Ride With Us!

We have finished our second day of riding, and are back in Portland. We might not be able to update this as frequently as we'd like, so we invite you to follow us on the team's site: www.lvsride.com/social.

You'll be able to read updates, receive Twitter feeds and check out the incredible videos (like the one below) that are constantly being filmed and edited by our talented filmmaker who has joined us for the ride.

Thanks for your support!

Greetings from Portland, Oregon!

Hello from the west coast! The ride officially begins in a few days, and we're excited to spend this week meeting fellow riders, grabbing some extra gear and practicing riding in a large group. For more updates on the ride as whole, including other riders, check out LVsRide's official blog: www.lvsride.com/social.

See you on the road!

Why We're Riding...

We're 22 days and less than $1,000 from taking off from Astoria, Oregon toward Long Branch, New Jersey. We'll cycle over 3,400 miles, sleeping on gym floors and camping in some remote areas of the U.S. We were never avid cyclists before, so why are we doing this?

Lasallian Volunteers, past and present, inspire us to keep training, and will continue to serve as our motivation during the ride this summer. This is why:

Does this sound like something you can get behind? Click here and JOIN US! You can support our efforts by coming along on the ride, or by becoming a virtual supporter. Every dollar counts... and we are so close!

Halfway Checkpoint

We did it! We successfully completed the Cherry Blossom 10-miler! We found that we weren't entirely successful at multi-tasking our training. Splitting our training between cycling and running meant that we weren't training as well as we'd hoped for either. Nonetheless, we finished the race and had a pretty good time. The blossoms were in full bloom, and the sun came out to warm things up; It was gorgeous!

An amazing family member even made us T-shirts so we could spread the word about the ride as we ran:

With the race out of the way, we are looking at approximately 10 more weeks of training before we dip our back tires in the Pacific Ocean and head east for 3,400 miles. It's time to get serious. We're trying to spend some time on the bikes every day now, even if it's only a short ride. With warmer weather and more hours of daylight, biking to work has become a solid option.

It's also time for us to get more serious about the real goal of our cross country adventure: fundraising. We're pitching a new idea to friends and family:


Each rider’s goal is to raise $3,400 ($1 for every mile). Larger donors will cover our operating costs and in-kind gifts, so that every penny that the riders raise will go directly to supporting volunteers. We will be cycling from Oregon to New Jersey for 50 days this summer (which are broken up with rest days and opportunities for community service with Lasallian communities). If we can raise $68 for each of those days that we are cycling across the country, we will meet our goal. That also means that if we can find 50 people to sponsor us for $68, we will have met our goal.


So here's our humble plea...
We believe that education is key to breaking the cycle of poverty in the U.S. The Lasallian Volunteer Program trains, supports and places teachers in communities of great need. Please help us help them, and consider donating to LVsRide. Can you spare $68 to sponsor one day, or $34 for half of a day? Do you know someone who can?


If you know of others - family, friends, businesses, potential sponsors - please spread the word. In the meantime, stay tuned for more posts about longer rides and pertinent information as our training kicks it up a notch!

Trivia Night

While the weather has kept us out of the saddle for the better part of this week, we've been much more active on the fundraising front.

In addition to individual fundraising efforts, there are a few big events in the works. The first one took place this past Wednesday - Trivia Night at Solly's Tavern on the U Street Corridor in Washington, DC. Solly's regularly hosts Trivia Nights on Wednesdays, and will often work with a non-profit to coordinate a portion of the night's bar proceeds going to the group. In exchange, the organization agrees to coordinate snacks, raffle items and assist with the scorekeeping. Solly himself serves as the trivia emcee.

Our event was immensely successful - from the funds raised to the fun had by both regular customers and LVsRide supporters! If you're looking for a fun and easy-to-run fundraiser, we highly recommend connecting with Solly!

Note: We wanted to link to Solly's website for your convenience, but found that they don't have one. You'll just have to trust us and show up! Click here for directions and reviews.

Day One...

This week is the first of our 21-week training for the biggest physical challenge of our lives thus far. In June, we will embark on an incredible journey across the U.S. by bicycle to raise funds and awareness for the Lasallian Volunteers (www.lasallianvolunteers.org), and join in the efforts to break the cycle of poverty in America (www.lvsride.com). We have the bikes; We have the basic gear, and a few ideas for training routes and regimens. All that stands between us and our starting point in Astoria, Oregon is our fundraising goal: $1 for every mile each of us will ride ($3,400 per rider).


This blog will document our preparation for departure, and everything that comes after - our motivations, goals, gear, lessons learned and the unexpected. We welcome your comments, questions, suggestions and advice. This will certainly be a growing and learning experience for us, and we hope you can glean something useful (or at least interesting) from it as well.


Until next post...
CXC (Coasting Cross Country)