The closest I ever got to having my fifteen minutes of fame was years ago when The National was doing a story on amateur fight clubs and my friends and I ended up on the news for our part in organizing and carrying out fun fights in my parents back yards. That is a different story all together but it could not have prepared me for the media storm that was about to come about.
My alarm clock went off at 530 am and I found myself getting dressed in my skimpy bike outfit. Today I would be parading in front of the cameras for A-channel's Breakfast Television. They asked me specifically to wear my biking clothes, I suppose my skin tight outfit would bring a new draw to the show.
Rose dropped me off at the station where I met Downey. The interview was short but effective, I had a hard time keeping myself from shivering as it was a cold morning. Before I knew it we were done and it as off to Hermano's for a live radio show with Hot 103.1.
Downey, ..Mr. Downey, Rose, Brian Campbell and I ordered breakfast at Hermanos while we waited for our chance to speak on the air.
I made an effort to drink a lot of coffee because I was still a little asleep and wanted to be alert for the show. The problem is that I over did the coffee thing and found myself in a state of nervous twitchiness.
My nervous state resulted in me coining the most interresting saying on live radio I could conjure. When Ace Burpee asked me about the cycling clothes I was wearing (Downey had changed into his casual clothes after the A-channel segment) I responded with saying:
"Wearing this clothes sometimes makes me feel like a thumb out of place"
A... Thumb... Out... Of... Place...
As soon as the words left my mouth all I could think of was people would probably be asking themselves where this rogue thumb could be. I became really embarrassed and hoped to God that no one would caught it, however, immediately after saying it Downey glanced at me with these crazy eyes and I knew he would not let it go.
"Well one I never heard before, a thumb out of place? That must be a new saying." Said Ace.
"Yeah, trying to move it forward" I quickly joked.
All I could do was dig my hole deeper and deeper. In the end though, even with my slip up the radio show was a great success. Ace said a story about his youth. Apparently Uncle Vic had taught him back in the day. (Vic is afflicted with ALS and was my inspiration for us choosing the ALS Society of Canada as our charity for the tour) The story was funny and touching, about how he and his buddies would give Vic grief in the classroom and how good he was to them.
After the show I returned home for a much needed rest. During that time Downey did an interview with 92.1 CityFM.
Not long after taking a short rest, it was time to get my suit ready as Downey and I had the privilege of meeting the mayor of Winnipeg, Sam Katz. The fact that he took time out of his day to talk to us meant a lot to me. The amazement was not lost on me and felt honored by the opportunity to tell Mayor Katz about our trip. He had an enthusiastic smile and was very welcoming and asked all kinds of questions about adventures on the road.
After our visit with the mayor and later that night Downey, Uncle Vic and I did an interview on CJOB the nighthawk. The interview was of fun and it was great spending some time with Vic again. after the interview I was exhausted. Being a media starlet was totally outside of my realm of normalcy so to get back to normal I took the time to make a small fire in the backyard and enjoyed some quiet before bed.
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