Final donation for Patagonia Rally

Today I made my final donation for the Rally for Rangers Patagonia Ride. I have also booked some of the filghts, when December rolls around I will be ready. I am very proud of to have received support from so many people- family, friends and strangers alike. Your generosity toward this great cause means a great deal to me and it will change the life of a hard working park ranger in The Patagonia. While the main commitment has been reached, the fundraising continues until December.

A few weeks ago I bought myself a Beta 250RR Racing. I traded in my Suzuki Motocross bike. I love Motocross, but I need to spend more time trail riding in preparation for the Rally this December and a Motocross bike is just not quite the right weapon. Two weeks ago I used the Beta in a motocross race, I wanted to see how it worked on a track. It worked great and I won the race riding in the plus-fifty class. Since then I haven't had a chance to ride it but I did go out today and I didn't do nearly so well. Having volunteered to work the Calabogie Boogie for 2018, clearing and marking the trails etc., I went to Levant Station to check out some of the trails I will be riding and I hit the ground pretty hard. I was riding alone, which is not ideal. It is far safer to ride with people not to mention more fun. When I do ride alone, I ride with extra caution, something the Suzuki didn't allow for but the Beta does. I wasn't in a difficult section and I don't even know what happened, but I bumped my head hard and hurt my chest. Today my helmet definitely saved my life and my chest protector also lent a helping hand. The bike was a bit twisted so I did little maintenance on the trail and then went home again.

Racing my Beta 250RR Racing in a motocross race. I won the race, I was the only guy on the line riding a trail bike. (Photo by Charlie Cartmill)

Me today. The mark on my face is from the inside of my helmet... now imagine how hard the outside of my helmet was hit. It hurts to chew and it also hurts a bit to breathe.

It is the incidents like this that really makes me ponder why I do this. It can be very difficult for me to to nurture this passion. My work days are long and tiring which means I am a weekend warrior. I don't know enough people who ride and every riding place I know of takes and hour or more to get to. I have had some of my most memorable experiences riding in the dirt with my brothers so maybe that is what I should stick to. I have plans to travel west in a few weeks to ride with my brother Bernie and judging by my calendar, that is probably the next time I will ride.

While I am here thinking about the Patagonia rally, the Mongolia 2018 Rally for Rangers is just finishing up. It is inspiring to see all the photos from this rally and I am grateful to have been selected to ride Patagonia. I look forward to meeting 15 other like minded riders from around the world and I especially look forward to handing off the keys to a nearly-new 200cc Beta dual-sport motorcycle to a park ranger who will use it to make the world a better place.

The photos below were all harvested from Facebook and were taken recently at the Rally for Rangers 2018 Mongolia.

Please donate, it is never too late to make a difference. The rally is five months away, plenty of time to break a fundraising record!

Take a bow everyone, together we are making a big difference to one small but important cause.

Dave O'Malley, Bernie Cox, Suzi Prokopchuk, Bob Gosselin, Sharon Baird, Tasha Bridgen, Peter Johnston, Ron Roseland-Barnes, Sidney Omelon, Jeroen Pinto, Kurt Turchan, Greg Williams, Nancy Rattle, Ken Wood, Patrick J Timmins, Chris Hadfield, Cathy Cox Neill, Gordon Martin, MaryAnn Harris, Charles de Lint, Claude Roy, Joan Armstrong, Sue Warren, Janeen Wagemans, Mike Ruddick, Marty Cox, Seppo Osala, André Laviolette, Glenda Hadley, Herb McLeod, Ian Coristine, Dan O'Connell, Andrea Taylor, Sharon Pero, Lee Hanrahan, Susan Smith, Marceli Wein, Don Peddle, Linda Punstel, Glen Niederhauser, PxlWorks, Heather Bromberg, Kevin O'Kelly, Pat Cox, John Atkinson, Kevin Higgins, Grant Hooker, Anne Gafiuk, Todd Lemieux, Paul Kissmann, Chris Weidmark, Gordon Simmons, Janet LeBlanc, Richard Hofer, Heather Thomson, Doug Little, Allen Granum, John Ruddy, Mark Baskin, Hickory Wind Productions, Glen Milne, Karl Kjarsgaard, Gerry Arial, Andrea Petersen, Doug Casey, David Millar, Jim Cox, Pascal Lyon, Guy French, Norm Payne, Mark Rogers, Galbraith and Associates, Laurens Wit, Christine Andrus, Korrey Foisey, Richard Davis, Amir Agha-razi, Barry Robillard, Rob Kern, Jack Duggan, Janice Williams.