vincenzosi

Koffee, you rock, and I love your posts and how much you help others.

That being said, on behalf of (what I imagine to be) most of the male relay riders, the bear goes. Although, an autographed Koffee Brown bear that she actually rode with might fetch a nice premium at the after-ride auction

Seriously though, thanks for making the post sticky for us!

Guest

Bear or not, there should be a way to ensure that it goes from one person to the other fairly... like an accompanying envelope with sheets of paper where you enter your name, your start and end point, start and end date and time, and who you passed off the item to. Then both the article and the envelope would have to return to the final place together, or the whole thing is invalid. I think it would be fitting if it started and ended in Utah at Bikeforums with Joe G. starting and ending it. That would be fun.

Additionally, maybe we can do this for a cause, like for a disease or something? If people want to raise or pledge money, they can enter an amount next to their name with a means to contacting them, and at the end, we could collect all the money and send it to the foundation of our choice. That would also be fun, and it would add in an element of competiton to all this.

Koffee

mirona

We should definitely do some fundraising along the way. What if we contributed to something cycling related? Any ideas?

The dates should also accomodate those who live in regions where it would be hard to travel long distances in inclimate weather. If I'm going to do a couple hundred miles through Massachusetts, I don't want it to be in the snow

Guest

Well, we could give the whole thing a year from the date it starts. That would accomodate for different weather and such.

Koffee

BradM

I live in VA Beach and have a buddy in Williamsburg area. Anybody between VA Beach and Raliegh?...........

DnvrFox

One alternative would be different groups.

Every state in USA

Every province in Canada

Whatever for Australia

All the countries in Europe.

etc.

Maybe 7 bracelets all circulating at the same time. They could be finally linked together like the Olympic rings. Perhaps they could be auctioned off or something.

I don't think we have any members from Mexico and few from South America, although I may be wrong.

I know of only one member from Russia (Max), perhaps one from China?

I guess it depends on what you mean by "around the world."

But a really great idea. Also, the media would be interested insomething like this, and the charity connection is a real winner.

Good thoughts!

I'll do part of Denver.

Also, if we need, there are a lot of bicycling clubs who could participate.

We could have an "oldest" rider (there is one on the forum who is 92yo) and perhaps a "youngest" and other categories.

Richard W

I think one braclet for the whole world is better as it's more of a challenge. I think by the whole world what we mean is to go through as many countries as the member location allows.

The idea about fundraising is a good idea. What we could do is make some forms for people to get others to sponser them with, and then say 50 cents per mile travelled by that person. Then the money can be collected and sent off to a charity. We could also invite pro riders to do certain areas (if it's for charity chances are they'll say yes).

Just some thoughts.

ankev1

Not a bad idea. Work commitments permitting, I'd consider doing the stretch from Mönchengladbach to Cologne (Köln) or Bonn. Are there any ideas of when this should actually be done?

Richard W

Not yet ankev, but once we get an idea of numbers hopefully the planning can begin. As koffee says, it'll probably run over a year.

Would it make sense to start a topic in the Introductions forum to make sure people see this thread?

Guest

Introductions wouldn't be a place to put it. Very few people actually spend their time perusing introductions. I think this forum is probably best.

Koffee

Travelinguyrt

SORRY, big fingers , small keys

Meant to type .....It works for the passing of the Olympic Torch so the idea def is workable
Based on the bike riders I met in Europe last summer its entirely doable
Would be fun to have travelers from visiting countries meet and visit and perhaps stay with fellow cyclists as they carry the objects
Seems from the replies already the idea has travel a good part of the way
I know the book I mentioned in a forum another time relates to motorcyclists, "Long Way Around", but their experiences about being met by and entertained by locals across much of Asia indicates how the idea can "traveled"

Richard W

Keep up the volunteering - we need as many people as possible. Thanks!

Turbonium

That sounds like a great idea!! i can do ottawa part of it!

ok, some people will have to do a bike tour to get to another city since everyone is probably centralized to a city.

vincenzosi

Hey!

I have a friend that lives near Ottawa... Maybe he'd be interested! You can connect up to him...

TwinTraveller

Good to have this thing going again. I had just about given up hope

Richard W and vicensozi thanks for adding the link to this thread to your signature. This is an excelent way of getting peoples' attention in all BikeForums.

Whoever is responsible for making this thread a sticky: Thank you

Some additional ideas & remarks:

I really like JoeLonghair's idea of linking this relay tour to a charity. Perhaps UNICEF in general is worthy cause, which is know all over the world. I happened to read that the UN have declared 2005 as the year of sport so it is quite appropriate. I'm also open to other charities. If necessary, we should let the participating members (or the whole forum decide). Are polls possible?

Richard, the map is a great initiative. Is there a was that we can link this to database? We could have people register with their location (preferably including GPS coordinates), and distance they are willing to travel (possibly over multiple days). By plotting the GPS coordinates on a map, and drawing a circle to represent the distance, on can have a visual indication of possible handovers. Anyone who can help out with this, please let me know.

Cheers,
TT

vincenzosi

I think we should find an organization that helps cyclists in some way and donate the money to them. Transportation Alternatives is a good one in my mind (okay, I'm admittedly biased, but you get the idea)...

If we're going to generate the money we should give it to cycling organizations or something similar. We could split the money proportionally by country so that people in Russia, for example, could give whatever percent they gave to a Russian cycling charity, and so on, and so on...

Mind you, I'm just thinking out loud here.

I do like the idea of a charity though. Kinda gives us a purpose other than the "wow factor" of finishing.

kewlrunningz

I live in Southern Mississippi. I know alot of people in LA who could connect TX to MS. We need to make a formal list of people and where they live so we can determine where the gaps are (easier than updating a map). The first post could be edited with the list being added and updated as new participants volunteer.

Guest

Here's my take: let's not donate to any organization that takes more than 10% of the money it receives to pay for its administrative support. While I like the idea of donating to charities, for real, I just hate it when half or more of the money lines the pockets of the folks running the charity, and the rest of the money is distributed amongst causes and people to the point where the money never makes a dent in the problem.

I don't believe in a charity organization unless it's 10% or less going to administrative costs. And let's do research and find a good, worthy cause that really gives you that fuzzy, feel-good kind of tingly feeling deep down....

Koffee

Richard W

TT - Making the map so that people could plot GPS points is probably more hassle than it's worth, as I wouldn't know where to start with that (if someone does let me know). I'll write a list of locations (and will put on areas which we need people from to signup as to keep the bracelet moving) and keep updating the map as we go along. Are there any map websites which allow multiple detour routes to be inputted, and then show the shortest distance between the different locations? That would make it a whole lot easier.

I'm not sure which charity would be ideal yet, but I think it would be nice if it was for disabled athletes or something similar.


Richard.

Bop Bop

Koffee,

Great idea about keeping the Admin Fees below 10%. Would the Tour for Hope, Lances organization fit the scenerio? If it did it would be a perfect idea, as it backs a world wide problem, Cancer and has to do with biking, something we are interested in.

Guest

What are the admin costs for the Tour of Hope as opposed to the total amount donated?

Koffee

vincenzosi

From the tour of hope website:

Guess that's about as good as it gets...

Guest

Cool. And while we're at it, are there other cycling causes out there? While it's nice to donate to the Tour of Hope, there may be other cycling foundations out there who unfortunately don't have the high visibility of Lance's name to help them with raising money. It would be nice to see if there are other causes we can give money to where it's really needed... But I do like the Tour of Hope thing though. 100% donated to research- that's what all charities should be about.

Koffee

Richard W

Definatly - and a very good cause.

Richard W

There are a lot of sport related charities who donate to athletes who have a disibility, and I would like to donate to these too. Probably best to limit it to two charities though because that way they both get a reasonable amount of money...