Kyle Waczko is riding his bike to raise money for a friend's son who has a type of brain cancer.

He rode through Portage la Prairie this past Monday and returned home by passing through Portage again on Thursday. Waczko shares how things began for his ride after having spoken to the boy's mother.

"People always want to help out," says Waczko. "And she said, 'You know what, the best thing you can do is to give blood.' So, that's kind of how we started -- giving blood. But I knew I wanted to try do more. I was into cycling and I had heard on the radio of the Great Cycle Challenge which raises money for childhood cancer. So, I jumped aboard and started training with childhood cancer in my mind."

He notes he decided to begin the ride at the start of August.

"We ride a certain amount of kilometres," continues Waczko. "I try to raise a certain amount of money, all for childhood cancer."

Waczko says he's from Giroux, Man., near Steinbach, and that's where he started.

Kyle Waczko and Adrian"I figured I'm going to challenge myself a lot, and try to ride up to Clear Lake and back," says Waczko. "So, that's going to put me over 800 kilometres there and back. We went into Winnipeg and had a little kick-off at Adrian's house (he's the boy I'm riding for.) And they saw me off, and I made it all the way through to Portage my first day."

He says it's mostly been exhilarating for him.

"Along the way, there were a few towns where I've seen a few people and I got a few donations as I rode through," adds Waczko. It's great seeing that tally go up every day after I ride through these towns. I've been posting on the local blogs of the towns and then getting a few donations that way, and that just keeps pushing you through. Tuesday, as I came from Alonsa, Manitoba -- that's where my family farm is -- coming into the mountains from Dauphin, there are some pretty big steep climbs you're doing. My music cut out, and my earbuds. I just had to get down. Basically, I could have walked faster up those hills, but I didn't get off my bike, just thinking that there are kids out there that have to fight a lot harder than I was doing."

He explains he originally set out to raise $500 to ride about 500 kilometres.

"Within the first two weeks, I hit that $500 mark. That was going back in, probably, the beginning of June when I was just raising money," says Waczko. "Right now, I've surpassed $4,000 and am third in the province of Manitoba out of 1,000 riders for fundraising. And I'm something like 47th in Canada over 17,000. He (Adrian) can't do it without great support, people know this is a great cause and I'm happy to be the face to they get it going."

Waczko says Adrian's family is ecstatic about it.

"No kids should have to go through this and it's tough for the families," continues Waczko. "So, that's who I'm riding for."

Waczko adds he's been trying to restrict all of his riding early in the morning and then trying to end in the early afternoon.

"You don't have to have something happen to you or your family to get behind the cause. Get something that you can get behind, and put all you have into it. A lot of these charities, they don't get anywhere without people stepping up," notes Waczko. "I've been blogging on my Facebook page. I've got it open to public --- just Kyle Waczko. And you can see updates there and I always attach the link to the Great Cycle Challenge Canada website. For those who want to donate, they can go there and click it, or just go to the Great Cycle Challenge Canada website and search for Kyle Waczko, and make a donation. I'm just ecstatic to see how far we can take this. I've got a whole month to go yet of riding, so I'm not going to stop once I get back to Giroux."