Ontario Woman Training for Sea to Sea

For the past several months, Carol Pot has been leaving her Smithville, Ontario home several times a week and heading to the local YMCA.

There, she attends a cycle-fit class, a high-intensity boxfit class, and does some high-paced interval cycling training all in an effort to get ready for the summer, when she will join other cyclists in Jasper, Alberta and participate in a 10-day bike ride hosted by Sea to Sea.

Sea to Sea is a bicycling ministry whose goal is to raise funds to fight poverty, raise awareness about the need, and share the message of God’s redeeming work through Christ.

Sea to Sea started with a ride across North America in 2005. Since that time, hundreds of riders have participated in several different rides and raised more than $5 million for causes including World Renew.

The next Sea to Sea trans North America ride is planned for the summer of 2017.

In 2015, to celebrate the tour’s 10th anniversary, Sea to Sea is hosting two shorter summer rides. One will be a six-day east ride that starts and ends at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario and will take cyclists on a tour by Lake Erie and throughout Southern Ontario.

The other ride is a 10-day west trip through the Rocky Mountains that starts in Jasper, Alberta and ends at Glacier National Park in Montana.

This is not Pot’s first ride. In 2013, she participated in two weeks of Sea to Sea’s cross-country ride.

“Every time in the past when a Sea to Sea ride was being held, I thought it would be so neat to participate, but it wasn’t the right time in my life to do so,” Pot said about her decision to participate in 2013.

“In 2012, I saw an announcement in my church bulletin. My friend, Anja, and I realized that we both were thinking about doing it and we challenged each other to participate.”

After several months of training, Pot and her friend joined the tour for two weeks and cycled from southern Ontario to New York City.

“Before the ride, the support and encouragement of donors and my church was amazing. It was neat to see people get excited about the cause as they learned more about poverty issues,” she said.

“The two weeks on the ride were exciting as I had never done anything like that before. The last day, seeing Manhattan in the skyline and cycling over the bridge into the city was a highlight. The sense of community and common purpose of the cyclist and volunteer community was neat to experience as well.”

With that experience under her belt, Pot is now training for the more difficult challenge of a 10-day ride in the mountains. As spring comes to Ontario, she plans to take her bike outdoors and cycle up and down the Niagara Escarpment several times a day to get ready for the Rocky Mountains.

“It’s not the mountains, but it is all we have close by,” she quipped.

Participation in the western event is limited to 50 riders and most of those spots are already taken. Spots are still available, however, for the eastern ride in Ontario.

Proceeds from both events will be used to support the international work of World Renew, Partners Worldwide and International Justice Mission.  

Additionally, 10 per cent of the proceeds will be distributed to local programs that assist people living in poverty in the communities where the tours take place.

To those who are still considering joining this event, Pot says to just do it.

“You will never regret helping those less fortunate than yourself,” she said.

“By cycling, volunteering or helping fundraise you can contribute and while helping others you will learn so much and grow through the experience.

“When I signed up in 2012, I was intimidated by the fundraising but as people learned about the cause they got excited about supporting the recipients of Sea to Sea and I received almost double the donations I was required to raise in order to participate.

“As far as the training, get on your bike and ride.  Even if you don't get to the point where you can do mountains this year, the six- day Sea to Sea East ride is flat and still attainable at this point.”

To learn more information or to register, visit www.seatosea.org.

You can also follow the tour on Facebook and Twitter. While spots for the western trip are limited, there are more opening for the eastern ride.