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