Rocking Prentice's Constituency Office

Jim Prentice’s photo smiled at us from above the entrance to his office. The environment minister wouldn’t have been smiling so broadly now, if he knew what pedal for the planet was up to. 20 banner waving activists cheered and chanted anti-Prentice messages.
The Canadian Government is consistently ranked at the bottom when it comes to climate action. Canada’s GHG emissions reduction target is only a 3 % reduction from 1990 levels, when many countries have promised to cut there emissions in the range of 25 – 40%. Last year Canada “won” the Colossal Fossil Award for embarrassing lack of action, and Canada is it’s best to defend the title.
Our press releases and pitch calls had succeeded in luring the media. The handful of reporters and camera people starred at the more eccentrically dressed of us with bemused expressions. Steve had become Windy the Unemployed Wind Turbine. Nadia and Martina were Climate Action Super Cyclists, with green tights and superman capes. Someone wore a Grim Reaper outfit; I wasn’t sure which politician he was impersonating.
“OK, now we’re going to rock the Constituency Office!” called Jeh. For Jeh, simple verbs such as enter or visit are too boring. When you’re with Jeh, you don’t go grocery shopping. You rock the grocery isles.
Our delegation rocked its’ way into Prentice’s office. Jeh rocked over to Prentice’s desk and placed a wad of papers on his desk. “OK, now we’re going to give you guys a chant!” announced Jeh, turning to one of Prentice’s aids.
“Sorry, but there are people taking calls from constituents. I’ll have to ask you to be quiet.”
“We understand, but we really want to give you this chant so…”
“Oooh, it’s hot in here, there’s too much carbon in the atmosphere!... When I say Jim you say where are you?... Jim!… Where are you?... Jim!... Where are you?...When I say Climate, you say action… Climate!…Action!... Climate!...Action!...
I guess that Jeh was right when he said we’d be rocking the constituency office.

Day 17 - Km 2019 (Wendy)

I have just rolled into Edmonton with Malkolm. My leg of Pedal for the Planet is over. I am proud to have made it. Tonight I will catch the bus back to Whitehorse.

I came along mainly to provide safety in numbers when passing bears along the Alaska Highway. No sensible bear will get between a mother cyclist and her son. All 16 bears we saw were sensible.

Having safely passed all the bears, I felt really bad the other night when we cycled into the thick of a lightning storm. The lightning got worse as we headed closer to it. Apparently being on rubber tires does not protect you from electrical shocks. The road we were on offered no shelter. I felt very vulnerable.

We stayed in a hotel that night. You could smell smoke. Yikes - the hotel's computer system had just been fried by the storm.
Pedalling the Alaska Highway is not all hardship. Not at all. Wild strawberries for breakfast, for example.

Nine days in...

This is the ninth day of my leg of Pedal for the Planet". My mom and I are in Fort Nelson, BC. We've cycled 979 kilometers so far. On an average day we spend 9 hours on the highway and 10 to 11 hours sleeping. The leftover hours are spent eating, or thinking about eating.
There are three notable events to describe.
1) Some friends of mine, Pete, Anne and John cycled with me on the first day. We stopped at a rest area, and John started up a conversation with some RVers. He told them about Pedal for the Planet. "Malkolm is cycling from Whitehorse to Ottawa to pressure the Canadian Government on climate change, ahead of the huge meeting in Copenhagen."
"So, you're biking across the country for climate change..." said on of the RVers. "What side are you on?"
Wow. How many people to long bike trips to raise support for Tar Sands deregulation?
2) I had a dream that we were cycling along, getting passed by RVs and Semi's. The trucks were loudly revving their engines as they passed us. I woke up and found out that the sound was not roaring engines, but my mom snoring.
3) We've passed 15 bears so far, 5 of which have been Grizzlies. Once, an RVer warned us about a Grizzly and two cubs ahead on the road. They told us that the bears were only "a mile and a half ahead"
We cycled for ages, wondering when we were going to pass the bears. After 10 nervous kilometers we figured that we must have missed them. After 13 kilometers we finally saw the bears. The moral of this story? Don't trust motorists to judge distances!