What's it like to bike 1,200 kilometres over the course of a week? Not many people will have the experience in their lifetime, but Bailey Parker, morning show co-host on Virgin Radio in Victoria, is taking it on to help raise $1,000,000 for cancer.
"It's going to be pretty incredible visiting all the communities along the way," Parker said, who is doing Tour de Rock starting on Sept. 21.
Cops for Cancer Tour de Rock is an annual fundraiser where police agencies, emergency service, military personnel and media members cycle for 14 days across Vancouver Island to raise money for childhood cancer research and support services at the Canadian Cancer Society.
"They also support this great organization called Camp Good Times, which is all about helping kids with cancer go and have a fun camp experience," Parker said. "It's typically for kids actively going through treatment, but are healthy enough to go to camp or who are in remission. It's a chance for them to be kids again. It's just so beautiful."
Bell Media, which owns Virgin Radio, has participated in the tour over the last few years, said Parker, and when she was given the opportunity to be the one pedalling, she "jumped on it right away".
In order to prepare for the tour, which starts at Port Alice on Sept. 21 and ends in Victoria on Oct. 4, the team of 17 has trained every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday since May.
"A couple of weekends ago, we had a Mock Tour, where we basically have our full escort vehicle and motorcade. And we biked all the way from Nanaimo to Duncan and back, which was about 140 kilometres. It was a big day," Parker said.
But of course, the team is also actively fundraising. Their goal is to raise $1,000,000 by Oct. 4; as of Sep. 6, they have raised $228,875.
There are multiple ways to donate: during September, the Glandford, Queens and Quadra locations of Bottle Depot are set up so that people can turn their empties into a donation for Tour de Rock. Victoria News is proud to be collecting our bottles throughout September to support this initiative.
Some events will also donate portions of proceeds from ticket sales, including the Pacific FC game on Sept. 14.
A raffle found at has all proceeds going to the tour. Grand prizes include luxury getaways and one round trip flight for two guests to any regularly scheduled WestJet destination.
"There's plenty of events going on for people to show their support or of course, they can go to the under the Tour de Rock page and they can make a donation there and that would be greatly appreciated," added Parker.
And her sentiments on the journey coming up?
"It's going to be amazing. I'm really looking forward to it."
