The other day I came across this really nice article about a good friend of mine Ernest. Ernest was on the Tour d’Afrique with me – he’s a remarkable guy and this story which originally appeared in the Calgary Herald tells his story with grace and style – just like Ernest.
Through Africa with love
By Trent Edwards, Calgary Herald August 13, 2009
Life is not a dress rehearsal.
Erenst Enns took this, his late wife 's mantra, with him on the "adventure of a lifetime" across Africa earlier this year. The 69-year-old from Cochrane also took four of the 30 vials he filled with her ashes to spread at special times and places as he cycled from Cairo, Egypt, to Cape Town, South Africa, between January and April.
He emptied the first two vials on the anniversaries of the day he met Lynne and the day she died at age 57. But it was Enns' third scattering of ashes, well into his remarkable ride through Africa, that shows just how much he took his wife's message to heart.
On a sunny day in April, Enns jumped off the Victoria Falls Bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe, falling 110 metres before his bungee-cord snapped taut above the roiling waters of the Zambezi River. At the top of his first bounce, he opened his vial and watched some of his late wife's remains drift away into the mists.
"She's sailing down the Zambezi, past the hippos, on her way to the Indian Ocean," Enns says.
Enns had meant to do the Tour d'Afrique, organized annually by Toronto-based Tour d'Afrique Ltd., in 2007. He had trained hard for months, hiring a personal trainer to build the strength and endurance required to cycle nearly 12,000 kilo-metres from one end of the continent to the other.
Then, two days before he was set to leave, he received crushing news. Doctors found a spiral cancer wound around an artery near his wife's liver.
"They basically said, 'You've got a year,' " Enns remembers.
Sitting on the sun-drenched deck of his beautiful 33-hectare ranch recently, Enns tried to put into words the bond he shared with his wife through their 14 years together.
"We never had a fight," he said. "We told each other we loved each other every day. It was the best relationship I could ever imagine."
So on diagnosis day, having just retired after 37 years of teaching math at the University of Calgary, Enns called the tour's organizers to tell them to keep his $12,000 tour fee. He would be staying home to take care of his wife.
But he never gave up hope that he could take his dream ride.
The tour had slowly become a must-do after he discovered the joys of long-distance cycling during a three-week cycling trip through Europe in 2002.
When Lynne died on Feb. 5, 2008, Enns knew time was short for him to take on such a physically demanding goal. So he decided to join the next tour in "excellent condition." For three months, he lifted weights, climbed stairs and rode a stationary bike for hours each day.
He knew the tour would be worth every drop of sweat. On an earlier vacation to South Africa with Lynne, the country had wowed the couple with spectacular scenery and experiences. But to cross the entire continent on a bike, fully exposed to its smells, sounds and heat?
"That would be something else," he says.
The tour would stop at wonders both natural and man-made, including the Nile and the pyramids of Giza. And that was just Egypt--along the way, giraffes, elephants and zebras were among the natural attractions Enns encountered.
Sudan, as it turned out, would offer the most pleasant people of the entire tour. But not all of the tour's surprises were nice. The 40-some riders needed a police escort to get through the chaos of big cities. Ethiopian children harassed Enns and his fellow riders. Kenya's potholed roads rattled him silly. A shower sometimes meant wiping himself with moist towelettes. Worse, Enns bruised several ribs in a head-over-handlebars crash, and lost 20 pounds during his ride.
"Dysentery and biking is a great diet," he quips.
Through it all, Enns kept his wry sense of humour. And other riders on the tour went from being strangers to being like family.
"Everybody got along with him," remembers Shanny Hill, the tour's director.
As the second-oldest cyclist ever to ride the tour (the oldest was 71), Enns accepted the odd ride in the support van. But he cycled most of the route. A day after his rib-bruising crash, Enns disregarded doctor's orders and cycled 1,500 metres down into and back out of Ethiopia's Blue Nile Gorge. He also rode the tour's longest day, a 207-kilometre grind.
"It was a great challenge for mind and body," he says of his experience.
Enns visited 11 countries on the tour, almost as many as he had visited with Lynne when she was alive.
And the vials Enns has left? Well, the couple has a lot of special places left to visit --in body and in spirit.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Through Africa with love
By Trent Edwards, Calgary Herald August 13, 2009
Life is not a dress rehearsal.
Erenst Enns took this, his late wife 's mantra, with him on the "adventure of a lifetime" across Africa earlier this year. The 69-year-old from Cochrane also took four of the 30 vials he filled with her ashes to spread at special times and places as he cycled from Cairo, Egypt, to Cape Town, South Africa, between January and April.
He emptied the first two vials on the anniversaries of the day he met Lynne and the day she died at age 57. But it was Enns' third scattering of ashes, well into his remarkable ride through Africa, that shows just how much he took his wife's message to heart.
On a sunny day in April, Enns jumped off the Victoria Falls Bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe, falling 110 metres before his bungee-cord snapped taut above the roiling waters of the Zambezi River. At the top of his first bounce, he opened his vial and watched some of his late wife's remains drift away into the mists.
"She's sailing down the Zambezi, past the hippos, on her way to the Indian Ocean," Enns says.
Enns had meant to do the Tour d'Afrique, organized annually by Toronto-based Tour d'Afrique Ltd., in 2007. He had trained hard for months, hiring a personal trainer to build the strength and endurance required to cycle nearly 12,000 kilo-metres from one end of the continent to the other.
Then, two days before he was set to leave, he received crushing news. Doctors found a spiral cancer wound around an artery near his wife's liver.
"They basically said, 'You've got a year,' " Enns remembers.
Sitting on the sun-drenched deck of his beautiful 33-hectare ranch recently, Enns tried to put into words the bond he shared with his wife through their 14 years together.
"We never had a fight," he said. "We told each other we loved each other every day. It was the best relationship I could ever imagine."
So on diagnosis day, having just retired after 37 years of teaching math at the University of Calgary, Enns called the tour's organizers to tell them to keep his $12,000 tour fee. He would be staying home to take care of his wife.
But he never gave up hope that he could take his dream ride.
The tour had slowly become a must-do after he discovered the joys of long-distance cycling during a three-week cycling trip through Europe in 2002.
When Lynne died on Feb. 5, 2008, Enns knew time was short for him to take on such a physically demanding goal. So he decided to join the next tour in "excellent condition." For three months, he lifted weights, climbed stairs and rode a stationary bike for hours each day.
He knew the tour would be worth every drop of sweat. On an earlier vacation to South Africa with Lynne, the country had wowed the couple with spectacular scenery and experiences. But to cross the entire continent on a bike, fully exposed to its smells, sounds and heat?
"That would be something else," he says.
The tour would stop at wonders both natural and man-made, including the Nile and the pyramids of Giza. And that was just Egypt--along the way, giraffes, elephants and zebras were among the natural attractions Enns encountered.
Sudan, as it turned out, would offer the most pleasant people of the entire tour. But not all of the tour's surprises were nice. The 40-some riders needed a police escort to get through the chaos of big cities. Ethiopian children harassed Enns and his fellow riders. Kenya's potholed roads rattled him silly. A shower sometimes meant wiping himself with moist towelettes. Worse, Enns bruised several ribs in a head-over-handlebars crash, and lost 20 pounds during his ride.
"Dysentery and biking is a great diet," he quips.
Through it all, Enns kept his wry sense of humour. And other riders on the tour went from being strangers to being like family.
"Everybody got along with him," remembers Shanny Hill, the tour's director.
As the second-oldest cyclist ever to ride the tour (the oldest was 71), Enns accepted the odd ride in the support van. But he cycled most of the route. A day after his rib-bruising crash, Enns disregarded doctor's orders and cycled 1,500 metres down into and back out of Ethiopia's Blue Nile Gorge. He also rode the tour's longest day, a 207-kilometre grind.
"It was a great challenge for mind and body," he says of his experience.
Enns visited 11 countries on the tour, almost as many as he had visited with Lynne when she was alive.
And the vials Enns has left? Well, the couple has a lot of special places left to visit --in body and in spirit.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
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