Back in July, a cycling and teaching friend, Jay Rotherburg, sent me an invitation to participate in the Great Cycling Challenge, an annual fundraising campaign that primarily sponsors the efforts of Toronto's Sick Kid's Hospital and its fight to eradicate cancer in children. I have been consciously VERY choosy about which charity organizations I "hitch my cart to" since having a very unpleasant experience with the United Way a while back. I thought extensively about seeking donations through Social Media, centering on my own distaste of the constant barrage of pleas to help a wide array of causes, that are all worthy in their own right, yet the constant request for money grows tiresome when you have to weigh the PROs and CONs of each. Supporting everything is simply not feasible. I won't cover up the fact that this particular charity was linked to my newly minted passion for cycling, so the decision was finally made to sign up and see how it goes.
The first task was to set some goals for both fundraising and KMs to cover, and while it may have seemed somewhat easy, it was especially tricky to set the fundraising goal ... how much was I willing to seek from my Social Media friends? After much internal conflict because I truly hate asking people to donate, I settled on a seemingly challenging goal of $500.00. The KM goal was a much easier decision since I had set a goal earlier in the summer to achieve 200 KM a week for training, and that made 800 KM logical for the month of August.
I have to tell you that once I signed up and started planning out my rides, I was a little intimidated posting the request for support on my page. I sponsored myself and was astounded to see that a few friends immediately opened their wallets. One week in and I was already halfway there. I posted an update at the end of week two, when the GCC announced a big "match the donation" campaign, and BAM! more donations came in, pushing me over my goal just more than halfway done the month. As the graphic shows, I am humbled that Sick Kid's was gifted $599.00 on my behalf! Wow! Even better, thanks to the sheer generosity of my "peeps", I was gifted that tres chic GCC cycling top!
As week one slid into week two, I had no troubles hitting my weekly KMs, and despite some technical challenges with my bike (flats, spokes, rims), I was able to ramp up the efforts. With a morning ride out into Oro-Medonte on Sunday August 23, I cruised by the 800 KM goal, but there was still a few days left in August and there was no sense in wasting the opportunity! Joyce tolerated the almost daily obsession, allowing me to chalk up 1114 kms with the final ride on August 31st.
I would have to say that the highlight of the month, from a cycling perspective, was the welcoming of a new "child" into our family ... well, a cycle-child, anyway. A friend, fellow retired teacher Steve Kelman, was selling his road bike for a sweet deal and it certainly tweaked my interest. I had already "primed the pump" with Joyce by hinting (repeatedly) that I would be looking to purchase a new bike in the spring, but this was a $3500 bike and the asking was more than 50% off. I'm sure that she knew, deep down in her heart, as I pulled out of the driveway that the Tacoma would be transporting the "baby" when it returned. Junior is a Ridley brand and the model is a Damocles. It's a carbon fibre, 22 gears, rocket of a stallion that has only served to increase my obsession ... the ridiculous facial expression say it all.
Have I told you already how well I married? See you out on the roads!
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