When theres something we want to do, it takes a very individual act to make it happen; we must decided that its going to become more than a pipe dream and start the ball rolling to make it happen. But, after that, youd be surprised (as we always are) at how much our friends, strangers and the universe conspires in our favour to see the task accomplished. So, when taking on the task of crossing Canada on my bicycle to do my first music tour (aside from touring in The Hylozoists), it was that first moment of Im going to do this that proved the most difficult. Once I had surmounted my atrophic thoughts, all that was left was to mount a bike and get the thing rolling (puns intended there for sure!).
I flew to Victoria, British Columbia; the opposite side of the country from my home. I thought that, if I started on the other side, Id be less likely to turn around as I needed to always be heading homeward. After planning for months things were finally starting to fall into place. With my keyboard, glockenspiel, vocoder, trumpet, slinky, Grinch costume (more on that later) and projector in hand, I was ready to go find out what the bicycling part of this trek would hold (and mainly) what would my bike be. I found pretty much the cheapest of the long-distance touring bikes in a shop in Victoria and made the clerk promise me that it could take me across Canada, his reply was, its not the bike Im worried about, its those skinny legs.
After a very quick realization that I had too much weight on the bike for panniers (the bike wouldnt stand on its own without jack-knifing due to the back-heavy weight!), I got a trailer to carry the 100lbs or musical gear and biking supplies (I had one change of clothing). With the first gig over with Victorias Run Chico Run, it was time to hit the short road to Vancouver (if only all Canadas cities were a 2 hour bike away from each other!). Even before I started biking, I was getting support from family and friends and especially long-distance cyclists like Matt (for those of you who dont know, before THE Ice Cream Man started endlessly traveling the country delivering cheer and joy to the masses in the form of ice cream, he traveled across the country on his bicycle, AND the leaning back kind!!!, AND did heaps of good raising money and awareness for cancer research). I, being affected too by cancers close-to-home touch (in my father; hes well now though thankfully!), decided to raise money and awareness for cancer too and, particularly, kids with cancer and so raised much for The Childhood Cancer Foundation. Having this goal too, Ive found, really helps with the determination Matt so often reminded me was important to mentally getting over physical upon physical humps (which some may call The Rockies!!!).
So began the climb over the mountains and, because I practically started with them, came the only time that I thought I may have bit off more than I could chew and had to stop three times on that first days climb to the summit of my first mountain. The first one was like a kick in the stomach informing me that, while I found biking horizontally naturally easy, there were going to be some times ahead (like the next two weeks!!) where horizontal doesnt happen much. At the same time it let me know that training for this endevour may have been a good idea. The second time I stopped, I had to muster up all the external reasons I was doing this for (you can always seem to let yourself down but, when others a counting on you, it pushes us to do things we otherwise would have perhaps let go). Thinking about doing stuff for those in need of help too certainly puts any physical exhaustion or inconvenience in perspective. It was at this stop that things clicked (not in the sense of bones getting injured!) and I knew that whatever happened things could be overcome with a little mental strength; thoughts of those who were supporting and those who I was supporting. The last stop was just to rest and enjoy the view close to the summit; you cant take a mountain (or even half a mountain) in one go!
After this, things seemed much more manageable. I knew I would see a lot more obstacles but they would be overcome just like this one and believe me, there were more obstacles: the rest of the Rockies whipped me into cycling shape, the Prairies made me change my opinion on horizontal biking always being easy, hail-storms reminded me of being shot by paintballs, creepy cars seemingly following me at times reminded me that I was completely alone on the road, tornadoes whipping off the roofs of towns around me and seeing them in the distance while biking encouraged me to consult the weather forecast every-morning from then on, getting a head-cold and having to bike/perform through it for nearly two weeks, getting lost in Quebec and realizing that I had over shot Montreal and that I had to bike back around 40k only to barely make the gig in time, being in the core of a massive thunder and lightning storm and feeling my whole body shake from the vibrations of the thunder while having my eye widen to the maximum seeing the lightning strike the discarded construction equipment on the side of the hi-way, and, last, being nearly hit by a car every day (within elbow room of large vehicles unknowledgeable of their cars dimensions and/or jerks) made me continuously remember what the real danger on the road was and always is.
With the sails full of support of friends and strangers turned new friends alike, I was greatly pushed along to have a great time on this tour (these hardships are the interesting points to say but dont represent all the time; just about 40% Id say! haha). And its just another experience; things would get boring if everything always worked out. I made all my 35 shows and played every type of venue from bigger well-known bars to art-galleries to smaller music halls and even to a kayak resort in Wawa and a community theatre in Marathon (which were both great shows). I found people were really enthusiastic about my uplifting show (which involves me performing my EP that I wrote to sync up a la Pink Floyds Dark Side of Oz style with Dr. Seuss How The Grinch Stole Christmas) and, like the spirit of giving of the film, enjoyed how I was raising money for charity so, when things impeded my progress, like the 5 times when my bike broke down, people were there to offer a lift to the nearest gas station or bike shop or my next stop. So, by the end of the tour, I had the support of CBC, MuchMusic, MTVcanada, Exclaim!, promoters, new-found friends, biking-gurus like Matt, a whole slew of local newpapers and weeklies, blogs, and of course old friends and family. So, if you want to do something, just start doing it and youll find that people will come together to help in which ever way they can.
Today is your day your mountain is waiting, so, get on your way Dr. Seuss
