Follow Ramesh's Journey

I’m in awe of the beauty of the banks of the St. Lawrence! Today was such a brilliant day for hand cycling, with hot weather and cool tailwinds coming off the St. Lawrence. Today’s route had the team travelling along the Chemin du Roy – The King’s Highway – which hugged the riverbank for most of the day. When we weren’t travelling along the river, we were nestled between beautiful old communities, churches, and bridges.  Many residents applauded our arrival into their towns.

Today I think I cycled through some of the roughest construction sites of the campaign. Certain parts of the road were being completely resurfaced, and we had to take one or two detours. Other parts of the highway were brand new and were fantastic to ride on. Our route even had us detour on to a makeshift bridge while the main one was being redone.

Later on in the day, a cyclist by the name of Jean Marc took the time to share with me that when he was younger and living in the Maritimes, he ran with Terry Fox. That chance meeting nearly 30 years ago meant a lot to him, and he said it meant a lot to him to cycle with me today for polio. Jean Marc thanked me for my courage and for what Cycle to Walk is doing. Shortly after his kind words of support, he zipped off ahead of me and left me to reflect on our conversation.

Many people along the journey have compared the journey of the Marathon of Hope with the journey of Cycle to Walk. Terry Fox is an extremely inspiring, heroic role-model for me and for many others around the world. It is more than an honour – and very humbling – to be recognized in the same category as a man that has done so much to help others.

After hand-cycling 129 km,  the team arrived in Québec City feeling healthy and excited. We’re here for the weekend, and look forward to our stay to share the message of Cycle to Walk. It’s Québec City’s 400th birthday this year - bonne fête, Québec!