Juschka Clarke, a Chilliwack egg farmer, is riding her bike 7,000 kilometres across Canada in honour of her mom who died of cancer.
It's all part of the National Ride of Hope, a fundraiser for the Terry Fox Foundation, where she and seven other cyclists will pedal 220 kilometres every day for 32 straight days starting on June 9.
Clarke said their intention is "never to take away from what Terry did, but to add to it."
The national ride marks the 45th anniversary of Terry's Marathon of Hope. The cross-Canada cycling fundraiser stems from the Ride of Hope which was started in 2015 by Chilliwack’s Darrell Fox, Terry’s younger brother, in celebration of the marathon's 35th anniversary.
The Ride of Hope began as a one-day, 350-kilometre ride and Clarke has done all but two rides since its inception.
"One year, Darrell thought it'd be really clever to do 410 kilometres for the 41st year. I did that one as well, and I remember Darrell asking at the end, 'We could add another 10 kilometres next year, couldn't we?'"
"I did say to him, 'Sure, we could add 10k, but where does this stop?' So now we're doing a cross-Canada one," she said with a smile.
Riding 410 kilometres in one day is one thing, but riding across Canada with zero days of rest is something entirely different. Clarke said she doesn't think she or anyone else on the team can fully prepare physically for the ride.
"We don't have time. We're not professional cyclists. We all have jobs and lives and careers and things going on… but it's obviously all encompassing. The dedication is massive, physically."
Over the past year, she's fit in as many long rides as possible and also added in a weight-lifting regime. Through every one of those long rides, she's kept the National Ride of Hope in mind as the end goal.
How is she preparing mentally?
"I'm stubborn," she said with a laugh. "I think that's probably one of the biggest things. I have a lot of 'stick-with-it' as far as that kind of thing goes. I've done hard rides before, but nothing quite like this."
Getting out of B.C. will be the hardest part physically, but there's another side of the ride that will be much more difficult.
"I feel this ride on so many levels is going to take an emotional toll on every one of us. We've all been touched by cancer," she said with tears in her eyes. "I think that's going to be hard for us along the way, to remember why we're doing it."
Clarke's mother, Inge Drews, battled cancer three times. First she had colon cancer, which she beat. Then she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of blood-and-bone cancer which she "sadly got to keep," Clarke said.
"It never goes into remission, but it can lie dormant, which it did for a bunch of years and then it came back with a vengeance," she added.
Drews died two years ago.
"It's such a mean disease."
She said her mother was an awesome person who absolutely adored being a grandmother. She will be Clarke's inspiration on the 32-day ride.
When Drews died, she left her small commercial egg farm, Hazelsprings Organics, in the hands of her family. There are 4,000 hens on the Yarrow farm which produce about 3,800 eggs per day.
"What my mom did for us, I just hope to carry on that kind of a legacy for my family. Without the support of my (three) kids, I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing – to leave for over a month would be impossible."
Clarke's adult twin daughters, Meghan and Emily, will be looking after the farm while their mom is on the ride. They're also volunteering at the beginning of the ride as the team leaves Vancouver.
The eight-member team includes Darrell Fox, two other cyclists from B.C., one from Manitoba, and three from Eastern Canada. Clarke is the only woman on the team.
They will depart from the iconic Terry Fox sculptures at BC Place on Monday, June 9. On July 10, they’ll arrive in St. John’s, Newfoundland, where Terry began his marathon by dipping his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean.
This year, people can "jump on" with the national team and ride for a portion of the route. There are also smaller rides organized across Canada.
The national team's goal is to raise $1 million for cancer research. As of May 30, the eight riders were more than half way there, having raised $540,000.
"We'd love to blow that goal out of the water," Clarke said. "We want to raise as much money as we can, but also awareness to what the foundation has done, and is doing, and what it can do."
Clarke asked all her supporters to give her the name of the person they were thinking of when they donated. She wants to carry those names, alongside her mother's name, with her as she pushes across Canada.
"This is not for fun. This is for cancer cancer research. If we're doing this, we've lost somebody."
For more info on the National Ride of Hope, go to terryfox.org/terry-fox-national-ride-of-hope. To read about the eight-member team riding across Canada, go to ride.terryfox.ca/team/nationalrideteam. To donate to Juschka Clarke's ride, go to ride.terryfox.ca/page/juschkaclarke.
