Canadian musicians are known for logging a lot of mileage – but usually with the help of at least four wheels and a motor.
But this Saturday, Blue Rodeo frontman Jim Cuddy, veteran Canadian singer-songwriter Barney Bentall, and longtime collaborator Colin Cripps are among the music and Olympic luminaries to join the RBC GranFondo Whistler – a grueling bike ride from downtown Vancouver up the steep, snaking mountain roads to Whistler more than 120 kilometres away.
“We’re just a few middle aged old guys trying to stave off old age,” says Bentall, a longtime distance cyclist, with a laugh. “But it’s just such a beautiful road to ride, and to join all those people on the Sea to Sky is just a wonderful opportunity.”
To boot, the musicians are kicking off the ride by performing the national anthem for the more than 7,000 cyclists; then in Whistler, they’ll play a free set at Whistler Olympic Plaza – no small feat after riding uphill for more than four hours.
“When you get there you’re just so high and exhilarated – so when we did it last year, we had so much fun performing after. It just felt great,” says Bentall, who has helped Cuddy, Colin James, and other top Canadian musicians get into the sport, and regularly cycles with Cuddy in both Canada and Italy.
“And neither Jim nor I in our careers have done much performing in Spandex, but we just went up in our cycling stuff, so it was quite a novelty.”
Also cycling in the GranFondo – which has riders gaining a whopping 2,400 metres of elevation along the way – are Olympic medalists and flagbearers Simon Whitfield and Adam van Koeverden, who will join Cuddy and Bentall on stage after the ride.
“They will have completely showed us up on the bikes,” jokes Bentall, “and then we’ll get a chance to show them what we can do with guitars.”
In the evening, Bentall plans to take in performances by She Stole My Beer and the Paperboys – and kick back with a big dinner with his fellow bike enthusiasts.
“Some hardcore athletes say, ‘Never eat for what you did; eat for what you’re going to do.’ But I say to hell with that. It’s all about eating for what you did. So we’ll reward ourselves afterwards.”
The RBC GranFondo Whistler isn't the only celeb-heavy ride happening in B.C. this weekend: Canadian rockers 54-40, and Sophie, Nick and Shannon Tweed-Simmons of TVs Gene Simmons Family Jewels are getting their motors running for the 2012 Music Therapy Ride - a charity motorcycle ride that draws big-named musicians, producers, media personalities and more to raise funds for the Canadian Music Therapy Trust Fund.
