While getting a great workout and feeling alive in the great outdoors, you can also benefit a person in need at the same time.
There are many charity rides all around the country. Rides attract anywhere from 15 people to 1,500, all with the common goal of cycling to raise money for a certain cause.
In fact, some of them ride across the country. The Radio Shack Big Ride Across America, which benefits the American Lung Association, is one of them. This summers ride took more than six weeks to travel about 3,250 miles from Seattle to Washington, D.C., and more than 200 riders participated to raise money for local ALA programs.
In early September, some friends and I took part in a charity ride the fourth annual Cycle for Life to benefit the New England Medical Centers Floating Hospital Childrens Cancer Center. This ride took off from Devereux Beach in Marblehead, Mass., and ran about 50 miles through Salem, Beverly, Essex, Wenham, Manchester, Gloucester and Hamilton before ending back up in Devereux Beach. We rode past classic New England coastlines, farm pastures and tree-lined roads.
Two things set this ride apart from other charity rides. The first is the fact that there is no minimum donation that needs to be raised. Rides like the Boston-to-New York Tanqueray AIDS Ride require you to raise at least $2,500.
The AIDS Rides are amazing productions that supply you with everything from food (apple pie, scrambled eggs, bagged lunches and more) to tents, massages and nightly entertainment. While you do have to raise a lot, you also get a lot. And it has paid off for AIDS research; since 1994, more than $69 million has been raised.
Cycle for Life would like everyone to raise around $250, but in the words of Howard Grodman, M.D., pediatric oncologist and event organizer, Anyone that wants to come and help out is welcome. Another aspect that sets the Cycle for Life ride apart from other fund-raising rides is that the money does not go toward research.
The money is instead used to brighten the lives of the young patients while they are in the hospital for treatment. Games, toys and extended play hours are just some of the ways that the money raised is used to enrich the lives of the children, and 95 percent of every dollar raised goes to the childrens needs. This years 170 riders topped last years 147, and last year more than $80,000 was raised. Thats a lot of PokeMon.
Cycle for Life was a well-run event. The course was mapped out with arrows pointing the right way, and there was a water/snack stop at the halfway point and a huge cookout at the end.
In our registration packets, we received a water bottle, a fanny pack, a T-shirt and a color button with a photo of a patient from the Childrens Cancer Center. These smiling faces helped many people who hardly ride finish the 50 miles without complaint.
If you do a little searching on the Internet youll come across plenty of rides for many different causes. There are the rides that get national attention, like the Ride for the Roses, which benefits cancer research and is supported by Lance Armstrong. There are also lesser-known rides such as the Tour des Trees, which supports urban tree research.
In Massachusetts, Tour de France and Olympic cyclist Tyler Hamilton is the chairman of the MS Cycling Series which benefits the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The Bay State also offers the Memory Ride, which benefits Alzheimers research and the Pan Mass Challenge benefits the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
In fact, chances are that if there is a particular cause that you feel strongly about, there is probably a ride to support it. If there isnt, then start one. Plenty of people solicit pledges from friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, editors and even strangers and then set off to ride around town or around the world.
Many of these rides also serve as a means for people to accomplish individual goals. If youve always wanted to ride 50 miles but havent done it yet, find an event like Cycle for Life, and then youve got an incentive to finish.
The same goes if youve always wanted to ride 100 miles, from Boston to New York, from San Francisco to Los Angeles, or from Los Angeles to Boston. Youll have support and encouragement, and you might even have a button with a smiling face reminding you why youre doing it.
Find and register for a charity ride in your area!
For more information on these rides go to:
bigride.com
cycleforlife.com
tourdestrees.org
pmc.org
memoryride.org
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