Fundraising Update - Last One Before Bike MS 2014!

Hey everyone, we had a nice week of fundraising leading up to Bike MS 2014 on June 28th and 29th. Yup, it's only TWO days away! Detailed update after the jump...

I'll keep this one short and sweet, as I'm about to get on a plane after a week of work travel...then tomorrow morning we head to Logan for the ride. We had a very nice week of fundraising, and I'm now up to $5,996, or 74% of the way to my goal of $8,000. It seemed to be a big week for the ride in general, too - as I've slipped from 7th to 13th in overall fundraising. This is a good thing, as some big fundraisers have stepped up and bought in some good donations just prior to the ride.

I would sure love to cross the $6,000 mark prior to the ride. Fundraising will continue through the month of July, and I feel pretty optimistic that we can hit the $8,000 goal! If you would like to get a donation in before the ride, please hit the "Click to Donate" button on the right hand side of this blog.

We also hit a pretty big milestone this month...we (you and I) have passed the $20,000 lifetime fundraising mark for Bike MS. Lifetime, in my case, means the 2012, 2013, and 2014 rides. I believe we're right around $21,000 in total now. This is really an arbitrary number, but I thought it was worth noting. I think this is fantastic, and this money does so much good. And it sounds like a HUGE amount. To put it in context, though, the top two fundraisers for Bike MS so far this year have bought in over $20,000 EACH!

On a side note, I got the privilege last year to ride with the Bike MS "Tour of Champions" group from the South Central region of the MS Society. The South Central region is based in Houston, TX, and I believe it covers the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, and New Mexico. The Tour of Champions ride is open to folks who raised $25,000 or more for the Bike MS ride in a given year, and they celebrate by taking a trip to a cycling destination in the US. Last year, they rode in Park City, Utah and invited folks from the local chapter to ride with them. I jumped at that opportunity, and that is where I met Salt Lake City rider Chris Bias, who joined Team WinCo this year and is our top fundraiser to-date at over $8,000.

Tour of Champions, Park City, Utah, 2013

Meeting Chris was great, and that alone made the trip worthwhile. I also made some new friends and met and talked with some of the officers from this very large chapter of the MS Society. Nice folks all. I did enjoy my "home field advantage" riding the mountains around Park City, where I was pretty accustomed to the climbing and altitude.

Tour of Champions, Park City, Day One

It was very inspiring to ride with all of these top fundraisers, and it certainly gives me something to aspire to. But for now, I'm very proud to have exceeded the $20,000 lifetime fundraising level, and grateful to all of you for making that happen.

That's it for now! My next post will be a recap of the ride, and I can't wait to let you all know how it went!