Follow Ramesh's Journey

Greetings to everyone and welcome to the Cycle to Walk website!! I’m excited to write my first blog entry as there’s so much Cycle to Walk excitement to share with you!! I’m writing you from Vancouver where I have been down here training since February 3rd. Thank-you so much to my friends Richard Peter and Marnie Abbott, who are Paralympians for the men’s and women’s Canadian National wheelchair basketball team. Marnie and Richard have welcomed me in their home for the last 2 months in order to allow me to be closer to the Sea Wall, Stanley Park, and the Vancouver Aquatics Centre!

There are other great people who have assisted to make my training in Vancouver a successful couple of months; Pat and all the hard working staff at Icycle Sports in Whitehorse Yukon as they spent countless hours modifying the hand-cycles prior to arriving in Vancouver for training. Pat, Joana, Devon, and all the staff at Icycle Sports thank-you so much!! Rick and all the staff at Broadway Foam and Fabric thank-you for fabricating my customized seat cushion and Karen Mills thank-you for donating your time up in Whitehorse to assist with the fabrication of specialized seat cushion. Thank-you to Paul Dragon and all the staff at Reckless Bikes on Fir Street in Vancouver for fixing my tires after all the muscle shells along the Seawall punctured my tires, and ordering all the extra parts needed for the journey. Lastly I would like to thank Laura Wilson, Lisa Vowk of Whitehorse and Donna Carrigan of Victoria who have worked together as a team to determine my dietary needs for the training period and for the journey. Being in Vancouver has provided me an opportunity to practice hand-cycling in the rain, as well I have also had the chance to swim lengths of the Olympic size swimming pool at the Vancouver Aquatics centre.

While I’ve been training Shelley Williamson the Cycle to Walk Executive Director has been working so hard with all the volunteers, board of directors and many people within the community of Whitehorse, Yukon and through out Canada to secure funding, organize the logistics of the journey, invite dignitaries, and participate in fundraisers- thank-you so much Shelley, volunteers, and all of the Cycle to Walk board of directors for all your hard work it is very much appreciated. There’s has been a lot of Cycle to Walk support from communities in the Yukon and across Canada. Just recently in Thunder Bay Ontario the Anglican Churches of St. Pauls, St. Marks and St. Mary’s in Nipigon invited Cycle to Walk to do a presentation and held a fundraiser for the campaign. The Rotary Clubs in ThunderBay and Nipigon held a fundraising dinner and raised $4000.00 for Cycle to Walk, as well the Thunder Bay Cycle to Walk planning committee have already started to plan the arrival of the Cycle to Walk enroute team for July 1st.

There was excitement raised of Cycle to Walk at Nip Rock High School in Nipigon, Ontario after I was invited to give a presentation to about 40 students there! Thank-you to all of the people in ThunderBay and Nipigon for your continued support of the Cycle to Walk. Back in Victoria the Rotary Clubs are all working hard on generating a big splash for the start of Cycle to Walk at Mile 0 for 10am on April 12th. Cycle to Walk was invited to speak at a luncheon at the Rotary Club of Victoria where more excitement was generated. Thank-you to Dr. Allon Reddoch who traveled to both ThunderBay and Victoria to participate in the Cycle to Walk presentations! While all this was happening out-side of the Yukon so much excitement was happening within the Yukon. Thanks to the leadership of Gary Bailey, Carmen Gibbons and the Kwanlin Koyotes for organizing a successful Cycle to Walk fundraising skiathon that saw $2700.00 raised. Thank-you to Shelley Williamson and Ivan Zenovitch for working with Orval Smith and the local Whitehorse Walmart to put on a wonderful Cycle to Walk fundraising BBQ. Other events that are coming up as part of Cycle to Walk fundraisers are music concerts at the Whitehorse United Church and Anglican Cathedral in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Thank you to Doug and Bertha Ayers of Whitehorse and Stephen Mallinger of Sault Ste. Marie for organizing these great fundraisers!

A Big thank you to the Government of Yukon’s Health and Social Services who have just recently announced a $50,000.00 contribution to the Cycle to Walk as part of a matching grant with the private sector of the Yukon, this is an addition to the $15,000.00 previously committed. Another thank-you to the Government of Yukon’s Department of Tourism and Culture who have assisted with paying for my technical clothing! Larry Bagnell the local MP for Yukon was instrumental in assisting the Cycle to Walk Society in obtaining it’s charitable tax number from Revenue Canada, Thank-you so much Larry and to your staff Misty and Jessie! Another thank-you to Dev Hurlburt and James Black of Whitehorse, your contributions to allow for the purchase of the first hand-cycle will forever be remembered and I appreciate it so much. My last thank-you for this blog goes out to the Rotary Clubs of Whitehorse, Rendezvous Rotary Club, and the Midnight Sun Rotary Club for your continued support in the Cycle to Walk campaign. As well it was such an honour to have received the Paul Harris Fellowship which was presented to me prior to leaving Whitehorse for my training, What a wonderful way to kick start my training by receiving this special recognition- thanks so much!!

So as you can see there is a lot of excitement for Cycle to Walk.

Our communities are talking about Polio and our Country is starting to rally together to give the message to the World that it’s time to work together as a Global Community to get rid of polio once and for all! Thanks so much to everyone who is supporting Cycle to Walk and I would invite everyone who isn’t already part of the excitement of the campaign to get involved!

Take Care and Please do check back often for campaign updates and more blog entries!