Road Fixie

I’m really excited about the response so far for the B4H pledges. Thanks to everyone who has signed on to sponsor my ride.  I’m in pre-race mode right now, taking some easy rides, getting pumped and mainly fine tuning the ride (Akamatsu) and myself. Went out this morning for a few Palace laps to gauge warmup time and also take the edge off the hard conditioning we did last week. I’m feeling pretty fit and should be able hit a nice peak for the ride this coming Sunday (race day).  This will really help the B4H efforts here in Tokyo. Our last fundraiser cleared just enough so we could finalize the NPO filings and become an official charity in Japan. We have amazing support by so many great people and are looking forward to serving the community both in Japan and abroad.

Keep it rolling!

Here’s the kit I rode for Sunday’s race. It was pretty chilly so I had 2 underlayers + windbreaking jersey. On the bottom Parantini bib plus Campy knee warmers and Pearl Izumi compression socks.

I’m entered in the Kusatsu Hillclimb event.  This is a 13km moderate TT with a mass start. Everyone is given a timechip and a starting window. I haven’t raced (nor ridden competitively) for more than 20yrs, so this will be quite a challenge personally and I’m sure a bit of deja vu all over again. Luckily this time I am one of the ‘youngest’ entrants in my class (51-60) and therefore feel I have some gain advantage going into this.

My goal is to beat 60min. which is roughly placing in the top 50% of my group. What I’d like to propose is this:

Make a donation pledge to B4H Tokyo. (Bicycles For Humanities) for 1000 yen. And then for every minute I place faster than 60min, pledge an additional 100yen. I’ll list up all the Pledges here and of course results after the race. And in addition, I’ll treat everyone who makes a pledge to a small ‘nomikai’ at a local Izakaya.

OK everyone – so lets see those pledges rolling! I’ll make this a ‘sticky’ post from now until after the event. If you want to pledge then simply email me at ‘kusatsuATroadfixie.com’

One last thing – YES, I will be riding this on a Fixie!

Donation Pledges (Friends of B4H):

1000yen  N. Hori
1000yen A.Eickhoff
1000yen  J. Ferrer
1000yen  B. Buecking
1000yen  C.Sampson
1000yen  M.Fuoti
1000yen  N. VanWouw
1000yen  V.Vorski
1000yen  T. Muraishi
1000yen  B. Stewart
1000yen  A. Shuttleworth
1000yen  E. Yamamoto
1000yen  M. Benner
1000yen  L. Cosh-Ishii
1000yen  R. MacGregor
1000yen  M. Greenberg

Don’t forget the B4H general meeting this Thursday (25th) in Nakano. Its at the Bright Brown pub – easy to find. Bicycles For Humanity is a grass roots project to provide useful transportation to developing countries. I.E. we take unused bikes, donated bikes, parts and ship them to a distribution and training center in a targeted country. The bikes are used to empower the local community, give them a means of transportation to enable commerce, education and medical care.

My riding buddy, Andy, has started a Tokyo chapter of  Bicycles for Humanity. If you want to check this out go here .  The goal is pretty simple. Collect unused bikes, put them in a container, ship them to Africa where they’ll be distributed to those who would clearly benefit by having a greater degree of mobility.

Awesome.

How to participate.

1) Donate money. B4H needs donations to purchase containers, acquire used bikes (pick ups and storage), shipping and buying bike parts and tools to go along with the bikes themselves.

2) Bikes. If you have an unused bike(s) in the greater Tokyo area, then please contact B4H for a pickup.

3) People Power. Volunteers are always welcome!

4) Awareness. Please share this with others.