Skip to content

Red Deer man takes on virtual cycling challenge to support front-line health-care workers

Jason Ezeard is cycling for 24 hours to raise funds for Red Deer Regional Health Foundation
21463671_web1_200505-RDA-M-200505-RDA-Jason-Biking-fundraiser
Jason Ezeard, an operations manager for the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation has set out to support front line health care works with a 24-hour virtual ride. He will ride for 12-hours on back-to-back days, raising money for the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation. (Photo courtesy of Red Deer Regional Health Foundation)

Jason Ezeard was huffing and puffing when he picked up the phone, but he still didn’t miss a beat.

Most days, Ezeard is an operations manager for the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation, but for two days this week, he’s taken on a much different challenge.

About two weeks ago, Ezeard saw that 2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas rode his bike at home for 12 hours a day over three days to honour health-care workers in the United Kingdom.

As an avid cyclist himself, Ezeard decided he wanted to do his part here in Canada.

With family of his own working on the front lines fighting COVID-19, he decided to do a 24-hour ride to show support and raise money for the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Ezeard had already raised almost $3,000, well past his original goal of $2,000.

“The cause is pretty close to home. I said, this is a fun initiative for two days, and I have lots of family that work in health care, not in Alberta, but in Ontario and P.E.I.

“They’re on the front lines. It’s a cause close to home,” he said.

Ezeard started his 24-hour virtual ride Tuesday morning at 6 a.m. He planned to sleep Tuesday night and do another 12 hours on Wednesday.

“Five hours, that’s nothing,” he said with a laugh, over the phone Tuesday afternoon, about seven hours into his ride.

He is riding with the assistance of Zwift, an indoor cycling app that tracks his progress and provides the route to travel. He said they have realistic rides through places such as London, England, or British Columbia, but Ezeard chose a fictional route he’s been wanting to try for a while.

“There’s one route that I’ve always wanted to do, but it takes five or six hours with my body weight to do. I did that this morning. I don’t know if it was a good idea; it was about 2,400 metres of climbing. The downhill sections were nice, not quite worth it,” he said with a chuckle.

“It’s OK, it’s out of the way and I’m on the flat roads now.”

The ride is being streamed live on YouTube and Ezeard encouraged others to join him on Zwift to ride along. His brother dropped into the app for about an hour to ride with him on Tuesday morning to help pass the time.

Although he’s been cycling a lot over the past few years, he’s never taken on anything like this. The longest trip he’s taken on the indoor trainer is three hours, and he’s done five hours outdoors.



Byron Hackett

About the Author: Byron Hackett

Byron has been the sports reporter at the advocate since December of 2016. He likes to spend his time in cold hockey arenas accompanied by luke warm, watered down coffee.
Read more