The first weekend of every August, Phoenix Bikes holds a "sizzling" century ride to raise money for our youth and community programs and ongoing operations. This year is extra special because (a) the ride falls on my birthday, (b) the ride is virtual so I won't be tied to coordinating activities at the start/finish line, and (c) riders choose their own distances, which is great because I am not at all in 100-mile territory. All that to say, I'll be riding for my first time this year, and I'm pretty pumped.
In honor of turning 38, I'll be riding 38 miles (my longest distance ever) and setting a goal to raise 38 hundred dollars ($3,800). Both of those are stretch goals, but this has been a challenging year for Phoenix Bikes, so--hey--we need a few stretch goals on our side.
For those of you new to Phoenix Bikes, we're a nonprofit community bike shop that teaches teens how to fix bikes and get out riding safely. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a lot of changes our way. Since the end of March, we've revamped our youth mechanics curriculum and piloted an all-virtual class and an outdoor, socially distanced class to keep teaching youth. We've also taken our community programming online with free weekly Zoom classes on everything from fixing brakes to riding safely in a pandemic. Lastly, we've completely shifted our bike shop operations from a walk-in, browse-around kind of place to appointment-only operations to keep our staff and customers safe. I'm super proud of our team, our youth, and our supporters for all of the ways they've adapted to such a crazy season. Now, I want to use this birthday ride to help keep us rolling for the rest of the year!
Thank you in advance for your support. We need it more than ever right now. And nothing would bring me more birthday joy than blowing past this fundraising goal!
Phoenix Bikes Raise + Ride: Sizzling Summer Century
This year's Sizzling Summer Century ride will be a little different than normal, but that's 2020! We're changing our summer ride to make sure everyone stays safe and socially distant, but also that we re-connect this community through the joy of cycling. Your challenge this year is to come up with a ride that challenges you and to raise money to support the mission of Phoenix Bikes. You can ride the full 100 mile century on the Washington and Old Dominion Trail--our typical route--or you can make your neighborhood trails into a race course. Whether it's the most mileage in the smallest area or the longest ride in a single day, we'll be giving out amazing prizes to the individuals or teams with the most creative ride. This summer ride is also a peer-to-peer fundraiser for Phoenix Bikes, and we encourage you to reach out to your friends and family to help fundraise. We're also giving prizes to the most successful fundraisers! Last year, you raised over $27,000 total, so let's try and top that this year. We can't wait to get rolling!
The mission of Phoenix Bikes is harnessing the power of bikes to help youth build passion, purpose, and a place in the community. We are an Arlington nonprofit that uniquely combines youth educational programs with a full-service professional bike shop and retail store. Since our launch, we have had the opportunity to engage thousands of teens, with over 900 earning their own bikes so far. Local youth, ages 12 to 17, are invited to participate in bike refurbishment and retail operations as they contribute to the daily operations of the Phoenix Bikes shop located in South Arlington, VA. Through these experiences, our students are not only given the opportunity to learn technical mechanical skills and put in hard work, but also develop their problem solving abilities and gain self confidence.