Support My Bike-A-Thon!

This coming Sunday, I'll be riding 65 miles to benefit a non-profit called Bikes Not Bombs. I've done this ride twice before, in 2008 and 2009. In 2008 it was 95 degrees out!

Click here to visit my fundraising page.

Here's a picture of me on that very hot day in 2008. Note silly, but appropriate, bike jersey:

 
Bikes Not Bombs is a great organization. From their website:

Bikes Not Bombs promotes bicycle technology as a concrete alternative to war and environmental destruction.

They collect and refurbish used bikes in the US, they involve and empower lower-income Boston residents throughout the process, they sell some of the bikes here, and they use the money they raise to ship off large numbers of bikes to poorer countries where these bikes can truly change people's lives.

As I mentioned, the event is this coming Sunday, so if you're thinking of pledging some money, now is the time!

Click here to visit my fundraising page.

As I said last year, I can relate this to food if pressed:

• One of the things they do is support the conversion of bicycles into human-driven milling machines, grinders, and blenders for grains, cacao, etc.
• More bikes = fewer cars = less pollution, plus less arable land used for ethanol and biodiesel and more used for growing food
• More bikes = easier to transport water = people can grow food (although transporting water is not necessarily sustainable, sigh...)

Here are some further reasons why you should pledge money to support my ride:

• Bicycles have a huge amount of leverage in poor countries. A bicycle for a child can mean the difference between school and no school. It can allow a health worker to serve many more villages. It can help someone transport water and goods.
• Bikes Not Bombs is a small organization, and even a small donation will have a big effect on their work. Your money will make a difference when you give it to BnB. Their total revenues for 2008 were only about $1 million.