There are 27 million slaves in the world today, many of them children. For kids rescued from slavery, their journey toward independence and healing is arduous. This year, 88bikes honors the heroism of these children by launching a multi-country endowment. In early 2010, 88bikes will travel to Ghana, India, Nepal and Vietnam, endowing orphanages, ashrams, centers and schools sheltering children rescued from human trafficking. The Moment of Happy will occur in January, 2010 at more than a dozen sites throughout the world. 300+ children will receive a bicycle and the training to maintain it.
88bikes is partnering with Free The Slaves and Touch A Life, two non-profit organizations dedicated to the eradication of slavery. A bike is that magical vessel of freedom and fun, the rare tool as useful as it is enjoyable. For these children–as all children–a bike will provide joy, freedom and autonomy. A bike will help each child get to school and explore her world. At certain locations 88bikes will set up on-site bike shops and sponsor in-depth bike repair apprenticeships. Every kid should have a bike!
You can support 88bikes Project4 by making a donation anytime at 88bikes.org. The cost of a bike is 88 dollars and it is totally tax-deductible. As every year, we’ll ask you to submit a photo of yourself, or the person in whose name the bike is donated, to give to your sponsored child, along with the bike. We’ll send you a packet in early 2010 with a picture of your sponsored child on her new bike holding your picture. If you’d like to buy the bike as a gift, you can print out a gift card at 88bikes.org. I am also happy to send along a handwritten 88bikes post card to your friend, introducing her to the project.
As always, 100% of every donation goes directly to the children. We don’t take salaries or keep office space and all project participants are volunteers. Jared and I will personally deliver the bikes to every location. Nick and several volunteers may join us for one or more legs of the journey.
Thanks for supporting 88bikes! As always, please drop me a note (dan@88bikes.org) if you have any questions. I’ll be thrilled to hear from you.
We presented our Spring/Summer ‘10 Pedal Collection at the Interbike tradeshow this past September.
Bike World News recently posted a review of our cycling-specific shoes, bags and socks. Our new Spring/Summer ‘10 pedal styles will be available in January 2010.
Click here to read the Bike World News review of these products.
This week, I tested this messenger-type bag because I had a lot of networking and workshop events, some all day and others at night, that required me to walk around a trade show floor and meet and greet a ton of people while collecting their business cards, giving them mine, taking notes of our meetings and then running to the next meeting or cocktail party where I had to transform into the non-itinerant journalist who would be sipping a glass of Chardonnay at, among other places, the Norwegian Consul General’s residence here in Manhattan.
The Pearl was perfect. When I slung it across my back, I found a zipper compartment — great for pens, business cards and small notebooks — on the left side of the pack (on my back side) but easily accessible while it was still on my back. And, the location prohibited any subway thieves from infiltrating this pocket. Quite an accomplishment. In addition, I stuffed my cell phone into the mesh stretch pocket along the strap, making it also very easy to grab.
A handful of folks from our office went out to a local disc golf course (Pier Park) to check out the new MILO disc golf shoes and to learn about how to play the game. Dave Munk, our in-house expert, shows us just how the game is played…
The following testimony was emailed to us by Jessica Culnane who is the NW Field Marketing Representative for Clif Bar & Company. Jessica went hiking with her dad in the Mt. Baker- Snoqualmine National Forest. They hiked to the top of “The Tooth,” a popular peak (5604′) near Seattle, Washington.
Here is what she had to say . . .
Now that our event season is getting slower, I can finally reach out to you like I’ve been meaning to. I’ve been rockn your shoes all over the place! Thanks again. I wanted to share that I wore the Targhee II that you gave me on a climb this summer and they were phenomenal! I’m pretty critical of gear, especially shoes, and I was quite impressed. We had a 4 hr one way approach full of boulder fields to get to a trad climb we were trying to summit. All the way up there, your Targhee’s kept me on stable and up right and blister free! On the way home, we underestimated our time and were caught lost in the dark. Another pair of climbers were stuck in the same situation and when we ran into each other way out in the boonies at 9pm, I could see we both had the KEEN characteristic reflective back loop. We proceeded to talk about how much we liked our shoes and how they exceeded our expectations.
And a comment from her dad . . .
One more tid-bit: Both of my big toenails are turning black (a precursor to them falling off) due to The Tooth climb in my 3/4 fiberglass shank climbing boots, and you didn’t event get a blister in your KEENs!
Portland is one of the greatest cities for dining out with a wide variety of restaurants scattered around the city. So what does that mean to KEEN? Lots and lots of product testers for the new Professional Series called the PTC (Punch the Clock). Check out the video of KEEN’s newest product testers from Veritable Quandary psyched about getting their new product to put them to action on the restaurant floor!
early 2010, 88bikes will travel to Ghana, India, Nepal and Vietnam, endowing orphanages, ashrams, centers and schools sheltering children rescued from human trafficking. The Moment of Happy will occur in January, 2010 at more than a dozen sites throughout the world. 300+ children will receive a bicycle and the training to maintain it.
![[0408_BWGG_F.jpg]](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_QdgQ5dyDrcM/SvHIFV5m5cI/AAAAAAAAAUs/4u_NUC6YsmQ/s1600/0408_BWGG_F.jpg)
![[Keen-1.jpg]](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_et56icudmjY/SoBPWum27cI/AAAAAAAAAuQ/VD8GTrBdc04/s1600/Keen-1.jpg)
Now that our event season is getting slower, I can finally reach out to you like I’ve been meaning to. I’ve been rockn your shoes all over the place! Thanks again. I wanted to share that I wore the Targhee II that you gave me on a climb this summer and they were phenomenal! I’m pretty critical of gear, especially shoes, and I was quite impressed. We had a 4 hr one way approach full of boulder fields to get to a trad climb we were trying to summit. All the way up there, your Targhee’s kept me on stable and up right and blister free! On the way home, we underestimated our time and were caught lost in the dark. Another pair of climbers were stuck in the same situation and when we ran into each other way out in the boonies at 9pm, I could see we both had the KEEN characteristic reflective back loop. We proceeded to talk about how much we liked our shoes and how they exceeded our expectations.