For the third year in a row, CCAN members and supporters will take part in the 300-miles-in-five-days Climate Ride from NYC to DC, September 20-24. CCAN Board member Cindy Parker and I are signed up and getting prepared for this challenging but very rewarding biking experience.
There’s still time to sign up as a member of CCAN’s Chesapeake Climate Cruisers team. You can do so by going to http://climateride.org, learn more about the ride and what’s involved and then sign up.
In addition to being a long-distance ride through some absolutely beautiful countryside, the Climate Ride is also a fund-raiser. Participants need to raise at least $2,800 to participate, a majority of which goes to the group or groups which you designate as beneficiaries. The Climate Ride organization has lots of tips and ideas to help you meet that goal. For each of the last two years, CCAN has received about $10,000 to help us do our important work.
I was not a long-distance bike rider before I did my first Climate Ride in the spring of 2012. I did do bike-riding, mainly as part of my exercise routine. I rode about 8 miles three times a week. But as a result of the riding I did in preparation, and as a result of that first ride, I fell in love with long distance biking. Ever since I ride about 70 miles a week, sometimes more, doing so usually in early morning. I enjoy the rising of the sun, the singing of the birds, the animals, other bikers, runners and walkers I encounter and the good feeling that comes after a hard physical workout.
To begin to do this while in my 60’s has been like a special gift, something I would have never done if not for Mike Tidwell asking me if I wanted to join him on that ride.
I hope CCAN supporters who have not experienced the joys and the challenges of this sport, as well as those who are already avid bikers, will seriously consider joining Cindy and me this September.
I’m available if you have questions; you can contact me at ted@chesapeakeclimate.org.