John Henry Days 2008
Ryan Leech...
"The Dreaded 150" by Hoots Jay...
A Kids Festival...
Industry Trade Show...
Demo Bikes...
All Freeeeeee...
JOHN HENRY DAYS is back for a 16th time!
Saturday, May 10th, 2008 John Henry Days brings it back for a 16th time and this year we introduce a SRAM inspired, Hootie designed and pinned, dual stunt race called "The Dreaded 150."
Two courses of skinnies, obstacles and stunts each 150 feet long. You want to join in then get your name on the list and drop your $5 for the NSMBA. 100 riders will challenge the course to get down to our final 32 riders and then ultimately our finalist. Prizes, swag, and the right to say, "I am the champion of the Dreaded 150."
Sign up by calling Willie at 604-986-5534...NOW! first come first serve.
Once your done wiping the course clean 8 industry teamers will take the stage and vie for the team championship. Let the games begin.
And Everything is on SALE from MAY 8, 9, 10, and 11.
Labels: bicycle festival, Jay Hoots, John Henry Bikes, John Henry Days, sale, The Dreaded 150
Cyclebetes 2008: Wrap Up
Over $67,000 raised and still the pledges keep coming!
This event has had quite an evolution and after this first year I think it has quite a future as well. So much accomplished and so much we learned.
For three years now John Henry Bikes has held a 24 hour spin in our store. It had been a great fundraiser but it needed to go bigger. Plus my body was beginning to revolt as it had only ever been me riding! Stupid really...
Over the time we had held this spin Ian Kennedy, my friend and fellow John Henry racer, had threatened to join my on the podium pounding out the kilometres. It had been about five years we had known each other and slowly Ian had taken his obsession for white water kayaking and replaced it with cycling. We got on really well because we both came from team sports back grounds and were both really trying to hold onto the glory years!
Well as the year progressed and Ian caught wind that John Henry had sponsored a few crazy guys, including myself, for a race across Canada in aid of Juvenile Diabetes the ground work was set. You see, Ian is a Vice Principal at Rockridge Secondary School and Juvenile Diabetes touches a lot of his students. He proposed we get together and do a spin-a-thon for JDRF. John Henry Bikes was up for it but we had a few things that between Ian and I we wanted to make sure were addressed before it was official.
- It needed to be run by the youth for the youth
- It needed to involve as many people as possible rather than be elitist or just me and him
- Anybody could be involved
Quickly we put together a school leadership committee, laid out the idea and the kids began the work of getting this event off the ground. There was lots of work to do but by meeting in October we felt there would be lots of time. We were wrong but it was still just enough...
Alistair, Francesca, Tara, Cam, Max and a whole host of other grade 11 students began trying to fit Cyclebetes organization, promotion and development into their busy lives. It was absolutely a pleasure to see young people actually believing they could be the catalysts to making a difference. You see, normally we see so much apathy and waiting that to have this event run top to bottom, with Ian, John and I as guidance, by the kids was a win we wanted more than even the fund raising. Young people seeing the power is worth way more over the long haul than a few thousand dollars in year one. There just had to be that youth growth and understanding as a positive result through Cyclebetes...and it worked. These guys just made it happen from minute one. Facebook, meetings, art work, blogs, websites, late night emails, class learning, speeches and parental motivation. They did it all and they did it well. It was incredible.
After Christmas we hit over drive. Parent teacher meetings had Ian and his teachers busy already but they still managed to put on a great display and we started to feel some traction. The John Henry Bikes connections started to fill out their teams and we began to feel the influence of our time with Team H2V. People were just excited that the charity and the events were evolving into something they could participate in as well.
Our goals were to get 50 teams and about $50,000 as we had encouraged each team to raise a minimum of $1000. Slowly our teams started to trickle in with most opting for the maximum number of participants, which was 12. As the event unfolded we saw that almost every team lost at least two people and ended up with between 8 and 10 actual participants. Just enough so everyone had a little drama on their team but not so much that thy couldn't fulfill their obligations. The drama added something to talk about for 24 hours and was fun after all was said and done.
As an event we became JDRF's first third party event to try out their new online donation website. While it offered us a great option, it came a little late and had a few hiccups. Nothing we couldn't fight through but everyone, including JDRF, was working with this system for the first time. But it was for charity so everyone worked hard to make it happen and in the end everything came through. Online and off line we just kept seeing the money coming through. Special thanks going to Team Live To Ride, Ross Bonetti's family, who raised a staggering $10,000 [+]!!! Ross's family has a direct connection with Juvenile Diabetes and he really helped get the word out amongst his friends and clients. Each team did their thing though and gathered both bodies and money in a way we weren't expecting.
You know the total already, which at $67,000 blew away our goal of $50,000, but you didn't know that this was from only 35 teams. Absolutely incredible. Over 350 people came together to raise this incredible amount of money for JDRF.
Some event highlights:
- at 4pm on Friday their was complete panic as almost every team was late to start as they scrambled to get their spinners in gear. At 4:10pm every team was looking eyes forward and the emotions were running from elation to the terrified as the realization that 24 hours was indeed a long time.
- hyped up music hit for a few hours as we had West Van's Mayor, the honourable Pam Goldsmith-Jones, do a speech and Rita Thodos from JDRF kick us off.
- On the hour we began trivial pursuit questions to give out prizes and two 12 year olds both won super cycling jerseys from North Shore Athletics, whose team was present and in great spirits. Later that evening two John Henry Bikes jerseys were given away and even two big gift certificates from HBC. Awesome prizes but really they were just gravy as everyone seemed to just be relishing the experience.
- John Henry Bikes had three teams rocking and Jay, our team leader had put in three long hours right off the bat. I think he did the whole first five hours.
- Ian and John both rode in excess of 15 hours each!!!
- At 7pm on Friday we watched Breaking Away, which got rave reviews as the Cutters won the Little 500. Great way to kill a few hours on the pedals.
- Then followed Tour de France videos to music and Star Wars over night.
- We even had a spin class at 2am! Thanks Nick and thanks for the chocolate beans that everyone got all hopped up on.
- At 10pm, 12am and the next day Pizza Hut delivered 60 large pizzas. There was some serious pizza eating all night. Thanks Pizza Hut, you saved us from bonking all through the night.
- Starbucks also rocked us a ton of coffee and treats...and let me tell you, 6am coffee could not come fast enough.
- We had school trustees rolling bike legs during all parts of the evening and even groups sleeping next to their bikes as they rolled through the entire 24 hours.
- Northern Athletic, John Henry Bikes, and Norco were giving out prizes including bottle openers and coffee cups that I think got use during the event itself:)
- There were people of all ages and abilities riding and trying, some just pushing the pedals and others, like team IF White rock - really getting great work outs.
- Team Fast Forward might just be our most inspired team as they all, bar none, made some very positive statement and all agreed to get their fitness going as a result of enjoying themselves so much. Big shout out to these guys. Great job.
- I can't mention all the teams but each and every team was really smiling and making it happen, even during the dog days from 2am to 6am. And really there were a lot of kids, which in itself was what it was all about.
- Teams waned a little through the night but throughout it all the leadership committee stayed the course, managed the teams, the pledges, the registrations and got it all done... even as they got squirlly because of lack of sleep. Great job guys. You did a phenomenal job.
- We had live bands, improv and speeches all 24 hours. Thanks to the band and the improv team. Awesome work.
- The time started to drift away and slowly we realized we were going to crush our goal amount. People got on their cell phones and managed to fire in a few extra dollars as we came down to the wire.
Ian Kennedy deserves a special mention as he put this all together while managing the day to day life of a Vice Principal, which can include fights, detentions, coaching, teaching, administration, adolescent issues and his own family. He is a master, a great role model for our youth and the type of teacher you want your kids to have. John Crowley is of the same mold and a good friend of both Ian and John Henry Bikes. All smiles, all stories. With him behind our event we were sure to succeed. He is another teacher you want to have your kids get the pleasure to be taught by and one of very few that have coached school teams for over 18 years without fail. Both of these guys made this happen and I can't thank them enough for their contribution to the lives of all of us at John Henry Bikes.
All in all another great John Henry event and a huge thank you to Ian Kennedy, John Crowley, The Rockridge leadership team and you guys, for helping, riding and sponsoring your friends.
Next year at least two schools on the same weekend, 100 teams minimum at Rockridge and over $100,000. Get your team together soon!
Thanks all and send us your pictures!
Check out some of the photos we have here.
Labels: bike, Cyclebetes, cycling, fundraising, JDRF, John Henry Bikes, juvenile diabetes, Rockridge, Rockridge Secondary School, spin, spin-a-thon, spinning, Willie Cromack
Canuck Place Adventure Race Reg. Open
The Canuck Place Adventure Challenge registration is now open. Check out the event page of their website and get your team in now.
John Henry Bikes is proud to support this event for the third consecutive year. Sign up now and get involved this summer training to be an Adventure Racer. Look for clinics and lead up events through our event and clinic pages.
Velodrome Love
Great little video to get you fired up to maybe try track riding one day! Anyone can do it but you definitely have to love speed.
Inter River Mega Skills Park
Well it is finally here and the John Henry Crew is very happy to announce that the Inter River Skills Park is rockin' and rideable. With a BMX track and a full skills park for mountain riders this has been an epic effort on the behalf of all involved.
Well we can't give it the full justice it deserves but get all the sweet pics here and keep supporting this park so it continues to evolve into one of North America's finest community cycling projects.
Inter River consists of three modules
Thanks everyone for helping make it happen.
Sick pics of a great project here....
Africa: Live to Ride
You've got to see this crew!
Racing across Africa to raise awareness for clean water. Here is their blog posts where you can follow along and a few words we just received from them.
Hi Willie! Just wanted to drop you a note and thank you and everyone at John Henry for your support. We are having an incredible time. Seen and done so much it feels like we have been gone for months. We are really loving the bikes. They have performed really well. We spent 5 days in the desert of Sudan, riding over some really nasty terrain and sand. They did really well. We even finished before many of the mountain bikers. On the tarmac, they are really fast and handle incredibly well. We were able to do 160 km the other day in under 4 and half hours. [Ed: Check out their incredible new rides here.] We thought you might want to see the John Henry jersey in Africa! :) Hope you enjoy the photos. More to come. We'll be posting them on our website too. Take Care and say hi to all for us. Spiros and Maria
Find a Cyclebetes Team Now
Cyclebetes
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Put your team together now and help us raise money and awareness for the JDRF. Anyone can do this event!!!!
What: a team spin-a-thon by bicycle for 24hrs
Who: teams of every day riders from 1 to 12 members
When: 4pm March 7, 2008 to 4pm March 8, 2008
Where: Rockridge Secondary School in West Vancouver
How much: Each team, to a maximum of 50 teams, is required to raise a minimum of $1000.
Format: using your own bike [or a team members] and your own bicycle spinner [loans available] teams will schedule themselves to ride for a complete 24 hours within the Rockridge Gymnasium. Bands, videos, spin instructors and celebrity MC's will keep the energy up while you ride your guts out. There are no set guidelines for speed or distance that needs to be covered, just time.
Cyclebetes would love to see you bring out a team of friends or a corporate team to help us fulfill our pledge of awareness and fundraising. Partner up with the youth leadership committee of Rockridge Secondary School and their friends at John Henry Bikes to help make this a reality.
Registration forms and pledge forms can be found at the Cyclebetes website [listed just below]. Join up now and help spin for the cure of Juvenile Diabetes.
For more details, sign up sheets and pledge forms check out the website at: http://www.cyclebetes.blogspot.com/
If you have ANY questions please contact me here.
Take the challenge, kick start your own fitness goals, join a great group of young people trying to make a difference in their community, and raise some much needed funds for JDRF.
