Niagara Falls 500k Cycle Challenge 2007

Fundraising for Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin

2008-03-01T23:46:00.000Z

Fundraising for Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin

My 2007 Cycle Challenge Photos

2007-09-20T20:22:00.003+01:00

I have posted all my photos from our stay at Niagara Falls to the following web site: http://photos.eircom.net/album/6562392

Click on thumbnails to enlarge. Feel free to download and use any of them. Enjoy.

Eugene.

P.S. If anybody wishes to see the photos as good quality full-page photos for downloading and saving, contact me at eugene.cycleogical@gmail.com and I will send you instructions. In return you might might consider making a small donation payable to The Children's Medical & Research Foundation and send to Eugene O'Leary, 67 Grace O'Malley Drive, Howth, Co. Dublin. Ireland? Please visit my pledgepage by clicking here.

Please click on "Older Posts" at the bottom of this page to see the reason why I take part in these cycle challenges.

2007-09-20T19:46:00.001+01:00

2007-09-16T23:47:00.001+01:00

Day Eleven

2007-09-16T23:47:00.000+01:00

Day 11 – Home Sweet Home.

Arrived Dublin at 09.10 a.m. and was at home and looking forward to home cooking and a good sleep by 10.30 a.m. That’s it for another year. Looking forward to next years cycle challenge already. The rumour machine says that it will take place in Monterey, California. Anyway, thank God for the success of this years cycle and for getting us all out and back safely and without even one minor accident during our cycle challenge.

Day Ten

2007-09-16T22:12:00.006+01:00

Day 10 in Niagara.
Left Americana Hotel by coach this morning and headed for Toronto, where we were taken on a coach tour. What a beautiful city! Did some shopping for the last of my presents in the Eton Centre, which goes underground for four floors. Really impressive. Then got a taxi to the CN Tower and took the lift to the very top – 1,465 feet. The view from the top was awesome.
All of us met at the base of the Tower at 5.30 p.m. and boarded the coach for Toronto Airport. Boarded the Canadian Airlines plane at 9.30 p.m. and took off for Dublin at 10.10 p.m., after a very enjoyable day. Wish we could have stayed for another week!

A friend that I met in Toronto!

Day Nine

2007-09-15T21:47:00.000+01:00

Day 9 in Niagara.
Headed off for Niagara Falls by bus this morning with two group one cyclists – Gerry and Danny. We intended to get a taxi from Niagara Falls to Niagara-on-the-Lake, but came across a bike hire shop and decided to inflict further punishment on ourselves by hiring three bikes and cycling the round trip of 46K!! It was a great experience – my first time riding a chainless (shaft-driven) bike – and the weather and scenery were beautiful along the Niagara River. We took our time and stopped along the way to take photographs. Had lunch and spent two hours exploring the shops in Niagara-on-the-Lake and then headed back to Niagara Falls, where we took more photos and then took a bus back to our hotel on Lundy’s Lane in time for dinner. A day to be remembered and a great day to be alive.

Day Eight

2007-09-12T23:07:00.000+01:00

Day 8 in Niagara.

Everybody looked forward to completing the challenge today. We took the Niagara River route, which goes through the village of Chippewa – here they call it the City of Chippewa! The day was lovely and cool and we completed the 100K in 3.75 hours. Wind was still strong. What a feeling to have completed a 500K cycle challenge in Canada!

When we were starting out this morning, Seamus Kennedy – our director of cycling – asked us to reflect for a few moments on why we were doing the cycle and on the children that our cycle would help. I felt quite emotional – thinking of Helen – when he asked us to reflect on those children who would never be lucky enough to take part in something like this.

Day Seven

2007-09-12T23:03:00.000+01:00

Day 7 in Niagara.

Today’s cycle was postponed until 2 p.m. due to rain and strong winds. Started out at 2 p.m. and did 32 miles in very strong winds, which at times were blowing across very exposed roads. Everyone found the cycle really tough. However everyone arrived back at the hotel safely and feeling satisfied that the challenge had been completed. Tomorrow is the last day of the challenge and then we can all rest for a couple of days before heading for home on Friday evening.

Day 6

2007-09-10T19:23:00.001+01:00

Day 6 in Niagara.

Great cycle today out through the prairie farms and down by the Niagara River. Completed the 100K (62 miles) in 3¾ hours. Weather was great and not too hot – hazy sun. Stopped for water after 14 miles and then did a 22 mile loop and back to the water stop for a 5 minute break and then back the last 14 miles to the hotel. Really enjoyed today’s cycle.

On the Road.

Day Five

2007-09-09T19:18:00.000+01:00

Day 5 in Niagara.

Called at 5.30 a.m. for breakfast at 6 o’clock to find that a torrential downpour was in progress. It was decided after breakfast to cancel today’s cycle, which turned out to be a wise decision, because the rain continued. This is the first rain in this part of Canada for the last 56 days. The result has been that the roads are now greasy and dangerous for cycling on. The forecast for the rest of the week is good, so today’s cancelled cycle will probably be rescheduled for Wednesday. No cycle photos today, Jenny, so I put in two from the hotel instead. The first one is the coffee and smoothie bar. (‘Twas far from smoothies I was reared!) and the second one is of the floor that my bedroom is on (first door on the right). Hope to take some action photos on the road tomorrow.

Coffee shop and Smoothie Bar

Third Floor in Hotel Americana

Day Four

2007-09-08T20:03:00.001+01:00

Our Hotel in Niagara

Day 4 in Niagara.

Called at 5.30 a.m. to start the cycle at 7.15 a.m. in order to beat the heat of the day. Cycle was good but demanding to towards the last 5K with two tough hills. Temperature here today is around 27C. but we got back to the hotel well before it got hot. We had a short water and food stop after each twenty miles and today’s cycle was very well supervised and organised. Looking forward to tomorrows cycle now, even though my shoulders are a bit sore and stiff. Some of the lads are gone to town to watch the Ireland versus Czech Republic match in some bar. Hope that they will be all fit to cycle tomorrow if Ireland win!

Sign at Hotel Entrance Road on one of our cycle routes

Day Three

2007-09-07T20:11:00.001+01:00

Day 3 in Niagra.

Today was our first day on the cycle challenge. Cycle started at 8 a.m. in the cool of the morning. By the end of the cycle at 12 o’clock the temperature had reached 32 C. again. However we only had that temperature for the last hour of the cycle, so it was quite good.

The lead car sent us on a wrong road and we ended up at an old English historic fort (Fort Erie). We enjoyed the break there but the toilets were shut! I can now boast that I peed behind a tree at Fort Erie!

The pace was fairly hectic on the way back, but everyone arrived back safely and we can look forward to another 100K in the heat tomorrow!

Fort Erie in the background. White man in the foreground!

Day Two

2007-09-07T18:48:00.000+01:00

Departed hotel this morning at 11 o’clock and headed off for a spin through the countryside to Niagara-On-The-Lake. Great cycle path back from there to Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls was really impressive.

Arrived back at the hotel at around 2.30 p.m. Missed lunch! Total distance cycled was 70 kilometres. Feel as if I have cycled all morning in an oven! Temperature 31 C.

Had a swim and half an hour in the Jacuzzi when we got back. Right now, feeling great and ready for the start of tomorrows 100 kilometre challenge.

Fine pair of legs!!!

Day One

2007-09-07T18:45:00.000+01:00

Flew out from Dublin to Toronto this morning. Transferred by coach from airport to Niagara Falls. Arrived at the Americana Hotel at around 4 p.m. Knackered. Dinner at 6 p.m. Weather is really warm. Temperature 27 degrees with blue skies. Looking forward to getting my bike on the road for a trial run tomorrow.

Niagara Falls Cycle Challenge 2007

2007-09-01T01:05:00.000+01:00

Niagara Falls Cycling Challenge 2007

in aid of

Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, Dublin 12

My name is Eugene O’Leary. I am a 64 (almost 65) year old cyclist! ("The Pedalling Pensioner!") My daughter, Helen was a patient of Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin until she was eighteen years old. She died one year after leaving the care of the hospital (February 2002), and having her care transferred to an adult hospital. In order to show some appreciation for the wonderful work done by the hospital in enabling my wife and I, together with her brothers and sisters to enjoy the gift of having “an angel” in our family for nineteen years, I started to do fundraising cycles for Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, four years ago.

I have raised over €30,000 for the Children’s Medical & Research foundation which is the fundraising arm for both the Foundation and the hospital, over the last three summers by doing a series of 8 hour static cycles (on a training frame) on Bank Holiday weekends, at the entrance to the East Pier, Howth, Co. Dublin in recognition of the wonderful care that our daughter was given, while a patient of Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital. I have taken part in the hospitals overseas cycle challenges in Durban, South Africa; Lake Balaton, Hungary and last year in Flagstaff, Arizona. Each of these challenges entailed cycling a distance of 100 kilometres (62 miles) a day for five days. I will now be taking part in this years (2007) cycle challenge in Niagara, Canada from 5^th. to 15^th. September.

I have also taken part in two Garda one-day cycles; one from Raheny Garda Station to Kilkenny and one to Mullingar. Both of these cycles were organised to raise funds for St. Francis Hospice, Raheny and were organised by Det./Sgt. Gary Kelly of Howth Garda Station, who has run a number of wonderful fundraisers for the Hospice.

In the past year I also did a sponsored cycle from Rosslare Harbour to Howth Harbour to raise funds for Scoil Mhuire, our local primary school. This cycle was organised for the purpose of raising funds to install CCTV cameras in the school grounds. The cycle was run in conjunction with a sponsored walk by the pupils of the school and the necessary funds were raised. The cameras are now fully operational.

I now urgently need your help in this year’s fundraising efforts. Fundraising has not gone well this year due to bad weather. I have been unable to do the majority of my static cycles (we had rain every Sunday since June!).

I am now appealing to you to support my fundraising efforts for the Children’s Medical and Research Foundation by sending a donation to: Eugene O’Leary, 67 Grace O’Malley Drive, Howth, Co. Dublin. Ireland. All bank drafts/postal orders should be made payable to “The Children’s Medical & Research Foundation” and not to me personally. All donations will be acknowledged directly by both myself and the Children’s Medical and Research Foundation.

To read about the Children’s Medical & Research Foundation and Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, click on this link: http://www.cmrf.org

To view my fundraising page: Click Here

Thank you for taking the time to read this far.

I will be adding photos and an event diary on each day of the cycle challenge in Niagara, Ontario.

Call back soon!

Free Counter