Cross Canada Grandpas cycle through Moose Jaw
A team of four cyclists passed through Moose Jaw June 18th on day 23 of their 8,000km ride across Canada. While cross-Canada cycling tends to be a common occurrence in the summer months, these four have a special claim to fame. Dubbing themselves the Cross Canada Grandpas, all four cyclists are over 70 years old. Elio Zanella, Mike Tanner, Volkmar Bandermann, and John Greven are cycling from Victoria, BC to St John’s, Newfoundland from June to August. The cyclists, who are from Ontario, are all recreational, weekend cyclists crossing Canada for the first time. Greven says, “We are all in our seventies; we are all active and we love cycling. We also like a challenge, and crossing Canada seemed like a reasonably difficult challenge to accept.”
Greven and Bandermann have both cycled extensively across Europe, and originally decided to do an unsupported trip, that is, all their supplies loaded onto the bikes they were riding. Greven says, “When we started to plan, though, I got a bit nervous, so we agreed that we needed to have a support vehicle. We sent an email and we were lucky to not only get a support vehicle but also two other riders, Elio and Mike. As amazing as it sounds, we all get along really well. Every one of these guys is wonderful to be with.” Travelling with them from Victoria to Regina is Dean, their support driver. Dean rode across Canada five years ago in support of ALS and has provided the Grandpas with valuable information and direction in their planning meetings. “We cycle, but Dean does everything else. We are so glad that he has been with us for the last few weeks! I’m not sure we will be able to fill his shoes,” says Greven. More than for just the significant personal achievement of successfully cycling coast to coast this summer, the Cross Canada Grandpas are riding on behalf of four dif- ferent causes that are important to each of them. Tanner says, “It was fun to bike for ourselves, but it is much better that we each have a cause to ride for as well.” Tanner is riding to raise funds for hospice and palliative care programs. “My late wife was a pioneer in the field of end of life care and so I am riding in support of hospice care, specifically St. Joseph’s Hospice in Sarnia. I am also riding for a music therapy program that we set up in her name.” Zanella, who is riding for ALS says, “I wanted to do this five years ago, but I wasn’t able to because of a health problem. I was glad to be able to this now and ride in memory of my wife who passed away of ALS.” Bandermann is riding for the Healing Fund. “I am riding for the indigenous community in Canada. The Healing Fund is primarily supporting people who have gone through the residential schools.” Greven is riding to raise support for the purchase of vented stoves for families in Guatemala whose open cooking fires have no ventilation which can lead to respiratory infections.
The Grandpas are enjoying the opportunity to explore Canada. They also want to encourage others to get out there and live life to the fullest. Tanner says, “We are championing the opportunity for people to live their dreams. We hope that we inspire people to do something that is outside their comfort zone and way bigger than they are. It doesn’t have to be riding across Canada, it can be anything. We want to empower older people to live life to the fullest.”
To keep up with the Grandpas on their cross-Canada journey and for further information about the causes they are riding for, check out their blog which has daily updates and pictures at https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?doc_id=20918 or follow their Facebook page https:// www.facebook.com/CrossCanadaGrandpas/.