Young cycling hero to take on illness via ‘Big Ride’

“Max’s Big Ride” is certainly going to be that.

Billboards festooning the Yonge Eglinton Centre in Toronto describe the efforts of Andrew Sedmihradsky and his four-year-old son, Max, to raise awareness and proceeds in the fight against Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Those efforts, happily, have paid off with the pair’s big win in the Win a Billboard contest — and their winning idea to join the fight from the saddle of a bike.

“It is absolutely amazing,” Sedmihradsky commented, reflecting on the win. “My family will never forget this day.”

What’s their plan? Starting on June 21, Andrew and his son will mount up a cargo bike to ride the Trans-Canada Trail from Ottawa to Hamilton — a journey of approximately 50 km a day, with a few stop-offs at playgrounds and picnics along the way, the Hamilton Spectator reported. It’s an initiative made all the more heroic by the circumstances that prompted the Sedmihradsky’s involvement: four-year-old Max has been diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystophy himself, a progressive, fatal disorder that gradually weakens the body’s muscle.

“It’s a terrible disease which doesn’t allow Max’s muscles to develop,” the elder Sedmihradsky told the Hamilton Spectator. Unless a cure is found, he added, “Max will never get a chance to do the things he dreams about doing.” With a life expectancy of just twenty years, most children diagnosed with Duchenne, as it stands now, are confined to a wheelchair by the age of 12.

“Riding 600 kilometres will be a little bit easier knowing we have so many behind us,” Sedmihradsky said. It’s hard to compare to a cheering section like that indeed, no matter what the tour.