Aaron And Petey: 150km Of Biking In Extreme Cold, Andrew Hegarty: World Report

Aaron And Petey: 150km Of Biking In Extreme Cold: First off, happy birthday Aaron Arndt. Ok- here we go: My goal in the next few paragraphs is to convey my opinion about how brave, athletic, tough, and stupid (in a funny way) Aaron Arndt and Peter Light were this past Saturday. Aaron Arndt came to my house at 8:30am last Saturday morning to drop off his hockey equipment for a roller hockey game. He wanted me to drive his equipment up to Neusteadt (Newstead) which is about 170km’s from my house. Aaron then explained that the reason he wanted me to drive his hockey equipment over to Neusteadt is because Peter Light and him were going to ride their bikes to the rink...

We were standing in my driveway putting the hockey equipment in my trunk and I laughed and told him that there’s no way that him and Petey were going to ride that far in the cold. He agreed. It was cold, minus 15 Celsius at that time of the morning. He left my house, saying ‘See you at roller hockey’ and I said ok.

Before going to Newsteadt for the roller hockey game, I spent the late morning and early afternoon with Mike Murray; he made me suffer by running some stairs in Hamilton- the equivalent of 15 stories that go up the side of a mountain- up and down, up and down...He’s an animal and he got me to my knees virtually crawling up the stairs.

I drove over to Neusteadt- it took me about just under 2 hours to get there. The roller hockey game was supposed to start at 3pm. The plan was that Aaron Arndt and Peter Light were to bike over from Bramtpon to Neusteadt and be there by 3pm so they could play roller hockey. I arrived at the rink at 4pm thanks to Mister Pauley guiding me on the phone through the sinle lane high speed country roads that Aaron Arndt and Peter Light were riding on. When I entered the rink, I scanned over the players’ faces - I could see faces that I recognize including Mister and Jesse Pauley, Dave & Keri Chard, and Kevin Stephenson. But no sign of Aaron or Petey...

So I guess Aaron and Petey didn’t ride their bikes and they didn’t drive over to Neusteadt to play roller-hockey either. If they did bike or drive, they would have already have been there; anyways, who in their right mind would ride in that kind of cold and for that long anyways?


Dave Chard playing hockey

Myself, Jesse Pauley, and Mister Pauley after roller hockey
After the roller hockey was finished and everyone had left, I was on my way home at about 5:30pm when I decided to call Aaron to see if we would meet up before we go to Travis Shaw’s house that evening to play risk. Mrs. Arndt picked up the phone and told me that Aaron called her to tell me to wait for them at the rink in Neusteadt because they were biking and they were going to be late.

‘Oh my god’ I thought, ‘they were supposed to be there at 3pm and it’s now almost 6pm! Are they dead? Are they hugging each other on the side of the road trying to stay warm?’. I got a call on my cell at 6pm and it was Aaron- him and Petey were at a pub/ restaurant by the hockey rink in Neusteadt, waiting for me. I was happy that they were still alive.


The band at the pub
When I entered the pub, I noticed a bunch of snow-mobile drivers having warm food, locals dressed in red and black flannel shirts enjoying beers, and way off by the pool table two silhouettes dressed in cycling clothes huddled over hot chocolate, trying to suck the heat out of the cup, and negotiating with the waitress that they wanted a lot of warm water, and great big steak dinners.


Peter Light shows the icicles that formed on his bike (you can't see them well in the picture)

Aaron Arndt and Peter Light- about to die? Happy to be warm?
You think they look like crap in the pictures? You should have seen them in person! While I was sitting with them, they put their hands under my legs to warm up; they ate other people’s onion rings; Peter Light and Aaron Arndt were two cyclists who were on the brink of hypothermia, delirious, starved, tired, and ecstatic about having food and warmth. I cannot write about the adventure itself. I hope Aaron Arndt writes about it on his website. Otherwise, try to get the story out of them.

Below is a video of Aaron & Petey at the pub, the band at the pub, and then the roller hockey! Press play or click here to view


Andrew Hegarty: World Report: Andrew Hegarty has finished posting his long report on the 2006 world championships- it includes all the good, bad, fun, and confusing stuff that you might come to expect.


Left to right: Bill Begg, Andrew Hegarty, Jordan Belchos, Sigrid Ziegler