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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Record-smashing bike ride

City grandpa cycles 6,055 km from Vancouver to Halifax

By: Meghan Potkins

Posted: 07/15/2011 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

CHRISTIAN LAFORCE / THE CANADIAN PRESS Enlarge Image

Arvid Loewen broke the record of 13 days, nine hours and six minutes for a trans-Canada bike crossing.

WINNIPEG grandpa Arvid Loewen holds the record for the fastest cycle across Canada.

Loewen broke the Guinness World Record for cycling across the country by more than three hours Thursday evening.

As the 54-year-old pedalled into downtown Halifax, the end of his gruelling 6,055-kilometre marathon was in sight -- Loewen was grinning from ear to ear.

"It feels very nice to sit in a nicely heated motor home with a blanket wrapped around me," Loewen said shortly after completing the Herculean journey.

"I'm doing just great -- it's not tough at all."

The last 40-hour push had Loewen on a blistering pace to the finish line. An injury that had set him back several hours earlier in the week meant that every minute had to count.

But in the end, Loewen beat the record by more than three hours. He crossed Canada, from Vancouver to Halifax, in just 13 days, 6 hours and 13 minutes.

A nasty crosswind had slowed Loewen as he made his way from Moncton and Truro, N.S.

But as he turned towards Halifax the wind changed directions and as his spirits lifted, his speed increased.

"I honestly think that when a goal is in sight, something changes," said Melissa McEachern, a member of Loewen's road crew. "It gives you that extra push."

The Winnipegger has pedalled close to 500 kilometres each day since July 1 to raise funds for a charity that helps street kids in Kenya.

Loewen has battled huge elevation gains, potholes and inclement weather, all while subsisting on just two hours of sleep each night.

On his bicycle for as long as 20 hours a day since he departed Vancouver, Loewen carried a photo of an eight-year-old street kid named Lillian -- a girl who was rescued by the Kenyan charity at the age of eight, weighing a skeletal 16 pounds.

At Halifax city hall, Loewen was met by family, supporters and one big fat cheque: Palliser Furniture owners Frank and Agnes DeFehr presented Loewen with a $50,000 cheque for the Mully Children's Family charity in Kenya.

Loewen has raised more than $1.5 million for Kenyan orphans since 2006.

meghan.potkins@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 15, 2011 A4

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