Looking back before looking ahead

This is the time of year when we look at ourselves in the mirror and say “what comes next?”

It’s that transitional period when the fall season is coming to a close and you head into the winter training season deciding what’s in store for the new year. Maybe you’re fortunate enough to have a long-term, multi-year plan for your cycling, running or multi-sport career, but for most of us who are balancing work, family life and training, our plans often change from month-to-month, and sometimes even more often than that.

While I’m still deciding what’s in store for my own 2014 season, I figured I’d give you a look back at the accomplishment of 2013 I’m most proud of.

In late June, my wife Emily and I rode 1,200 km from Vancouver to Banff as part of GearUp4CF, a fundraising ride for Cystic Fibrosis research. It’s a cause extremely close to our hearts as Emily’s cousin, who was her best friend growing up, died of the disease two weeks before her 24^th birthday.

Emily raised nearly $8,000 in 2011 doing the GearUp4CF ride for the first time, and in 2013 we raised $14,000 doing the ride together.

Each day of the journey I put together a video blog that documented that day’s adventure. You can see them embedded below. It was an amazing experience that I hope we can do again some day.

DAY 1