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Pedal power: How a Richmond father-son team bonded on two wheels across the Rockies

John Huang took his son, Leo, on a summer bike ride — to Alberta

When his friends ask Leo Huang what he did this summer, all he’ll have to do is smile to get the tale rolling.

That’s because his grin will reveal a chipped front tooth and a few retaining wires — a reminder of the adventure the 12-year-old embarked on with his dad, John, as they cycled almost 1,300 kilometres from Richmond to just short of their goal in Edmonton.

It was a 10-day odyssey, with eight days of pedaling up some steep sections across the Rockies and down into the flat lands of Alberta where, in Red Deer, their journey came to an abrupt halt.

Prior to taking off from their Francis Road home on July 30, the Huangs did some training to prepare for the road and the mammoth ride ahead.

John, an IT worker, is a regular cyclist, who uses his work-day commute to and from Burnaby to include regular exercise in his busy home/work life routine.

The daily, 50 km round trips made the 43-year-old fit enough to consider the challenge of cycling to the Alberta capital. But he had to convince Leo, who was only used to a quick, five-minute ride to and from Jessie Wowk elementary, and get him ready for the demands of logging an average of 150 km during an often grueling, eight-hour day on the bike.

Fortunately, the idea of taking to the open road with his dad sparked a sense of adventure with Leo, and once their plans started to take shape about 12 months before saddling up, his enthusiasm spilled over into school.

“I was, like, excited to go because l had already (told) my friends that we were going to do this,” he said.

The training included regular Sunday trips to the North Shore and hikes up the Grouse Grind with Leo and John’s youngest son, eight-year-old Skye.

At the start, it took them about an hour and 40 minutes to complete the steep, 2.9 km (1.8 mile) trail that rises 853 metres (2,800 feet). After hitting the trail for about a year, that time was pared down to the 70-minute range.

The record time for completing the hike, which was set in 2010, is just a shade over 25 minutes.

“That was very good training,” John said. “It prepared us for the hills we knew would be on our route to Edmonton.”

Then, John and Leo did a pair of long distance rides this June. The first was to Whistler and the second was a return trip between Richmond and Squamish. The roughly 140 and 180 km jaunts went well and took 10 and 12 hours, respectively, to complete.

They were set. The route was planned to include a rotation of two days riding and one day of recovery. Hotel stays were booked. And equipment checked and readied.

The open road beckoned.

On their first day out from Richmond, they made it to Hope, a distance of 176 km. Then, on day two, it was on to the Coquihalla Highway and the energy-draining, 127 km ride through some unrelenting steep sections on the way to Merritt.

“One part, it’s almost 20 km uphill,” John said, noting that the infamous section leading to the Coquihalla Highway’s summit has claimed many a victim of the vehicular kind since it was opened in 1986.

But it didn’t stop the Huangs.

“We did take breaks, but we finished it,” John said with a smile.

Roger’s Pass was their last steep ribbon of asphalt to scale, but the promise of soon cycling downhill and the mostly flat roads of Alberta helped pull them through.

“We knew it would be very hard until we reached Alberta,” John said. “After all, we were going to cross the Rockies. Following Banff, it was going to be fun. It would be downhill and then flat.”

While they were passing some of the most fabulous scenery the region had to offer, the duo didn’t spend much time marvelling at nature’s wonders.

“You may not believe it, but we didn’t,” John said. “We had a plan that we had to stick to and it didn’t leave us time to stop and take in the scenery. When we did stop, we had to try and do our best to recover rather than do something else. We had to remain focused.”

To help fuel portions of their journey between towns, they packed along water, apples, energy gels and tomatoes.

The strategy worked well.

But on their last day, the wheels came off their journey.

About 60 km into their planned 230 km ride into Edmonton, Leo ran over a piece of twisted metal debris along the side of the road, throwing him off balance and face-first into the handlebars of his lightweight, carbon fibre road bike.

The collision knocked out one of his two front teeth.

They immediately stopped and Leo scrambled to recover his tooth that John then safely tucked into his hip-mounted riding pouch and called for an ambulance.

“My dad dragged me to the side of the road and yelled at me to find my tooth,” Leo said with a laugh.

Luckily, five minutes later, the paramedics arrived and carted Leo off to hospital in Red Deer with his tooth, which was implanted soon afterwards.

“I thought it was a dead tooth, but the paramedic asked me for it and the dentist they contacted said to put it in milk to help save it,” John said.

“We planned this trip very well, did very well, but things fell apart at the very last,” John said, adding he was very proud of Leo’s determination. “On the way, he never complained once. Never said he wanted to give up.”

Next summer, the bikes will be parked and a trip to New Mexico is on the cards.

“But, before Leo goes to university, I would like to cycle across Canada with him,” John said.

Leo quipped that he hopes is dad “won’t be too old to do it by then.”