$40G's a nice round number

   Okay, I'm all registered for the 2011 NCACycle, the blog is finally up, the tandem is purchased, and there's already some $$$ in my fundraising account (Thanks, you two!)  Let's see...I've raised $125 so far, leaving me $39875 dollars left to raise and...46 weeks to raise it in.  That comes out to an average of $866.85/week between now and next May.  Zoinks!
   Joaquin's Big Fundraising Plan is also starting to come together. So far I've got four different strategies for raising hunks of that $40G - $10G in donations from individuals; $10G in donor matching from local businesses and philanthropists to match the $10G from individuals; $10G in a series of slammin' fundraising events in Winter and Spring 2011; and then the final $10G using some combination of luck, divine intervention, the teeth-and-dimples, and finding out that, yes, it is possible to find the end of a rainbow and, yes, there is a little leprechaun there who wants to share her pot of gold with me. Admittedly, the plan needs a little work, but that's what I've got so far.
  I've got two businesses and an anonymous philanthropist all set for donor matching in the months of June/July, August, and September.  Thanks Davis Wheelworks and CustomerLink!  I'm hopeful that I can find folks to donor match for the other 7 months before the NCACycle.  Also, Beth at B&L Bike Shop is donating a cruiser bike to raffle off to jumpstart the fundraising.  I'm hoping to have a ton of other stuff available to motivate and reward donors along the way. So stay tuned and feel free to donate early, late, and often!
   At this point, there are all sorts of popular sayings that come to mind about long journeys starting with a single step or eating elephants one bite at a time or birds in the hand versus them being in the bush, but right now what comes to my mind is: "WTF were you thinking when you said $40G?!?!?!"  Reminds me of my favorite scene in Cool Hand Luke:

DRAGLINE: Why'd you have to say fifty [eggs]? Why not thirty five or thirty nine?
LUKE: Fifty's a nice round number.

  I'm sure I'll have more to think and write about that over the next year or so as I start whittling away at my goal.  I hope to explore that as well as what it is about bicycle riding, HIV/AIDS advocacy, taking on huge projects, tandem riding, etc. that are so attractive and compelling to me.  And maybe inspire readers to get involved and/or donate by clicking on one of the links at the bottom of the blog. So stay tuned and thanks for reading!