The big pass of the day is behind us…

A team of four cyclists left Calgary at noon today (Calgary time) to cycle to Winnipeg and hopefully meet up with Arvid. They are (L to R) Ken Croy, Alvin Wolf, Thomas Kuhn, and Kevin Elliott. You can visit their Facebook page here and follow their adventure. Please support them in their endeavour as well!

Arvid and crew have passed through Revelstoke (2.5 hours ago), and are continuing on the journey. Arvid is doing well. It’s cloudy today with very little wind. The crew is doing well, despite being down a man (3 crew members for 2 vehicles). Contact with the crew is limited – the cell reception has not been great. The stats for the first day were taken from the GPS coordinates, rather than the crew. He completed roughly 537km in 24 hours and is 4h 24m ahead of the pacer. These numbers may be adjusted if we get word from the crew.

Arvid is right in the heart of the mountains, to the verse the crew selected for him is timely.

“Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” – Matthew 17:20

The crew is very busy, as traffic has been consistent. Things are going well: Arvid’s wounds are healing (despite some pain in some places), and the weather has been reasonable. Arvid has passed through Sicamous, roughly 490km into the ride. You can track him by clicking the link in the sidebar on the right.

Please take note that whenever we reference days, we are referencing 24-hour periods from the start of the ride. Thus, 4pm Halifax time (2pm Central) today will be the start of day 2, even though this is the second daylight period that Arvid has biked through.

Arvid is having his 15 minute “meta shopped” (sp?) just east of Kamloops. 

One of our crew members had to fly home because of viral sickness. Stan wanted to continue but thought it best if he went home sooner rather than later

So three of us will crew to Winnipeg by rotating one crew member per shift. Our first shift happened on top of the Coquihalla Hwy.

 Cyclists preference of energy food

The crew is experiencing intermittent internet connections, so a quick update from home base (Winnipeg). Arvid is riding well and, despite the busier road conditions today than yesterday, is making even better time. He is through the turn that wiped him out, and also finished 100km in 3h 30 minutes. The averaged record time is 5h 16m, but remember that the pacer never sleeps and always bikes 18.9km/h, even uphill or against wind.

We all need a second start!

Arvid got away well, his wounds are healing, and he is in good spirits. We had to do some bike repairs but all components are working.

Arvid will be starting the ride at 12 noon Vancouver time (2pm Winnipeg). Stay tuned for more updates!

After a good night’s rest, both Arvid and the crew are antsy to go again. Arvid’s wounds have already begun to heal, and he wants to hit the road. One of the crew members has come down with strep (and possibly more), and sought medical attention this morning. They aren’t sure yet of his continued participation. They are packing up and preparing to go, aiming for between a 12 noon (earliest) and 2pm (latest) start time (Vancouver time). That’s 2-4pm Central, and 4-6pm Halifax (race time). The three remaining crew members will alter their schedule and rotation with two vehicles to get Arvid to Winnipeg.

After a four-hour visit to the hospital, Arvid has been bandaged and X-rayed and given the OK by the doctors to continue. Due to the delay, and the proximity to the start of the race, the plan is to rest up for tonight and possibly tomorrow night, then restart the ride from scratch (Guinness does not care when you start). This way he would lose no time on the record, and allow the wounds to begin healing before riding.

As you can see from the pictures below, he took the brunt of the accident on his left side. To clarify what happened, he was on an 11% descent and took a left-hand turn at too high of a speed. He was unable to maintain the amount of turn he needed, and, rather than run into the concrete barrier at high speed, he chose to lay the bike down (fall on purpose). He skidded, then rolled, before stopping near the edge of the road. Given that he stopped moving in a blindspot in the turn, we are very thankful the traffic was stopped behind him in time. The crew took care of him, as well as some passersby. The paramedics arrived, and took him to the hospital to get checked out. He never lost consciousness. He has no concussion. No bones were broken (ribs or otherwise).

He looks forward to recovering and the possibility of restarting the ride tomorrow or Monday.

Arvid has ridden almost half a million kilometres in his cycling career, yet has remained remarkably safe on the roads. We are thankful for his quick-thinking decision to lay the bike down, and the relatively minor injuries that resulted. All things considered, this is a good end result.

The ride this morning started with great weather. Unfortunately, on a descent Arvid crashed and sustained significant road rash and scrapes. He is feeling okay, but is enroute to a local hospital to make sure everything checks out, and is not closing the door on resuming the ride if cleared. We will update you as we know more and can share it.