Coach's Weekly Update - July 16, 2009

I hope everyone is doing well and has been able to get out and enjoy the very nice riding weather we have been having - it was nice to see 80 degrees rather than 90 degrees. This weekend is supposed to be equally as nice.
We don't have a planned ride this weekend, but you should be aiming for about 80 miles. I know a few folks are heading up to Michigan for the Holland Hundred (with JDRF as major beneficiary)http://www.macatawacyclingclub.org/hollandhundred/. If you are interested in going let Dan Baize know.
For those of you who are in town and want to ride, Dawn, Kevin G & I are leaving from the Park Ave Church on 10th St. downtown at 8am. We are riding 80 miles, but you can turn back at any point to get the mileage you want. Just a warning, we will be riding on city streets for the most part and on US40.
Next weekend will be our 90 mile ride, most likely leaving from the Giest area at about 7:30am, so be prepared. We will also have a Wednesday night ride.

A brief note about fundraising... If you are going to Vermont or Montana you should be well on your way. If you are heading to Death Valley then it is probably time to get started. There are many different fund raising methods, the easiest and most effective as well as most popular is letter or email writing. When I started doing the JDRF rides 9 years ago I sent out letters with a self-addressed envelope because the donations were all done by check. When they started having on-line donations I switched to email and I have to say that there are folks that never donated before that do now because of the ease of just going to the link and clicking a few buttons. I do still send a few letters though to folks that I don't have email addresses for or who I know would prefer a letter. Here are a few other hints:

• Think broadly about who to send letters or emails to. You will be surprised who will donate and who had a connection to diabetes. Your eye doctor, your college buddy, your work collegue, your neighbor, don't cross any off.
• Make your letter personal, talk about your training and talk about your youth ambassador.
• Send a follow up email thanking those who have donated and reminding those that haven't that they still can (I'm always surprised by the folks that think they have run out of time). Be sure to fill them in on your training (the commitment you are making).

If you are have any concerns about fundraising let Stacey know and she can put you in contact directly with some folks who have tried other fund raising ideas.

Good luck with fundraising and I'll see you out on the road!

Coach Alex