You take what you get on road
By John Mohan

While the faithful were gathering and worshipping and praying this past Sunday I was cycling and thinking and praying between Piapot and Swift Current, Sask. I prayed for the homeless who survive on our streets and for solutions to make our community better for everyone.

I thought about the similarities between a 1,380-kilometre bikeathon and homelessness.

A multi-day cycling trip means you take what you get. Hills, wind, rain, heat and traffic -- whatever comes. There is little point complaining about the things which you have no control over. You simply endure the circumstances and exist in them until something changes. Anyone living on our streets eventually learns that coping skill. They eat whatever they find or given or sometimes don't eat. They sleep wherever they can, preferring safety over comforts. They stand in lines not knowing if they'll be served or told to come back tomorrow. They endure changing or cynical social workers and referred to other agencies in another building somewhere. If the weather is bad they try to find shelter but placidly survive if they're refused by a shop owner or security guard or if nothing is open.

With the exception of some media interviews, two guys cycling on the shoulder of the highway hasn't garnered much attention from passersby. Truck and car motorists breeze by with no thought of who we are, where we're from, what we're doing or where we're going. They're speeding along in their own worlds and we're simply a cautionary note and an occasional horn -- but nothing worth slowing down for or engaging with. Our homeless live in that kind of anonymity daily. Not seen, not heard, not talked to, or thought of. Just passed by with perhaps a few pieces of change tossed to, or muttered at. But not worth a serious interruption to our own journey.

There are few people who could cycle this distance unscathed unless they had put a serious effort into pre-training. Eight, 10 or 12 hours of day after day cycling up hills or into wind takes its toll. The muscles get so stiff you can barely walk. Pain in the knees is almost unbearable. The mind is exhausted. And there are the relentless unforgiving saddle sores. It's not a leisurely pedal. (A side note, the dumbest question I've been asked about these cycling trips is if I'm taking a homeless person with me. I can't even begin to tell you what's wrong with the idea of driving a homeless person 1,400 kms west and strapping him or her to a bike and make them cycle back to Winnipeg.)

Homelessness is not a walk in the park either and it's not for the lazy. It may look that way because so many are trying to cope with their depression and lack of options by sleeping but it's the hardest life one can know. The outside elements (remember winter which just ended last week?), the violence, the lack of resources and erratic meals are all contended with daily. No respite when you're sick or tired or injured. People age far beyond their years.

My Continuing Midlife Crisis Bikeathon for the Homeless ends Monday. The challenge of homelessness in Winnipeg is with us for a while.

--John Mohan is the CEO of Siloam Mission.

Originally printed in the Winnipeg Sun, Wednesday, May 27, 2009.
Reprinted with the permission of Sun Media Corporation.