Riding for Roses

Cancer has touched my life in many ways, so I’m a supporter of the Lance Armstrong Foundation and for 2004, I raised over $5000 as a Peloton Project member; Spencer was very disappointed that I only got one guest pass (for $100) to the Peloton Appreciation Dinner and invited Rachel instead of him. Spencer has been wearing three (originally four, but a kid at summer camp stole one) LiveStrong wrist bands (an adult band on each ankle, the other on a wrist – we’ve more on order) since May or June, well before he was diagnosed with leukemia. So, I had this idea that Spencer and I could ride the Trail-a-Bike in the 6 mile Fun Ride at the 2005 Ride for the Roses.

Monday, the whole thing kind of clicked for Spencer. He got that LAF is supporting the fight against cancer which includes leukemia, that on the Trail-a-Bike he didn’t have to pedal the whole ride, that one can eat and drink while riding in the Ride for the Roses (the steroids he is taking make him ravenous and he can rarely stop thinking of food these days), and that, if we raise enough money, he could go to the Peloton Appreciation Dinner. He’s also decided he wants to do the 25 mile ride under three conditions. First, he only has to pedal when he has energy. Second, we stop at two rest stops. Third, he gets to eat and drink while we ride. For raising $5000, I was a “green jersey” member of the Peloton Project. The jersey colors are taken from the Tour de France: White ($2500 fundraising – parallels the Tour’s young rider category), Green ($5000 – parallels the best sprinter), Polka Dot ($10,000 – parallels the best hill climber), and Yellow ($20,000 – parallels the general classification, overall winner). Spencer wants to get the Yellow Jersey – one for each of us. So, we’re looking at a goal of eight times what I barely raised this year. It’s my own fault for encouraging him about it.

We need a plan. We brainstormed. We have ideas:

• have a fundraising event at his martial arts school
• participate as assistants at events run by others
• hold auction(s) of stuff we get donated from sponsor companies
• hold auction(s) of “unique” (autographed, personal, whatever) items donated by celebrities
• produce some salable item
• dedicate web site revenue to it
• think of a vast list of donors and harass the daylights out of them
• rob a bank

The last one is strictly a deep backup plan.

Any readers who get this far and are interested in helping, please post a comment (I’ll edit out any contact information before approving the comment) or email me, user “sartin” at the domain that hosts this blog. I moderate all comments to this blog (at least until I find or build a decent automatic system) and will be away for the weekend, so comments will stay hidden until Sunday night or Monday.