Cochrane’s Dan Paarsmarkt has promises to keep, and miles to go before he sleeps.
That slightly paraphrased last line from a Robert Frost poem may pop into Paarsmarkt’s head a few times on the 1,600-km bike ride from the Northwest Territories to the Montana border he has planned for this summer.
He’s in the middle of training for the marathon ride, and appeared before his fellow Rotarians this week to update them on preparations for the ride.
They are looking for financial support for the ride, which kicks off from the Cochrane Legion on June 3.
Currently, he is looking for corporate sponsorships/contributions from individuals to help defray some of his costs for the trip itself (hotels, gas, etc). And all donations/sponsorships from the ride will go towards providing polio vaccination around the world.
Through an arrangement with Rotary International, for every dollar Paarsmarkt’s ride raises, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will kick in three.
The retired 61-year old will drive to the Northwest Territories border with co-pilot Hank Pilotte and then the real workouts start June 5, when he hopes to bike about 200 km a day. He plans on completing his ride in Cochrane on June 17, after riding up from the Montana border.
His training starts in earnest as the weather allows over the next few weeks.
A few years ago Paarsmarkt was turned on to a form of long distance riding called Randonneuring, which is a recreational cycling niche that inspires riders to push beyond what they believed they were capable of, riding distances of 200 to 1200 kilometres.
He has done trips to Vancouver and Seattle, and has done 1,200-km trips five times.
“Those were the five most difficult things I’ve done in my life,” Paarsmarkt said. “You have a set distance and a set time. You pack all your gear, and it’s kind of like vacationing on the cheap."
Paarsmarkt calls winter “one of the drawbacks of living in this country” as the poor riding conditions cut into his training schedule.
“Every spring you start at ground zero and have to work your way back up.”
He’s riding about 50 km/day these days. By mid April he hopes to be able to take on a 200 km ride.
Among his other previous rides was a west-east trip across Alberta.
Paarsmarkt chose polio as his cause as he observed how little progress was being made to eradicate it, despite ongoing efforts to raise vaccination rates to a level where herd immunity takes over.
He said even when vaccines are provided to some third-world countries, authoritarian anti-vaccine regimes sometimes forbid their citizens from receiving the vaccine.
“It’s an ongoing battle,” he said. “I’m just trying to do my part to eradicate one disease and hopefully the rest of the world maintains their vaccine rates.The way the world’s going right now, I kind of hesitate to say I’m very hopeful we’re continuing with this, based on what’s happening south of the border.”
US president Donald Trump has appointed controversial anti-vaxxer Robert Kennedy Jr. to the country’s top public health post. Kennedy has long expressed the widely refuted belief that vaccinating children can cause autism. In 2022 Facebook and Instagram shut down the accounts of Kennedy’s anti-vaccine group for spreading misinformation.
Convincing the anti-vaxxers to get on board is “a tough go” Paarsmarkt said.
“I don’t know what to say to them, really."
Paarsmarkt said there is a stark difference between the consequences of refusing a COVID vaccine and a polio vaccine. Some COVID patients got relatively well in a few weeks, he said, which is not the case with polio.
“If folks would see the results (of not getting vaccinated) . . . if you get polio and you get it bad, you end up in a wheel chair for the rest of your life,” he said.
Paarsmarkt said it’s hard to fathom why some are still opposed to vaccines. But when he’s on his bike on the open road, he’s able to quietly contemplate that and other issues, and he always feels better after his personal form of stress relief.
“You ride the bike and you’re able to understand things a bit better," he said. "Maybe people don’t see things the way I do, but maybe I can be a bit better at understanding their side of things.”
To donate to Paarsmarkt’s ride for polio, or to get more information email: [email protected].
