In just a couple of months, Drumheller youth will be hitting the open road participating in Two Wheel View tours.
The Badlands to Banff Tour is back on the road and already seven youth are signed up and are busy preparing for the trip.
Andrew Germain, who is in Grade 10 at St. Anthony’s School, will be participating for his third time. He says the experience is valuable for youth.
‘The experience and leadership skills that I gain, and the friends that I make,” he says are the reasons he keeps coming back.
The trip goes from August 9-20 and is a staged cross-country bike ride, where participants pedal and camp all the way from Drumheller to Banff.
Randy McHugh, who is in Grade 8 at DVSS, is taking on the challenge for the first time. Two Wheel View did a presentation at her school, and she was hooked.
“As soon as they said bike trip, I wanted to go,” she tells the Mail. “I’m excited.”
Along with the Badlands to Banff tour, Matt Doyle, Evelyn Stanger and Jasmine Russell are also participating with Two Wheel View, but on an excursion from Montreal to Quebec City.
“The three of us are going together and we decided we would team up with Banff to Badlands tour to fundraise about half of the amount needed for Quebec,” explains Doyle. “Drumheller is banding together to get some kids to go on some amazing bike adventures.”
Another challenging part of the journey is the fundraising campaign. Already the team is working to raising $950 per participant. They work as a team to meet this goal.
“All the fundraising for Badlands to Banff is done as a group. Since the trip has started, no group has had to pay for any of the expenses” said Germain.
To meet this goal, they are volunteering with the Gran Fondo, which rolls through the valley on June 24. They will also have a July 1 barbecue at the Canada Day celebrations. They are also planning a bottle drive on May 24. They are also reaching out to local businesses for sponsorship.
“For the past few years businesses have been quite generous and we are thankful for that,” said Germain.
As far as other preparations, Germain tells The Mail, it is helpful for the rider to do a bit of training before they go, however the toughest leg of the journey is heading up The South Hill getting out of the valley.
