"Wheels North TV"

Warren's first Wheels North video! We'll have a bunch of video cameras out on the ride--watch for daily videos as we ride to Seattle.

SOMA Blog

Wheels North is featured on the SOMA blog. Check it out: http://www.somafab.blogspot.com/

SOMA's parent company has donated $1,000 worth of tires for our riders.

Thank You to Merry Sales!

May 28--A box full of tires from the Merry Sales Company arrived today. We'll be using them on the ride when those inevitable tire problems come up (Vic and Ray had to have new tires mailed to them in 1909!).

Wheels North thanks Merry Sales for their generosity.

Remembering Steve Larsen

Wheels North riders Warren Jones and Jim Pavlichek (photo left) were among the many friends of Steve Larsen who gathered in Davis, CA, to mourn Steve's untimely death.

Steve, a world-class athlete and former Davis resident, died suddenly last week at age 39. You can help support his family and learn more about him here.

Knuckling Down

Here's what it would look like if we all got knuckle tattoos ... Guess we need a shorter name, or more fingers.

Training Ride to Glenn and Colusa Counties

Four Wheels North riders set off for the back country of Glenn and Colusa counties to scout out part of Day Two of the ride. Here's a video montage:

And here are photos: Click here

Tomorrow: Day two of our training weekend, in Napa and Lake counties.

Richard Sachs Raffle Drawing!

The winner of the Richard Sachs raffle drawing was chosen today: Nick Zatezalo of Dunwoody, GA, will have a Richard Sachs frameset custom-made for him. Here's a video of the drawing:

Congratulations to Nick!

Jerseys!

We have a final design for the Wheels North jerseys that will be worn by our riders!

The design features Vic and Ray, the original Wheels North riders, in a photo taken moments before starting their 1909 ride. Our Wheels North sponsors are featured on the back.

Training for Wheels North

Several Wheels North riders--Willie, Peter, Mojo, and Eric--used yesterday's Davis Double as an opportunity to train for Wheels North. Everything was there: heat, distance, and terrain.

Here's a video we made of events on the ride:

Davis Double Report

We're 90 miles into the Davis Double. The big climb is next!

-- Post From My iPhone

Sachs Raffle Closes--$10,000 in Tickets Sold

A major fundraiser for Wheels North and the Histiocytosis Association ended just minutes ago with the last of 100 raffle tickets being sold for a custom-made Richard Sachs frameset. The sale of raffle tickets grossed $10,000 for the Histio Association!

Thank you to Richard Sachs for helping make this raffle possible!

Sella Anatomica Saddles

Our shipment of saddles from sponsor Sella Anatomica arrived today. Here's one of them, ready for use in a double century ride next weekend.

Four Wheels North riders will be using Sella Anatomica saddles on the ride. Watch for their reports!


-- Post From My iPhone

Donate with PayPal

We've added PayPal as an option when using our online donation pages. Donate securely without providing your credit card info!

The Wheels North online donation page is HERE. To donate to a rider, use the Search function to find their fundraising page.

Welcome a New WN Rider

We have a new Wheels North rider: Warren Jones will joining us for the ride to Seattle. Check out the Riders page at Wheels North for more info and (coming soon) a link to Warren's online fundraising page.

With Warren, we now have 12 riders signed up for the trip to Seattle. One more rider is seriously considering it ...

Why We Ride

An email arrived today that I wanted to share. This is why we ride.

Good Morning,

My name is L_____ M_____ and I have luckily tripped across your fundraiser as I was doing research late one night. My beautiful 5 yr old daughter, has recently been diagnosed with Eosinophilic Granuloma/Histiocytosis and just finished her first round of radiation after 2 vertebra collapsed. She is multi-focal, with lesions in other parts of her skeletal system, but doing well with the help of an amazing doctor. I am finding out that there is so much that we don’t know about this disease and because of that her future will be full of tests and treatment. And yet we feel like the lucky ones- there are many other children out there fighting this same disease with much tougher situations. What a wonderful thing you and your organization are doing to help them!! Thank you so very much!

I have always wanted to ride the Seattle to Portland ride- but as a mother of 6- I haven’t figured out the training schedule yet. So this ride is not an option for me - but I am wondering if you are looking for volunteers. I have a large family and many friends who would love to help support if there are things we could help with on this end. If nothing else- I would love to bring my family to the UW to welcome you in.

But again, thank you so much for the insight, the planning and the vision! We are so grateful!

Much gratitude,

L.M.

Sella Anatomica Joins Wheels North

Saddle maker Sella Anatomica has joined Wheels North as a sponsor! They'll be providing saddles for some of our riders, who will doing a 1,000-mile road test.

Sella Anatomica makes a unique line of saddles featuring the company's patented flex slot. More info is available here.

Thank you to Sella Anatomica for helping make our ride a success!

Two Months to Go!

The start of Wheels North is just two months away! On July 4, 2009, we'll be standing astride our bicycles in Santa Rosa just as Vic and Ray did 100 years ago. And as it did for them, Seattle will beckon to us with the promise of fun and adventure.

With ride day approaching, the Wheels North riders of 2009 are busy training and raising funds. We're also continuing to work on arrangements for the ride--the lodging, transport, and publicity that will be needed to make the event successful and fun.

One thing we're working on now is our support crew. We'll be fortunate in having several veteran support workers from the Big Fix--they will help make sure that the needs of our riders are met.

We're also ordering the limited-edition Wheels North jerseys--watch this blog to see the official design.