Ride for Jack

I had signed up for the Ride for Jack, and planned to do the the 100 but offered it to Tresa since she wasn't doing the RTCC this year.   A 100km in Caledon was going to be much tougher than 100km along the pancake flat RTCC route along the lakeshore.  Also this year is much warmer than last year.

But the ride is very well organized and its cause is something well worth riding for and volunteering for.  The quota for riding is nowhere near the RTCC one. It's exactly 10x less.  Which is so doable.  The RTCC of $2500 is very stressful to raise.  Unless you start 1 year prior, and remind people all the time.  It's a big challenge for most.  And if you cannot meet it then you have to fork over the remainder of the minimum.  Which is for a great cause, but tough to swallow.

But the RTCC generates a huge amount of money.  As in $21M.  

This organization is in it's 4th year and is hoping to get $1.2M.

I did volunteer for this event.  I helped pack all the swag bags.  I didn't realize that I was working directly with Jack's dad.  I didn't know who anyone was.
This is the 4th year for this event and they continue to grow in size and money raised.  They told me that the ride itself accounts for more than 1/3 of the money raised for the year.
All the swag stuff is donated by the sponsors, so 100% of the donations goes to the charity.

If you don't know what the Ride for Jack is.  The ride is about Eric and Sandra passion for cycling and it's also a platform for raising awareness of mental health illness of our kids today.
Jack.Org came about because Eric and Sandra's son Jack suffered from mental health illness and it wasn't something that was well known or talked about.  In 2010 half way through Jack's 1st year at Queens University he took his own life.

I found out about it because of a fellow cyclist from my club.  I didn't know what it was until I looked at the site.  It's nice to have goals that contribute to a cause.  Especially a cause a great as this.

Ride for Jack - TK50

Tresa hadn't done enough riding to feel comfortable riding the 100.  And I'm glad there were 2 pitstops for the 50 because it was hot!  And the hills here might be short but they are steep and there are many of them.  50km of Hills is pretty awesome!