"Ride 4 Kids" on October 5th in Woodland, CA

I've attached a few snapshots from the "Ride for Kids", which Gene, Tom, Bonnie and I attended yesterday in Woodland. By the end of the day, I clocked a little over 200 miles on my odometer. We all had a great time, though we were the only scooters intermingled with over 300 motorcycles. The line of bikes strethced out for over a mile--very impressive in deed! Tom commented that this event would be a great October ride for our BAMR group next year, when the venue changes to the Solano Community College in Fairfield.

Here are a few snapshots of the four of us yesterday. We wish more of you had joined us, because is was a beatiful day, wonderful ride, but most of all, it was for a very worthy cause.

https://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa145/jfredrik/Ride%20for%20Kids%20-%20Woodland/?albumview=slideshow

See you all soon!

All:

CaptJohn forget to tell you a couple of things:

These events are pretty darn interesting! You actually get to hear from researchers involved in the cause and meet some of the children who are being helped by the program. It's heartwarming and sad and emotional, all at the same time. It's about the easiest charitable donation I've ever given up.

There is a drawing for a motorcycle at the end if you bring enough green. And, you get a great T-Shirt. There were also some neat, black leather motorcycle jackets w/logo on the back but I don't know how you get one of those. I'm afraid to ask because I really liked them and I'd probably have to go out and raise $10,000 all on my own. There were several organized clubs like ours that attend and a couple of them brought in more than $10,000 in donations. They make a contest out of it and everyone benefits.

The ride itself is pretty awesome. A few hundred motorcycles, police motor escort, free pass through stop signs and stop lights. People on the streets stop and wave.

On the Pleasanton ride earlier this year, I got to ride through parts of that area I had never seen. It was really beautiful! Same for Sunday's ride out of Woodland, over through the Capay valley. We traveled through the kind of country where the trees line both sides of the road and provide an all enclosing canopy. That is my favorite kind of ride. I was thinking as we rode along that our group should plan a ride up through that area. Traffic was minimal and the scenery was fantastic and there are small towns along the way. It was like the delta ride of yore.

Next year, they are combining all of the Northern California ride into one ride out of Solano JC in Fairfield AND, it's through the NAPA VALLEY! Everyone should plan to attend. It would also be nice if our club collected a scooter load of donations from friends, family and coworkers. I'd be this group could rustle up something that would make us all proud.

Tom:

Having ridden in so many of the "Ride for Kids" events, I forgot the beauty of the event, which you were able to convey through your fresh eyes. If an individual or couple raises $5,000 or more, you'll be awarded the leather jacket(s) which you described. I just missed winning a pair of them in Pleasanton by $1,200. this year; but Louise and I were awarded a pair of beautiful denim jackets for bringing in the amount of money we did raise.

I was lucky enough to win the motorcycle in 2007 on the San Francisco ride in Pleasanton. Because the event only raised a little over $40,000 the previous year (2006), the motorcycle awarded was a Honda Rebel 250. Joe Fazio (who I think Gene, Tom & Bonnie have met) won the Honda Rebel in Pleasanton this year. It's my understanding that if your event brings in over $250,000., the motorcycle awarded is a Honda VTX 1800, and if the contributions total over $500,000., the lucky winner takes home a new Goldwing. For every $300 in donations you bring-in, you receive 1 ticket toward the drawing for the motorcycle.

As a final note and the reason I'm so passionate about this event is that pediatric brain tumors are the #1 cause of death for children. Leukemia used to be #1, until the success of bone marrow transplants and other advanced treatments relegated Leukemia to #2. There are 9 new cases of pediatric brain tumors dianosed every day, and of those diagnosed 70% of the victims are under the age of 15 years. Of those newly diagnosed cases, 40% of those children will die within 5 years of dianosis. My great niece continues in the fight of her life, two years after being diagnosed with a brain tumor.

I hope many of you will join us for the "Ride for Kids" next year at the Solano Community College, but whatever your personal decision about the ride is next year, I know that I'll be there. And, I'll continue to attend those rides until a cure is found or I'm incapable of riding OR driving anymore.