When Quitting Is Not An Option: My Road to Cycling, a Guinness World Record, and Making a Difference

Can I do this? I asked myself. I'd been repeating the same question for the last 24 hours. People seem to say, "It's Arvid-of course he can do it." If they knew how many times I struggled with self-doubt, with the question of whether I should bike another kilometre, they would never feel so confident. This was one of those times. Giving up now was, for me, symbolic of giving up on the kids at MCF. Many of them had been abandoned by parents, relatives and society, left to fend for themselves. God had never given up on them, and I was not going to quit a silly bike ride. I made up my mind: I will not give up. When Arvid set out on a 40 km bike ride only to give up after 30 km, his future as a cyclist seemed bleak. Yet, more than 15 years later, Arvid was racing alongside the world's most elite ultra-marathon athletes. This is his story of failure, courage, disappointment, triumph and laughter-and a few life lessons along the way.

Arvid Loewen holds the Guinness World Record for fastest person to cross Canada on a bike and was the first to cycle with a child across Canada. He is dedicated to the Mully Children’s Family ministry in Kenya, Africa, and has raised over $3 million for the organization. He lives with his wife, Ruth, in Winnipeg and has three married children and eight grandsons.

Paul Loewen is a youth pastor in Winnipeg, where he lives with his wife, Jeanette, and two boys. He has crewed for Arvid on numerous rides and has been writing for over 10 years.