The Final Countdown

One week out! Next Sunday I will be on a plane heading to Cairo via Vancouver and London. Unbelievable. Bike is done - not packed yet but prepped for a long haul ride. Packing is progressing. Yes, I am training. Don't think I will ever be adequately prepared for something like this though. I have officially reached (and passed!) my fundraising goal. Guess I'm ready to go - still doesn't feel real!

Over the couple weeks before Christmas I spent some time at Cadence Cycle in Whitehorse making sure Carson is ready to go and learning some basic bike mechanics so I can (hopefully) take care of him mostly on my own during the tour. He's looking pretty and is sitting in my trainer at home so I can still spin before leaving. Yes I have personified my bike. 

Despite what seems to be generally believed, I am packing. There is so much prep work. So many lists. I am hoping to get everything into one duffel and my bike box. Not too confident that it will work out though. Wish me luck!

Big thanks to everyone who has donated towards bikes! I passed my goal of $1650, raising over $1800! Bikes are $150 each, so with the current exchange rate that is enough for 10 bikes! I am so excited :) If you haven't donated and wanted to I will have the donate button up until December 31st. After that you can donate directly to the foundation - there is a link in my previous post about fundraising. 

Homecoming tournament was yesterday - second time on the ice since March. Shit man. Tourney was tons of fun, especially with the extra family around this year. Headed to Whitehorse now for another game, today we're playing with Team Yukon alumni against this years CGC girls team. It should be a blast although my skating muscles are a little underused and sore. I am counting this as training and putting off spinning until at least tomorrow. 

Dana flies to the London tomorrow, she's travelling Ireland and the UK for 5-6 weeks. Between the two of us trying to pull our shit together enough to be ready to travel the world and the regular Christmas hoopla the last few days have been rather hectic. But here we are. Good luck Dane :)

I will write another post when I have more to report. Happy holidays folks!

Spinathon and Fundraising Update

So it's been a while since my spinathon and I've been meaning to post about it, guess better late than never. 

The spinathon was great! I raised approximately $600 and biked 85 km. $600 is almost four bikes :) Woo hoo! Huge thanks to teachers at St. Elias Community School and employees of the City of Whitehorse for the generous donations.

So far I have raised around $1400, enough for 8 bikes. I can't thank my mom enough for putting 10% of the proceeds of her sales at Christmas craft fairs towards my cause. On top of making bike cards! I really have the most supportive family. 

I'm getting really close to my goal of 10 bikes, with less than a month to raise the money. I will be wrapping up my fundraising on January 3rd and forwarding the proceeds to the TDA Foundation then. If you would like to donate I would appreciate the help in reaching my goal, however if you would like to donate at a later date you can of course donate directly to the foundation - it is a great cause.

Thanks for checking in!

Spinathon

This Sunday (so soon!!) I am doing a spinathon as a part of my fundraising. So, from 8-11am on November 9th I will be spinning away on a bike in the Wellness Centre in the Canada Games Centre. Hopefully my sit bones are up to it! Check out the sweet poster Juanita at the CGC made for me (up top).

My financial goal for this fundraiser was 2 bikes ($330) - but I have already collected pledges for that amount! Thanks to everyone who has pledged already :) I am upping my goal to 3 bikes ($495). If you would like to sponsor me you can do so in person, via email transfer, or by using the donate button (just make sure to let me know that it is for the spinathon). I am hoping to ride 60 km but since I am on a spin bike and not outside it is hard to predict - it could be more, could be less. Guess I'll find out! Pledges can be per km or a flat amount, totally up to you.

So that's Sunday, November 9th from 8-11am. If you are around the CGC and feel like stopping by to say hi (and maybe refill my water bottle) that might be cool.

Bike Cards!

My wonderful, wonderful mother hand-carved (hand-carved!!) a bicycle stamp and has been making cards to help with my fundraising. What a great mom :)

Check out her blog and Etsy shop! She's pretty cool. She also has a post about these kick-ass cards and you can buy them on her Etsy.

Thanks for reading!

Fundraising

As you may know, I will be using my adventure across Africa as a chance to raise funds for the Tour d’Afrique Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting the bicycle as a means of improving quality of life, especially in underdeveloped countries. This is primarily achieved through the donation of bicycles to community development and health care workers. Donation ceremonies are held along our tour route across the continent. My goal is to raise funds for 10 bicycles ($150 USD each, $165 CAN) – one for each country I visit.

Countries visited include:

·        Egypt

·        Sudan

·        Ethiopia

·        Kenya

·        Tanzania

·        Malawi

·        Zambia

·        Botswana

·        Namibia

·        South Africa

Mission of the TDA Foundation

The mission of the foundation is to promote the use of the bicycle as a means of transport and income generation.  This is primarily accomplished through bike donations to health workers and orphanages along the route in Africa, though donations are also made on routes in India and North America.  A bike donated to a health worker in Africa allows them to reach up to five times as many patients in a day as they would without a bike.

If you would like to help me reach my goal please click on the donate button on the right. Any amount would help a lot! If you would like to donate a whole bike make sure to send me your mailing address so I can send you a postcard from my trip. I know that is a lot to swing, but teaming up to donate a bike with several friends absolutely counts for a postcard! 

Click here for more information on the TDA Foundation. Thanks for your support!

Off to Africa!

Hi all!

I am slowly preparing for my fast approaching wild adventure - cycling across Africa from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town, South Africa with the Tour d'Afrique. I will be visiting 10 countries and covering 12,000 km over the span of 4 months (January to May)... What did I get myself into?! My feelings about this fluctuate from so crazy excited that I can't stand still to so so terrified and nervous. Either way it's always on my mind. I swear, I can't talk about anything else - my family must be getting sick of it! 

Since I will be gone for four months with uncertain communications to home I figured a blog would be a good bet. My writing is pretty terrible but I will do my best! I'll post when I can and try to figure out how to work this blog. Please leave me comments while I'm away, I bet I will be getting homesick and will love to hear from everyone!

I should have a post about the fundraising I am doing as a part of my ride soon. 

Well, first post is up! I doubt I will post very much before I leave but hopefully I will be good about writing regularly while I am there. Cheers, thanks for reading :)