Greetings Everyone,

Since many people in the U.S. are about to be or currently being hit by a winter storm, what better time to curl up to your favorite cycling newsletter and find out more about how you could spend a glorious summer week surrounded by loving friends and family.

We have a lot going on this year, some things we’ll share in this newsletter and some we’ll save for upcoming newsletters. So go ahead, keep reading . . .

2013 EVENT

The 2013 event is from Burlington, VT to Portland, ME. It will be held from Monday, August 12 to Friday, August 16, 2013. Onsite registration will take place on Sunday, August 11 at our host hotel, which will be the Sheraton Burlington Hotel.

If you haven’t already registered, the burning question is, “why not ?”

You know where you want to be in August . . .

REGISTRATION UPDATE FOR 2013

As of February 21st, the registration are as follows:
34 brave & courageous riders and 12 absolutely awesome crew.

If you would like these adjectives to be applied to you, go ahead and register !!

DONATION UPDATE FOR 2013

As of February 21st, we have over $3,000 in donations for the 2013 event. This is approximately the same as last year at this time. If you haven’t started your fundraising, consider sending out some quick notes now and get the process rolling.

SHORTER ROUTE FOR 2013

We are working on shortening the route for 2013. The goal is approximately 400 miles over 5 days, compared to 425-435 miles as in past years. Keep reading for more details.

A NEW DAY 1

We have some exciting news about Day 1, since we have made some pretty significant changes. We will no longer loop around Lake Champlain and come through the islands to get to the Black Bear Inn. We will still go North out of Burlington but will then snake our way through some beautiful terrain headed East and close to the Canadian border before heading down to the Black Bear Inn. Mark and David mapped (and drove) this route on Wednesday and it looks really good (imagine how it will look without snow).

There should be plenty of shade, much less crosswinds, and there is even a patch of the route where we may get onto the Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail (Google it, it’s pretty cool). It’s even about 7-8 miles shorter !!

For those of you, like me, who loved eating lunch at Hero’s Welcome, the new route doesn’t go through that area so our lunch spot will be different. But stay tuned, we may have found a lunch spot that will rival Hero’s Welcome . . .

CHANGES TO DAY 4

We are also looking at making changes to Day 4. We think we’ll be able to shave 9-10 miles off the route without having to sacrifice safety or our coveted lunch spot at the Yankee Smokehouse. More details to follow in the next newsletter.

T-SHIRTS FOR QUILTS

We have 2 volunteers who are looking for Charity Treks T-shirts from past years to convert into beautiful quilts that will be auctioned off in Portland. If you have any that you are willing to donate, please contact David via e-mail (david [at] charitytreks [dot] org) and he will send you the address(es) to send them out to.

This is a great way to generate funds for our beneficiaries, so please consider this as a way to fundraise. Thanks in advance for your help.

HOST HOTEL INFO

We have confirmed hotel rates with our host hotels. Please mention Charity Treks when booking your reservations. We have room blocks reserved for us at each hotel. Below is the hotel info.

Sheraton Burlington Hotel & Conference Center
870 Williston Road
Burlington, VT 05403
802-865-6600
$145.00 per night + 10% tax = $159.50

Holiday Inn By the Bay
88 Spring Street
Portland, ME 04101
207-775-2311 or 800-345-5050
$185.00 per night + 7% tax = $197.95

Hello Everyone,

As everyone is probably in full swing for the holiday season, this will be a short and sweet newsletter with just the basics and a quick update. We’ll return to our usual, long-winded selves in the New Year.

Merry Christmas to all, joy and prosperity, and hug the ones you love.

2013 EVENT

The 2013 event is from Burlington, VT to Portland, ME. It will be held from Monday, August 12 to Friday, August 16, 2013. Onsite registration will take place on Sunday, August 11 at our host hotel, which will be the Sheraton Burlington Hotel.

If you need a unique Christmas gift to give this year, consider paying someone’s registration fee and giving them a Charity Treks Gift Certificate. It’s a great way to have someone you care about accompany you on the ride to find out the mystique behind the Charity Treks family.

You can e-mail David for more details on this.

REGISTRATION UPDATE FOR 2013

The registration numbers, as of today, for the 2013 event are as follows:
19 riders & 7 crew. Feel free to add to these numbers by registering !!

WEBSITE IS UPDATED

We have continued to update our website after feedback that some of the content referred to previous events. We will continue to work on it so that it is a valuable source of information for our current and potential riders and crew.

FORMS / FLYERS / ETC.

Same goes for the forms, flyers and other marketing material. We will have some new flyers in the new year that we will post to the website so that we can get the word out about the event.

ROUTE UPDATE

We are planning some route changes this year, particularly for Day One in Vermont leading into the Black Bear Inn.

Mark, David and Quinn are planning a mapping trip sometime in February 2013 to scope out the terrain. As the dates for the trip are finalized, we will communicate them in case some of the locals would like to come out and meet us (for breakfast, or supper).

Hello Everyone,

In less than 18 days, many of us will be gathered in Burlington, VT for onsite registration for this year’s event. With all the work done by the many volunteers, it promises to be another “once in a lifetime” experience.

For those of you who haven’t started training yet, I would suggest NOW would be a good time. You can read this newsletter when you get back from your training ride.

This will be the final newsletter before the event. It is a bit more detailed than usual, to make sure we cover everything. If you have any questions AFTER reading the newsletter, you can send an e-mail to david@charitytreks.org.

2012 EVENT

The 2012 event is from Burlington, VT to Portland, ME. It will be held from Monday, August 13 to Friday, August 17, 2012. Onsite registration will take place on Sunday, August 12 at our host hotel, which will be the Sheraton Burlington Hotel.

If you are planning to attend but have not yet registered (and we know there are a few of you), please take the time to register now at www.charitytreks.org.

This will help us for the planning and accommodations on the ride.

HOST HOTELS

We no longer have rooms blocks with our host hotels (they expire 30 days before the event). However, the Sheraton will honor the Charity Treks rate, if you ask for it when making your reservation. The Holiday Inn By The Bay in Portland is completely sold out, so there aren’t any rooms available there.

If you have issues with accommodations, e-mail david@charitytreks.org and he’ll try to work something out, after chastising you for waiting so long to register.

Sheraton Burlington Hotel & Conference Center
870 Williston Road
Burlington, VT 05403
802-865-6600
$142.00 per night + 10% tax = $156.20

Holiday Inn By the Bay
88 Spring Street
Portland, ME 04101
207-775-2311 or 800-345-5050
$178.00 per night + 7% tax = $190.46

DONATION UPDATE

We are currently at $26,000 in funds raised for the event. If you have donations with you, please do not mail them in. Instead, bring them with you and there will be someone you can give them to at registration.

Fundraising for the event will not officially close until October, so if you have donors who give after the event, they will be able to donate online or directly to you.

REGISTRATION UPDATE FOR 2012

The registration number are as follows: 50 riders & 40 crew. We are still expecting a few more rider registrations as well.

We predict that this is the year we will hit the $1 million mark in cumulative funds raised, so current registrants will have bragging rights that they were part of the event when it happened.

BIKE & GEAR TRANSPORT / PICK-UP

Once again this year, there will be a bike & gear drop-off in the DC area for interested riders. Your bike & gear will be driven to Burlington on the gear truck and driven back after the event, all for the exceptionally reasonable price of $75.00.

The drop-off point is Elaina & Bert’s house. For details and directions, e-mail Elaina at elaina@charitytreks.org.

Drop-off times are as follows (may be subject to change):
Sun. Aug. 5: 3 – 8 pm
Mon. Aug. 6: 6 – 8 pm
Tue Aug. 7: 6 – 8 pm
Wed. Aug 8: Not Available
Thu. Aug. 9: 3 – 6 pm

The gear truck will be leaving at 7 pm sharp from Elaina & Bert’s house for Burlington.

Return to D.C.
For the return of gear and bikes to D.C., you have the option of bringing your bike and gear to the gear truck behind the hotel immediately after the event (between 3 – 5 pm on Friday), or on Saturday morning between 8 – 9 am. The bikes and gear will be available for pick-up at Elaina’s as of Tuesday evening.

SCHEDULE FOR ONSITE REGISTRATION

Onsite registration (Day 0) will take place between 2 – 5 pm. Please remember to bring your completed medical and release forms with you to registration. You will confirm your presence, drop-off any donations you have with you and collect your event T-shirt.

As part of registration, there is a one-on-one review with our medical team, then a short safety discussion to review event safety and rules of the road.

At 5 pm, there is an ice cream social, featuring Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, so you have the opportunity to meet some of the people you will be spending the week with.

The crew meeting will take place at 4 pm. If you have signed up as crew, please be sure to attend this meeting.

You are free to do as you please in the evening, and there is usually a small contingent of people who make their way down to the waterfront in Burlington for a nice dinner before the event begins.

Ride out on Monday morning from the Sheraton Burlington will be between 7:15 and 7:30 am.

VEHICLES

If you are planning on bringing a vehicle and using it in your work as crew or handing it over to the crew members to use on the ride, please e-mail Mark (mark@charitytreks.org) and give him the information on your vehicle. It is very important we know all the vehicles in advance to be sure that there is sufficient crew to get them from camp to camp and on to Portland.

If you don’t register your vehicle, it may get left behind.

Below is the information needed for each vehicle:
– Your name
– Vehicle make, model and year
– Insurance Card / Information and Valid Registration must be in the vehicle
– Manual or automatic transmission (automatic is preferred for crew vehicles)
– Bike Rack: Yes or NO. If Yes, for how many bikes

Please keep in mind that if you provide your vehicle for crew, you cannot use the vehicle as your own personal rolling warehouse. Do not store anything you want instant access to in the vehicle. We cannot guarantee that your vehicle will be at camp when you arrive. All of your gear needs to go on the gear truck. We can guarantee that the gear truck will be in camp when you arrive; crew vehicles may need to be out assisting riders who remain on the route.

DRESS IN RED DAY / RED DRESS DAY

We have looked at the route and taken feedback from people and think that the most appropriate day for Dress-in-Red-Day would be Day 3, which is the shortest day of the event and ends at Camp Woodlawn (Rosanne’s house for repeat riders).

For new riders, Dress-in-Red-Day is simply 1 day of the event where riders wear something red in order to call attention to AIDS and/or honor or commemorate a loved one we have lost. It is not a mandatory activity, just part of the experience of the event.

NEW THIS YEAR: HOSPITALITY CAMPER

On Thursday evening at Camp 4 (Naples Campground), there will be a hospitality camper hosted by Marcia Root and Bill Hock, who tested their concept informally last year with great results. They promise snack food, goodies and other assorted instruments of good cheer. Please be sure to stop in and say Hello to them.

SCHEDULE FOR CLOSING CEREMONY – FRIDAY, AUGUST 17

By 1 pm on Friday, all riders will be assembled at Payson Park in Portland, ME, which serves as the holding area prior to group ride-out. Event volunteers will give riders the signal to leave Payson Park for the group ride-out at approximately 1:30 pm. Riders will cycle to Deering Oaks Park (approx. 2.5 miles) and will arrive between 1:45 – 2:00 pm. Closing ceremonies will be from 2-3 pm at Deering Oaks Park Stage (near fountain).

After closing, participants are free to make their way to the hotel (Holiday Inn By The Bay) to check-in and relax & prepare for the celebratory dinner at 6 pm at 51 Wharf restaurant in downtown Portland, ME (cost of dinner not provided by event).

CELEBRATORY DINNER INFO (Menu & Sign-Up)

There will be fixed menu pricing for the celebratory dinner at 51 Wharf restaurant. At registration, you will be asked to choose your meal and reserve meals for other people who may be joining you for dinner.

There will be more details available at registration but please keep in mind that we will ask you to reserve the quantity and dinner selection in advance so the restaurant can prepare for our arrival. The entire restaurant is reserved for Charity Treks.

Note: The cost of this dinner is NOT included as part of the event.

FAMOUS (OR INFAMOUS) CHARITY TREKS AUCTION

At the Friday night dinner, we will be holding our annual Charity Treks auction, with all proceeds going to our beneficiaries. Past articles of interest were a plastic spatula used to cook meals during the event, autographed jerseys, a slab of concrete from a washed-out road and beautiful handmade quilts. The items, as well as the auction itself, are difficult to describe and not to be missed !!

LINK TO UCLA ARTICLE ABOUT CHARITY TREKS

At the request of many, here is the link to the article about Charity Treks that appeared in the UCLA Insider:

http://aidsinstitute.ucla.edu/workfiles/publications/insider-Winter2012.pdf

Click the link, or copy and paste it into your browser and it will download the Winter 2012 Edition of the UCLA Insider; Charity Treks is featured on pages 22 – 27.

There will be a representative from UCLA at our closing ceremony.

WHAT TO PACK LIST

Here is a detailed list of what to bring / pack for the event. This list is probably more than what most people need, but serves as a great checklist.

The crew will be loading and unloading the gear truck every day of the event. Please do not pack more than 40 pounds per bag. We do not limit the number of bags a person can bring. Crew would rather handle 3 40-lb. bags than 1 120-lb. body bag.

If your bag is too heavy, you may be asked to load and unload it from the gear truck yourself. Also, you will need to bring your bags to the gear truck every morning, so less weight per bag makes it easier on you.

As a final note, please remove batteries from any battery operated device and pack them separately (to avoid vibrating bag syndrome & being teased relentlessly).

What To Pack List
Bike !! (If you are riding)
Helmet
Picture ID (or Passport)
Spare tubes
Bike repair kit
Water bottles
Bikes shorts, jerseys, gloves, socks – enough for 5 days
Shoes / cleats
Windbreaker / lightweight jacket – mornings can be cool
Arm / leg warmers – again, mornings can be cool
Rain jacket – not that we will need this
Sunscreen
Sunglasses
Anti-chafing lube of choice
Tent
Sleeping bag
Sleeping pad or air mattress
Pillow
Headlamp / flashlight
Camp clothing (T-shirts, shorts, warmer attire if one tends to be chilly)
Sleepwear
Flip-flops / camp shoes / shower shoes
Any personal medication needed
Lip balm
Insect repellent
Washcloth
Toothpaste / toothbrush
Shampoo / body wash
Lotion
Baby powder – to help ease chafing
Deodorant
Hair ties
Razor
Earplugs – for sleeping
Camera
Alarm clock
Zip-lock bags to pack each day’s ride clothing
Quarters – for showers @ Quechee

Clothing for Portland dinner
Packed separately from ride clothes to eliminate “stinkage”

Hello Everyone,

In less than 36 days, many of us will be reunited in Burlington for this year’s event. We are in the final planning stages and are looking forward to seeing you. Since we are only 5 weeks away and there’s a lot of information to share, let’s get right to it.

2012 Event

The 2012 event is from Burlington, VT to Portland, ME. It will be held from Monday, August 13 to Friday, August 17, 2012. Onsite registration will take place on Sunday, August 12 at our host hotel, which will be the Sheraton Burlington Hotel.

If you are planning to attend but have not yet registered (and we know there are a few of you), please take the time to register now at www.charitytreks.org.

This will help us for the planning and accommodations on the ride.

Host Hotels

Our host hotels have blocks of rooms reserved for us.

However, our blocks of rooms will be released at the end of next week (on July 12th).

The hotels are sold out for our dates, so if you don’t reserve your room before July 12, there will be no room.

After registering for the event, please make your reservations for hotels and don’t forget to mention Charity Treks when making your reservations in order to get the rates quoted below.

Sheraton Burlington Hotel & Conference Center
870 Williston Road
Burlington, VT 05403
802-865-6600
$142.00 per night + 10% tax = $156.20

Holiday Inn By the Bay
88 Spring Street
Portland, ME 04101
207-775-2311 or 800-345-5050
$178.00 per night + 7% tax = $190.46

Bike / Gear Transport / Pick-Up

Once again this year, there will be a bike & gear drop-off in the DC area for interested riders. Your bike & gear will be driven to Burlington on the gear truck and driven back after the event, all for the exceptionally reasonable price of $75.00.

The drop-off point is Elaina & Bert’s house. For details and directions, e-mail Elaina at elaina@charitytreks.org.

Drop-off times are as follows (may be subject to change):
Sun. Aug. 5: 3 – 8 pm
Mon. Aug. 6: 6 – 8 pm
Tue Aug. 7: 6 – 8 pm
Wed. Aug 8: Not Available
Thu. Aug. 9: 3 – 6 pm

The gear truck will be leaving at 7 pm sharp from Elaina & Bert’s house for Burlington.

Schedule for Onsite Registration

Onsite registration (Day 0) will take place between 2 – 5 pm. Please remember to bring your printed medical forms with you to registration. There will be a short safety discussion once you have registered, and an ice cream social after registration so you have the opportunity to meet some of the people you will be spending the week with.

The crew meeting will take place at 4 pm. If you have signed up as crew, please be sure to attend this meeting.

You are free to do as you please in the evening, and there is usually a small contingent who make their way down to the waterfront in Burlington for a nice dinner before the event begins.

Ride out on Monday morning will be at 7:30 am.

Donation Update

We have raised over $16,000 so far for the event. Remember to keep up the fundraising efforts, and let people know when you are leaving for the event and encourage them to visit the website.

If you have checks that you have been given by donors, you will be able to hand them off at registration. We expect to surpass $1 million of cumulative funds raised this year, and look forward to making the official announcement.

Registration Update for 2012

The latest registration update numbers: 44 riders and 23 crew.

For those of you who attended last year’s event and got the know the crew from NCCC, we are pleased to announce that another crew of 8-9 NCCC volunteers will be joining us again this year.

Hello Everyone,

As proof positive that time flies, here’s your reminder: in less than 9 weeks, we will be in Day 2 of the 2012 event. The route will be slightly different, the weather will be great (if past history holds true) and your Charity treks family will be happy to see you. What more could you ask for !!

If you haven’t signed up yet for the event but are planning to attend, please take the time to register online. This allows us more time for planning so we can produce another memory-filled event.

2012 Event

The 2012 event is from Burlington, VT to Portland, ME. It will be held from Monday, August 13 to Friday, August 17, 2012. Onsite registration will take place on Sunday, August 12 at our host hotel, which will be the Sheraton Burlington Hotel.

You can now register online now via our website at www.charitytreks.org.

Host Hotels

Our host hotels have blocks of rooms reserved for us. However, our blocks of rooms will be released at the end of June. The hotel is sold out for our date, so if you don’t reserve your room before June, there will be no room.

After registering for the event, please make your reservations for hotels and don’t forget to mention Charity Treks when making your reservations in order to get the rates quoted below.

Sheraton Burlington Hotel & Conference Center
870 Williston Road
Burlington, VT 05403
802-865-6600
$142.00 per night + 10% tax = $156.20

Holiday Inn By the Bay
88 Spring Street
Portland, ME 04101
207-775-2311 or 800-345-5050
$178.00 per night + 7% tax = $190.46

Camp Updates

For those of you paying attention, you will notice that I am repeating this section of the newsletter (Camp Updates). I got so many questions about camps, even though all this information was in the last newsletter, so I thought a repeat was necessary.

CAMP 1: the Black Bear Inn in Bolton, VT. We are thrilled to back again this year, as we got nothing but positive comments from riders last year. You can check out their website at http://www.blkbearinn.com/.
PRINCESS OPTION: None (this is it).

CAMP 2: Quechee State Park in Quechee, VT. A very nice campground that we have used since our inception, only 5 minutes from Quechee Gorge.
PRINCESS OPTION: Quality Inn across the street from campground (http://www.qualityinn.com/hotel-quechee-vermont-VT014).

CAMP 3: Camp Woodlawn in Tilton, NH, also known as Rosanne Buck’s house. Rosanne is a longtime Charity Trekker and has graciously offered the use of her property (and pool!) for the evening.
PRINCESS OPTION: Nearby hotels (in Tilton) include Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Super 8 (use Google for links).

CAMP 4: Naples Campground in Naples, ME. We have stayed here for quite a few years, and the owners and hosts, Conrad and Pam, have always done their best to make us feel welcome. We are glad to be back again this year. You can check out their website at http://www.naplescampground.com/.
PRINCESS OPTION: Augustus Bove House (http://naplesmaine.com/)

Donation Update

We look forward to announcing that we’ve officially surpassed $1 million of cumulative funds raised, but that’ll have to wait for another day. For now, we have raised $8200.00 so far for the 2012 event. This is about $2,000 more than we had at this time last year, so keep up the fundraising.

Registration Update for 2012

The latest greatest registration update is as follows: 37 riders and 21 crew.

There are only 61 days until onsite registration in Burlington !!

If you haven’t signed up but plan on attending, please take a moment to register. You’ll feel better once you do and we can include you in our planning.

Remember, this is the year where we will top the $1 million mark in total funds raised and you want to be a part of that.

Mapping Trip, June 12-17

A hardworking, dedicated team of Charity Treks volunteers will be completing a mapping / training ride this week to check out the roads and continue to make improvements to the route. We will try to send / upload some pictures of the festivities (to Facebook), but no guarantees.

Jersey Design

I know that we promised a preview of this year’s jersey in the next newsletter, but what we really meant was the next newsletter, after this one.