Islander bikes across Canada to help children fight cancer
CBC
These days Nathan Carter wakes up at about five, then by six he gets on the road and continues his trek biking home to P.E.I. from British Columbia.
"It's been a heck of a heatwave out here in B.C., so I'm trying to race the sun right now," he said from Kamloops.
Carter launched the trip six days ago in Vancouver, with the goal of raising $5,000 for the SickKids Foundation. He hopes to reach P.E.I. in about two months.
"I hope I raise some money for the SickKids Foundation, but the ultimate goal is to inspire," he said.
"You can help out and do things in different ways, be it volunteering at a soup kitchen or whatever it maybe. You don't have to do some big grand gesture, like what I'm so fortunate to be able to do here."
Carter is one of more than 15,000 people who have registered for this year's Great Cycle Challenge, which started in 2016. It encourages riders to set a personal riding goal throughout August and the money raised will go to childhood cancer research, said the foundation in an email.
Carter said he had always wanted to cycle across the country for charity, inspired by his friend Matt Lawrence, who completed a three-month bike trek from P.E.I. to San Diego to raise money for the P.E.I. Literacy Alliance six years ago.
And he wanted to raise money to help children fight cancer — a cause that is close to his heart, he said.
"Cancer has affected probably everyone. And definitely myself, I've lost a lot of family members. Just recently my father-in-law passed away last year due to cancer, and, specifically with children, it's awful," he said.
"Anything I can do to help out those little warriors, that's great."
He started to get himself back in shape enough to cycle in a moderate race last summer. This year he took two months off from work to go on the 6,000-km bike trek.
He said one of the challenges he's facing is the heat, so he wakes up early to get on the road and shuts down between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to avoid it.
Another is wildfires, which are taking place across B.C., he said.
"If there is a fire, the biggest concern on my end would be the smoke inhalation, because when you're biking you do breathe quite heavy," he said. "But the air quality seems good right now."
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