70 Years, 70 Miles... And $70,000!
The local cycling scene has been full of bad news, anger, and sadness lately, so here's something good from the Southeast...

I got an e-mail earlier this week from Katherine Jeter of Spartanburg, SC. She had read about my Grand Illinois Trail tour, and she was wondering if I could give her some bike-friendly directions for an upcoming visit to Illinois (thanks, Chris). I don't think she'll mind if I quote her:

Loved reading about your 2000 trip. I am a 69-year-old grandmother, training for a 70 mile bike ride on my 70th birthday, on October 25th, to raise $70,000 for my two favorite charities. We've already surpassed $31,000!

This woman has more ambition at 69 than I had at 19! In another e-mail, she forwarded a newspaper article about her efforts. She is raising money for the Yellow Ribbon Fund, which assists soldiers and their families while the soldiers are receiving medical treatment, and Jack's Place, which provides housing for patients at Shaw Cancer Center in Colorado.

One thing that Jeter liked about my GIT tour was that I did it on a hybrid bike. She said that "bike snobs" give her a hard time, but she loves her Trek hybrid. Although she was probably disappointed to learn that I now ride a touring bike most of the time, I told her I know a Trek hybrid rider who will enjoy hearing her story.

If you want to help Jeter reach her fundraising goal by supporting these worthy causes, scroll down to the bottom of the article and look under "More Information."

Labels: bicycling, charities

- posted by David Johnsen @ 12:14 PM 0 comments

 
Seeking Cycling Clothing
My friend Chris works for a charity called World Bicycle Relief that distributes bicycles to countries devastated by poverty or disaster. Chris visited Zambia last month:

Currently, World Bicycle Relief has partnered with a coalition of relief organizations to address the HIV/AIDS crisis in Zambia. We will provide 23,000 bicycles to community home-based care volunteers, disease prevention educators and vulnerable households. We are also training and equipping more than 400 bicycle mechanics in the field. The program will reach more than 500,000 adults, orphans and vulnerable children.

While he was in Zambia, Chris participated in the country's national championship road race. Now he's collecting cycling clothes -- jerseys, shorts, gloves, etc. -- for Zambian riders (this is independent of WBR's work).

Fortunately for the Zambians, Chris kicked off this "kit drive" during a major decluttering project here at DJWriter World HQ. Consequently, last night I stuffed two grocery bags full of unworn and barely-worn clothing to donate. I drew the line optimistically -- I donated everything I never wore and anything I don't want to wear again, but I stopped short of donating anything I hope to wear again, however remote the odds may be (hey, it wouldn't be the first --or second -- time I've yo-yoed back into size medium).

I recommend Chris' blog entries about Zambia which include many photos and a video: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. And if that's not enough, he also writes a blog for WBR -- most of the November 2007 entries are about the trip.

Labels: bicycling, charities

- posted by David Johnsen @ 6:37 AM 2 comments