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Charity RIdes: Yay or Nay?

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shawnrohrbach said:
Haven't done one in a decade or more. The last one was in Seattle for some Aids fundraiser and we discovered the company putting it together was taking a 85/15 split for "overhead" and the Executive Director was hauling in a 95K salary for organizing ONE RIDE.

Wasn't it Goodwill or United Way or one of those big ones that a few years ago it was revealed that the CEO was making a Carly Furina level salary, completely with golden parachute and all? Have to look that up.

That is a good story about the Pan-Mass.
 
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Anonymous

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BroDeal said:
Actually I did not give the full picture. You have Meg's popularity, Chris' brains, Herbert's creepiness, and Mayor West's grasp of reality.

Your whining is as graceless as your insults are juvenile.
 
Apr 11, 2009
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jackhammer111 said:
Your whining is as graceless as your insults are juvenile.

I thought this thread was about charity rides. Jackhammer, you have a way of ****ing on everything and just making it stinky.
 
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Anonymous

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quadsRme said:
Jack you need to lighten up a bit there. Have you been on vacation recently? Sounds like time to take a long one.....

No, but I did a Tour to Cure a couple of weeks ago and I would have never dreamed of coming back here and complaining the "rest stop food is crap".

I think it taseless and graceless and not surprising coming form Bro Deal who's biggest claim to fame seems to be that he's real good with insults and slamming everything in sight, now including charity rides.
 
Sorry this worthy thread got dragged through the mud. :(

I'd love to see a quality thread with people sharing some of their favorite rides. The reason why they liked them, how the support was, and what they thought of the cause. Which are the big ones in your area? Show us some links.
 
jackhammer111 said:
Your whining is as graceless as your insults are juvenile.

Lack of originality is the sign of a small mind, and I cannot remember a single original thought that you have ever posted. Most other posters have made me smile or think, whether it is from a clever turn of phrase or an interesting synthesis of known facts. You on the other hand seem to struggle when posting the most obvious and unimaginative thoughts.
 
Jun 3, 2009
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agree with Alpe. pretty much impossible to have a thread on here that doesn't have members going at each other. you guys that like to bash on each other need to start a thread and do it there, leaving us out of it (though I'd be tempted to drop in if I felt like being entertained for a bit). I know, I know... it's a public forum, I need to suck it up. but really, scrolling through lots of posts just to find pertinent comments gets old quick.

only charity ride I got to participate in this year is the Tour de Cure (map and random rider pics) which used to be a 2-day ride, but now is a 1-day choose-your-distance event. big climb from previous years got removed, but still a fun ride to do with friends.

best non-charity ride I've been in is the 3-State 3-Mountain Challenge. Did it last year, but not this year (unfortunately it got rained out). at any rate, it's a pretty decent ride.
 
Jun 24, 2009
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vtrich said:
I did the Pan-Mass challenge several times,...6 years ago being the most recent. That is a really efficient charity,...something like 95% of the money raised goes directly to the Dana Farber Cancer Center. So that's all well and good, but the food is truly impressive, both at the various refreshment stops and at the sleep over at the Mass. Maritime Academy. Man,.. the choices are endless,...you burn 3 or 4 thousand calories,..and throughout the afternoon you "replenish" by eating 5 thousand. Ugh!

The food may be impressive, but so is their fundraising minimum.....$4,400 I believe. Yikes ! That guy's comp is well into 6 digits.
 
Jun 3, 2009
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oh yeah... support was great. sags were always guys I knew from the local bike shops, and the stops were great - super friendly volunteers and chick-fil-a sandwiches, along with the token pb&j and all the little debbie snack cakes you could eat.

the cause is important to me: dad and a few friends are diabetic.
 
Alpe d'Huez said:
Sorry this worthy thread got dragged through the mud. :(

I'd love to see a quality thread with people sharing some of their favorite rides. The reason why they liked them, how the support was, and what they thought of the cause. Which are the big ones in your area? Show us some links.

Glad to oblige. I did the Noosa century here in Australia about 3 weeks ago. It was reasonably well organised, with the fundraising going to the Amy Gillet Foundation (a late member of the Aus olympic team killed in a traffic accident that raises funds for cycling awareness).

The course went through some tough parts of the Glasshouse Mountains northwest of Brisbane with some pretty tough climbs like Restaurant Hill. Had a great day just sitting in a paceline with the guys from my usual shop ride until we hit the hills then pushing it for the last 60km or so.

Check out the photos on the ASM website. Don't have the link but just google "noosa bike ride".

Will certainly do it again!
 
Alpe d'Huez said:
Used to ride the Tour de Cure here, it was 10,000' of climbing total, after going up 6,000' on Mt. Hood. They ditched that course as being too tough, and moved it out to farm land. Rode a few more charities, but that was my favorite.

That sort of thing might be common. An MS150 I do on occasion removed a beautiful canyon from the first day to make it the route easier.
 
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Anonymous

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BroDeal said:
Lack of originality is the sign of a small mind, and I cannot remember a single original thought that you have ever posted. Most other posters have made me smile or think, whether it is from a clever turn of phrase or an interesting synthesis of known facts. You on the other hand seem to struggle when posting the most obvious and unimaginative thoughts.


you sir, are a master of insult

and that is no blessing.
 
Alpe d'Huez said:
Sorry this worthy thread got dragged through the mud. :(

I'd love to see a quality thread with people sharing some of their favorite rides. The reason why they liked them, how the support was, and what they thought of the cause. Which are the big ones in your area? Show us some links.
I have to say that one of the most beautiful and demanding ride was the Cyclefest through the Davis Mountains in West Texas. It is a 75 mile route that ends up in the McDonald Observatory. It has some beautiful landscape. Well here are some pictures and links.

ftdavis3.jpg


d_mcd-1.jpg



Here is the profile:
FD%20Loop2.JPG


Here is the link to the ride and race:
http://www.pbbatx.com/html/cyclefest.html

Here is a review:
http://austinontwowheels.org/2009/04/12/race-report-fort-davis-hammerfest-2009/
 
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Anonymous

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BroDeal said:
With you I have a lot to work with.

No no. Don't be so modest. You are so very generous with you gift of insult. You spread it around liberaly.

you don't think i notice when you piss other people off too. Only been a couple of days since another person told you off.

that makes at least 3 since you told me i was a dumb @ss for misspelling a word. this is how petty you are.

I'm far from the only person you have a problem with so don't portray me as such.
 
BroDeal said:
They are not pure charity. If they were then the organizers would simply ask for X number of dollars, you would send it to them, and that would be it. They are asking people to raise money and in exchange providing a fun ride. It is not too much to ask that they provide a decent service for their end of the bargain.

This goes beyond charity rides to regular centuries, more of which I am finding have allied themselves with some sort of disease or social problem and jacked their fees because of that. Which brings up one of my original points: Is it a good thing that the charity "industry" has discovered cycling is an easy way to make money?

they can't just stick their hands out anymore because that got tired real quick (that didn't come out right, but i'm sure you get the jist). they all do events of some sort now.

it would suggest that the way they're done in the US isn't working as it's obviously bred this sort of cynicism. which means that people need to be chosey about the particular fundraising group that they support - this goes without saying really. there are websites and organisations that will show the which fundraising groups work best and are the most effective.

cycling isn't the only sport/activity that is being used as fundraising events as there are plenty of running ones too - try and get into a big marathon without going via some fundraiser of some sort!
Look out for a book called "The Life You Save" by Peter Singer. It makes interesting reading on these sorts of organisations and also shows just how far behind the rest of the world the US really is.

I did the London to Brighton ride on the weekend which was for the British Heart Foundation - ordinary event and one i'll probably not do again. London to Cambridge (Breakthrough Breast Cancer) is a different story as I enjoyed that one far more. I don't mind being choosey - both events had reasonably low entry fees, and the amount of sponsorship/donation was not a set target, meaning that they'll just take what you give. A lot better freedom than having to raise the £1500 I had to for last year's London marathon (which I enjoyed too).

pick n choose what you do, but don't whinge if you don't like your choice...
 
May 6, 2009
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42x16ss said:
Glad to oblige. I did the Noosa century here in Australia about 3 weeks ago. It was reasonably well organised, with the fundraising going to the Amy Gillet Foundation (a late member of the Aus olympic team killed in a traffic accident that raises funds for cycling awareness).

The course went through some tough parts of the Glasshouse Mountains northwest of Brisbane with some pretty tough climbs like Restaurant Hill. Had a great day just sitting in a paceline with the guys from my usual shop ride until we hit the hills then pushing it for the last 60km or so.

Check out the photos on the ASM website. Don't have the link but just google "noosa bike ride".

Will certainly do it again!

Haha I did the exact same thing. Loved it though, even though I cramped up with 15km to go, and then found a small group to ride with the last 10km.
 
Mar 10, 2009
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craig1985 said:
Not just charity rides, does anybody else do cyclosportive's?

Pick N Pay Cape Argus Tour in RSA and the Grand Fondo Felice Gimondi in Italy - FANTASTIC! Rode them each three times; met and rode with retired and current pros, and amateurs who probably could have gone pro. Great rides! Turned fun events into lasting friendships. Saw stunning scenery. Ate wonderful food. Saw beautiful countries. Further understood cycling's place in the world. Would ride these again in a heart beat.

http://www.cycletour.co.za/

http://www.felicegimondi.it/default.htm