The following letter was forwarded to me by my dad this morning, and I was so moved I wanted to share it with everyone who reads this blog.

I have never met Michael Hewitson in person, but from what I've gathered from our short correspondence, cancer couldn't have touched a nicer guy. A young man, living his life, who even enjoyed cycling until rectal cancer put everything on hold. Some of you may know him from Bruce Power -- or may be seeing this email for the second time. Maybe you even put some money in the hat at the gate collection on your way to work.

I wanted to thank Mike for sharing his story, and for donating to my Ride to Conquer Cancer. But most importantly, I want to thank him for reminding all of us that you can never start screening too early. But, as we are too often reminded, you can catch it too late. The only person who will ever truly advocate for your care, is you. So take care of you.

To the Management staff

My Co-workers, Friends and Strangers

Of Bruce Power

My name is Michael Hewitson. My friends and co-workers organized and held the gate collection on my behalf, on March 10, 2010. I don’t know where or how to begin to express my overwhelming appreciation of the generosity shown that day. This past 6 months has been a roller coaster of emotion as you can well imagine, with endless trips to and from London and countless nights in hotel rooms down there while undergoing endless testing and monitoring. The expenses incurred through this time have just added up on top of everything else that is going on. I volunteered to take part in a cancer clinical study including 75 individuals across North America, with the hope that at the very least I could contribute to further education and a better understanding of rectal cancer through this trial, with perhaps new and hopefully improved methods of treatment for cases in the future. This has caused even more trips and tests at the London Cancer Research Center. We at Bruce Power are very fortunate as everyone there has medial coverage of some kind, but NO ONE IN THIS COUNTRY is more fortunate than Bruce Power workers when it comes to receiving a hand when in need. When Gord Young sent me an e-mail at 3:00 pm March 10^th, there is no way that I could have been prepared for the words that it said….. “We’ve raised $12,525.17 …“ tears instantly filled my eyes, tears of joy for the first time in over 6 months.

We all know someone who has fought the battle of cancer and watched how it has turned their world upside-down. Believe me, I was a healthy, just turned 42 year old man when a trip to the Dr.’s office turned everything into a crazy tailspin. “You have cancer” are the harshest words I have ever heard. The financial burden had taken its toll as, I have been off work since September 2009, and with recent medical setbacks won’t be back before September 2010. My fiancé has also taken 7 weeks off from her work to be by my side through my 2 week hospital stay and to do the endless work of looking after my never ending medical and day to day needs once we returned home.

Emotions take an even harder toll when you don’t know what’s going on, whether you will make it or be a statistic. I’ve closed my eyes often, in severe pain, wondering if this was going to be for the last time, I make sure to call my son in Toronto and tell him how much I love him and hold my fiancé an extra while on these nights, trying to remain calm and as strong and as normal as possible. The mind is cruel when you have lots of time to think, along with relentless pain. When this gate collection came in, the money certainly meant a great deal, but just as important was the renewed faith that there are so many caring, generous, good hearted people that we work with every day. I haven’t worked at Bruce Power for very long, I work shift work on a small crew, so most of this money actually came from strangers, of course not only from Bruce Power employees but contractors, appendix A employees, restart trades people, their support staff and so many others. Money can’t buy the feeling of knowing that people have given through their hearts with warm wishes and their kind thoughts the way all of you people have. With your generosity we won’t have to worry about finances any time in the near future, we have covered the racked up credit cards and will have money left for future trips and lodgings in London. When all is said and done, any left over money will be donated to cancer research, someone else in need or any good cause that comes up that is cancer related, your generosity will definitely be passed on.

I do ask one more thing of everyone! Especially you shy men, If something doesn’t feel right don’t be afraid to get it looked after, 5 years ago this tumour would have been removed during a routine colonoscopy examination, I had no idea at that time there was a problem and wasn’t due for my first colonoscopy for 13 more years. What would have been a polyp had grown into a tumour the size of a soft ball, still with minimal signs, but the signs were there, I figured I was just getting older and not eating enough fibre, now it’s a year of sheer hell. What was so easily preventable if it had been detected… A 15 minute, painless colonoscopy while you’re knocked out is absolutely nothing compared to this….

Thank you everyone, so very much.

With a special thanks to Gord Young (Bruce A control mtce.), D-crew and all of the volunteers that dedicated their time to make this such a huge success.

Shanda, Mike and Joshua Hewitson

Word.

Since the heroic blogging efforts of the Olympics, I feel I should apologize for falling off the posting-wagon a little bit. So here's a few words on what's been up (and down) with me.

1.) Went to my LAST sunday morning spin this past weekend. So no more 6am alarms on the weekend (except for when there is ... but certainly not as often!). I'll be sad to see spinning class go though. Definitely feeling a little bit like a couple extra power workouts would be a great help. Taking three weeks off for the Olympics have turned my racing outlook into a "no expectations" style season. And I'd make the same choice again.

2.) Put new brake$ on the minivan! Woo hoo that was $pectacular. What a nice $urpri$e! Got a tow truck and everything when I couldn't back it out of the garage. But now all i$ well, and $he'$ ready to hit the race circuit again.

3.) First race: Paris to Ancaster. The race I love to hate. It's April 18, 60km and all boring except for the sandwich at the end. I like that part very much. Every year I bitch and moan about entering, and every year I somehow end up on the start line. Sigh. Here we go again! It's good for me though -- it's a great event to practice all the racing "stuff" like getting bottles ready, not forgetting your shoes, prepping bikes, start line jitters, spending a long time at a high intensity and all that jazz. So that way I won't have to go through all that at the first Ocup the next weekend (Mansfield! woot!) Which reminds me ... I need to pick up my rig from Sweet Pete's because $he also needed a brake job, and a $et of bearing$ -- oh, and a freehub body. Secret training tool of mine -- ride around with the rear wheel seized. oh yeah. Tough.

4.) Vacation!! Only two more sleeps til I'm in Kelowna with Gerhard shredding Big White. Gerhard was good enough to win us a trip so we'll be spending Easter spring skiing. Looks like a heat wave is about to hit Toronto -- they're calling for 25 this weekend! I almost feel bad for skipping the amazing biking weather. Almost. ;)

5.) Moving day! May 1st seems like it's still far away but when you consider vacation, fundraiser weekend in Port Elgin, Paris to Ancaster, and then Mansfield, I'm out of weekends. So packing is going to be ... well ... frantic. Let me know if you'll work for food and drinkies because in that case, have I got a job for you!

So that's the big stuff! In little stuff, it's mostly the same old -- lots of training, writing, eating and sleeping. Hope everyone is excited for race season!! Coming up fast!

Free Spaghetti!

If you're in the Port Elgin area on April 10, or want to be, then come by our Fundraising Spaghetti Dinner! It's going to be a delicious good time with my brother-in-law-the-chef in the kitchen, and my culinary-skills-challenged sister safely out of it. And of course, the rest of the family will be there as well to make sure you have an enjoyable evening! Plus, wine's included y'all.

The menu is going to include all kinds of spaghetti dinner goodness including a veggie sauce, meat sauce, crusty breads for dipping, nutritious and delicious mixed greens salad and did I mention the wine?

There's a spot for you and all of your generous friends any time between 5pm and 7pm and all you have to do is email mlake [at] bmts.com to get it. Please RSVP before April 8 so we know what to put on Bryan's shopping list.

What else? Oh yeah, it's at the St. John's Anglican Church hall on the corner of Mill and Stafford, and while there's no fee for dinner, we will be collecting donations in support of our ride to Conquer Cancer. You can visit Dad's page here, and mine here.

PS - Since I'm home that weekend, we'll also be doing some riding on Saturday and Sunday to help with the training. So you're more than welcome to come along for that too. All you need is a bike and a helmet.

Have your wine and drink it too!

This just in: Official Wine Sponsor East Dell Estate Winery will donate $0.50 from every bottle of their wine sold in the LCBO from March 28th to May 22nd, 2010 to The Ride to Conquer Cancer.

Makes sense to have an official wine sponsor for our ride through wine country!

So enjoy a glass of wine, and while you're at it, please remember to donate to our ride!

Kristen:

http://www.conquercancer.ca/site/TR/Events/Toronto2010?px=1365761&pg=personal&fr_id=1311

Dad:

http://www.conquercancer.ca/site/TR/Events/Toronto2010?px=1299377&pg=personal&fr_id=1311

You've Got To Be Kidding Me.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. Mine started off great, got a free lunch and a green beer, the whole thing. Top it off with some amazing temperatures for an after-work bike ride and that's what you call the Luck of the Irish.

Everything was going so well until nearing the end of my ride on Queen's Quay by the ferry docks, I realized I was not going fast enough to clear the light on its way to red. So I was hard on the brakes. If you've stopped a road bike before, you know it takes a little longer than say, disc brakes. As such, My wheels came to rest just past the cross walk. I did the usual lean on the top tube, most of my weight on my down foot as I waited for the light to change.

Next thing I know the bike is sideways, held up only by my cleat. WTF.

There were no other people around, no crowds, no cars, except for this older, handsome looking couple. Dressed like they were off to a show or something. The man sneered and stomped across the intersection. As I raised my arms, now realizing what had happened, his lady yelled at me, "You're blocking the whole crosswalk".

Flabbergasted, the only thing I could think to say was "Excuse me? Why don't you kick my bike then?" Genius. It always is, isn't it?

So this blog is dedicated to what I wish I'd done.

I wish I'd unclipped and walked with them across the street, asking for their names. I don't know what I'd have done with their names, filed a police report I guess, maybe in front of them. Because I'm pretty sure it's against the law to go around kicking people and their property. I wish I'd demanded an apology. I wish we'd finished the whole thing with a "Happy St. Paddy's".

Instead, I picked my jaw up off the ground and pedaled away furious, pushing back tears of frustration both over the incident and also allowing myself to be trompled on like that.

Comments comiserating, or expressing shared outrage would really make me feel better. However, if you somehow think I deserved to be kicked, then please keep it to yourself until I've had a beer and have calmed the eff down.

Good News for Racing ... but not for Farmers' Markets

An early forecast was released today by the weather people indicating that our summer is looking to be on the hot and dry side.

From a racing perspective, that makes me happy because nobody likes switching tires to accomodate the mud, least of all me.

We'll see how I feel about the high temperatures though. Need more hot yoga to get ready!

Check it out at Thestar.com, or read it right here:

Summer outlook: Lots more sun and heat than last year
Debra Black
Staff Reporter

After last summer’s rain and cool temperatures, Toronto residents can look forward to a more traditional, “warmer and drier” summer, according to Environment Canada.

The season, which the weather service defines as June, July and August, will feature more days where temperatures hover above 30 C, more hours of sunshine and less rain than last year, according to climatologist David Phillips.

Officially, Environment Canada doesn’t release its summer forecast until June 1, but provisional models are currently being developed with the help of the weather service’s supercomputer.

And so far it’s all up roses, assuming you love the heat.

“Initially it looks like it will be drier than normal and warmer than normal,” said Phillips.

But those warmer and drier temperatures will also come with problems, Phillips said. The soaring temperatures and southerly winds may mean haze and smog, and that could translate into respiratory problems for those who have asthma or allergies or lung conditions.

The drier conditions could also be hard on crops, gardens, water levels and possibly lead to more forest fires, especially following the drought-like conditions of this winter with very little snow falling in the GTA.

After the past two summers — the wettest back-to-back summers on record — many of us have forgotten what the dog days of summer are like. In 2008 — the wettest summer of record — Toronto received close to 400 millimetres of rain. In the summer of 2009, we got 300 millimetres. The normal amount is about 228 millimetres.

So Phillips believes that this summer will at least feel drier. “This is my fearless forecast,” he said, “We’d feel it was dry compared to the last two summers.”

One of the rare benefits to a wet summer, Phillips suggested, is that there is virtually no smog — a delight for those with breathing conditions.

But that relief might be a distant memory in a few months if the weather model is accurate. This summer, Phillips is calling for plenty of days topping 30 C — more in line with 2007, when we had 27 of them, compared with the paltry three we had last summer.

There will also be more sunshine, Phillips said. Typically, Toronto gets 276 hours of sunshine in June, 302 hours in July and 264 in August. Those numbers were all down in 2009 thanks to all the rain, most dramatically in July, when we had almost 60 fewer hours of sun. This summer, Phillips said the models are now calling for more sunshine than normal, so break out your sunglasses.

Phillips cautioned that things could change by June 1 when the official summer forecast is unveiled. Until then, he’s not going to bet his pension on the forecast.

Winter Training with World Cup DH-ers

Trek tweeted this little video about their DH-er Tracy Moseley ... interesting. Cross training on a dirt bike?! I'm in the wrong discipline. ;) PS - the soundtrack is an awesome song on high rotation on my ipod. So I'm also tagging this post a RACE TRACK. ("Home is where the heart is" by The Sounds)

And ... for a lighter look at the off-season, check out a day-in-the-life with World Champion, Steve Peat.