7,500 kilometres and $25,000: Labrador man completes cross-country cycling trip for charity

Matthew Pike was only five minutes late to his party in St. John's. It's impressive timing, considering he biked there from the other side of the country.

I can't image how many Tim Hortons I ate and drank at over the past two months.- Matthew Pike

Pike completed a cross-Canada bicycle which began in British Columbia and ended  56 days later, as he pulled up to his welcoming party in St. John's.

"I made a bet with one of my buddies in Kenora, Ontario, that I could do it in less than 60 days," he said. "Day 56! I had a few days to spare."

Fundraising campaign on wheels

The timing of his arrival was significant for another reason: The day he arrived August 1, would have been his cousin Craig Pike's 37th birthday.

Pike had Spina Bifida and was in and out of medical care for most of his life. When he was a child he met Wayne Gretzky. A date that was arranged by the Children's Wish Foundation. Pike died three years ago.

So when Matthew Pike, who is from Labrador, put together this bike trip, he decided he'd raise money for the Newfoundland and Labrador Children's Wish Foundation.

"The goal was 10,000 because that was the average cost of a wish," he said. "That was optimistic, $10,000 is a lot of money, it's a lot to expect from people."

But people surpassed his expectations.

"And we got the first wish, and people kept donating," he said. "And we got to the second wish. And now we're on our way to a third wish. We're over $25,000."

Much of that generosity, he said, came from people in Newfoundland and Labrador — Labrador especially.

Gotta have rain gear

He said most of the preparation he put in for the trip was planning, and not physical training. Getting the right gear was key because he had to carry everything — clothes, medical supplies, sleeping bag, tent, food and water on the bike.

He says the one thing he missed in his planning was good rain gear. He felt the sting of that oversight when he hit the rain in central Newfoundland.

"I tried to make it to Gander and tried to make it past Gander and it poured and it poured and it poured," he said. "It was time to call it quits early in the day."

"This last week in Newfoundland has been especially tough. It's been hills from coast to coast, and the wind."

'Eat, sleep and ride'

To complete the trip in just two months, he kept a strict daily regimen.

He woke up at 5 a.m. each day and set out to cover as much ground as he could before the sun got too hot, breaking only for breakfast.

"Usually at a Tim Hortons somewhere," he said. "I can't image how many Tim Hortons I ate and drank at over the past two months."

During the last leg of his trip, he aimed to ride 200 kilometres a day. Then he'd pitch his tent wherever he could — a campground, or just off to the side of the road — hit the sleeping sack.

"Eat sleep and ride," he said.