(Josh Ryan/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By battlefordsNOW Staff

Cycling success

Bike for Breakfast tour arrives early raising $270,000

Jun 8, 2021 | 2:10 PM

After battling wind, rain and aching muscles, the cyclists of Bike for Breakfast can relax knowing they’ve made a significant impact on their local school divisions.

Cycling to raise funding for school breakfast programs, the team left Lloydminster at 4:50 p.m. Friday evening and ended the tour ahead of schedule, making it back to the Border City by noon on June 6. The trip took 41 hours and 10 minutes to complete 1,050 kilometres, culminating in a fundraising total of nearly $271,000.

Co-organizer and team member Nekky Jamal said it looked as though they were going to make it into Lloydminster by dawn on Sunday, before the group collectively hit a physical and mental wall. He added that the fatigue was something they underestimated.

“I slept about an hour, I’m pretty brain dead, but it’s been fun,” Jamal said. “We crashed pretty hard, but it’s been an incredible journey.”

“Everything hurts,” team member Brad Hoffman said at the group’s stop in the Battlefords Sunday morning. “But we avoided some of the rain [and made it back].”

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The crew faced a number of obstacles over the weekend, including a thunderstorm Friday evening, their transport bus breaking down early Saturday morning and a drastic change in temperature between the halfway mark of the trip and the last overnight stretch heading into Sunday. Co-organizer and team member Shaun Newman said that played a role in hitting a wall on the trip home where they were also cycling against the wind.

“It went from 32 Celsius in Tuffnell Saturday afternoon to 5 C by the time we got to Borden,” Shaun Newman said.

Given the amount of fatigue each member felt by Sunday, Newman was impressed with how well they held up on little rest, especially Bobcats coach Nigel Dube.

“Nigel slept maybe two minutes, he was a truck for us,” he said. “Then at one point he dropped down to 20 kilometres per hour, you could tell his legs weren’t working.”

The physical toll of the trip was worth it, however, for the reception they received in Tuffnell, which included a visit and a $1,000 donation from online personality Quick Dick McDick, a meal from the members of the town’s recreation centre and additional donations from that community. Newman said there were last minute gifts, even as they pulled away to begin the second half of the journey.

“As we’re leaving, a lady walked out and gave us a hundred bucks,” he said. “It was super cool.”

“It’s an incredibly kind community in Tuffnell,” Jamal said. “Really kind people.”

Now that the trip is over, Newman said he can already envision this becoming an annual event. For now, it’s time to thank the community that surpassed his already high expectations.

“I can’t even come up with the words.”

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cjnbnews@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW