I was an energetic kid who tended to put all my eggs in one basket. This trait, it turns out, would go on to guide most of my life.
I got my athletic start in track and field, and my entire life became focused on representing my home country of Canada at the highest levels.
My future was bright, but I developed a disease where I lost my ability to walk and use my hands. I had gone from Olympic hopeful to requiring 24/7 care. My family was incredibly supportive and we were fortunate to find a charity that helped us stay together when I was transferred to
another country for medical care. Thankfully, intense rehabilitation helped me recover and return to school.
Focusing on education allowed me to complete high school and several degrees, including my doctorate, in the years that followed. And once I graduated, I began running again as a way to process the trauma I experienced, having been diagnosed with C-PTSD.
I then began focusing on running again, but it wasn't easy. I needed several operations and experienced many injuries as I (often unsuccessfully) tried to navigate my body's new capabilities post-illness.
However, the miles built up until I was ready to challenge the LEJOG running world record. But a few weeks before launch, I sustained a significant injury I would not be able to recover from. My new body was just not strong enough to run again.
Not wanting to lose what I had worked for years to rebuild, I purchased a bicycle. I just had to learn how to ride it.
In 5 months I went from novice to competing in some of the hardest ultra endurance cycling races in the world, and in a surprise to everyone including me, achieved a finish near the top of the pack.
I am now curious about what I can achieve in more controlled conditions, and whether the deep focus I have been applying to cycling can pay off in a time trial discipline.
I am challenging the LEJOGLE world record to raise funds for charity and to close the chapter on all the versions of my life I did not get to experience. When my attempt begins, I will have been riding bikes for less than 2.5 years.
The Bike Project and Bikes for Refugees are close to my heart, as I come from a family that has been active in fostering, adoption and emergency caretaking throughout my life, including successfully petitioning for the end of discriminatory adoptive practices in government agencies. I myself have been fortunate to work with referral organisations to sponsor several female refugees and asylum seekers to live in my home, heal from their ordeals and transition to life in the UK. I've seen first hand how a bicycle can change their access to opportunities and quality of life, in a way very different to but resonating with the way it has changed mine.
I want to document this project to show that just because life doesn't always turn out the way we expect, doesn't mean it's a bad life. And to remind us that there is a whole community of people waiting to greet us when we are open about our struggles and fears in the pursuit of big goals. We must always keep going.