Category: Adventures

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller

My 3 Minutes 24 Seconds of Fame!

So I’m incredibly behind on my blog postings. I mean, I returned from Peru almost 2 weeks ago and haven’t even uploaded photos or written about it! Alas, that can wait.

Even while I was away, I was trying to win the Big Mountain Challenge. When I found a wi-fi connection, I was voting. I knew it would be difficult to maintain the momentum while I was in Peru, but thankfully I had some friends who helped me out by posting voting reminders on my FB. They also posted to the Banff National Park and The Kidney Foundation of Canada FB pages. When I returned home after Peru, the goal of winning the challenge continued. It was time to send out as many e-mails as possible, and post everywhere I could. Then on Thursday of last week, I received an e-mail. It read:
“Hi Rick,
Thanks for entering the Big Mountain Challenge and congrats on having a top entry! Banff  Lake Louise Tourism is trying to spread the word about the contest and our partner Global Calgary wants to interview an Alberta contestant on the morning show. If you’re interested in doing either a phone or in-studio interview this could be a great way to get some votes and raise awareness for the Kidney Foundation.”

For real?! So I e-mailed them back right away. Before I knew it, I had an in-studio interview with Global Calgary scheduled for Saturday morning at 8:24 am where I would be speaking to one of the anchors of the morning news show. Through the help of my boss, I was in contact with communications staff from the The Kidney Foundation of Canada to go over some speaking points. Then I spoke with news anchor Bindu Suri to go over the questions. I couldn’t believe how quickly it was all happening! 


Arriving for my interview. So nervous!

I arrived at the studio early on Saturday accompanied by Robbie, who came for support :). It was really neat to see the studio and watch how the morning news was filmed. I was quite surprised to see how much of the set is a green screen! I always thought there was a little bit of an actual background. Before I knew it, I was being fitted with the microphone and was awaiting the interview with news anchor Reid Fiest. To say that I was nervous is an understatement. I was literally shaking! But thankfully my nerves didn’t show too much on camera 🙂 Also, I started getting sick a day prior, and I was terribly worried that I would cough or clear my throat on camera. It could have been disastrous! But thankfully, that didn’t happen either. Here’s the segment:





In the end, yes, it was a short clip on the Global Calgary morning show. However, it was so exciting and it was a great experience. I spoke about the contest and how much I love the Banff and Lake Louise areas, and I was able to bring a bit of awareness to The Kidney Foundation of Canada and all of the support it provides to Canadians affected by kidney disease. Also, when I was preparing for the interview and discussing points with The Kidney Foundation, I was amazed with the level of support I had, whether it was from the staff at The Kidney Foundation, or through comments of support on Facebook from individuals affected by kidney disease. I really hope to win the contest, but if the prize is awarded to another person and another charity, I know it will be for a great cause and that I gave it my all.  Whether or not I win, my support for The Kidney Foundation of Canada doesn’t end there :). For more information on The Kidney Foundation of Canada, go to www.kidney.ca. For information on the Kidney March, a 100km 3-day walk to fight kidney disease, go to kidneymarch.ca.


*****************************************
Please help me win the Big Mountain Challenge
for The Kidney Foundation of Canada!
Vote for me EVERY DAY (until July 27, 2012)
by clicking here: http://t.co/scxG735u
*****************************************


The Big Mountain Challenge- Vote for me!

https://www.facebook.com/banffnationalpark


It’s been over a week since I entered the Big Mountain Challenge, sponsored by Banff Lake Louise Tourism. Thanks to EVERYONE who has supported me with this so far- your votes and encouraging words have been amazing! It’s no secret that I’m huge into hiking in the Canadian Rockies. Well, the winner of this contest, along with a friend, will summit 3 EPIC peaks within 7 days, all in the name of a charity. Those peaks are Mount Temple, Cascade Mountain, and Sulphur Mountain. From what I know, they are all high and challenging mountains, and I have yet to hike any of them! Even though ice axes and helmets may be required, I’m up for the challenge 🙂 The great thing about the contest is that it’s for charity: the winner will receive $15000 for a charity of their choosing. Every amount raised by the winner will be matched, up to $5000. So, potentially, that’s $25000 for charity! Woah!

As for the charity: given my work in kidney disease research, I have decided to hike for The Kidney Foundation of Canada. Kidneys are important for regulating water, removing wastes, filtering blood and producing hormones… so you can imagine what happens if they begin to fail. The Kidney Foundation of Canada continues to provide leadership for kidney health and improve the lives for all Canadians affected by kidney disease. It’s definitely an amazing organization.
Help me win for The Kidney Foundation of Canada!
The first step is to be chosen, which is partially based on votes and comments. 
So humbly, if you’re reading this post, this is where I ask you to please vote for me and help me win Big Mountain Challenge. All you need to do is click on this link and click on the “Vote Now” button:
(***In fact, you may click on this link EVERY DAY until July 27th to give me as many votes as possible! ***)
Or, you can “Like” the following page and add comments that you want me to win!

Vote for me! Please click HERE.

If you’re wondering what the tag line of the photo is all about, it’s in response to the question: “How are you getting ready to prepare for the challenge?” By singing show tunes to keep the bears away…. obviously. I do like to sing….
I did have the most votes for a while, but at the time of writing this, I have the second most votes. Thankfully, having the most votes does not result in winning. The winner is chosen based on what the judging panel is looking for, but votes and comments of support are STRONGLY considered. So keep clicking that “Vote Now” button and leaving comments when you can. Let’s hope I win! *fingers crossed*

Thanks for reading and let’s keep those votes coming!
Rick

Where I Get My Crazy :D

My mum and her tandem instructor Jad

“So what happened, we’re not going to jump out of a plane??” said my mum Sherlynne in her thick Trini accent.
“Um… we can…” I replied.
This was part of a conversation that I had with her the last time I was visiting home. My response wasn’t even one of shock or surprise, but more like oh yeah, mum wanted to do that. It’s true, jumping out of a plane had been mentioned several times over the years, and clearly we had dropped the ball on organizing the event. This was my mum’s blunt reminder that we shouldn’t just talk about skydiving, we needed to do it. In fact, there’s been a lot of that sentiment this week during my visit home: Life’s too short- stop talking about things and just make them happen. For anyone who knows me, it’s no secret that I live my life this way, whether it’s fitness, travel, or crazy adventures. I’ve come to realize that I get my zest for life and sense of adventure from my mum!

Nervous? “I’m excited!”

Fast forward to this trip home. On occasion, we have family dinners, family bowling events, or even family movie night. Yesterday was Family Skydive Day. My mum and three siblings (Ry, Rob and Verene) were all on board. Some adrenaline-junkie friends also joined in, including my friend Dan, with whom I went tandem skydiving in Hawaii.

Family Skydive Day!
I think the risks are pretty clear
Whoohoo!

It was quite a long day filled with a bit of nerves, but mostly excitement. After sitting through a hilarious safety/training video that emphasized death as a possible outcome, we all signed our lives away and waited for our jumps. Before we knew it, we were all plunging to the earth from 13000 feet. Although it was a bit nerve-wracking, we all thought it was über awesome. Upon asking my mum if she was nervous, her response was “No, I’m excited!” Thanks to Jad for making her experience so amazing, and to J-rodd for capturing the jump beautifully on camera!

I’m happy to be here!
My mum heading to the plane

So to my mum: Thanks for passing on to me your crazy sense of adventure. It sure does make life super exciting 🙂 And even though you’re nervous about the Inca Trail, I know you’ll conquer that trek in Peru no problem because you’re awesome that way.

Verene and my mum: All smiles after skydiving. NBD. 😀

And the family adventures continue. As I’m writing this, my dad has just announced that he will try this whole skydiving thing when Rob does his jump (he had to reschedule). He has also announced that he will remind me where to find his life insurance policy. But with such a great and reputable company like Skydive Toronto, I know he’ll forget the worry and enjoy the amazing experience :).

Thanks Skydive Toronto!
W00t! Lake Simcoe and the earth below 🙂
Everyone’s gotta try this!

From Ziplining to the Races!

Me, Verene, Rob and Ry at the Bread and Honey race 🙂

To say that I’m a bit tired is an understatement. I had a fantastic weekend filled with adventure, personal achievements, and quality family time. It began Saturday morning with Extreme Ziplining through One Axe Pursuits. I joined friends Dan and Jasper for a full day of ziplining at the gorge in Elora followed by rappelling down to the river. So much fun, and best described through photos and video. (Great video Jasper! It really captures the event :D)
Dan, Jasper and I before our ziplining adventure 🙂
This is how you rappel
Dan probably deserved this
Jasper ziplining!
Ziplining over the river
And as if ziplining wasn’t enough, I then headed to Burlington Saturday evening to run the 10k Moon in June Road Race with my brother Ry and his friend Kelly. This was particularly special for me, since all three of us began running around the same time when we ran our first 10k race 4 years ago in Mississauga. Ry and Kelly are machines and continue to inspire me to push myself that much more, so it was really awesome to run with them again.

Pre-race photo with my bro
Moon in June runners at the starting line
Um… I think I got this!

The course was flat and quite scenic, passing through downtown Burlington, along the lakeshore, and then through some residential neighbourhoods. At about 2k into the race, I decided I would try for a personal best. Thanks so much to Ry for pacing me, encouraging me when I was clearly running out of steam, and yelling at me to give it everything I had left! The sprint at the end was crazy, but it resulted in a very strong finish and a 10k personal best time of 50:14. Whoohoo! I may have been on the verge of throwing up at the finish line, but it was definitely worth it!

I still think I got this 🙂
After the race with Kelly and Ry
Celebrating my 50:14 10k PB with pizza 🙂

Then Sunday morning was the 5k Bread and Honey race in Streetsville. I was going to be running it with family and I had been looking forward to this race for quite some time. A while back, my brother Rob, my sister Verena, and her boyfriend Bruce decided they wanted to run a 5k race at some point in their life. There’s no time like the present, so Ry made sure we all made an event of it and signed us up for the Break and Honey run. Even my mum was to participate, but couldn’t unfortunately due to an injury. She was there in spirit though :). I am so proud of my siblings for completing their first race and having a strong finish. I’ve never seen Verene sprint like that at the end! It was an amazing milestone to witness (yes, I’m a proud brother :D). Now there’s talk of future races and more training. Could we become a family of runners? *Gasp*, who’d have thought…

Rob and Verene destroyed their first 5k! Congratulations 🙂
We did it! Such a proud moment… 

All in all, even though I may be super exhausted, there were so many amazing and cherished moments this weekend. I wouldn’t trade them for anything :).

The Force of 5 Gs Feels like Awesome!

Bobsledding at Canada Olympic Park. No, this was not us.

The conclusion of an adventure-filled weekend was a bobsledding ride. My conversation with Dan regarding bobsledding was pretty much the same as ice climbing. I had sent a list of cool Alberta things to do and he responded: “The bobsled ride is $169. Personally, I’m willing to fork that over for 60 seconds of adrenaline.” Canada Olympic Park (COP) in Calgary, site of the 1988 Winter Olympics, has a bobsleigh, luge and skeleton track. You may remember this track from the film Cool Runnings, and that movie made bobsledding look so fun! So with that, bobsledding was booked for the same weekend as ice climbing. What’s the appeal? I was buying what they were selling: 1 professional driver. 14 turns. A max speed of 120 km/h. A pull of 5 Gs. All in 60 seconds. Sold.

How could I say no to this?

We arrived at the bobsleigh start house at the top of COP, signed in, signed waivers, and waited for the professional drivers to say their thing. They began by telling us what we could expect- the first three turns would feel like a glorified toboggan ride, but it would pick up after that. We’d hit a bunch of turns, a straight section, some more turns, and then the end (…it was a little more detailed than that explanation). We could also expect our head to possibly bounce a bit from side to side, and the force of 5Gs would feel like pressure pushing right down on our heads. NBD. No big deal, right? But not NBD! I’m quite an adventurous guy, and for some reason, it’s fairly uncommon for me to feel the level of nervousness that I felt while waiting for our bobsledding experience. We were in sled number 4, so as we waited for those 20 minutes or so, my nervousness kept increasing. I thought, what’s this sensation I’m feeling?!? Am I scared? I think I was! Being fitted for a helmet made me a little bit more at ease, but not by much.

Yes, I accept the risks. I’ve signed many of these forms in my lifetime :S
Watching the start of a bobsleigh ride. Are those nerves I feel?…
Yes, I’m totally feeling the nerves!!

Then it was time. Some random guy was at the back, then Dan, then me, then the professional driver. And then we were off. To be honest, I can’t even give a play-by-play of what happened. Yes, the first few turns felt like a nice glorified toboggan ride. Then the speed picked up. Before I knew it, turns were coming and going (you couldn’t even separate or distinguish the turns in order to count out 14); my helmet was knocking the sides of the bobsled; my head was being pushed down due to the force; the track zoomed by in my peripheral vision; and then ice was flying in my face as the brakes were pulled. All in 60 seconds. I believe we hit a speed of 119 km/h- awesome! When it was done, you could hear Dan and I giggling and laughing. The adrenaline rush was intense. I was so wobbly and almost tumbled coming out of the bobsled. It was an incredible experience!!!…. then I kind of felt like I was going to vomit. And that sensation lasted for quite a while. And then I had a headache for the majority of the evening. However, I did get a special commemorative COP toque. It was all totally worth the toque. 

Dan and I with the driver. This is going to be 60 seconds of awesome!

The moral of the story: For me, 119 km/h, 14 turns and a force of 5Gs all in 60 seconds will induce a nice vomiting sensation, which may or may not have anything to do with having a full breakfast, a coffee, a cappuccino and a muffin earlier in the day. But whatever my stomach is feeling, it doesn’t detract from an absolutely incredible bobsleigh ride! Dan- it was great to share this adventurous experience with you. The other moral of the story? Like ice climbing, this is another must try for all. As I conclude the weekend, I can now cross off two more items from my 31 before 31 list. Whoohoo! Time to plan the next adventure…

Yes, I am an adrenaline junkie!