News & Events
Friends for Life Bike Rally 2010
Aug 26, 2010
By Dr. Lee Schofield
As a new member of the Bloor West Village community, I wanted to share an amazing experience I had during July of 2010. I have recently started working as a Sport and Exercise Medicine physician at Pivot Sport Medicine & Orthopaedics (2288 Bloor St West) and am developing my patient practice for the active west Toronto community. As a group exercise instructor and new competitive triathlete, I decided to develop my skills in long distance cycling and participate in the Friends for Life Bike Rally for the first time. Now in its 12th year, the Toronto People with AIDS Foundation Friends for Life Bike Rally has participants ride their bicycles from Toronto to Montreal (~600km) over six days.
For several weeks prior, I built up my cycling distances with progressive training rides up to 126km in the GTA. I built upon my cycling knowledge from indoor classes, and improved my hill riding technique and learned about the nutritional needs of longer distances.
I had the chance to put this to practice during the last week of July, and what an amazing time it was. My perspective was unique as I trained in family medicine at a HIV primary care clinic, and now practice sport medicine working with active cyclists regularly. I was able to immediately appreciate the amount of work each of the 315 riders had put into completing this trip, and also the personal meaning that the ride had to so many individuals. During the week I was able to improve my riding cadence and average speed, develop my skills in drafting during a group ride, and share/hear stories from other riders about their motivation for the trip. In the end, riders, support crew and volunteers raised over $1.2Million for the foundation.
I look forward to working at Pivot and in the Bloor West community in the future, and encourage any new or experienced cyclists to participate in this annual event. Geared to people of all skill levels, it is a fun and challenging experience that helped me to grow as a person and athlete. Please check out bikerally.org as the 2011 registration is already open, and I hope that I can help you prepare over the coming year at Pivot Sport Medicine and Orthopaedics!
To book an appointment with Dr Schofield, please call (416) 767-4868
