Naval Reservist tackles Navy Bike Ride feat

Cyclists from Team HMCS Donnacona pose for a group photo before their Navy Bike Ride trek in Mont-Tremblant on July 22. From Left: Team members Gabriel Fontaine, Mikey Colangelo Lauzon and Philippe Gagnon are joined by Maj (ret’d) Pierre Carron who was there to wish them good luck on their journey. Photo by Mikey Colangelo Lauzon

Peter Mallett
Staff Writer
––

A naval reservist is among the top money earners for the 2021 Navy Bike Ride’s fundraiser after completing a scenic cycling trek through the Laurentian Mountains.

Sailor First Class Mikey Colangelo Lauzon, a 28-year-old Naval Communicator with HMCS Donnacona of Montreal, currently occupies second place in the ride’s individual leaderboard, raising $2,620 and counting. 

This year’s virtual Navy Bike Ride, entitled The Harry DeWolf Challenge, used the nautical miles travelled by the Artic and Offshore Patrol Ship during its inaugural deployment through Canada’s north.

Approximately 30,000 cyclists from coast-to-coast-to-coast rode in support of military non-profits Support Our Troops, Soldier On Canada, and the Royal Canadian Benevolent Fund.

While many cycling teams logged their kilometres individually on their own time, S1 Colangelo Lauzon and three civilian friends formed Team HMCS Donnacona and transformed their fundraiser into a cycling adventure.

It was a scenic 222-kilometre four-day ride in July along the Parc Linéaire Le P’tit Train du Nord, an old Canadian Pacific Railway now turned into a multi-use recreational trail. Riders covered an average of 55 km per day and paid their own out-of-pocket expenses such as hotels and meals.

It didn’t take long for exhaustion to set in, along with the typical cyclist’s pain and discomfort in the thighs and lower back.

“The distance and the mountainous course made me push myself to the maximum every day and by the third day was quite a challenge because of the elevation between Mont-Tremblant and Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts,” says S1 Colangelo Lauzon. “Even a week after the ride my legs are still exhausted. During the hard times, I kept in mind all the people who supported me and what the money is doing for Canadian soldiers and their families.”

RCN Honoraries National Team are still tops on the overall team leaderboard raising $6,846 and counting; the RCN Canadian Leaders National Team occupies second spot with $5,223; while HMCS Donnacona is in third with $3,365. 

In the individual leaderboard Mark McQueen of the RCN National Honoraries Team occupies the top spot overall with $5,223 raised while rider Dwayne Watson occupies third spot with $1,858.

Team HMCS Donnacona also included Benoit Larocque, General Manager of the Conservative Party of Québec, Philippe Gagnon, an IT consultant, and Gabriel Fontaine, a real estate investor, Quantum AI trading platform enthusiast and rafting guide.

S1 Colangelo-Lauzon is a part-time reservist currently under a full-time contract with the Information Systems Administrator office at his unit.

Teams and individual riders are still accepting donations until Aug. 29 at this fundraising website https://raceroster.com/events/2021/36550/navy-bike-ride-2021/

––

Some may recognize S1 Colangelo Lauzon’s name from his headline-grabbing story in the political arena as a teenage election candidate. His parents were killed in an automobile accident in Saint-Mathias-de-Bonneterre only months after his birth and he was raised by his aunt Lina Colangelo and grandparents. He gravitated towards politics at an early age and ran for office in his first election campaign at the age of 19 in the Joliette riding for the Conservative Party of Québec. Currently President of the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce–Westmount Conservative Association, he’s also involved in Montreal’s community as a member of multiple public and private organisations governance boards.

––––