Dr. Matthew Nelms was diagnosed with colon cancer at 26 years old and he died three days before his 29th birthday, now his friends and family are raising money in his name to help other young adults facing similar battles<\/p>\n
A 29-year-old who lost a childhood friend to colon cancer is now learning to appreciate a tailwind as he cycles across four provinces on a Ride for Your Rear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Benson MacGregor, who is living in Kamloops and planting trees in BC,\u00a0teamed up with his friend Evan McVittie to create the Ride for Your Rear from Banff, Alta.\u00a0to Toronto, Ont. in memory of their ski racing friend Matthew Nelms, who died last year just three\u00a0days before his 29th birthday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They passed\u00a0through Barrie on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
“After Matt passed last year, I was still in the woods, and I had a lot of time to think about things,” said MacGregor, noting he wanted to support the Dr. Matthew Nelms Foundation,\u00a0started by Nelms and his family to fund research into cancer in young adults.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We always talked about doing an adventure together when we got older and when he finished school, and, of course, that never happened,” explained MacGregor. “I wanted to come back home this summer to visit his family and my family, and the best way to do it would be by plane, but the more fun way would be on a bike.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
McVittie helped create and organize the ride, but could only join for the final leg from Tobermory to Toronto.\u00a0<\/p>\n
MacGregor\u00a0has done all but a couple of days of the ride solo with a bike he bought one month before leaving Banff on July 10, 2025. He carries his tent and supplies on his bike and has spent a lot of nights camping, and others in hotels along the way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Aug. 12, he rode into Collingwood, stopping at the National Ski Academy to have a picnic lunch with friends who joined him for the ride including Maria Nelms (Matthew’s sister), Evan and Kyle McVittie, and Ryley\u00a0Remme.\u00a0<\/p>\n
McVittie, MacGregor and Nelms\u00a0skied together at Beaver Valley Ski Club, and Nelms went on to race with the National Ski Academy with Remme until the end of high school.\u00a0<\/p>\n
MacGregor was not a cyclist before the ride, but he figured the battle would be more mental than physical. Averaging about 110 kilometres a day, MacGregor got a strong start crossing Alberta in four-and-a-half days, but Saskatchewan took nine and included several flat tires and some backtracking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He definitely prefers a tailwind, and not just because it fits better with the Ride for Your Rear theme.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It’s almost debilitating mentally when the wind’s into you and the second it changes, it’s like the hand of God just pushing you along the way,” said MacGregor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
MacGregor has been thinking about his friend Matthew Nelms\u00a0as he pedals across Canada. On August 2,\u00a0which would have been Nelm’s 30th birthday, MacGregor\u00a0passed by the Terry Fox statue in Thunder Bay.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Matt was probably the most positive guy I ever skied with, that I ever knew,” said MacGregor. “He was always committed to being the best he could that day, and he was super competitive in a good way.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
He remembered Nelms deciding early on that he wanted to be a doctor, and MacGregor admired him for his determination, maturity and intelligence.<\/p>\n