Bird Year is over but Malkolm is cycling on! He is now cycling from Whitehorse to Ottawa as a part of "Pedal for the Planet." He will ask the Canadian Government to become a leader in the struggle to come to grips with climate change. (http://kyotoplus.ca/pedal/)
Malkolm is now 17 and just finished Grade 11. On June 21, 2008 Malkolm Boothroyd completed his year-long, fossil-fuel-free journey in search of birds. He cycled a total of 13,133 miles (21,144 km), Malkolm identified 548 different bird species and raised more than $25,000 for bird conservation.



Monday, July 6, 2009

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!

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