Peter

[mfarnham]

Hey folks,

I received some scary news today from Andrew A. Peter L. is in the hospital, having undergone emergency surgery to bypass a blood clot in his leg. He nearly lost the leg, and while he’s stable, cheerful, and hoping to head home soon, hanging onto the leg is still not a done deal.

No one who knows Peter will be surprised to learn that when I texted him, he responded with a string of jokes about improving his power-to-weight ratio, starting to train for Tokyo, having the best Halloween pirate costume, etc. Whether it’s because he’s worked with top Paralympic athletes, or just because he’s Peter, he seems completely positive and upbeat in the face of this. He says he’s mostly keen to get home, recover—however that happens to end up looking, and get back to work/sport/life.

If you want to drop him a note, he can be reached at

pr{LASTNAME} {at} me {dot} com

Martin

[mfarnham]

Since we can't meet up for coffee to pass a card around for him, I've set up an online card, that we can all sign remotely.

https://www.groupgreeting.com/sign/ad7bfc25887d140

The card will be delivered to him at 5pm on Friday. So please sign it soon.

Go to the above link. Click "Sign the Card". Type in the text you want to put on the card, select the cutesy font and colour that really says YOU, and then place the text box in the card in a blank spot. There's an option to rotate your text box so it looks more like you signed it at coffee, rather than on a Google Doc. I'm pretty sure the card will expand to more pages, as more people sign.

Make sure your text has saved on the card before leaving the site.

Let me know if you run into glitches.

Martin

[joannafox]

Thanks for setting up Martin - it's a super easy process. J

[Robgrant]

Thanks Martin- great idea!

[Lister Farrar]

A little story about Peter. When he started riding with the predecessor of the cub, the spin doctors, he was 50 lbs overweight and recovering from brain surgery for a tumour. We pushed him up many hills that first season.

He went on to lose that weight, win his age group in provincial championships, and found the club when the spin doctors wound down.

He’s been pushing us up hills, literally and figuratively, ever since.

Pullin’ for ya Peter.

[mfarnham]

Jeez...that guy's a wreck!

I've heard Peter tell a related story, which is that he got dropped on his first Spin Doctors ride and had nearly decided "this group riding thing's not for me." But then Lister came back and helped him back to the group.

And the rest is history.

Martin

[JohnT]

Peter invited me to join TripleShot during an Oak Bay ride. Like many of us, I feel he's the soul (not to mention the high school principle) of the club. By the way, my red 'CRAFT' jacket was a few days old at the time - 12 years later (or something like that), he finds it very amusing that I am still wearing it. JT

[Andrew]

My first Tripleshot ride was after my first Fondo and Peter and Lister both pushed me back in to the B ride at Beacon Hill part and I was sold. The moment I most appreciated Peter was when he literally cheered me on when after 6 weeks of trying I stuck my first TSC Friday A ride. I have been fortunate to be able to visit Peter and the good news is that he has done better than expected and has handled this with the most remarkable courage, humor and grace. What else would you expect? Martin send a book, flowers and candy from the club which he appreciated.