Friday, October 24, 2008

Wheels North: Help medical research and (maybe) win a Richard Sachs frame

Wheels North is a bicycle adventure led by Eric Norris that is recreating the epic 1909 adventure of two young bicyclists, from Santa Rosa, California, to Seattle, Washington. Aside from an epic cycle adventure, Eric & crew are raising money for Histiocytosis research.

This description is from the Hystiocytosis Association of America:

Histiocytosis is a rare blood disease that is caused by an excess of white blood cells called histiocytes. The histiocytes cluster together and can attack the skin, bones, lung, liver, spleen, gums, ears, eyes, and/or the central nervous system. The disease can range from limited involvement that spontaneously regresses to progressive multiorgan involvement that can be chronic and debilitating. In some cases, the disease can be life-threatening.
About the frame you have a 1 in 100 chance of winning
Richard Sachs has been building bicycle frames since 1972, working entirely by hand in his Connecticut workshop (see his work at www.richardsachs.com). He has such a rabid following that his wait list for a frame is SIX years.

If you don't already own a Richard Sachs, this auction may be your last chance to order a frame. Richard stopped taking orders from new customers in August, but held a spot open for this auction. But more importantly, your $100 donation will go toward research for Histiocyctosis.

Proceeds from the raffle benefit the Histiocytosis Association of America and the Wheels North fundraising ride. For more info: www.histio.org and www.wheelsnorth.org

You can buy your raffle ticket here.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Rawland getting picked up by local dealer?

JimG sent me a link today to the blog of Marin County-based Black Mountain Cycles:

"There were two booths at [Interbike] that had bikes I place in the category of "bikes-I-didn't-design-but-would-like-to-own." The first is the new Salsa Fargo. The second were the bikes from Rawland... Thinking about why I like the bikes from these two brands, I see that they both have something in common: fat tires and drop bars. The combination doesn't get any better."

I can't say that I disagree... want to read it all?

Morning at the gym