The title was going to have something to do with "our sponsors" but some of these organizations aren't really sponsors in the traditional sense. However, they are all good people and deserve accolades. We're thankful that somehow our orbits have crossed at some point.
Road ID is one. Why do we like Road ID? For one, I approached them with an unconventional way of doing a fundraiser. While they normally do sponsor many fundraiser/charity events, ours didn't quite fit their program. Road ID saw the value in it and agreed to help us. Granted, their contribution to our fundraising activities isn't any different than the usual for them. But they took the time to listen and said "OK, here you go." The second reason we like Road ID is that when you purchase a product from them you have the option to have a portion of the proceeds from your purchase go to a charity and Wounded Warrior Project is one of those charities. Excellent! And thirdly, Road ID is just a darn good product.
Westerville Bike Shop is a great place to get new bicycle our get any repairs done on your bike. If you are in the Westerville or northern Columbus, OH area this is the place to go. One of the two best places I know of to have any work performed on your bike.
Another bike shop we dig is Cyclist Connection in Canal Winchester, OH. Ric and his crew have always treated us really well. They also host a plethora of activities so you certainly won't get bored (I've always wanted to use the word "plethora" in a sentence). If your looking for a bike shop in the southern Columbus/SE Ohio area, you can't go wrong with Cyclist Connection. Great people, great service. Good times. Also the other best place I know for having work performed on your bike.
I have to mention Cap City Cross. We're having a blast in our first year of racing. The Cap City Cross group is a great group of people working hard to put on some fun, challenging races in Central Ohio. When I approached Cap City Cross with our idea of racing to raise funds for Wounded Warrior Project, not only did they say "heck yeah!" but they gave us the opportunity to make the Dec. 5th race at Smith Farms a fundraiser for Wounded Warrior Project as well. And did I mention the fun? Rad Dogs? (Oh, that's good food right there!) Cheering other racers on, heckling your friends? That's good stuff right there.
When I first had the crazy idea to actually put together a fund raising cyclocross race team, I approached the guys at Cyclocross Magazine about it. I turned to them only to get a gauge of how far off kilter I was; after all Cyclocross Magazine is run by people who have had a lot of time and experience in cyclocross. They are THE print mag for cyclocross as well as one of the premier website for all things cyclocross. Not only did they encourage me to pursue this (raising funds by racing bikes) but they also said "Write it up! Get some photos!" Wow, that was encouraging. The result is HERE. Thank you to Cyclocross Magazine.
Once all this was getting put in to motion I realized I was going to need some help. So I turned to shel-shok. Shel-shok helped get the words together in the right order as well as point me in the right direction. Shel-shok provides consultations to provide creative, strategic and interactive solutions to business and marketing problems. Their help has been immeasurable.
Ryan Stubenrauch has been very instrumental as of late, not only by letting us use his photos for our article in Cyclocross Magazine and our blog, but by bringing our message to a new audience. I am glad to have met Ryan and am tremendously grateful. I am also very grateful I don't have to race directly against him - he'd leave me way behind.
Lastly for today, if you're looking to take your bicycle riding off road check out Airborne Bicycles. The name has been around before but this group is looking to not only revive that legacy, but to improve upon it. Airborne Bicycles has a great line of mountain bikes to suit whatever your needs may be. I'm looking toward great products from this Ohio-based company.
That's it for now, but that's not all the people we like or have helped us out. More to come soon. No, really. I mean it! Yeah, honest!
Thanks for reading.
Wow, you really have some great support around you.
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