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Seventy-three-year-old Nanaimo cyclist raises money for hospice programs

Angeline Krueger will ride 200 kilometres with her daughter to raise cash 2018 in Cycle of Life Tour
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Angeline Krueger of Nanaimo is training and raising money to ride in the 2018 Cycle of Life Tour. The cycling event, which supports Vancouver Island’s hospice programs, covers 200 kilometres that through Saanich, Cowichan Valley and some gruelling climbs over the steepest hills on Salt Spring Island. (CHRIS BUSH/The News Bulletin)

A senior cyclist is about to tackle some tough hills to support people and programs that help smooth the way for others dealing with advanced illness, dying and bereavement.

Angeline Krueger, 73, will be back in the saddle, after a three-year hiatus, to once again take on the 2018 Cycle of Life Tour.

The tour is an annual two-day, 200-kilometre group cycling fundraiser for hospice care that follows a route through the Saanich Peninsula, Cowichan Valley and the Gulf Islands, including some of the region’s most challenging climbs on Salt Spring Island.

Krueger rode the tour in 2014 with her daughter Brenda Olin. The mother-daughter duo will hit the road together again, representing Nanaimo Community Hospice, when the tour sets out July 28.

“I did it four years ago and I said, ‘Never again,’ and here I am doing it again,” Krueger said. “That Salt Spring Island, those hills are pretty deadly.”

This year Krueger is going to ask if she can do the ride on an electric-assist bike.

“As long as I can pedal for a while and then if I need help I can use the electric part,” she said.

If an electric assist bike isn’t allowed, she’ll just keep chugging along on her Norco Roma hybrid commuter bike.

Krueger is recovering from a recent wipeout on her bike in the rain recently, which left her with a skinned elbow and scrapes and bruises on her hip and leg.

“I’m going walking today instead of riding,” she said.

The Cycle of Life Tour is limited to 85 riders each year who participate from communities across Vancouver Island and are supported on the ride with food, refreshments and shelter by corporate sponsors that range from bicycle retailers and breweries to grocery stores and medical equipment suppliers.

There are a couple of reasons Krueger is riding the tour for her second time. One is because of the fond memories from the last tour that include she and her daughter riding together, sleeping under the stars and finally cresting the worst of the hills on Salt Spring Island. The second reason is she sort of got roped into this year’s ride through her association with hospice.

Krueger volunteered there for a number of years and even held a temporary management position there. One day she heard in conversation the Nanaimo Community Hospice was putting another team together.

“I said, ‘Oh, I did that four years ago.’ The next thing I know I’m part of the team,’” Krueger said. “My daughter’s coming with me and we’re going to do it again together.”

To learn more about the Cycle of Life Tour or to sponsor a rider, perhaps even help Krueger regain her status as the tour’s top individual fundraiser, visit the tour website at https://bit.ly/2JcggbY.



photos@nanaimobulletin.com
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Chris Bush

About the Author: Chris Bush

As a photographer/reporter with the Nanaimo News Bulletin since 1998.
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