Fundraising and Bike Fixing

so lets start with the Bike Fixing stuff.


My dad has an old Raleigh Laser 10-Speed road bike. he used it when he was younger. and it has been sitting in the rafters of my garage for the past 10 to 15 years with NO use whatsoever. so he offered it to me to use for the ride. but i had to get it fixed.

The rubber on the tires were so old they were cracked and when i put it on the ground for the first time the tire disintegrated. the tube was flat, and no good. the cables for the brakes and gears were rusted. the seat was hard plastic. so i took it over to Kenmark SUMMER sports (its the same shop as Kenmark Ski and Snowboard shop). I talked to Craig over there, and he helped me out big time. hooked me up with new tires, new tubes, new cables, a new seat, new handle bar grip tape, a bottle cage, a mini air pump, a bell (cause its the law) a helmet, and a pair of bike gloves. and cause it was near the end of the season he had 30% and 40% off of things, and because i am a registered rider for the ride to conquer cancer i got an additional %15 off. SWEET!

he needs a few days on the bike to get everything done that i need done. but he said that by tuesday or wednesday i should be able to pick it up!

i cant wait to get on it and see how it feels. its going to take some getting used to cause i have never ridden a road bike before.




OTHER NEWS!
Amanda came up with a great idea for fundraising. A HOCKEY POOL. each person would donate $20 and once we get the donation we can register your team. we are going to look around the internet for a good online pool system that would give us the freedom we are looking for. (if you have any suggestions let me know, Yahoo fantasy sports is not good for what we want)

also.

we thought of doing POKER NIGHTS. i think instead of a big Movember House Party, we will have people over still, but it will be a poker night as well. that way you have something to look forward to. prizes and stuff will hopefully be available if we can find stuff to give away.


either way, stay posted to the blog for updates on everything related to my ride.

Thanks for the Support
-Larry Daguanno

More Bottles! More Yard Sale Things!

We are getting somewhere now.

Amanda's Best Friend Kristen gave us a few bottles that she had been stock piling. i have yet to cash them in but there is a couple dollars there.

My brother gave me a bunch of bottles from his student house in London. i cashed them in for a surprising $20.60..... :D so happy this bottle drive is coming through.

Tomorrow i am seeing a good friend of mine Andrew Mallon. hes giving me a bunch of empties too cause he has a number of them stockpiled and needs to get rid of them. Mallon is a DJ for a local radio station on Z103.5. check out Mallon's website here http://iplaythemusic.com/ and make sure to tune in to listen to him on Z103.5..... the man is talented!

we are gathering stuff for the yard sale too. we grabbed some free stuffed animals from a craigslist post, my neighbor game me a cordless weed trimmer that he doesn't need anymore, and said that there is a bunch more stuff that he is able to give to me as well.

we also have someone who is moving at the end of sept going to give us a bunch of boxes of stuff when he is sorted through everything. i cant wait to see what kind of stuff we get from him.

in the meantime, we are still looking for some cheap storage..... preferably free. maybe someone has some garage space or a storage unit they aren't fully using at the moment. i only need it untill the beginning of October. if you have something that could help let me know.

This weekend was more about fundraising than training.  I didn't manage to get into the gym like I had planned, but we made some definite progress on the monetary front.  We've been talking to everyone we know about our yard sale, and have started to solicit donations.  I put an ad up on Craigslist asking for donations of junk, and have been contacting posters in the "free" section of the site.  So far, so good! We've also finalized the date for the sale: Saturday, October 2.  We still need to figure out storage - I definitely don't have room for all of this stuff in my tiny bachelor apartment!  I think we're going to talk to a couple local storage facilities; we'll only need the storage for a month, so maybe they can cut us a deal for our charity sale. :)

A friend of ours hosted a "White Trash BBQ" on Saturday night, and donated all of the empties to our bottle drive.  After one party, we've already made $20! Thanks, Laurel!  If we can collect empties at every party between now and June, we'll definitely have a nice little profit to put towards our pledges. 

The headache on Sunday morning was worth it, but it's back to the gym this afternoon.  The agenda?

•  Strength Training: Full Body Circuit
• Cardio: Cross-Training (Treadmill - 40 mins)

We're missing spin class tomorrow night; Larry's taking me to see Rock of Ages!

http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/amandajoy
http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/larryd85

Larry - My First Post

Hey everyone!!

Just thought i would put a post up here to introduce myself to everyone who happens to read this. i am not a very good writer so bear with me.

A little bit about me.
The Name is Larry, I am 24 years old going on 25 before 2010 is through. I listen to rock music and go to a lot of concerts.

Up untill about 1 year ago I had been very lazy, out of shape, and generally unhealthy. It wasnt untill last year when a number people I hold close to my heart had told me to start going to the gym and smartening up about my health.

in the past year i have been able to increase my cardio endurance, and even climb the CN Tower in 25 minutes. I had surprised myself with the CN Tower climb.

The climb acted as a huge motivator for me. I knew I needed to climb those stairs, and I heard that the average person climbs them in about 30 to 45 minutes. I would have been happy with a number within that range. I would have been happy to even finish the climb. Finishing in 25 minutes made me ecstatic.


which brings me to my next "CN Tower Climb" which finds itself in the form of the Ride to Conquer Cancer. I had heard about the ride many times from my favorite announcer from my favorite radio station in Toronto who completed the ride in 2010.

i have a number of reasons I decided to ride 200k in 2011.

• Motivate myself into shape
• for my Grandpa Earl who is a prostate cancer survivor
• for my Grandma Doreen who is a Lymphoma survivor
• for my Great Aunt Angie who passed with Leio Myo Scarcoma
• to find a cure in my lifetime.

I am not worried about completing the ride. I know I can do it, and with training I am confident I will have a good time. I am more concerned with raising money, and being organized enough to have successful fund raising events. we have to raise a COMBINED minimum of $5000..... $2500 each! thats a lot of money.

the first one is the Yard Sale. My Girlfriend, Amanda, has made a post about the yard sale, check it out, let us know if you want to donate anything..... cash or items. any help is greatly appreciated.


also if you feel up to the challenge, join us in the ride. if you do we will help you trian and help you raise enough money as well. we can try to answer questions, and point you in the right direction.

Thanks for the Support
-Larry Daguanno

Yard Sale

I am so excited to get started with fundraising for our 200km bike ride! The event isn't until next June, but I'd like to get a jump on things now so that we're not left scrambling in the spring, when we should be focusing on training.

We already have tons of ideas for generating funds, and I'm looking forward to putting said ideas into motion.

The first fundraiser on our agenda is a big yard sale! We have tentatively scheduled the sale for the end of September, but we will finalize the date once I know the fall schedule for my softball team. The yard sale will be "by donation only"; we aren't going to price anything, which will save us a lot of prep work, and we're asking friends and family to donate any old items that they no longer use.

Hopefully we can really get our funds going with this sale; the ride is ten months away, but I know it will sneak up on us if we don't get started now!

If you have something you'd like to donate to our sale, let us know! Leave us a comment here, or shoot us a message on Facebook.  Thanks so much, guys! :)

First Post!

Thanks for visiting our blog! My boyfriend and I are embarking on a 200km bike ride from Toronto to Niagara Falls, and we need your help! Together, we're hoping to raise a minimum $5000 for cancer research and compassionate care at The Princess Margaret Hospital.

This is going to a be challenging endeavour, but with a consistent training plan and the support of wonderful donors such as yourself, I know we'll be able to do this!

I am riding:

• to challenge myself
• for my Mimi, who died of colon cancer
• for my Grandma, who is a lung cancer survivor
• for Violet, Norma, Angie, Earl & Doreen
• for anyone who has ever been affected by this terrible disease
• to help find a cure within my lifetime

Even the smallest donations will help me to reach my personal goal of $2500.  Thank you so much for your support; we truly appreciate it!


xoxo
Amanda Boismier

P.S. - You can visit my donation page here: http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/amandajoy