We’re only 50 kilometres into a two-week, 1,000-plus-kilometre ride of the Island for Tour de Rock when the space blankets come out.
We’ve been warned the north Island would dump rain on us, and Port Alice, the tour’s starting point — a town of 800 residents who raised $15,000 — lives up to that soggy reputation.
By the time the team arrives in Port Hardy for lunch on our first day of riding, we’re soaked through our rain ponchos and boot covers, but I’m still warm from the hills coming out of Port Alice.
One of my teammates is so cold, however, that a paramedic brings him a silver emergency blanket — the lightweight, crinkly kind that packs up tiny and holds in your body heat.
I always carry one when I’m hiking in the backcountry in case of emergencies, but I’ve never unpacked it. It’s a last-resort, stuck-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-and-waiting-for-help kind of thing.
So, seeing my soggy teammate wrapped up in his emergency blanket inside Applewood Ford car dealership makes me chuckle and I snap a photo. A few minutes later, a paramedic offers me a space blanket.
Noticing I’m now shivering, I sheepishly accept.
Half of the team is now wrapped in space blankets to watch a few generous souls shave their heads to raise money for pediatric cancer research and support programs for families facing a childhood cancer diagnosis.
It’s the reason why 16 police officers, paramedics, media and community riders are cycling in the rain on Sunday and for the next two weeks (although I’m hoping the rain will forget about us at some point).
Now in its 27th year, the Tour de Rock has raised more than $29 million for the cause.
This year’s team has cracked $300,000 and we’re aiming for $1 million.
At the dealership, eight-year-old Weston Ireton is behind the electric shaver, delighting in removing random chunks of hair from heads.
Port Hardy Coun. Janet Dorward has been raising money to shave her head, but she’s about $1,200 short of her goal.
Weston just happens to have a $1,000 cheque to offer Dorward and bills start flying to get her in the barber chair.
Dorward dutifully takes her seat to allow “the world’s gentlest barber,” as one person calls Weston, to take on her shoulder-length hair.
When Weston’s job is done, with a little help from his tour friends, we all agree Dorward is rocking her new look. Not everyone has the right head shape to pull off bald.
Weston is the star of the show today. Diagnosed with leukemia at two years old, he’s now two years out of treatment.
Regular stays at ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Children’s Hospital have been downgraded to annual Zoom check-ups and he’s an active kid who just made Port Hardy’s under-11 rep hockey team.
When people ask how Weston is doing these days, his dad, Adam Ireton, tells them he’s turned into a typical eight-year-old.
“Which I think is what we were hoping for. You know, he and his brother are trying to kill each other, which is normal. And for a little while there that wasn’t necessarily the path we were on. It was super scary,” he says.
Since 2019, the Ireton family has been going as a family to Camp Goodtimes in Maple Ridge and Camp Pringle near Shawnigan Lake, both supported by Tour de Rock fundraising. It costs about $2,000 to send a child to camp.
When Weston was in treatment, the camp gave his parents a place to talk about what they were going through with other parents who got it, because they were in the thick of it, too.
The camps provide a chance for families — often physically separated for long periods while a child is going through treatment — to connect.
“It’s not forced family time, but it kind of is. There’s nowhere to go, no devices to be on, and you’re in the moment with your family, which is great,” says Ireton, who meets up with the team at the end of our day in Port McNeill, along with Weston’s older brother, Beckett.
Ireton asks me about the weather for our first day of riding. Before we set off, he warned me to enjoy a two-hour hot shower before coming for some “lovely” north Island weather.
“Was it miserable?” he asks.
“It wasn’t miserable. It was rainy, but it wasn’t pouring at all,” I say. “It was rainy, but I wasn’t soaked soaked.”
Beckett offers me a generous compliment: “You sounded like a true north Islander when you’re like: ‘I wasn’t that wet. It was just kind of rainy.’ ”
I’m glad he didn’t see me wrapped up in my space blanket.
WHERE THE TOUR DE ROCK TEAM IS
The team continued south, riding more than 140 hilly kilometres on Monday from Port McNeill to Sayward, with a stop in Woss. On Tuesday, we ride from Sayward to Campbell River. Wednesday will see us make our way to Comox, with stops in Black Creek, Merville and Courtenay.
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