Martin Rides!

Another year, another ride! Yes, that’s right, I’m getting back in the saddle for my second Friends For Life Bike Rally, with the goal of raising $5,000 (up from nearly $3,000) for the incredible Toronto People With AIDS Foundation.

Last year’s bike rally was simply incredible - a fabulous mix of exhaustion, exertion, and excitement - and I registered right away for this year’s ride (you can read all about it in this blog’s archives!).

Training rides have begun, fundraising has started, and all the other elements of getting ready to ride to Montreal are well and truly underway. This year I’m cycling as part of Team Carb’n'Fibre – you can learn about everyone I’ll be riding with at the team website and I will, of course, be blogging all the way to Montreal (starting with this weekend’s training rides!).

Thanks for joining me on this journey – don’t forget to click the link at right and sponsor me. By donating you’ll not only help get me to Montreal but also, and far more importantly, provide food, support, and education to many thousands of Toronto residents living with HIV/AIDS.

Well, packing day is upon us - four hundred cyclists, volunteers, and crew desperately hoping that all their stuff, including that one last pair of shoes, fits into two plastic tubs.

Anything forgotten? I hope not, because I’ll have to schlepp it to port hope if I did!

No, all is securely boxed up, including an embarrassment of cowboy hats…

The picture below is of truck H, otherwise known as home to my gear for the week. Hope it gets to Montreal safely!

Wow. With just a few days left to the ride, I am seriously excited about saddling up on Sunday morning!

A big thank you to everyone who has contributed to my fundraising, especially my family who bugged everyone they know umpteen times!

Welcome to MartinRides.com! I’ll be updating this blog as I prepare for the big PWA Toronto to Montreal bike Rally. Watch for information about my bike, training rides, people I meet along the way, and, after the ride, a full review of the week-long trip along 660KM of road between downtown Toronto and the heart of Montreal!

Oh, and help me raise $3,000 for PWA along the way!