This year's Ride With Lance in Waterloo Region drew a bigger crowd out by Woerner House on the Roseville Road east of Roseville, thanks in part to coverage in The Record and here at Take the Lane. I talked to a few people who hadn't been out last year because that ride "was such a big secret" and came this year because "we read about it in The Record . . . no wait, it was in your blog . . . will we get a mention?"
Consider yourself mentioned.
Although it was a bigger crowd at the roadside than last year, the organizers don't actually care much about that. The real focus is on the fundraising riders, the 60 people who raised at least $20,000 each in pledges for Grand River Hospital and Sunnybrook Hospital, to help with their good work in cancer-fighting. Lance Armstrong is here for the obvious cancer-fighting reasons. When you think about cancer-fighting, just think of Armstrong as the biggest living anti-oxidant in North America.
Anyway, it was a big crowd. I counted more than 120 cars parked along the Roseville Road near Highway 401, although some of those were driven by guests of the riders. There were easily 140 people there waiting for a brief glimpse of the riders, not counting police, organizers, or the guests of riders who came out to join the public cheering section.
A couple of people asked me about my hat, which I had acquired from a rider who was selling them as a fundraiser. "Hey Bill, how'd you score the hat," one called out. "You can have it for $20,000," I said. The crowd laughed. Still, not a bad idea for organizers if they had something -- T-shirts, lanyards, hats -- to sell to the crowd. Every dollar counts.
Among the spectators was Bob Kenny of Orangeville, who came in support of his family doctor, Dr. Brian Wilson. "I want to make sure he does it," Kenny joked. I talked to Cathy Wilson of Caledon, spouse of the aforementioned Brian, who was delighted that I had just spoken to Kenny. "Where is he, I have to tell Brian, he'll be so delighted that a patient came here to see him ride."
Another rider-supporter was the Sooley family of Baden, who cheered for Mike Sooley of HSBC. Alex Sooley, 6 and Jordan Sooley, 10, shown here, were among several family members wearing yellow capes in their roles as "Little Superheroes for Cancer." Lisa Sooley said her husband is an avid long-distance rider: "He's fast and strong . . . he's the guy to watch."
Of course, most people were watching for seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong.
You shouldn't think of Marcel and Marny Pruski of Guelph as Armstrong-obsessed, even if they named their kids Max and Luke, the same as Armstrong's two boys. But the Pruskis are big Tour de France fans and Marny was wearing a pretty sharp TdF jersey. And Marny did say that the "10-year plan is to have two Maxes and two Lukes in the Tour de France." Not obsessed at all.
BTW, how did they come to hear about today's Ride with Lance? They, too, read it in The Record, but also heard TdF commentator Phil Liggett mention near the end of his TdF coverage that he would be riding with Lance in Montreal and in the Waterloo Region. Nothing like getting a little publicity during one of the greatest sporting events in the world.
And from one of the greatest guys, too. A few people were there just to see Phil Liggett. Charles Cox of Breslau rode against Liggett as an amateur years ago in Britain. Cox came out to last year's ride, where both Liggett and Armstrong signed articles of clothing. Cox, at 66, is still riding in veteran class events.
When Liggett came up the drive to do his stint with the local media, he detoured to the road edge to wave at the fans across the street, who responded with shouts of "Phil," and despite the "No autographs!" shouts from police, a couple of fans got through with their hats and T-shirts to be signed. Liggett, always gracious, accommodated them.
Jim Wiebe said he was glad to be there to see Lance Armstrong, but it was going to be "really nice to see Eddy Merckx and Phil Liggett. Phil is so really down to earth."
Nigel King and Todd Kutz rode to Roseville from Waterloo, dressed in the Discovery jerseys of one of Lance's former teams, but King was all about Merckx: "He could ride the classics: Italy, Switzerland, the Tour de France. He could win a sprint and win a hill climb."
Well back from the start area, one group had staked out a piece of the roadside, with camera and tripod at the ready. The Bouchard family of Kitchener, with two family friends (shown here from the left, Ryan Bouchard, 9, Rob Bouchard, Ron Donaldson, Dave Hartwick and Liz Bouchard, with Holly Bouchard, 6, in the foreground) came to see "the two greatest cyclists in the world." Liz said that "the kids, Ryan especially, watch the Tour de France on television."
"I'm glad they publicized this," Donaldson said. "They kept it a secret last year." Hartwick added. "This is a big thing for the biking community." But Donaldson had a question: "Say if you just happened to be out riding, how could they keep you from hanging on to the back?" You got a bike here, I asked. "Yeah," he said. Good luck, I said.
So, this was Year Two of the event. Will there be a Year Three? While Liggett was delivering his well-rehearsed, but heart-felt, cancer message to the local media with cancer survivor Steve Baechler at his right elbow, I took oncologist Dr. Carolyn Campbell, from the Grand River Regional Cancer Centre, aside briefly to ask that very question.
No direct response, but the inferences were that this may be the last Lance visit to the area. "We couldn't be more pleased to have Lance here, but if we can't next year, why can't we keep up the momentum," she asked. "People are delighted to give to something like this. Every hamlet we go through, every window we look in, there is someone who has been touched by cancer. The outpouring of support has been unbelieveable and wonderful. And all of this goes directly to have an impact on our patients. We have raised more than $1 million in the past two years." When it comes to fundraising, she said, "There will always be something."
Well, this year's "something" finally rolled out of Woerner House about an hour late (fog in Montreal had delayed the core group). When the riders are wearing similar gear and helmets, it's sometimes hard to pick out one from another. I never did figure out which one was Eddy Merckx. Someone shouted as the cavalcade wound down the driveway toward the road that Armstrong was wearing white, so I got one shot, but for the second year in a row, I clicked my closeup just as Armstrong turned his head the other way.
So I am hoping he'll come back for a third year. Third time lucky.
