Whew! My Trials of Life Tour is complete!! Over two months on the road. 27 school presentations. 17 bike shop or festival demonstrations. 17,761 km’s driven (fully offset through Climate-Friendly). Huge thanks to my official tour sponsor, The Co-operators.

I met so many amazing people on this tour, whether it be students, teachers, shop owners, sponsors, or random riders I met at gas stations in the middle of no where. Just a few shout outs and thank you’s from this whirlwind tour…..

Trials rider Scott at Gericks in Cranbrook for lunch…Lon in Lethbridge for noticing and fixing my burned out trailer light and then trying to set me on fire with a curry dish at a Thai Hut; his shop crew at Ascent Cycle was key…Jennifer at Bikewerx in Lacombe for the Keg dinner even though we had to wait 2 hours for a table!…Fred & Lorraine at High Five in Lacombe for dragging 7 sets of bleachers on to a closed main street for my show and their son Devin for helping me at the schools…Rob Reid in Lacombe for the night stay and home cooked meal; not to mention the back up ‘to go’ mug he gave me when I lost my prized Norco one…Glenn Bohey from the Co-operators for believing in my tour and making this all happen for me, the lunch at Moxies in Regina in person was great!…Jay Blackmore has huge plans, totally believe in his cause and the home cooked breakfast was a treat too…Darcy at Blocks, you’ve been a supporter for so long, thanks for the shop show and dealing with my forks…David and family from North Bay for the great ride on home built trails, the jet boat ride, home cooked Salmon meal and nights stay on the lake…Alex for the volunteered groundwork and dialling in a school visit to his old high school, see you in BC bro…Andrew from St. Joseph’s-Scollard, hang in their buddy, and spread your passion…Joe and Gary in Mactaquac park in NB for the hook up and souvanirs…Matt and Dan from Savages for lunch at the Hilltop, the Mexican joint, and of course the home cooked pasta, still working on my guitar cords buddy…Kevin and Nicole for the Hilton Hotel hook-up, largest living all tour, the comp fruit platter upon arrival was golden…Jason, Lisa-Marie, Simon, and Sylvie for being such an great family and hosting Caryn and I, we loved Moncton…the kid in Miramichi that made a new support foot for my all important high jump bar, you’re a life saver, seriously…Bill and Becky in Darlings Island for a great shop show and dinner…Paul for helping at all 4 Maritime shop demos…John and keith from the Peterborough Police department, your commitment and dedication to The Cops for Cancer Pedal for Hope tour is incredible. Hanging out with you and your team was inspirational and loads of fun. Huge thanks to the entire crew for helping set up my gear and tear down five times…Glen, thanks for hosting me at your place and spotting me 10 bucks for a clean trailer…Ex NHL’er John Druse for having the Pedal for Hope crew over at the lake for a great BBQ and yah, my body still hurts from the tubing session behind the boat…Scott, love the new screwdriver…Greg from Shimano for cruising to all four schools and helping out, and for dialling in the great media and press conference…the whole Shimano crew in Peterborough is positive and spoiled me with support, parts, clothes, and food, you guys rock…Elie at Impala Bikes in Whitby for the BBQ…Martin at First Cycleworks in London, wow buddy, you’re the king of custom choppers, and have one heck of a Norco shop to boot; your kindness and enthusiasm for the event was amazing, thanks for everything buddy…Dan Hay, hey, I’ve been with Norco longer than you, ha…Dash and Hollse in Muskoka, thanks for the amazing meal, your parents are so kind, it was fun to see you guys at home and at school…Rob Dennys, your cottage on the lake was delightful, thanks for lining up the Bracebridge demo and scoring me a free trailer flat fix…Ryan and Cole at Island Lakes School in Winnipeg, props for setting up my TOL presentation, and thanks for doing pre-presentations to all the classrooms, you guys are amazing…Bruce Penner, can’t believe Altona was one of the most rockin’ demos, for a town of 3000 people, and only a few days notice, blew me away, glad that twister didn’t though…my friends at Bikes and Beyond, George, the new Manifesto frame rocks, thanks for building it, Phil, the BBQ was great, and the evening cruise with Caryn in the pedal car was so romantic!…Robin Harvey, my North Van based tour co-ordinator, thanks for organising all these random places and dates in to a tour that flowed so smoothly, the media you helped generate was incredible!!

Whew! Here’s my second to last video blog on Norco’s Website. Overall, I’m deeply satisfied with this whole endevour, an incredible journey that I’ll remember forever. My ‘visit’ home was just a tease, gotta pack up and head to Silverstar Mountain in Vernon BC for Norco’s VPS festival, free riding up the lifts for all Norco owners, lets go ride some bikes and have some fun!!!

Peace out, Ryan

Tags: Cops for Cancer, John Druse, Ryan Leech, Trials of Life

This entry was posted on Friday, June 29th, 2007 at 6:34 pm and is filed under Travel, Trials of Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.