This page was exported from The Auroran [ http://www.newspapers-online.com/auroran ] Export date:Sat Oct 4 12:24:19 2025 / +0000 GMT ___________________________________________________ Title: Pacific to Atlantic: How an Aurora man travelled across Canada in 42 days --------------------------------------------------- Aurora resident Jesse Micak had dreamed of this since he was in his 20s. He played this out time and time again. He envisioned himself riding his bicycle across Canada, seeing the craggy mountains in the west with their crowns covered in snow; hearing the howls of wildlife in the middle of the night while in his tent; feeling the vibration from his bike's tires, on the long-winding roads; tasting the cool-crisp fresh air emitted from the forests. Much of this imagery was a dream, of course. 36-years-old, married and with two young girls to raise, he knew how difficult this would be to achieve. But once COVID arrived, it came as somewhat of a blessing in disguise. Micak spent over a year at home with his family while still running his small business with his partners. It clicked in his mind that maybe this was the time to try out this trip, if he got the chance. Earlier in the year, Micak and his partners made an executive decision to transfer the business to Cushman & Wakefield. In doing so, Micak only asked for one thing in this transaction.  “I asked for the time off in the summer to pursue this trip before I truly started. They agreed to that,” Micak said. He began to prepare. First thing's first, he practiced sleeping in a tent because it would have been unrealistic to sleep in a motel every night unless he truly needed a good night's rest. He knew he would have to find campsites. “I did practice sleeping in my backyard in Aurora before I left. I set my tent up. My daughter even stayed with me a couple of nights so we camped out,” Micak said. “I tried to get used to the concept of sleeping outside.” He spoke with his wife and children and they agreed to let him go alone. He planned to begin out in British Columbia. Micak brought his tour bike that has the capability of holding a lot of weight. He brought a few clothes, some food and his tent. He arrived in B.C at the most perfect time as restrictions lifted June 15 and wildfires had subsided. Ideally, he wanted to begin with the Pacific Ocean and make his way all the way to Halifax, Nova Scotia right off the Atlantic. That's 6,002.7 kilometres of riding. “BC was the best province to cycle. The mountains, the wildlife, the rivers. Everything about it was incredible. I also lost a lot of weight in BC because of the climbing. I was in really good shape by the time I made it to Saskatchewan and Manitoba. BC was like my training ground.” Along the way, Micak had dumped off some of his things to make his trip lighter. He also got very creative in washing his clothes. He went to laundromats and hung his clothes on to the back of his bike with bungie cords to dry them off as he was riding. As he crossed this country's exquisite landscape he also saw what he calls the “real Canada.” “Truly the sense of community and the support for small communities that people have for one another. It wasn't uncommon for strangers and random people come up and talk to me. I had several people buy me lunch. Some people even gave me cash and said ‘buy dinner tonight on me.'” “Another thing that was very relevant in the trip was the residential schools and the impact on the different communities in Canada as the news was coming out. It was very obvious there was a lot of sadness, especially in the prairies and in northern Ontario.” He classified the GTA, Montreal and Vancouver as their own bubbles. He saw what he needed to see from the rest of Canada. How people live, how they are raised in all aspects of life in the country. Even seeing the sadness in communities when news was coming out regarding the remains of children being found in unmarked graves, he saw the hurt first hand. Here we might just see a headline, but there you feel the trepidation right before your eyes. When he met his family closer to the end of this trip in Nova Scotia on the verge of completing his journey after 42 days on a bicycle, Micak reflected this trip changed him as a person. “It gave me some perspective on how lucky I am with my family. Being away from my two daughters aged six and three, as well as my wife Sarah - being away from them for 42 days like this, really showed me how important they are in my life. Also, with Sarah, how lucky I am to even attempt this and have her support to do it.” He had his chance to chase a dream and he accomplished it. It was only a personal goal. He never raised money doing this. He hopes to continue spreading this message to his two girls as they grow up. If you have a dream, chase it – no matter how old you are. Because when the opportunity comes, there will be a right time to go for it and a wrong time. For Micak, this was the only time and he'll look back on this as one of the best experiences he's had in his life thus far. By Brock WeirEditorLocal Journalism Initiative Reporter --------------------------------------------------- Images: --------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Post date: 2021-08-12 13:33:50 Post date GMT: 2021-08-12 17:33:50 Post modified date: 2021-08-19 16:07:10 Post modified date GMT: 2021-08-19 20:07:10 ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Export of Post and Page as text file has been powered by [ Universal Post Manager ] plugin from www.gconverters.com