Riding bikes for charity

[XsaintsneversurrenderX]

Hey, I've wanted to go on a bike tour for a couple years now, just basically riding around wherever I want for a month or so, and recently a friend said he wanted to join me. We were both talking about it and were wondering if there was any way we could raise money for charity along with it. The basic goal is to ride across northern Ohio along Lake Erie, through Buffalo and Syracuse, then across to Portland, Maine, then head down through Boston, NYC, Philly, DC, then head home. The total trip would be around 2500+ miles, and at 100+ miles a day with break days that would equal around a month. This is very possible considering we're both tall, thin, and in pretty good shape and we both have nice bikes, however we're wondering how we could tie everything together. Maybe do something like 1 cent per mile, or .5 cents, so it would be $12.50-$25? I really have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to setting up stuff like this (the charity part), so any input would be great. And please refrain from saying things like, "that's too far." I've biked a lot, and I know my limitations

[MrSpall]

Don't know much about setting it up for charity but I've got an idea for you. If you know any teachers, how about setting something up with them?

Go into the class and talk to the kids about your plan, have them follow along with your progress (calling in a few times a week so they can plot your progress on a map). Maybe collect a little cultural memorabilia from the places you visit, so you can bring back and show the kids (look kids - we went to Baltimore and found the corked bat factory Sammy Sosa uses, here's a picture!)

It'd teach the kids about map skills. Adding up your daily mileage is a story problem come to life. You could talk about how long it took to go 100 miles that day and have them calculate average speed. Let's not forget the social studies impact of sharing with them your experiences biking around the northeast portion of the country. It'd be a way better story than anything they can get in a textbook.

If you need, I've got a good friend that teaches elementary school. I bet he'd love to work with you on this. It'd be a great project.

[XsaintsneversurrenderX]

Man, that's a really great idea, I never thought about that. Both my parents are teachers so that works out really well, too. Let me talk it over with my friend and i'll get back to you. Only problem I can see is that we probably wouldn't be starting this trip until mid-May, so schools would be wrapping up around then.