Recovering addict plans to give back by cycling his way across Canada
It’s a more than 600-kilometre trip past picturesque lakes and snow-capped mountains, but with enough punishing hills to scare away most Saturday cyclists.
For Kyle Williams, though, his bike ride last summer from Penticton, B.C., back home to Calgary was a vacation in itself, a chance to rejuvenate body, mind and spirit.
“It was tough but, man, it was so fun,” says the 26-year-old, who admits he did a lot of thinking over those five days. “It’s almost a form of meditation, just you and your bike, one pedal at a time.”
The combination of self-reflection and the fun ride sparked Williams’ plan for Changing Gears. The fundraising initiative will see him cycle this summer from Canada’s east to west coasts, about 8,300 kilometres that will take at least two months to complete.
For Williams, currently preparing for his June 1 start in St. John’s, Nfld., the ride will serve the dual purposes of testing his physical limits and giving back. Along the way, he plans to stop in at 11 drug and alcohol treatment centres, making a financial donation as he spreads the word about addiction awareness.
“People are dying every day,” he says of a social and health epidemic that has taken on an even greater urgency of late, due to the introduction of such deadly substances as fentanyl in illicit street drugs.
“I want to help keep the conversation going, let people know there are healthy people and options out there, just waiting for you to reach out.”
After all, he could easily have been one of those casualties.
“It was all about the bar, the booze and drugs,” he says of his life before last spring, when he showed up at Calgary’s Fresh Start Recovery Centre. “It was party every night and deal with the consequences later.”
Like so many others’ experiences, Williams’ problems manifested gradually. Growing up in southwest Calgary, the athletic kid played a variety of sports, developing his love of cycling at a young age. In between, he’d join his high school buddies at parties that included underage drinking.
“I was always one of the drunker ones,” he says. “I never knew you could just slow down.”
It was after he enrolled at University of Lethbridge that things snowballed. “I never focused on my studies,” he says. “I left there after four years without a degree.”
His summer stints working at nightclubs soon became his fulltime gig, with his binge drinking and drug use getting worse. A three-week bender in early 2016 put him in the hospital twice. “I woke up from all of this and laid in bed for three days without a drink,” he says. He called a relative who was a recovering alcoholic, “and asked him if he could help me.”
Williams’ relative knew some of the good folks at Fresh Start Recovery Centre, which helps men and their families recover from addiction. Williams’ dad, Steve, bought him a new bike so he could ride to the facility for its four-month-long day program.
“Fitness was a big part of my life that had been missing for a long time,” he says. “It helped me put my life back together.”
It’s now a central focus: Williams teaches spin classes at YYC Cycle and is involved in local running and fitness groups. He hopes one day to start his own business helping recovering addicts connect with the healing powers of physical activity.
“I’m living in a way that can hopefully help others,” he says, as he gets ready to pedal across the country, his dad Steve in the chase vehicle driver’s seat.
“If I can motivate even one person to change their own journey,” says Williams, whose big vices today are root beer and ice cream, “then that’s success.”