Monday 5 September 2011

Victory at last....the pain is over!!!!!!

                                                              Hello,
The past 24 hours have been a pretty big whirlwind. I will start with yesterday morning. I awoke starving at 4am and made a bunch of food. I finally got up at 8am and was excited to hit the road. I said goodbye to family and jumped in the car to get onto the highway. I got on this old country road and it was just me and my music. I will try to recap this crazy adventure but I don't think I have gotten my mind around this whole thing. I thought the wild adventures were over but oh boy was I wrong. I have realize now the environment was throwing everything at me to fail to reach Queens. As I was riding along I saw 2 dogs running. I thought they were playing but then I noticed the huge black lab wanted to kill me. I yelled and sprinted as fast as I could to escape Thunderpunch from being destroyed. I went from 25k to 55k in 3 seconds haha. The dog came within a foot of me snapping at the air as I narrowly shot past. I just started laughing after...what a rush! The day went on and I had to develop patience not to shoot down the road as fast as I could. I made a couple phone calls of thanks and then noticed I was running out of time.....awesome. I was supposed to be there just after 3:00 and by my calculations I had to maintain 30km/h plus for 50km to make it on time. My legs had already ridden 4400 km pretty much straight and the headwind started to get really, really bad. It was the worst of all the trip....fitting. I suffered so so so so so much in the last 30km. There were so many ups and downs and the wind was pushing me back. I didn't know if I would finish let alone on time. My legs were screaming and my mind was exhausted but I powered through. I thought it went on forever but then I saw the sign for Kingston and fist pumped haha but I was still 21km away from Queens. I rode really fast and was in a huge amount of pain and finally reached Queens. As I neared the campus I saw a group of 200 students. I thought, wow I wonder what's going on today...then I saw my mom inside the group. I started to fist pump and raw emotion bled through my jersey. I rode up to the cheering students and hoisted my bike over my head like it was the Stanley Cup. The next 20 min were a blur. I danced in the circle while they chanted the legendary "Oil Thigh" I even gave a small speech of thanks right on the spot. That was hilarious. I saw old friends, met the Principal of Queens, the Director of PHE/KIN and a lot of other great people. I am so stoked to be here now, every ounce of my being/energy/life that I have was put into this ride for the last 30 days. I suffered more than I thought was humanly possible without dying. I met amazing people all across this wonderful country and I finally came home. Queens is my school, Queens is my home, Queens is me. Somewhere between everyone chanting my name or during the pep rally I realized that I had chosen the right school. This ride is huge, so much bigger than me, I can't believe it. It's over now, the constant suffering is over. I did what many people thought was impossible. WE did what was thought impossible. I can't thank you enough....seriously. I will post another final post to recap some of the highlights and talk about what this trip means to me and taught me (you should read that one). My life is incredibly busy and I have to go run across campus to meet up with my res then go to a football game then celebrate tonight..It's OVVERERRRRRRRRR!!!!!!! I will carry this achievement on my shoulders for the rest of my life. It's time for me to go now, I need to start my new life.

The happiest kid on campus.

Queens, Kingston, ON

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good for you, Adam. Willows was beautiful at sunrise this morning. I stood and skipped some stones in your honour.

Rest well.

Victoria ex-phys

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on this significant accomplishment!!

I was happy to see so many people from the Queen's community there to welcome you to your new home. You're going to have an absolute blast here. Yesterday was the end of one journey, but another one is starting right away.

Anonymous said...

Way to go Adam!!! Now I look forward to watching you and supporting you to reach your professional aspirations....forward and onward Adam! Aunt Joan

Anonymous said...

Brilliant ride!
Great Blog!

What a great way to start at Uni,

Tom - Vancouver

Anonymous said...

Way to go, Adam! Congratulations on this amazing accomplishment!

Have an awesome time at Queen's in the coming years!

Cheers to you today,
Gillian

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Adam! Well done and great job.

I started at Queen's 15 years ago this weekend, and I confess I'm a little envious that you're just at the beginning :)

Cheers and best of luck,
Rob

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, Adam!

You did it your way and with class!

Indeed, it is an experience you will never forget or regret the rest of your life!

Have a great year at Queens!

Art & Frieda.

Michelle Marcotte said...

Adam, my heart is in my throat as I think about what you have done, and more importantly, why you did it. Yesterday was thrilling and exciting but more importantly you raised so much money for cancer research. Research has resulted in new drugs, effective treatments, better surgical techniques, which means survival and better quality of life for persons with cancer. As one of them, I thank you and all who give to cancer research.
Aunt Michelle

Lexi's Omi said...

We never doubted that you would do it! CONGRATULATIONS!

On behalf of relatives & fiends we have lost to cancer, thank you for doing this for cancer research.

Carol & Wilf
Grouse Ridge B&B
Rock Creek, BC

Anonymous said...

Hi Adam,

Congratulations on reaching Kingston!

As much as you deserve credit, this seems also to be a wonderful family story.

I think your parents should take a bow, too.

Anonymous said...

Woohoo! Well done and welcome to Queen's. Hope your next four years are great ones.

Anonymous said...

Well done Adam. Welcome to Queen's and welcome to Kingston. I have a feeling we will be hearing more from you.
Ken - Kingston

Anonymous said...

Wow what an amazing story. My daughter is starting first year Queen's in PHYS ED and its good to know that she will be surrounded by people of such great character as yourself. This will be an experience you'll obviously never forget and I'm sure your Queen's one will be the same.

BC Cancer Foundation said...

Congratulations Adam - what an amazing accomplishment!

We thank you for all of your support, every kilometre, and wish you the best of luck in school this fall.

Anonymous said...

What a feat, Adam, welcome to Queen's. I have a feeling you are going to fit right in here. Your mom and dad must be so proud of you.

Deb-Queen's

Anonymous said...

Way to go Adam and the rest of your support team. Truly amazing what you have accomplished. On to the next phase of your life.....enjoy!
Susan, John, Jaymie and Dylan

Anonymous said...

Adam ~~We have read everyone of your notes day by day.
CONGRATULATIONS WELL DONE .
You now can focus on your next stage in life and you will do great at that too.
My husband now is going to the cancer clinic again and they too do a fantastic job.
THANK YOU. LYLE & TINI

Ann Marcotte & Don Beaudoin said...

Thank you everyone for your support during this amazing journey. We all appreciated it. There were times when we were all up reading through the comments together in the middle of the night. We are very proud of Adam and we are very happy that we could be part of it.

Ann Marcotte and Don Beaudoin (Adam's parents)

Anonymous said...

Ann and Don;

A child is the reflection of their parents.

I look forward to meeting you sometime this fall. our common friend can connect us.

Victoria ex-phys

Sporting Sam said...

Well done Adam

Anonymous said...

So happy and proud of you, Adam. We will miss you in the 'hood for awhile, but we know you'll enjoy this next experience. It's been very uplifting following you along all those kilometres!
Lise, Michael, Kate and Nora.