Ride2Survive 2011

It's that time of year again. Hubby's been training since Feb - riding in the rain and the cold. In 6 short weeks, all that training will pay off when he packs up his cycling gear and joins more than a hundred cyclists and volunteers on their way up to Kelowna for another year of Ride2Survive. Cyclists will ride from Kelowna to Delta in one day - that's 400 kms, 13,000 ft of climbing (2 mountain summits!) in one gruelling 18 hour day, all to raise money for cancer research.

Last year, you helped us raise $2365 through our raffle/auctions and we'd like your help to beat that number this year. We've got some great prizes lined up.

An awesome (if I do say so myself) pooling scarf knit out of non-scratchy Socks That Rock:


A really cool hat also knit out of Socks That Rock in Mustang Sally:


A custom pair of hand knit socks kit from my yarn stash (Wollmeise is a definite possibility :). Check out the pair that I knit for last year's winner:


And here are the yarny prizes:

2 skeins of Sweet Fiber Yarns 100% Merino Sock:


A skein of Wollmeise 80/20 Twin in Baba Jaga:


A skein of Tofutsies:


2 skeins of Panda Cotton:


2 skeins of Louet KidLin:


A skein of Fleece Artist Suri Blue:


A skein of Dyed in the Wool Handmade Fingering Sock:


A skein of Dream in Color Smooshy in the limited edition colorway Bubble Haze:


And last but not least, a skein of my very own handspun:


This was spun on my newest wheel. It's 87g of heavy fingering for a total of approx. 258 yds. It was spun from an Aurelia Topknot, which is a blend of New Zealand wools.

Do you see anything that you like? If yes, then hop on over to the Canadian Cancer Society's donation page (credit cards accepted) and make a donation. Every $5 CDN donated gets you an entry for the yarny prizes. Every $25 CDN donated gets you an entry for the scarf, hat, and socks prizes (awarded separately) and qualifies for the yarn raffle, too. Hubby is notified of every donation so be sure to provide your email address when you donate so that we can reach you if you win a prize.

All donations $25 CDN and over will be issued an official tax receipt (I believe it is only usable by Canadian taxpayers). ETA: The Canadian Cancer Society is a registered US charity (number 98-600124) so the receipt is valid in the US, too. Know that 100% of your donation goes to the Canadian Cancer Society's research programs. Even the credit card fees aren't deducted from your donation amount. The entire ride is covered by the riders, volunteers, and generous sponsors.

The raffle starts today and runs til midnight PDT Sat June 4th. We'll do a random draw on the 5th and notify the winners shortly afterwards. As usual, the first person drawn will get first choice, the second person gets to choose next, and so on.

We will also be auctioning off one and possibly two of Gladys' woven scarves so keep your eyes peeled for the details.

There is one more favour that we ask of you. When the riders are climbing that last hill heading home, battling a vicious headwind, or heads down to keep the snow (it's a possibility) from blinding them, they look down and are reminded of who they are riding for. Written on their legs are the names of the people that have been touched by cancer - a husband, wife, son, daughter, mother, father, cousin, co-worker, friend, and the list goes on... It is a tradition that started with the very first ride 6 years ago.

If there is someone who you would like hubby to ride for, please include their name in the "Company Name" field of your donation. We will make sure every name gets written on his legs and at 6'4", he's got a lot of leg real estate.

If you'd like to read about last year's ride, check out the links on the left sidebar. We were lucky enough to do some live blogging and we plan on doing it again this year.

Thank you for your generous support in helping us find a cure for this horrible disease.