That's it But That's Not All.

How to sum up almost three months of biking across the country? It is one big fantastic blur of friends and family, ups and downs, green green grass and rocky mountain hills. Rolling and climbing through the heavy heavy highs and the sink bottom lows. A heavy dose of life served on the silver platter of Canada.

We started this trip as six friends trying to achieve a goal. We ended it as six brothers having done it.

So how to sum it up? I shall try.

Laughing, butt pain, biking, biking, biking, shammy shorts, spandex, clipping in, clipping out, laughing, eating, setting up camp, charity, filming, jamming, fundraising, reflecting, sun-setting, sun-rising, digging through the trailer, frustrating, fixing the bike, brent fixing the bike, more biking, sleeping, living like gypsies, and just living.

We saw it all and we did it together.

Episode 4 is on it's way. It follows us as we travel through Ontario. It was a treacherous trip. Enjoy.

But now, the Tandem Team members are going their separate ways. Our dream team of the most epic individuals on the planet has been split up, as we scatter across the country to go back to some semblance of a normal life. Well...normal for us.

Episode 4 and 5 are still coming, then the documentary in the fall. So stay tuned!

www.thetandemtour.com

A big heartfelt thank you to everyone who made the halifax fundraiser such a big success.

Cathy Seamone, you are an inspirational lady, and you've raised one hell of a young man. Thank you. And Mark, thank you for the support, hard work, and kind words. Sorry about your son in the music video... ; )

Cathy Miller and your entire clan, Liz, Jane, Colla, Kevin, John, Michael, Adam, Annie, Pat, Mike and all your families. You guys gave us the best reception we could have imagined, supported us right from the beginning, and followed us along the way. Thank you.

And to all the countless people who had our backs, we can't thank you enough.

Halifax

We made it. That's it that's all. Halifax. End of the Line.

We had a very exciting day yesterday, with much news to report. On Monday we had a fundraiser in Pictou, Nova Scotia. This is where Redtail Nature Awareness Camp is located, the charity that Ben Miller is raising money for. Redtail Camp is a small summer camp, where kids get to go and learn about the environment around them, and how to interact with it. It teaches them about the beauty and complexity of the natural landscape. Tandem Rider Ben Miller attended the camp as a youngster.

The camp is threatened with being shut down, as all of the surrounding lands have been bought by an American logging company. They intend to clear cut the acreage, and pulp the trees. Redtail needs to raise $250, 000 By December of this year to buy off the parcel of land. Ben is trying to help them do it.

After our night at Redtail, we cycled into Dartmouth, Halifax. Along the way, we were met by reporter Colleen Jones from the CBC. Colleen did a story on us, and it made the national headlines. This made us very, very excited.

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/ID=1548890800

We spent last night in Dartmouth, and this morning we cycled over the Bridge into Halifax to do a spot on CTV Breakfast Television

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=136348603064917&ref=mf

We spent the rest of the day doing a "Media Blitz"

We were very fortunate to have many people in Halifax reach out to us, and coordinate several amazing ventures. Such as meeting the Mayor, Peter Kelly. He met us outside City Hall and congratulated us on completing. We asked him if he wanted to go for a ride on the bike, and he accepted. We took him for a small tour.

Later that afternoon, we took the bike down to blackrock beach, and dipped the front wheel in the Atlantic. We were greeted with an entourage of supporters to cheer us in. Once again, the outpouring of support from the public amazed us. We really appreciate everything people have done for us to get us this far.

Tonight we have a party fundraiser at the Waterfront Warehouse in Halifax. This is our last chance to raise some serious money for the charities, and we know it will be a huge success!!

But it's not over yet. Much more Tandem Love to come. Episode 4.

www.thetandemtour.com

The Chronicle Herald

Bicycle built for four
Charitable cyclists ride monster tandem bike coast to coast
By MONICA GRAHAM
Tue. Jul 20 - 4:52 AM

" border="0" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; "> Jeff Belanger, Ben Miller, Ian Bevis and Brent Seamone are pedalling a four-man bike across Canada to raise money for charities. They arrived in Pictou on Monday and will stop in Halifax on Wednesday. (MONICA GRAHAM)

PICTOU — After 59 days of pedalling through mountains and enduring traffic, wildlife and weather, a four-man cycling team raising funds for their favourite charities arrived in Pictou on Monday.

Jeff Belanger, Ben Miller, Ian Bevis and Brent Seamone, who make up the Tandem Tour, left Victoria, B.C., on May 5 to pedal a specially built four-man bike to Nova Scotia.

"The support has been amazing," Seamone said. "People are honking their horns and stopping on the side of the road to take pictures. We’re almost at our fundraising goal."

The group hoped to raise $20,000, which would be divided equally among the four charities that have personal meaning to each of them.

Seamone is riding for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, because his mother was diagnosed with the disease. Belanger’s trip supports the Canadian Diabetes Association, because his brother has diabetes. Bevis, who lost a close friend to cystic fibrosis, is riding for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Miller is raising funds for the Nova Scotia non-profit Friends of Redtail Society. He wants to help the organization buy land near a Pictou County nature camp in order to keep it from being clear-cut.

Miller attended a Redtail Nature Awareness camp for six years as a child. He credits it with providing him with valuable life skills.

The team is accompanied by friends Matt Murray and Ben Gulliver, who drive the support vehicle and are filming the tour.

A fundraiser was scheduled for Pictou on Monday evening, featuring the team’s band and road stories, like their crash somewhere on the Prairies.

They were following close beside their support vehicle to shield themselves from strong headwinds when the bike clipped the back of their trailer and toppled over in the middle of the highway.

"Luckily there was no traffic," Miller said.

Then, there was the time a wheel rim "pretzeled" as they pedalled through the Rockies, Seamone said.

"It was a good thing it was on the flat," he said, adding it was one of 12 rims that split or fell apart.

And their bicycle chain broke again and again. The team members couldn’t count the number of times they changed tires and fixed spokes.

The Seattle-built bicycle is made of the strongest possible components, Seamone said.

"But there are 800 pounds of meat on the bike," he said, referring to himself and his teammates.

"We came down some of those mountain passes at 75 or 80 kilometres an hour. There was a lot of stress on the bike. It needed maintenance every day."

The team tells stories about Ontario highways with no shoulder and large transport trucks breezing past just centimetres from their shoulders, the variety of wildlife or their surprise at the amount of roadkill — including a black bear at the Cobequid Pass toll booth.

"The only thing we haven’t seen is a cougar or a lynx," Miller said.

The team leaves Pictou today for the final leg of their journey to Halifax. Their last fundraiser will be held Wednesday evening in Halifax at the Waterfront Warehouse.

More information about the team and its mission are available on the websitewww.thetandemtour.com, along with video of the trip.

Moncton

Halifax is only 262 kms away. That's about 3 hours by car, 2 days on a single bike, and 3 days by quad-tandem bike. We will get there on wednesday.

Looking back at the map, we realize how far we've actually come. Just under 6000 kms. We rode almost every day for 2.5 months, and in three days, we will reach the coast.

The people we've met we will never forget, and the experiences we've shared will last a lifetime. Canada is truly an amazing an inspiring country, and we are lucky because we have seen it at 20 km/h.

We have a fundraiser at Pictou in Nova Scotia on monday, and another in Halifax on wednesday. These are our last 2 big pushes to raise some money for our charities, and meet our fundraising goal.

We have had an unbelievable amount of help in every facet of making this trip possible, and to everyone who has helped, donated, housed, fed, tolerated, watched and followed us along the way, we can't than you enough. We couldn't have done it without you.

See you on wednesday.

www.thetandemtour.com

New Brunswick

A few days ago we reached the border of friendly New Brunswick. River and hill country. Up and down. and up and down.

The highway rolls over gradual hills that climb in and out of river valleys for miles. The road ascends and descends, rarely reaching a level plain. As soon as we reach the bottom of the hill and cross over the river, we are sure to head back up the hill on the the other side. Repeat.

Once again we had a simple twist of fate after a thunderous night spent in the rain. We road out of perth-andover in the cloudy skies, and continued on our daily up and down climbs, slowly drying our bone-drenched bodies. The day carried on, and we finished our 100kms. Not a km more, and not one less.

Hoping for a drier and maybe some soothing libation, we called the folks at The Best Western in Woodstock New Brunswick. They were generous towards our cause, and took it upon themselves to house for the evening. We were grateful. They gave us coffee and tea, and a nice complimentary breakfast, and we spent the evening on the patio telling strangers how far we had come. It doesn't really sink in until you tell somebody that you just road there on a four man bike from Victoria.

We have one week left in the trip, but it feels like we still have miles to go. A couple hundred of them actually.

www.thetandemtour.com

Salty Air

Once again we were befallen with another glimpse of Canada's impressive beauty. As the St. Lawrence flows towards the Atlantic, it mixes with the sea, and becomes the largest estuary in the world.

The Gulf of St. Lawrence is the gateway to the Atlantic for North America's Great Lake's. Reaching it means that we sit on the doorstep to the Atlantic Ocean, and are fast approaching the east coast of Canada.

As we cycled past Quebec City, we watched as the river slowly mixes with sea water. The smell of the ocean rises up like a slow fog, begging you towards the coast. The massive tides are a reminder that the other coast of the country is only a few hundred kilometres away.

Last night we had the pleasure of meeting our new friend Lise. She was born and raised in Quebec, and has traveled extensively across the world. Lise has a little cottage on a beautiful beach near Riviere du loup, Quebec. She opened her home to us, let us camp on her beach front property, made us coffee, and gave us cookies. Lise told us about how Quebec used to be, how it is now, and how it should be.

Tonight the dry interior air is mixing with the salty air from the east. We can smell the ocean, and feel the cool breeze as we ride the bike further down the gulf, and it will only get stronger until we arrive in Halifax on July 21st.

www.thetandemtour.com

A few notes

There are a few things that we've learned while biking across the country. I shall list them for you here:

1. A highway road sign is not an accurate indication of distance, and should not be used as a reference for distance cycled

- for example: when one sign says "Quebec 16" and 3 km down the road another sign says "Quebec 21", you know something is amiss

2. When taking advice from people about biking across Canada, ensure that the individual has indeed biked across Canada...or is a cyclist. However, be weary of cyclists out for an afternoon ride who insist on "taking the scenic route". After 100km in the baking sun, we are not interested in the extra 30km scenic route...merci beaucoup

3. Despite the scenic beauty, northern Ontario's highways are treacherous, and one has to be either ignorant or completely insane to want to cycle them. We fall into both categories.

4. Not everyone in Canada speaks English, and we were forced to take French in high school for a reason...i should have paid more attention...mon dieu.

5. People across the country make the same joke when they see a 4 man bike, "The guy in the back isn't peddling!" We politely chuckle. We are also familiar with this phrase when it is said in French.

Today we are in Quebec City, and will continue on towards Halifax this afternoon. We will stop biking when it is time, and will camp where it is possible. The sun is violent, and the risk of heat exhaustion is high. This morning we woke up late, and missed our early morning window to ride, and as a result, we have to wait until the late afternoon/early evening. A break from the heat. Thank god.

www.thetandemtour.com

The Heat

We've been resting and relaxing in Montreal...except it was more of a stay up all night and go to Jazz fest in Montreal.

We stayed at Casa del Sammi, a beautiful loft apartment on St Laurent. To our benefit, the apartment also doubles as a giant sauna.

Today we hit the road once again, and spent the whole day in the baking sun. The temperature today was a high of 34 C, but with humidity it feels like 40. This is not fun biking weather.

But we've battled it all before, so what's a little heat. Right now i am battling an army of bugs, so i must make this brief, as they are eating me alive.

We have 2 weeks to go, and the team is feeling the race to the end. Having said that, we are soaking up every km of the last thousand that lay ahead of us. Tonight, we dream of pools as far as the eye can see.

www.thetandemtour.com

Toronto Twenties Tandem Party Fundraiser

To our family, friends, and followers. We've been on a much needed break from biking. We've spent the last week resting, sunning, touristing, fundraising, and not biking. It was a much needed break.

Because of that, we haven't really blogged, updated, uploaded, or facetweeted. And for that we're kind of, but not really sorry. We just biked most of the way across the country on one bike.

The Toronto Fundraiser went off like dynamite. Pulled together by Nat thank you thank you, Anita, Rene, Gabe, Colt, Dave, Matty, Jerr, Scotty, Carly, Cam and Mark, and the sponsors Cushman-Wakefield and Hub. These people put so much work into helping our cause and raising money for the charities, that we can't thank them enough.

Once again the Tandem Band played, with a few guest percussionists, the one and only Greg Bevis, and Rene "poppin off" Gulliver. The night grew loud and percussively vibratillating well into the evening, throwing the roof off downtown Toronto. The bucket was passed round and funds were raised for all four charities. It was an evening of unforgettable generosity and kindliness.

Today, we made it to our nation's capitol to join in the celebrations of Canada Day. The Queen was here, and we saw her on the big screen. We sent her a formal invitation for a Canada Day quad-tandem stroll, but she dutifully declined. The celebrations were joyous and jubilous, and only further proved that we live in the most incredible country in the world, with the most dynamic population in the world. Happy Canada Day.