not so cynical now, are we!

here at pamphleteers headquarters we love our bikes. we also love causes.

so imagine how excited we got when i learned about something that would combine those two things for the best cause, ever.

friends for life bike rally

i'm sure i've heard about this event peripherally over the years, but i was at work the other day when someone declined a pastry because they had just cycled to montreal.

yes, toronto to montreal. on a BIKE.

besides being extremely impressive, the fact that this bike ride was for the toronto people with aids foundation and managed to raise approximately $900,000.00 is amazing.

every year hundreds of people decide to fundraise money and then hop on their rides and trek for six days to raise money for a great cause.

geoffrey chown, who declined the pastry and unknowingly spurred two new riders through such a simple act, told me that he's done the friends for life bike rally for eight years-- four as a rider and four as crew. he also told me that anyone could do it: the youngest person riding this year was fifteen and the oldest was 72.

this seems to be true. there are a few qualifiers, such as fundraising a minimum of $2200.00, completing a bike maintenance clinic, completing training rides of 50kms and 100kms before a deadline, etc but other than that it seems to be something you decide to do and then do it.

so, eff and i are going to do it.

next year after some fundraising, training rides, and bike clinics we are going to ride our goddamned bikes 600kms to montreal for a great cause.

i mean, first we're going to have to buy bikes that didn't cost us $60 on craigslist and haven't been hit by hummers, but.. that's a small obstacle to overcome.