$3,001.90

Hello! I’m cycling 615 km / 382 miles from Toronto to Montreal, and I'd love your help with raising money for our charity: PWA - the Toronto People With AIDS Foundation.

​I'm setting off this weekend, August 3, and I'm edging closer and closer to my fundraising goal. I need your support to get me over the line!

PWA is an amazing organization, so I’m extremely grateful for any contribution you can provide. Your donation will also help push me through this tough physical and mental challenge.

Below, you’ll find information on PWA’s wonderful work, and learn about my training journey. I'll continue to update this as we approach our leaving date, so do come back for updated stats!

A NOTE ABOUT CURRENCY

Unless otherwise stated, all amounts on this page, including the donation page, are in Canadian Dollars (CAD). These are worth less than US Dollars (USD) and British Pounds (GBP), so please consider this, to ensure you’re donating the amount you want!

CAD $1 = USD $0.73 = GBP £0.54

ABOUT PWA, AND WHAT YOUR DONATION WILL ACHIEVE

PWA supports people living with HIV/AIDS in Toronto. The charity provides vital assistance to people afflicted by this harmful disease - a disease which, despite common perceptions, remains prevalent today.

PWA does incredible work, making a real, positive difference to the lives of people in desperate need, by providing crucial assistance and essential services.

Here is a selection of their work, and how your donation can help achieve it:

• CAD $200 (USD $146 / GBP £108) can ensure an affected family has nutritious groceries for one week
• CAD $100 (USD $73 / GBP £54) can help someone with HIV/AIDS access vital medication
• CAD $60 (USD $44 / GBP £32) can fund a peer-led support group
• CAD $40 (USD $29 / GBP £22) can provide 10 people with transportation to their medical appointments

PWA also provides a huge range of other services, including housing support, a Medical Disability Fund, a Health & Wellness Fund, physical therapy, HIV outreach and education, the Essentials Market Food Bank, and Children's and Seniors’ Funds. Their new PWA Hub connects people living with HIV/AIDS to crucial support such as healthcare providers and mental health services.

They do all of this on a very modest budget: less than CAD $4.5 million each year (USD $3.5 million / GBP £2.5 million). This means that every dollar donated has a major impact, and that your gift will directly improve someone’s life.

You can learn more about PWA at bikerally.org/cause and pwatoronto.org.

I’m proud to support their work, and I hope you will be too.

ABOUT THE RIDE, AND MY TRAINING

In early August, I’ll be joining over 200 other riders, and 90 volunteer crew members (including Wasifa, who has joined our Road Support team: thank you!), as we set off on our 6-day journey from Toronto to Montreal. All told, we’ll ride about 615 km (382 miles), with a lot of climbing and bumpy roads along the way.

Even as a keen cyclist, this is a tough challenge, so I’ve been training hard all year in preparation. To give you an idea, here are my training stats from January 1, up to July 28 (and I’ll be updating these every few days as well, so come back for the latest info):

I’ve ridden 150 times on Zwift (my indoor/online training platform), joining 58 group rides, leading our club 26 times, doing 42 structured workouts, racing 4 times, and performing 4 dreaded FTP fitness tests.

I’ve done 13 long outdoor rides, including 7 official Bike Rally training rides:

• May 3: Kipling to Old Mill - 64 km (451 m climbing)
• May 10: Turas Mór / Creemore Gravel Ride - 61 km (1,062 m climbing)
• May 18: David Linton Memorial Ride - 69 km (455 m climbing)
• May 19: Breaking My Derailleur Ride - 16 km (136 m climbing and one TTC ride home)
• June 1: Kipling to Oakville - 101 km (605 m climbing)
• June 14: Finch to Kleinburg - 108 km (935 m climbing)
• June 15: Pascal’s Magical Mystery Tour of Caledon - 90 km (689 m climbing)
• June 25: Copenhagen - 25 km (37 m climbing)
• July 5: The 51st State: Part 1 - 85 km (705 m climbing)
• July 6: The 51st State: Part 2 - 89 km (574 m climbing)
• July 19: Kipling to Burlington - 136 km (723 m climbing)
• July 20: Kipling to Glen Williams - 132 km (840 m climbing)
• July 26: Highway 407 to Keswick - 149 km (970 m climbing)

I’ve taken the bike outside a further 47 times, including short rides such as commutes.

Overall, I’ve ridden 210 times, notching up 5,548 km, and climbed 40,789 metres - that’s the equivalent of 4.6 Mount Everests.

I’ve also played 21 soccer matches (receiving one ball straight to the groin), sweated through 17 squash matches, and run 8 times, beating my heart a total of 320,979 times.

All told, I’ve exercised for 285 hours (the equivalent of 11.9 days), and burned 137,472 calories (the equivalent of 241 Bic Macs).

I’ve eaten approximately 3 Big Macs.

You can find all my workouts at strava.com/athletes/5775079.

A FINAL THANK YOU

Thank you for reading through this, and thank you for donating. The ride to Montreal is a major endeavour for many people - including me - but we do it because we know we can make a difference. With your support, we truly can, so again: thank you.