fundraising and training for the Tour of Courage. Also, as people donate, I am learning about their stories. If I get permission, I will post some of those stories here since they are inspirational.

For those who don't know, I will be riding my bike, along with many others, for 90 km. The purpose of the ride is to raise awareness for cancer research and I am fundraising for the BC Cancer Foundation. This is not only my effort. Many will particiapte and we each have our personal goals.

At this early stage, I have two main goals:

1. to raise as much money as possible; and
2. to train so that I can complete the ride in under 3 hours.

I only started fundraising two days ago and the response has been tremendous. I want to thank everyone who has donated so far and I want to encourage everyone to get the word out. Have your friends visit my website and make a donation. I began with a goal of $1000, as was recommended by the Tour. But, things are going so well so I decided to raise my goal to $2000. If the response continues as positively, I will keep raising the bar.

I will post more details about training as time goes on. For now, I will be riding to and from work twice a week. The ride is only about 9 km so it is more of a sprint. I will also be doing one longer ride each weekend - starting at 40 km and getting longer as the summer progresses.

Check back often to read more.