You are responsible to make your own flight.

Men’s Trip

Each cross country cyclist needs to be in S. Diego by Thursday evening June 13. It would be preferable to book your ticket on JetBlue, Virgin America, or Alaska Airlines as they charge much less for bringing bikes on the plane.

If you are joining for a weekly segment, please fly in to the city where Bike 4 Friendship will be spending the weekend and join up with the group there. Please be in touch with me a few days before the trip to get an address.

Women’s Trip

Each cross country cyclist needs to be in Miami by Thursday evening June 27. You can fly into FLL or MIA. It would be preferable to book your ticket on JetBlue or Air Tran as they charge much less for bringing bikes on the plane.

If you are joining for a weekly segment, please fly in to the city where Bike 4 Friendship will be spending the weekend and join up with the group there. Please be in touch with me a few days before the trip to get an address.

Fundraising

Congratulations on Bike 4 Friendship reaching $30,000 raised. You are amazing! Keep it up. If anyone needs help with a strategy, please email Mendel@FriendshipCircle.com

Keep up to date

For any cyclist which has registered in the past weeks, please make sure to keep up to date with all the Bike 4 Friendship emails by visiting Bike4Friendship.org/updates. You will be able to gain access to fundraising material  the training plan, and other important info.

Important Message

We will be sending out the Bike 4 Friendship Rider Manual this Friday. It includes, information regarding purchasing your tickets, tips on traveling with your bicycle, a packing + gear list, and more. Meanwhile, feel free to email me or call me with any questions.

]]> http://bike4friendship.org/2013/04/22/email/feed/ 0 http://bike4friendship.org/2013/04/22/want-to-feel-good-training-plan-email-4/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=want-to-feel-good-training-plan-email-4 http://bike4friendship.org/2013/04/22/want-to-feel-good-training-plan-email-4/#comments Mon, 22 Apr 2013 19:48:12 +0000 admin http://friendshipcircleinternational.com/bike/?p=3822  

Start Fundraising

Now is the time to get started on your fundraising. After the first five donations are made through your page, you will start feeling good about the fundraising and the momentum will continue growing. Feel free to email me to schedule a time to discuss your fundraising strategy.

Training Plan

Below is a link to the training plan with a letter from Coach Chaim. The official training plan starts 12 weeks before the trip, which is this Sunday for the men. Please get in touch with Coach Chaim regarding how to make up for lost rides on Pesach by emailing him at Chaim @trichai.com.

Thank you for being a part of Bike 4 Friendship.

Bike4Friendship Training Program (1)

Coaches Letter

We would like to wish you a happy and Kosher Pesach. Thank you for being a part of Bike 4 Friendship.

]]> http://bike4friendship.org/2013/04/09/happy-and-kosher-pesach-email-5/feed/ 0 http://bike4friendship.org/2013/04/09/meet-the-coach-email-3/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=meet-the-coach-email-3 http://bike4friendship.org/2013/04/09/meet-the-coach-email-3/#comments Tue, 09 Apr 2013 15:50:08 +0000 admin http://friendshipcircleinternational.com/bike/?p=3818 Meet The Coach

Meet Coach Chaim Backman, an expert coach, who will be helping all Bike 4 Friendship cyclists get ready for the trip. Coach Chaim has worked with countless runners, cyclists, and tri-athletes to help them cross the finish line in whatever event they were participating in. Recently Coach Chaim helped 41 runners cross the finish line of the Miami Full and Half Marathon. You can reach Coach Chaim at Chaim@trichai.com.

Keeping In Touch

You should have received an invite to the Bike 4 Friendship Google Group. This a great place to post training rides, questions, and advice. Instructions on how to participate in the group will be in the invite email.

Thank you for being a part of Bike 4 Friendship.

There is a new way to login to your fundraising headquarters. Visit Bike4Friendship.org/login, and enter your username and password.

If you need any help with your fundraising headquarters, or would like to discuss fundraising strategy, please get in touch.

Thank you for being on board.

P.S. Remember, you can keep up to date with the weekly email by visiting this blog.

Thank you for being a part of Bike 4 Friendship.  We look forward to spending an amazing summer with you cycling across the country, visiting Friendship Circle chapters, and spreading awareness for children with special needs.

We will be sending you updates about the trip on a weekly basis which will include training updates from Coach Chaim, fundraising strategies, and tidbits about the trip this summer.

Fundraising

Purim is a great time to begin your fundraising. People are in a generous mood, and will readily agree to partner with you in your exciting challenge. Some of the riders are even dressing up like cyclists to get into the spirit.

To help you, click on any link below to download fundraising materials:

• Fundraising Letter

• Flyer About Friendship Circle

• Bike 4 Friendship Donation Form

Please be sure to personalize your fundraising page in your HQ, because people would much rather support a face ober an avatar.  The more personalization, the better.

Blog

You will be able to keep up with all the email updates on this blog.

Happy Purim, and thank you for being on board!

Cyclists are notoriously snobby. And competitive. And somewhat cliquey. They lean precariously over Italian bikes with hard to pronounce names, complain about those slow cruisers in the fast lanes, and reward themselves with espressos at exclusive biker cafes as they compare the minutiae of their speed, cadence, and heart rate. You join a cycling group and you belong. Your group has its own lingo and hand gestures and gear, and when you make it up the hill or fly down the road, you all share that same exhilarating high.

I have done my fair share of laps around the park, completed a few charity century rides, and I own the jerseys and awkward-looking shoes, but I am no “roadie” by any stretch of the imagination. I have never belonged to a cycling club or raced to any finish line, and Bike for Friendship will be my very first long distance bike ride. However, I have seen Friendship Circle in action, and if there is any ride that will turn me into a cyclist, this is the one.

Yes, I am eager to stretch my limits, build endurance, and earn some bragging rights. I may also be somewhat nervous about the training, the commitment and the possibility that maybe, I’ll want to give up. But more importantly, I am excited to be a part of Friendship Circle. I am proud to join a cycling team that will cross the country declaring that every child should belong. I am looking forward to visiting communities where teenage volunteers and their friends with special needs can form a club of sorts; a group that might not have the lingo, the gear, or the competitive spirit, but definitely has that feeling that they are part of something cool, that they belong.

Being a part of Friendship Circle is being an insider. Kinda like a cycling group…but better.

To sponsor Chaya, please visit: http://sponsor.bike4friendship.org/chaya

For more information about the Bike 4 Friendship or to apply for this year’s trip, please visit www.Bike4Friendship.org.

 You can also find us onFacebook at facebook.com/bike4friendship

Aaron D. Neufeld is a true New Yorker. With the exception of his college years, he had rarely, if ever, ventured beyond the state’s borders. So unacquainted was he with Middle America, that “Old McDonald” was the only farmer he’d ever heard of. That all changed after he participated in the annual Bike For Friendship this past summer.

Bike For Friendship is an annual 3,500-mile, cross-country bike ride to raise funds for Friendship Circle International, an organization developed and overseen by the Chabad-Lubavitch Shluchim Office that serves children with special needs and their families, with chapters all over the globe. The organization connects children with special needs with teenage volunteers who offer friendship and run social events and programs. The organization also provides the children’s families with much–needed resources and support. The annual Bike For Friendship fundraiser has brought a tremendous amount of valuable exposure to Friendship Circle.

At one point during the ride, the seven star cyclists participating in the cross-country ride were forced to stop. Yet another biker’s tire had become flat—one of a total of 92 flat tires counted during the 50-day trip. (They also counted 712 roadkill; yes, they kept track!) They were in the middle of the hot Iowan expanse, with acres upon acres of farmland on either side of the road. Seeking shade, the group pulled over to a farm on the side of the road to rest beneath an apple tree.

While a flat tire is a hassle, at least the cyclists were well equipped to handle the problem. Sponsoring the pumps, patches, pedals and other bike parts to keep them going were the CH Cycles bicycle club and the Origin-8 bike parts company, both indigenous Brooklyn businesses. As CH Cycles founder Yoske Strasberg sees it, his organization and the Friendship Circle share one vital mission: taking care of the community’s health.

The farm that the cyclists chose to rest in was not an ordinary farm, though. It belonged to Farmer Kurt, whom they soon met. Instead of chasing the young religious men off his property, the burly 66-year-old farmer surprised the group by giving them farm-fresh food for their journey; he was moved by the noble cause they were cycling for. Laden with bags of tomatoes and freshly laid eggs from Farmer Kurt’s chicken coop, the cyclists soon replaced the damaged tire and continued their ride.

Though the farmer’s food was much appreciated, Friendship Circle had thought of a way to keep the cyclists fed. To keep the nine riders well stocked on protein, carbs and resulting peak performance, Jack’s Gourmet delivered. The Brooklyn-based provisions company served as one of Bike For Friendship’s two official sponsors of foodstuffs, the other being Natural and Kosher, a producer of fine cheeses.

Bikers for Friendship

Many of the bikers, who hailed from across the United States, Australia and Israel, had never been involved with Friendship Circle prior to the bike-a-thon. But as the excitement and enthusiasm increased ahead of the ride, the men began to realize how much their actions were affecting and benefitting others in need.

The ride was not easy. They biked over 200 hours in the blazing heat, up and down mountainous terrain (they clocked 120,000 feet of climbing), and through endless deserts with no other traces of humanity in sight. But the guys urged each other onward and the strongest of bonds were formed.

“It was a huge learning experience for me,” says Shmuly Lazaroff, 24, an American participant who recently served in the Israel Defense Forces. He had heard about Friendship Circle for a long time and felt a connection to it because he has two nephews with special needs. So when he heard about the ride, he jumped at the opportunity to support the cause.

Having previously ridden with professional cyclists while living in Israel, Lazaroff was assigned the position of group leader and lead rider. He led the group through 14 states, from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic. In his words:

I love nature … In Arizona, we saw some train tracks, but it was mostly barren land. New Mexico was slightly greener and we rode alongside huge walls of rock scaling almost 100 feet high. That was the most gorgeous—riding in and next to mountains. We rode uphill for hours, through canyons, at times reaching an elevation of close to 10,000 feet—the view from the top was amazing—and then rode all the way back down with speeds sometimes getting up to 60 miles per hour….

Neufeld says that when the journey would become emotionally and physically draining, he would tell himself, “I can do this; it’s for a good cause. I just need to keep pushing myself.”

Ride Inspires Many

It was this motivation and commitment that drew other riders living along the route to join the seven star cyclists for brief distances, and even led two Chabad Houses along the route to open their very own Friendship Circle chapters. The Five Towns chapter of Friendship Circle was so taken by Bike For Friendship, that the directors there organized a local one-day ride that took place two weeks after the 50-day feat.

“People may have been inspired by us,” says Neufeld, “but we were also inspired by them.” The outpouring of support was constant and invigorated to the group. A key highlight for many of the cyclists was meeting children with special needs and their families at the Friendship Circle chapters they visited.

Mrs. Batsheva Borenstein, the director of the Five Towns Friendship Circle chapter, says that Neufeld—a member of her community—inspired her to host a ride within her community, but she wanted to include the children with special needs and their families. So she arranged an eight-mile Bike For Friendship, after which a carnival was planned where children with special needs and their families enjoyed a day of fun.

“My son attended Friendship Circle Hebrew School two years ago,” says Mrs. C. Popack of the Five Towns. “I think there was a lot of joy and accomplishment for the riders, and especially the children.”

Coming Along for the Ride

Sixty-year-old Marvin Goldman from Denver, Colorado, is a cycling enthusiast. When he heard about the Bike For Friendship from his rabbi, he planned a day-ride in a way that when the team came through Colorado Springs, he was able to join them and bike the 80-plus miles back to his hometown of Denver.

But most of all, Goldman enjoyed getting to know the A-team. Goldman says that special moments like the early morning minyan in Colorado Springs where he was able to say kaddish for his wife who had recently passed away, to the bike trail where he had the opportunity from time to time to chat with the other bikers, enabled him to connect and bond with the other cyclists on a spiritual and emotional level. Inspired by the “fun ride for a great cause,” Golman pledged to join the trip again next year.

Goldman’s planned ride out of Colorado Springs coincided with the tragic shooting that took place at an Aurora, Colorado movie theater the previous night. Instead of putting a damper on the planned ride with the Friendship Circle cyclists, the events of the night before only added to the determination and purpose of Goldman’s ride that day; he biked with the purpose of bringing healing to the lives of the shooting victims as well as light and joy to anyone dealing with life’s hardships and challenges.

It was this purpose, to bring cheer and support to Friendship Circles worldwide, that ultimately drove the seven star cyclists from sea to shining sea.

For more information about the Bike For Friendship of 2012 and to receive notifications about the next annual ride, visit www.Bike4Friendship.org, and find them on Facebook at facebook.com/bike4friendship

Father and son join on the opening day on a tandem bike.

Tandem bike!