The University of British Columbia

On June 16, I am riding the Test of Metal, a 67 km mountain bike race in Squamish, BC.  It’s a well respected bike race in our mountain biking town which attracts some of the top riders in the area, with over 1200 meters of vertical gain.  To give you some perspective, its the same distance as driving from downtown Vancouver to downtown Squamish, but on mountain biking trails.

The Test of Metal will be my first bike race ever. I have only been biking for two years now, and I have decided that I want my ride for the Test of Metal to be the first time that I race. This ride means more to me than a race time or some amazing single-track biking.

I’m riding the Test of Metal in memory of my friend Glenn.  Glenn died in 2009 from complications of cystic fibrosis.  He was a volunteer for the

Glenn, in my kitchen, juggling hot potatoes. Because he was that kind of guy: fun and goofy with mad skills.

Test every year and his last year among us, he actually got me to volunteer too.  But even more fitting, the Test is really more than a bike race: it is a test of lungs- just like living with cystic fibrosis.

LIving with cystic fibrosis seems to me like an every day Test of Metal.  It’s a disease that impacts your lungs every day.  I didn’t really understand what Glenn must be living with, because he didn’t ever really talk about it. He was private about having CF, in fact many of his friends didn’t know that he had it until he died from complications of the disease.  He likely didn’t want to be told he couldn’t do certain things because he had the disease.  In fact, looking back, I am surprised by the many adventures he took part in. He seemed to refuse to be defined by his disease.

I know how he must have felt- not wanting to be told what he was or was not capable of. Some people are a little surprised that I’ve decided to ride the Test. I’m not a very good rider, and I’m certainly not in good shape.  They tell me what I need to do to prepare, before they even know what I’m doing currently to get ready.  Like Glenn, though, I don’t want to listen to people telling me that I can’t do this.  People want me to train on other races first, but I want the ride I do for Glenn to be my first race.  Even though it’s a scary prospect and I have cried on the trails, filled with doubt that I will be able to actually accomplish this.  But I am committed to it.  Somehow, I know deep down that I can manage this.  Maybe somewhere along the 67 km trail, Glenn will show up to give my bike a little push to get up yet another one of those grueling hills.  He would have been the loudest cheerleader on the sidelines, that is for certain.

The Test of Metal has over 1, 200 meters of vertical gain, and it will be the hardest physical challenge I’ve ever taken on.  The ride is expected to take normal humans five or six hours to complete.

I never realized why Glenn likely was so impressed by the Test riders: the ride is something that he would never physically be capable of because of his disease.  I had barely heard of CF before I met Glenn, and never knew what the life of someone with CF would be like. (I learned a lot about living with CF from an amazing article by Kate Smith, who currently lives with CF). Glenn, though, didn’t let his life be confined by the things he couldn’t do; instead he found ways to contribute (like volunteering at the Test), or participate (like travelling to Mexico on his own, snowboarding, dirt biking or walking with his dog Gorgeous).

Last year I was asked to do the ride in his memory, but I simply wasn’t in good enough shape.  I was ashamed that I couldn’t do the ride in his honour. So this year, I certainly know that I am scared by the prospect and that it is going to be truly painful on my lungs and body, but I am not willing to take that as an excuse.  Glenn in fact would have loved it; he was the kind of person who wanted to see people rise above, push themselves and take on new adventures.

So I’m going for my first trial ride on the course tomorrow- just the first half. I’ve had a cold all week but I seem to be in recovery now and I know that if I don’t going on my bike more often, there’s no way that I’ll manage this ride.  The Test of Metal is June 16, which happens to be the exact same day as the Gear Up for CF event in Vancouver (a 100 km road ride from Vancouver to Chilliwack) which raises money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Canada (Vancouver/Lower Mainland branch), so I’ll be raising monies for both the Glenn Ashenden Memorial Fund at St. Paul’s Hospital (which supports current patients in the CF wing of St.Paul’s) and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Canada.

The details are still in the works, but I’ll share with you some videos of my training efforts and the links for my fundraising pages, in case you want to support. If you don’t want to support with funding, then just making a comment below to encourage me to get on my bike would be a big help too!