Bikes are back, and big announcement is around the corner
Cyclers see celebrations
The high-energy, four-day, 200-kilometre Cycling for Diversity Tour is history, and all 10 team members are safely home.
Our message for the nine-city journey focused on building an inclusive community, and we believe we were successful in inspiring others to break the barriers that exist.
Certainly the civic officials we met in each major city were impressed with the message.
Meaningful partnerships were developed along the way, and Korean drummers, Const. Mary Boonstra's flash mob, Bhangara dancers, assemblies of colourful flag-waving students and a huge segment of the community attended our opening celebration hosted outside Canada Safeway.
Actually, things turned out better than I expected. Having only started our preparations in March, we pulled off some strategic miracles to make this trip a huge success, one this community won't soon forget.
With 24 planned stops, including eight schools, several cultural centres, temples, community services centres, major malls and city halls, we arrived at every destination on time.
If there's anything I appreciate more than ever now, it's bike lanes.
Cycling is a wonderful way to travel and stay healthy, and it's encouraging to see designated routes.
One stop that stands out was on this trip was at Mission Indian Friendship Centre, where we were spiritually heralded with a bandana and drum ceremony to wish us the best of luck. Our gift to our hosts at most stops was our trademark diversity T-shirt.
We launched the trek at Griner Park in Mission with five cyclists (Sukhi Dhami, Alex Mitchell, Abbotsford Coun. Bill MacGregor, Abbotsford Deputy Police Chief Rick Lucy and myself) where we planted a tree with a crowd of local dignitaries.
With us was team driver Rick Rake, who documented the entire trip on social media.
To view trip photos, search "Cycling for Diversity 2011" on Facebook.
I thought the tree-planting would be a fabulous idea to kick-start our journey to Victoria because diversity is similar to a growing tree. We need to nurture and protect diversity like we would a tree.
With layovers in Langley, Burnaby and Tsawwassen, we celebrated World Day for Cultural Diversity on May 21 with acting Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto on the steps of the historic BC Legislature.
We even met noted musician and composer David Foster there.
With our success, an army of people have come forward to participate in Cycle 2012. I've not made any official plans for next year, but I'm 99.9 per cent sure we'll hit the pavement again.
I would have liked to have spent more time in all of the great Lower Mainland celebrations for us along the way.
The reason for this ride's success were the people who stepped up when I asked for assistance.
I cannot highlight this point enough. People and organizations put tremendous faith in this ride and trusted me to make this work.
The message of diversity is only as good as those who work in tandem with us.
I would like to express my appreciation to Deesh Photography, Quadra Homes, Dwayne De Souza, Susan Archer, Randy Kailey, Andy Sidhu, Khalsa Diwan Society, Fraser Valley Indo-Canadian Business Association, VanCity (Mission branch), Canada Safeway, Envision Financial (Mission branch), Mission (Sunrise) Rotary Club and Wenting Cycle & Mountain Shop for their undying support.
An announcement will be held June 17 at 11 a.m. at MLA Mike de Jong's office in regards to this year's Cycling for Diversity ride.
n Ken Herar is a columnist with the Abbotsford-Mission TImes. Contact him at: kenherar@gmail.com.
