Last week Monday tornadoes tore through Suffolk (as well as other places). Miraculously no one was killed. Property damage was high though. Suffolk is a very important city to my team. Our bike shop sponsor, All About Bikes has a Suffolk location, we have teammates who live in Suffolk and a teammate who is a Suffolk firefighter. But even beyond that the city of Suffolk is a huge supporter of bike racing. This is a city that actually approaches promoters and request races to be held in their city. The VBW Smackdown will be a yearly event. The Dismal Dash has been around for many years and I was in the works to set up a road race in Suffolk prior to the storm hitting (the road race may need to be put off till next year because the city officials are a little too busy with clean up efforts). Anyway the Virginia Beach Wheelmen and All About Bikes Racing teams are teaming up and organizing a fund raiser ride in Suffolk. Here is what we have so far:
- Saturday morning May 17th an 8 am start
- I believe Governor's Point will be the starting location
- 40 mile and 25 mile loops
- Aid stations set up for both loops to use
- Police escort will be available (Suffolk police are too busy so Portsmouth will come out to help).
We still have things to figure out. We don't yet know how we will collect money. All money collected will be donated to the Suffolk branch of the American Red Cross. They have been instrumental in the relief effort, especially since Suffolk has been denied Federal Aid. This is still in the planning stage, we just want to everyone to mark there calendar. Most clubs do there training rides on Saturday (no race this day on the VCA calendar) so we are just asking for the groups to relocate for a day.
Think about this: Suffolk has some beautiful roads to ride on. We can show that community that supporting cycling pays off. This is another chance for cyclist to band together like we typically do.
So plan on this ride and let me know if you have any questions. I'll keep you posted as we get more details.
Thanks.
Pictured above: Not the actual tornado nor is it what the ride will look like.
Pictured above: Actual damage.
2 comments:
Suffolk is a great town and will recover from this. I am a Red Cross volunteer who spent much of the first two days after the tornado responding to the disaster. In terms of the fact the Federal Aid being denied to Suffolk - that is a very GOOD thing. FEMA is not allowed to duplicate efforts that insurance companies provide...meaning that almost all of the homeowners affected have insurance already. These homeowners will be able to rebuild with State Farm, USAA and Allstate (et al) leading the way...at the same time, I was part of a SF to DC cross-country bike tour in 1998 and didn't realize that Suffolk was bike friendly...good for them and I wish those good people the best of luck in their recovery. Suffolk has been around for 400 years or so - nothing is going to keep them from holding their head high.
This is a great idea. I'm sure Tripower will be out there.
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