(1) THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU everyone! Holy cats, you all totally busted our Insane Charity Bike Ride record, and the Army of Dorkness raised more than $17,000 for the Fair Share coalition’s Partner Shares program! That’s going to help a whole heck of a lot of low-income families get good food, to say nothing of the farmers it supports!
(2) Just to reinforce how important you guys are to this wonderful local charity, the Army of Dorkness accounted for just about 40% of the donations to Bike the Barns. Way to go, you wonderful people, you!
(3) The ride (this past Sunday) went well. Here are some pics (or it didn’t happen).
(4) I think I just managed to squeeze in enough training to do the ride without too many aches and pains. The last hill was awful, bit it was a glorious ride and a glorious day, and I enjoyed almost every minute of it. Anyway, you can’t get those magnificent downhills without peddling the up-hills, first. Well, OK. You can, if you get a lift, I suppose. Ummm…nevermind.
(5) SURPRIE SURPRISE! The 2016 Insane Bike Ride Charity Postcard is DONE, and off to the printers! There’s still a chance to get some swag, you know – pop over to my Bike the Barns 2016 pledge page (though I’m not sure when they’ll take it offline, so hurry, if you’d like to help a great charity, and also get THIS collectible brute I mean “beaut”!)
(6) THANK YOUS! (“No, thank YOUSE!”): these charity rides wouldn’t be the success they are, without the help of a ton of great folks. First off, Steve Jackson Games, for supporting the ride with swag, bookmarks, and great patience (and also for the duck and tentacles. They are, frankly, monsters). Also to Neil Gaiman, Patrick Rothfuss, Steve Jackson, and a whole slew of wondrous limerick writers. None of the swag would get printed up or sent out, most likely, without the help of Business Manager Alex Aulisi, and Fulfillment Guru Extraordinaire David Michael. And having my wife (the Lovely and Talented Judith) and Daughter (Age 7) be there for me, at the end of the ride, is always the greatest support I could wish for.
Now to get that swag finished, and start planning for next year!
Oh, yeah. Almost forgot:
I hate that duck.