Hi Gang,
The following is the text of a promotion that was sent around locally here to gain pledges for a ride my best cycling buddy, Mark Hopper, and I will be attempting in a mere few hours. This isn't a plea for pledges from you folks, but I thought that I would copy everyone here as a reminder of the bigger picture beyond our hobby and how we can combine the activities that we so enjoy for the benefit of others and our society in general:
ATTITUDE TEST
Answer this simple question with the one that best sums up your reaction from the selection below.
Your best cycling buddy invites you to join him on a bicycle ride from Toronto to Boston
(the original document has a highlighted map from Toronto to Boston here)
You tell him:
A. I don't even like Clam Chowder, why would I want to go to Boston?
B. Tell ya what, you ride I'll fly. See you there!
C. Sounds like fun, how many weeks holiday should I book?
D. Great idea! Let me see if I can get Friday afternoon off work, and we'll go for the weekend.
If your hobby is Ultra-Marathon long distance cycling, naturally your answer would be D.
Except Mark Hopper and Larry Strung are not really going to ride from Toronto to Boston for the weekend. It will just seem like it when we Face the challenge of riding 1000km on training rollers during the Toronto Bicycle Show for the benefit of the
Multiple Sclerosis Society Charity
(The original document has a picture of Mark and I on rollers here)
Hi, my name is Larry Strung and beside me is my close friend and cycling buddy Mark Hopper. We are amateur cyclists who have participated and completed numerous significant cycling endurance events together. These have included the 1200km Paris- Brest-Paris in 1999, and the 710km Raid Pyrenees last September.
Athletes tend to be a rather focused lot who set high goals for themselves in order to satisfy a strong inner need to succeed. When the time comes to reflect on our responsibility to give something back to our society, it is only natural that we would devote a similar amount of effort to a substantial goal. For Mark and myself, this involves using the tools that we are most familiar with our bicycles and setting a target high enough that we may in fact fail to achieve it.
Regarding our selection of the MS Society as our charity of choice, Mark's wife Taryn has the Chronic Progressive form of Multiple Sclerosis and is now confined to a constant- care home. I have watched from the periphery over the past 10 years as this disease stole the freedom and mobility from this young woman, and have understood the difficulties that Mark and his son Andrew have to contend with every day.
I am honored to join Mark on this year's 1000km Challenge. Won't you join us by offering your donation to this worthy cause?
Thank you,
Larry Strung