At just 23-years-old, Sam Biffart is gearing up for an epic biking journey in June.
Dubbed ‘BC Trek’, Biffart will be pedaling his gravel bike from Victoria all the way to the BC/Alberta border in a journey that will span 1,500 km.
He will be climbing over 15,500 metres of elevation with the hopes to complete the ride in 16 days. He has set a goal of raising over $15,000 for Third Space, which is a charity for mental health.
Born and raised in White Rock, Biffart moved to Kelowna in February of 2020. Last year, He had a week off of work in June, and decided to go on a long journey with his new gravel bike, to really put it through its paces.
“I decided to say screw it and hopped on the bike and went to Osoyoos, staying in crappy motels over the course of four to five days,” Biffart told KelownaNow. “As I was doing that, I had the idea of a bigger picture and thought of doing a fundraiser.”
With the pandemic hitting right when Biffart moved, the idea of fundraising for mental health was the perfect initiative, as he has been personally effected by it.
“I have always struggled with mental health through social anxiety and OCD tendencies,” Biffart said. “I also have people close to me who struggle with it and I think it is very relevant right now with COVID.”
“The pandemic has definitely had a big impact on lots of people's mental health, and I think it was just a very relevant message to get out. Plus, the challenge of ‘BC Trek’ excited me as well.”
His planning of the trek has been helped by his father, who has over three decades of biking experience.
“We used Komoot (a route planner website), and planned it all on the Trans Canada Trail and Rail Trail,” explained Biffart. “I wanted to do something different, and because I have a gravel bike, I wanted to go out and do a little bit more rough terrain. There will be two or three nights of camping (also) planned."
As for choosing Third Space as the fundraising charity?
“When I brought up the idea of mental health, I didn't have an organization in mind. But as soon as I started looking, I came across Third Space Charity and I thought it was perfect.”
“Their age demographic is 18-29 year olds so it is close to my own age and I know they do free counselling for kids at UBCO and Okanagan College, where I know a lot of people who go there. It just felt very right.”
So far, he has raised $5,000, a third of the way to his goal of $15,000, through the help of five local sponsors.
“The first sponsor actually reached out was Innov8 Digital Solutions here in Kelowna,” Biffart explained. “I originally was presenting it to the sponsors to help fund my ride and they were extremely generous and they covered all of my own costs, so they are going to be my platinum sponsor.”
“Then the other five sponsors (Janzen Insurance, Momentum Realty Inc, Smith Creek Cycle, Kinetic Evolution and Tool Shed Brewing) I have after that, 100% of those proceeds will be going to Third Space Charity.”
If you want to donate, please click this link. You can follow Biffart’s journey through his Instagram, Facebook and Strava account.
It all gets started on June 5th from Victoria.
