Report on the Becel Ride for Heart

Last Sunday I took part in the Becel Ride for Heart with my father (I blogged about it last April) for the Heart & Stroke Foundation (they help buy defibrillators & put them in public places, fund medical research, educate, etc - lots of important work).  I raised 86% of my $1500 goal - not bad. 

It's not too late to donate, and if you contribute by June 5th your donation will be TRIPLED ! 

At the start, on the Gardiner Expressway, stopping to fix our clothes.

If you were in Toronto on Sunday at 5:30am you may have noticed the weather was less than hospitable for a fun charity bike ride. It was about 8 degrees celsius (46 Fahrenheit) and teaming rain. But Canadians are tough, and after the rain eased up a smidge people were eager to hit the road. Note: my helmet cover is pointy because I didn't get a chance to remove the light on the top of my helmet.

A quick overview: the ride starts at 6:30am, downtown near the lake, at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), snakes across the bottom of the city along the Gardiner Expressway, then the hard part starts as it goes uphill along the Don Valley Parkway up to highway 401, and then you go back down, the same way you came up. There are three routes: 25km (15.5miles), 50km (31miles), and 75km (46.5 miles) for the truly hardcore. The 25 is pretty easy because you don't hit the tough hills until after the point where they turn around and go back. We did the 50km. The 75km is really tough, they extra distance is made by repeating the hardest, uphill part of the course.  I saw one guy on a super fancy road bike flying by; I like to think think he was an athlete and probably did the 75km twice!

Pit Stop, port-o-pottie Selfie

The ride is big, there were 15,000 riders this year, and it was EXTREMELY well organized. Because of the rain we hit the road late, and thus hit the port-o-potties early. 

The return ride, on the Gardiner Expressway in front of the city.

I'm a commuter cyclist, I ride to work as long as the weather allows, and I'm used to riding in the rain. I have all kinds of wonderful rain gear from MEC (coat, pants, hat, special mitts, gloves, booties, ankle warmers, etc - it's a little like getting dressed for skiing, lots of swishing nylon fabric), but riding in the rain for two and a half to three hours isn't a party. We bore down and took pictures again when we were in the home stretch (and had a pretty back-drop of the city).  

Unfortunately, because we were so focused on finishing I didn't get a picture of the pavilions that are set up at the half-way points. They play exciting music, have tents with bananas & water, energy bars, bike repairs, and port-o-potties as far as the eye can see. It's a nice place to pat yourself on the back for making it up the big hill.

Did you notice that the cyclists in the picture behind us are kids?  There were TONS of kids taking part in the ride, lots of families. Some were on training wheels, some really little ones were pulled along in tent-like carts. 

After the ride selfie (my front camera lens needs cleaning)

When you complete the ride you return to the CNE to a celebration! Excited volunteers and booming motivational music welcomes you home. Sponsor tents are set up with food & other stuff (I never have a chance to see what else is being given out).  VIP fundraisers (over $1000 raised) return to a brunch, where an entire building (I want to say the food building?) is filled with tables & chairs, which are in turn filled with tired cyclists. It's amazing to see how many people are committed to this cause. Well, I guess it's not *that* surprising. Who doesn't know someone who's had a heart attack, stroke, bypass surgery, angioplasty, or a heart defect?  

Last but not least, here's the story about the medals (above). Because of the bad weather this year we started later than normal, and when we pulled into the parking lot I saw a few people with these gold medals around their necks. I thought they must be among the first finishers, the people who completed the ride in record time or something sporty and important. When we were completing our ride I saw more medals and thought "Wow, these people are really sticking around for a long time after. Is there some kind of ceremony for them?" I passed through the food tent, crammed a banana in my face, and saw a bunch of people standing in line, waiting for something at another tent. What kind of sponsor swag was so good that these tired & hungry people would stop to line up? Medals - by the armload. I got two for my niece & nephew. Not having been an athletic kid, I've never really know what it feels like to wear a medal (the only award I ever received was a plaque from the Toronto Geography Teachers Association). I've gotta say, it doesn't feel bad.

If you didn't get a chance to donate it's not too late, you can still give!

Our Hearts and Yours

We're doing it again! 2015 will be our second Ride for Heart, and I'm super excited. 

We're participating in a BIG fundraising event for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, we will be cycling 50km (31 miles) *up* the Don Valley Parkway (a big highway). Yup, it's uphill, they make us work hard! It takes about 3 and a half to four hours to complete the ride, and about a month and a half to prepare for it (if you don't train for the ride you end up being passed by little girls on pink bikes with streamers and training wheels - true story, and it's more than humiliating). 

Why do we do this, are we masochists? Maybe. While we live to knit and crochet, it is a sedentary activity, and it's really important to take care of our health (so we can continue to knit and crochet). We sweat and hope that we inspire you to sweat. 

Moreover, The Heart and Stroke Foundation funds important research and programs which benefit everyone. The type of work they do is the kind of thing that goes unnoticed until you need it - but when you need it, boy will you appreciate it! Heart disease runs in my family and I've seen the benefits first hand. Last year during the Ride for Heart my father (yeah, we're a father-daughter team) experienced some chest pain, and a few days later he was in the hospital, the recipient of an angioplasty and two shiny new stents in his heart (I don't know if stents are shiny, I just made that up). It can happen to anyone, at any time. 

So, I'm asking you to make a charitable donation on our behalf. The Heart and Stroke Foundation is a large, well established charitable organization. It was founded in 1952, and has since then raised 1.39 billion dollars for heart and stroke research (read more here). Your donation is tax deductible in Canada, and you make it directly to the foundation, none of the money goes to us. If you make your donation online you'll receive your tax receipt e-mailed to you immediately - easy peasy. 

On behalf of Team Knit-O-Matic, thank you! 

~ Haley

Sponsor Us!

The Ride for Heart & Stroke

I did it! I got up at 5am and rode 50km - in one shot, no less (including a pit stop and a selfie-shoot).  My last minute Ride for Heart was super fun, and with so many people passing me it was a nice throwback to Junior High. Next year I'll train over the winter and maybe be able to keep up with the guy on the rusted out old bike that made clanking sounds as it shot past me. The fast riders with the fancy bikes were cool, but the true inspirations were the regular people cranking along on their old Canadian Tire specials. There were also a good number of kids riding with their families - my favourite was what looked like a 5 or 6 year old on her first little pink 2 wheel bike, kited up with pink streamers and all. 

Riding up the Don Valley Parkway (local highway) was quite the experience! Bike riding is normally a solitary pursuit for me and I have to be super alert for cars. Riding up the highway was a delicious experience (most of it was paved nicely), and there were so many people there, all enthusiastic! 

If you already donated, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! Your donations were generous, and I really appreciate your support (for me and the charity) and never expected so much! If you didn't see my first impassioned plea, or you haven't gotten around to it, it's not too late to donate. And if you don't have the cash, that's ok too, I just wanted to update you on how the day went. 

When I set out this morning, I thought mayyyyyybe I should have signed up for the 25K route. But 50K was a nice accomplishment and wasn't really all that difficult (although I did envy the people on their light little road bikes).  Next year, if I can get my hands on a road bike, maybe I'll be a masochist and do the 75k route? Want to join me? You can do the 25k and wait for me as I drag myself across the finish line. Anyway, I'll see how my bum feels about it tomorrow ....

PLEASE SPONSOR MY RIDE!

Thanks!

Haley

Team Knit-O-Matic Goes Riding for Heart!

Better late than never .... I get to join the Heart & Stroke Ride for Heart this year! I'll be riding 50km up and down the Don Valley Parkway (a major highway) with my father to raise money for the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada. Heart disease can be hereditary, so I'm riding for my grandfather who died from heart disease, my father who is learning to manage heart disease, my brother and I who may have inherited a predisposition for the disease, and my niece and nephew who hopefully will never be affected by it. 

Please sponsor me, and I hope my little contribution will help your family too!

~ Haley

DKC Relay for Life

Our friends at the Downtown Knit Collective (downtown Toronto's knitting guild) are taking part in the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life, in support of the Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre. God willing, none of us will ever have need, but if we do, I know I'll be happy that the extremely skilled staff at Sunnybrook is there. 

  

In their own words ....

Our team spins and knits through the night, creating chemo caps, scarves, and shawls as hugs for people undergoing cancer treatment. Joan Kass, special events coordinator at the DKC, calls the knit items they make and give away - hugs. "I was working at a healthcare clinic and one of the girls, Sharon, had a reoccurrence of breast cancer. I thought, "What can I do for Sharon?" Kass remembers. "I knew I couldn't go to treatment with her because I was working so I thought, I'll make her a scarf and when she wears it she'll remember that I'm thinking of her." 

Joan's story got me thinking and questioning how close I am to cancer. These are the people in my life touched by cancer:

• my sister-in-law's father, prostate + bone cancer, deceased last week
• my dad's life-long friend Ian, lung cancer (from smoking) + bone cancer, deceased
• my cousin Jason, lymphoma, survived
• my sister-in-law's mother, survived cancer three times
• my friend Weronika's husband, brain cancer, deceased
• my friend Maggie's mother, lung, bone + brain cancer, deceased
• my grandfather, leukemia, deceased 
• my great grandfather, leukemia, deceased
• my grandmother, breast cancer, survived

The list was longer than I expected, and it doesn't include clients. 

So if you haven't already donated all your disposable income to charitable requests from co-workers, friends, and family, please consider donating a few tax deductible dollars via some very generous knitters. 

DONATE HERE

TTC Knitalong make a Splash!

Thanks to Yvette/A Long Yarn for the photos!

Many thanks to the 100 ladies (and one husband) who made the 2012 TTC Knitalong a huge success! They raised a very respectable amount of money for Sistering, and had a blast doing it. The Torontoist even took note of their journey. 

Kudos especially go to the organizers. It's a big, tough, volunteer job, and we appreciate their hard work. :-)

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!

Yarn Swap May 22nd!

Our next yarn swap is fast approaching!  This month I'm doing a little spring cleaning, and I'm purging some extraneous yarn in my stash - namely, ALL of my Mission Falls 1824 Cotton.  Right now, I'm packing it up in tidy bags and labeling it. I'm also getting rid of  a few balls (3 of 4?) of Cascade Fixation that was also sitting around. 


Additionally, we've received already received a few donations this week!  A bunch of crochet cotton came in earlier this week, and two big garbage bags of yarn just walked through the door (I haven't had a chance to peek yet, but lets just leave it as a surprise). 

What is a Yarn Swap?  A yarn swap is a big eco-friendly redistribution of yarn, needles and other craft supplies. Bring in the crafty stuff you never want to see again and deposit it in one of our baskets. Poke around at  all the other donations and take home whatever you like. It's OK If you don't have any yarn to bring, you can still take whatever you like - sometimes you have stuff to give, and sometimes you don't. Don't be embarrassed by the quality of yarn you bring, whatever is left over is donated to charities like Street Knit, Sistering Toronto, Women's Shelters and the Hospital for Sick Children, most of whom prefer acrylic! After the swap, stay and hang out with us for s Stitch 'N Bitch!

• Upcoming yarn swaps for 2011:  May 22, June 25 , July 23, August 27, September 25, Oct 23, Nov 27.
• Swaps are held monthly on the 4th Sunday of every month (Saturdays in June, July & August), 1pm to 5pm
• If you want to donate some yarn but can't make a swap, you can drop it off at the store in a sealed plastic bag any time and we'll throw it in the next swap.
• Join the Facebook Event

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!

Yarn Swap! Sunday April 25th

Yarn Swap!

Date:	Sunday, April 25, 2010
Time:	1:00pm - 5:00pm
Location:	Knit-O-Matic 1378 Bathurst St, Toronto ON

It's Time for the April Yarn Swap! Get rid of your old yarn (we donate leftovers to charity), and take anything from the donations. The only rule is don't bite other peoples' fingers.

If you can't make it but still want to donate feel free to drop off your donations any time that is convenient, we'll make sure they make their way into the swap baskets. 

As an aside, we could really use some donations this month! We haven't received much in the last few months and the charity we send the bulk of the yarn to, Silver Circle West Toronto Senior's Services, are hard up and really need donations. They especially love the cheap acrylic yarns, so don't be shy about passing those on.

See you on Sunday!

~ Haley

P.S. 

You can find the Yarn Swap on Facebook right HERE!