#rtccto

[ride2conquercancer]

The little engine that could and two of his boys.

[bobledrew]

On the road back to Ottawa.

What a remarkable 48 hours. The best organized large ride I've ever seen. $20 million raised. So many friendly faces on the bikes and on the side of the road.

I've never been cheered for an athletic event before. Coming into Niagara Falls there were hundreds of people lining both sides of the parkway, cheering, using clappers and cowbells and air horns and vuvuzelas. And because you wear little plates on your bike they're shouting your name, "way to go Bob!" like they know you. My two favorite roadside posters from the ride: "GO RANDOM PERSON GO!" and "CHAFE NOW BEER LATER."

And the Falls are on your right side and it's downhill so you don't have to work hard, and you've done what you told people you're going to do, and you're thinking of your friends who are gone, and your friends who are still here and thankfully cancer free, and you're thinking of your urologist and the care you're lucky enough to get and the good fortune of having a cancer that doesn't change your life everyday, and of your friends who are in the middle of facing up to these cells in their body not doing what they're supposed to do, and the partners and children and family and friends.

And you think about oncology nurse Shannon Nixon, who spoke in Hamilton at the camp, who finished the 2013 ride and within 48 hours was diagnosed, and got treatment and rode in 2014 with "Nixon's Ninjas."

Look: people get cancer every day. Some get treated and get past it. Some don't. Organizations like the Princess Margaret are making it better for everyone. Thank you for helping me help them.

[beerwithmeto]

Really enjoying this post ride steamie @steamwhistle @theontarioride #rtccto (at Mohawk College)