It turns out that our push to get to Saskatoon early really paid off. We could finally lick our wounds, and relax.
We called a friend of my cousin Pat. Her name was Zoe Fortier and she lived in Saskatoon with a couple of friends. Luckily Zoe was more than happy to help us out any way she could. She had absolutly no problem with Downey and I staying at her house, she was also very helpful in pointing out what in Saskatoon was going on in terms of entertainment. Before we knew it, Downey and I found ourself at the local Saskatoon jazz festival with Zoe and her friends.
Listening to live jazz music is one of the best ways to relax. It was easy to clear my mind of all things and sway along with the music. Saskatoon was proving to be a beautiful little city that was not only welcoming and warm, but also entertaining and alive.
After getting settled into town Downey and I had some business to take care of. I had done some research and had found a few media contacts to get a hold of. I spent the morning of the first day in Saskatoon playing phone tag with different media stations. The only problem was that in this game of "tag" it was one sided, with me trying to tag everyone else, and no one tagging me back.
After having finished my part in trying to get the media to pay attention, Downey and I had the liberty to go see a movie, go out for a nice supper and just spend time with guys and girls our age around a nice relaxing bonfire in the back of Zoe's yard.
The next day I found myself getting a number of calls from different media outlets accross the city. My hard work the day before had started to pay off and I managed to get Downey and I a spot on Global saskatoon as well as a spot on a live local radio station.
The Global interview was great. Our best interview yet by far. The short time we had been spending in the public eye was enough to get us somewhat comfortable in front of a camera, and therefore we were definitely behaving much more naturally. Our humour and personalities came through in the interview, and the nervous frozen robots that we had presented in the past were no more.
The interview was shot in a beautiful Saskatoon park right next to the Jazz festival. The sun was shinning brightly and we were dressed in our full biking regalia. I felt a little self conscious about the tightness of my shorts, but I figured if anything it would only get the attention of more people, and hopefully more people would pay attention.
Downey and I both played off each other. I would make a friendly but fun jab at him, and he would counter with a jab of his own. I felt quite confident about myself during the interview and I sure hope we were successful in coming across as regular guys cycling accross Canada.
Afterwards, we headed a couple of blocks down the street and got a chance to pass our message through a live radio broadcast. Once again I felt like we really aced it. Speaking in public on radio or television is becoming less and less intimidating for me and I imagine the same for Downey.
Our time in Saskatoon was just about wrapping up. There wasn't much left for us to do in town except for saying goodbyes and packing our gear. We had planned to stay there for Canada day but being so far ahead of schedule and home being withing fathomable distance, we decided to keep the pace. Wakaw, a small, peaceful town in North Eastern Saskatchewan was our next destination.
No comments:
Post a Comment