Dogged determination!!!

These two words describe Shania to a tee. When she set her mind to do something she would do it whole heartily and wouldn't give up until she accomplished her goal. So with Shania as my trainer for the ride for Karen, it was with this mind set that we did this 160KM challenge. It did turn out to be a rainy morning. I hadn't ridden in the rain before and didn't know how the bike would handle with these slick narrow tires. We started out at nine in the morning with Kirk Tobias doing a speech were he mentioned that I was a hero for doing this ride. This was very kind of him to say this, but every single person riding/volunteering/sponsoring this event are hero's. They put everyone into three groups the 35/30 and 25 KM/HR teams. I was in the 25/KM/HR group at the back. They separated them out by five minutes each. I was ready to go, I had a picture of Shania and I on our bikes in a zip lock bag along with her favorite bravery bead and a couple of her bracelets in my shirt pocket. So with a big hug and kiss from Karen and Shannon we were off. It wasn't raining at first but after about a half hour it began and didn't stop for about three hours. let me tell you, you don't realize how many hills there are going up north on the back roads until you go on a bike. Along the way I over heard some one in our group mentioning how hard this was and the person that he was talking to said that this is nothing in comparison to what these children with cancer have to go through. This is so true, these kids have true grit, to go through what they have to endure and still be able smile and have fun at the end of the day is truly inspirational. We stopped for a break at 50K to refuel with delicious muffins and cookies that Paula Tobias and friends made. I filled up my bottles and was off on the road again. This route I'm sure must be very scenic but it was raining to hard to do see very far. The group started to spread out a bit because of the water spray off the bikes, we were hitting 55 clicks/HR going down some of the hills, which we needed to get a head start on the next hill going back up. The rain started to subside once we got up to the Holland marsh, at this point it flattened out completely, so it felt like a double bonus no rain and no hills ya hoo!!! this lasted for about 30KMS until we came out of the Holland marsh at this point we weren't to far from the lunch break which is at 120KMS but we still had a few long huge hills or what seemed like huge long hills before we got there. I was really hoping that this lunch break would recharge the batteries, because I was a hurting unit at this point. Once I got there I got a heart lifting surprise. Vernon Ward a friend that helped me get set up for this challenge and was in the 35KM/HR group, was waiting with a necklace made from the metal plate that was used to cut out a gold pendent for the necklace that Shania wore at her funeral. It looks similar to a dog tag they use in the army but with a sunflower cut out of it. Thank you to Roger Kanda a friend of Kirk Tobias who is a jeweler, he made this and the sunflower charms for all 500 bracelets. I grabbed something to eat and was talking to one of the Marshals for the ride, his name is Chris, he mentioned a riders tip. He said to fill up one of my bottles up with a can of Pepsi and water. This would give me a sugar and caffeine boost for the last 40 KMS and true to his word it did give me that bit of extra energy to make it back to the Start/Finish line. I had brought along some energy bars with me and had them in my shirt pocket at the back of my riding shirt, this is also were I had Shania's picture and charms. So every time I went for the energy bars I would feel Shania's picture. This gave me a reminder of Shania all along this ride, it was like she was with me encouraging me all the way. She is my inspiration to do this challenge, I would never even have imaged of doing something like this if it wasn't for Shania. It was an emotional finish. The people that I finished with asked if I would like to lead them in to the finish, which I was greatly honoured to do and would like to thank them for this kind gesture. This ride took me seven hours to finish. Karen,Shannon and some of our friends welcomed us back with lots of hugs. They had come earlier and set up a booth to sell Shania's shirts and jewelery, They raised $350.00 which they donated to The Ride for Karen. Kirk said that it should go to Shania's cause, but we told him that this is what Shania would have wanted. We raised over $1900.00 dollars to send kids with cancer to camp. The ride in total raised over $240,000.00 WOW!!!! What a feeling it was to be a part of this great cause. I look forward to doing this again next year! Once again I would like thank Shania for being my inspiration and trainer.

I will always believe in Shania I will I will!!!
I will always believe in Shania I will I will!!!!!!!
I will always believe in Shania I will I will!!!!!!!!!!!!
With love that is true.
Shayne,Karen,Shannon & Whiskey.