So, my brain child for the past few months, Will Bike For Food, has unfortunately been put on hiatus. I have been thinking about and planning this trip since I came up with the idea last November. I am extremely disappointed that something I put so much effort and time towards is not going to happen exactly as I would like, but this isn't the first time and likely won't be the last. What is something worth if there was no struggle to obtain it? In the end, it just wasn't meant to happen this summer for a number of reasons.
1) Not enough riders.
In the beginning, the idea was that there would be about 10-15 riders who would be willing to spend the summer biking across this beautiful country in order to raise money for the hungry and impoverished. However, despite working feverishly to recruit people to join, only 3 riders, myself included, were willing to bike all the way from Poughkeepsie to Portland. A group this small would have been extremely hard pressed to accomplish the goals that we had set out.
2) Not enough support.
From potential donors, potential sponsors, and potential riders. I felt for the most part that I was trying to prop up this idea and project I had despite all kinds of negative circumstances and situations. Businesses were not willing to financially back an endeavor that had such a small following and in such a short time frame. There was definitely something missing with the whole thing. It might have been the lack of ferocity that the original organizers, Jer and I, had towards raising money for the charity.
The initial notion was to organize a x-country bike trip that would benefit a worthy charitable cause. I look back on it and can't help but feel that it would have had a much better chance if the cause was truly something that we were extremely invested in. This is not to say that I don't care about helping those in need, but after hearing about other groups who rode to raise money for cancer or heart disease research, I feel that their impetus was stronger than ours in this regard.
3) No money.
In order for the trip to happen, we needed to have some sort of financial support in the form of corporate sponsorship. I don't have enough $ right now to fund something like this to the extent that I want to take it. This wasn't happening and I don't have the time in my days to devote the time that would be necessary to make it happen.
I am still thinking of scaling down the trip into a tour of Dutchess County that would help to raise money for Dutchess Outreach and their need for a vehicle to pick up donations and make deliveries of life sustaining resources (food, clothing, water, etc...). This type of project would require very little funding while also having the potential to attract support and resources from local businesses. More people would be a
ble to take part in a weekend ride than a 9 week journey. Dutchess County is beautiful and has an active bicycling community. I think that this is a much more realistic project and am going to be exploring the possibilities of putting it together.In closing, this type of trip is not impossible. It does however require a number of motivated people with free time working on making it a success. If nothing else, it was a great learning experience as I was forced to teach myself a lot about fund raising, long distance bicycle touring, corporate sponsorships, local charitable organizations, and a ton of other things. I met and spoke with some incredible people and had my eyes opened to parts of the world, and Poughkeepsie, that I did not know existed.
(completely unrelated, check out the above picture. its a photograph right?)
3 comments:
hey joe, good work trying to put something like this together anyway.
don't be so hard on yourself.
and that dutchess county trip sounds like a good idea. stay up.
"What is something worth if there was no struggle to obtain it?" This sums it up well, I think, and exposes my failures as a co-organizer and co-creator. I know that I went into this really determined, and came out of it apathetic and defeated. Like so many things that I've initially wanted to do, my passion fizzled as soon as shit got tough, dream turned into reality, "months ahead" turned into "months ago." I guess no one and no individual thing can be to blame since there were so many emotional and logistical factors that prevented WBFF from ultimately happening, yet if I were to cite one reason for all of it, on my part, it was that lack of ferocity.
Some people in my life will always say that biking across the country for a charitable cause is a silly idea. Why do something so elaborate just to help people? Why not tone it down a little, start small, like they tell you do in economics class, or whatever (I don't really know this). I just don't know. I think to call this trip silly and excessive is to deny the sense of adventure in all of us. I think sometimes adventure can be silly and excessive, but I don't think these adjectives should ever stop anyone from doing anything they really want to do. I have enough skeptical realists in my life; I don't need to become one myself. And yet, I think in the last month or two that's exactly what I turned into--not only that, but a lazy, sad, unmotivated realist. Maybe this isn't all my fault, but still I wish I could have seen this thing through.
i think it is a drawing.
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