Come Meet Us!

To the 2010 Audi Best Buddies Challenge Hyannis Port Community:

Over the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to meet many of you in person. Whether you came to our Captains Night, Kick Off Party, or one of our bike shop visits - THANK YOU for coming out!

It has been truly wonderful to get to know the Audi Best Buddies Challenge community and it has been awesome to put a face to an email address or hear first hand about who you ride in honor of and why this event means so much to you.

For those of you who have not yet been able to make it to one of our events, I would like to extend a special invitation for you to come out and meet this year's Ride Team!

Currently we are hosting most of our outreach events at local bike shops. Warm weather is on it's way (we hope!) and with that comes time for training outdoors! Why not pick up some bike equipment that you need while also grabbing a beer with your Coach? Why not come share your stories from past rides while meeting new riders? Why not come register for the 2010 Audi Best Buddies Challenge or receive training and fund raising advice from your Coach?

We would love to meet you (and your friends, neighbors, and families) so consider stopping by one of our upcoming events:

Thursday, March 11 at Cycle Loft in Burlington @ 7:00

Monday, March 15 at Quad Cycles in Arlington @ 6:30

Tuesday March 16 at Back Bay Bikes in Boston@ 6:00 (Note: The shop will be offering $15 off bike tune ups and a 25% discount on accessories during the event!)

Thursday March 18 at Bicycle Alley in Worcester @ 6:30


We hop to see you soon! Thank You for all that you do on behalf of Best Buddies and for those of you that participate in the Audi Best Buddies Challenge Hearst Castle - your Coaches will soon be out and about at bike shops, training rides, and coffee shops - get excited!

FUNDRAISING TIP: The Importance of Following Up

Someone once told me that for the average person it takes 6 “asks” before they actually remember to make a donation. This surprised me because asking someone six times for money seems like quite a lot! Think about it though: between work, taking care of kids, taxes, etc. often times a letter from a friend asking for a donation gets lost in a stack of bills or an email ends up in a spam filter or filed away in a folder of “things to deal with later.”

It is CRUCIAL that you FOLLOW UP with your potential donors! In many cases people genuinely want to make a donation and support you and the Best Buddies cause but they simply forget!

Because asking people for money over and over again can feel like “nagging” and can be a bit uncomfortable, I would like to suggest “UPDATE EMAILS”.

The Update Email reminds people that you are still training and fund raising for the Audi Best Buddies Challenge without directly asking them again for money. Check out this example:


Hello Family and Friends,

I wanted to send you a quick email to update you on my progress for the upcoming Audi Best Buddies Challenge! So far (thanks to generous support from many of you) I have raised $500 which puts me one third of the way to my total goal!

THANK YOU so much for all of your support! I am have been so touched and impressed by how generous you all have been.

I also wanted to keep you posted on how my training is going. I tried spinning for the first time last week and am now really getting into it! My longest ride so far has been 20 miles so I am making progress towards my goal of being able to ride 50 miles on June 5th!

Thanks so much for your support and encouragement and if anyone has not yet had time to visit my personal web page and make a donation please visit: INSERT LINK TO PAGE HERE

Thanks!
INSERT NAME


*Don’t forget it is also really important to follow up with those that DID MAKE A DONATION. Thank you emails or hand written notes go a long way to show how grateful you are and will help inspire this donor to support you again in the future!

FUNDRAISING TIP: 100 DAYS EMAIL

Are you participating in the Audi Best Buddies Challenge Hyannis Port 100 mile ride this year?

If so then mark your calendars, set a reminder, and do whatever it takes to get the email below out to family, friends, and co-workers on Friday February 26th

Dear Friends and Family,

In 100 days I will be riding 100 miles in support of people with intellectual disabilities. Although it has been chilly outside training is always on my mind as I prepare for this amazing ride in support of some pretty amazing people.

In addition to my training, I am also working hard to raise important dollars to support Best Buddies programs. Over the next 100 days I will raise at least INSERT FUND RAISING GOAL dollars!

I can’t do this without your support and every little bit helps so please visit my personal fund raising page today: INSERT LINK TO PERSONAL FUND RAISING WEB PAGE

Thank you so much for supporting me as I challenge myself to change lives!

In Friendship,

INSERT YOUR NAME

Please note this fund raising tip above could be used for either event (HP and HC) and any distance!
50 days until I will ride 50 miles in support of Best Buddies
20 days until I will ride 20 miles in support of Best Buddies
15 days until I will ride 15 miles in support of Best Buddies
35 days until I will ride 35 miles in support of Best Buddies
62 days until I will ride 62 miles in support of Best Buddies
3 weeks until I will walk a 3k in support of Best Buddies
5 weeks until I will run a 5k in support of Best Buddies

Fundraising First - Tips from a Team

We, at the Audi Best Buddies Challenge, are always looking for fundraising tips to share with our participants. Sometimes, the best people to ask for these ideas are our participants. I wanted to share the first tip (of six) from Julie Sears of Team Six Degrees. All 6 Fundraising Tips will be featured in this month's newsletter...so here's an excellent teaser for what's to come...

#1 Make it Personal! Think of one moment in your life where a friend made the difference! And then start writing! The more real, the more heart-felt you can relay that the better. Everyone can relate to a friend that as made their day….and that is why we are riding and running anyway! It is to give everyone a chance to have a friend like that! So make it real! Sell it! Don’t use just the generic write up that Best Buddies provides on your personal webpage. Keep the parts you want of course, but make it your own! If I read your personal story about a friend and it makes me smile, laugh out loud or cry I’m gonna donate!!!! Guaranteed!!!!

For tips 2-6, keep an eye out for the February Newsletter.

Hyannis Port Kick Off Party - One Week Away

For the first time, we’ve decided to celebrate the start of our event season in a BIG way! Come meet and mingle with the Audi Best Buddies Challenge Staff, as well as past, present and future participants, over drinks and passed hors d’oeuvres. We will also be celebrating the premiere of The Greatest Bar’s two new paintings of Ted and Bobby Kennedy by local artist, Giovanni DeCunto. Mix 104.1’s DJ Freddy will be emceeing, so come and register at our lowest rate and help us kick-off the season! Bring a friend (or 5) and help us celebrate the eleventh annual Audi Best Buddies Challenge Hyannis Port!

WHO: YOU and any friends you bring! Or anyone else interested in learning about the Audi Best Buddies Challenge
WHAT: The Audi Best Buddies Challenge Hyannis Port Kick Off Party
WHEN: Thursday, February 18, 2010 from 6pm – 9pm
WHERE: The Greatest Bar, 262 Friend Street, Boston, MA 02114
WHY: To celebrate the eleventh Audi Best Buddies Challenge Hyannis Port and register on site!

RSVP to catelaroche@bestbuddies.org

Taking Training Inside

Whether you’re training for the Audi Best Buddies Challenge Hyannis Port or Hearst Castle you may be thinking about the weather a lot lately. The Bay area has just experienced some harsh rainfall and the weathermen in Boston are scaring everyone with a report of a foot of snow for tomorrow. You can’t afford to have your training thrown off by weather. What do you DO?! Take the training inside, silly.

• Get to your gym. You know that place signed up for a year ago, never go to, but still pay for every month? Treadmills and stationary bikes are great ways to stay in training shape while staying dry and warm.
• Look into what classes your gym offers. For cyclists you will never take a class better than spinning. For you runners/walkers try to find a class that you like and get the heart rate going.
• If you don’t belong to a gym take a couple minutes and make some calls to fitness centers in your area. You will find that many of them offer free week long “visitor” passes or monthly specials.
• Get a stationary trainer or rollers. Both these items allow you to set up your own training area at your house. Just put yourself in front of the TV and get caught up on Lost or Mad Men. If any Hyannis Port participants have more questions about buying stationary trainers or rollers come out and visit the Audi Best Buddies Challenge Team at a bike shop event in your area and If you are running or walking check out what options you have “On Demand”. Most cable providers have a fitness menu where you can choose from a large selection of workouts and make your pulse rise for 15-30 minutes.
• There are always activities and little changes you can make in your life to stay fit in the cold. Take the stairs not the elevator. Walk around the mall. Clean your house. Go out dancing. Play basketball or hockey. Play Wii with your kids. Just get moving.

It’s cold out there. But you can stay fit, stay motivated, and stay safe.

Fundraising and Football

In case you didn't see it in our January Newsletter, we featured our top five ways to fundraise at a Super Bowl Party. With the big game just 2 days away, you can easily add any of these ideas into your Super Sunday festivities and get your fundraising started! Check it out:

1. Organize an office/family/friend/Facebook pool. Winner gets to gloat and a donation in their name to the Challenge!
2. Having a party? Charge $1 per buffalo wing or $3 a burger. People love their game time grub, and they will be more than happy to support a good cause while doing so.
3. Put together a 50/50 raffle at your Super Bowl Party. Half goes to the winner and half goes to a great cause!
4. Organize a “Touchdown Pool”. Have everyone at the party put in a $10 donation. Write names of Colts and Saints. Put them in a hat. Have each person draw one name out of the hat. If the player that they draw scores first, they win and get to have a large donation made in their name to Best Buddies.
5. JUST ASK!!! If you are hosting a party put out a donations jar and let people know about the Challenge. If you aren’t hosting a party tell everyone what you are doing and ask them to donate. The natural camaraderie of sports is great way to encourage fellow fans to support your participation in the Challenge!

A little bit, every day

By a show of hands, how many of you are sticking to those lofty training goals that you made for the new year? OK, hands down. For those of you who, like me, have been slacking on getting out there and logging some miles, enough is enough! Let's make a pact, right here, right now, that our training behavior is going to change for the better! Who's coming with me?

Here's what works for me: Rather than thinking about "training for a century or a 5k," break it up in to much smaller and way more manageable pieces. When I go out for a ride, I prefer to keep time, rather than pay attention to miles. For example, "today, I am going to ride my bike for 1 hour and 15 minutes." Or, "today, I am going to jog for 5 minutes and walk for 2, for a total of 45 minutes." Or something like that. By breaking up your workouts into smaller and more manageable pieces, they feel less overwhelming and much more do-able!

Here's one for all you out here in the Bay Area. I love the rain, but, it sure does make getting outside to train awfully difficult. So here is my advice: If you have the flexibility to control your schedule during the day, keep an eye on that window and as soon as you see a break in the rain, head out for a quick training session! Remember to stay close to home so that if it really starts to come down while your out, you can make it back to dry land quickly. Also, remember that "cotton kills" when your exercising, but even more so when it is raining! Plan your wet weather outfits accordingly by staying away from cottons and other, slow-drying fabrics.

There is one positive thing about exercising in the rain, and I'll tell you, it's a pretty cool one. Last weekend, Coach Jeremiah and I went out for a 30 mile loop in and around Marin county. When we left, the skies were looking pretty grey and there was a light sprinkle coming down. No problem, we'll just watch our speed around corners and descents and accept the fact that we'll have pretty hot looking rain tails on our backs from all the water on the ground. Long story short, during that 30 mile trip, we experienced bright blue skies with warm sun, pouring, and I do mean POURING down rain, light drizzle, fresh breeze, fog, more rain, and more sun. It was a FANTASTIC ride. We were soaking by the time we arrived back home, but it was worth it. Not only was it really fun to experience the various micro climates that move in and out of this area, but in the process, it gave us an excuse to spend time outside in the elements, which is something that I don't allow myself to do very often. Now I am not saying that I want to ride in the rain all the time, but I will say that turning those pedals as the rain was pelting my face made me feel energized and alive! And I encourage you all to try it sometime!

(Just remember to take it slow around the turns!)

See you on the road.

Using your Email (Signature) to Fundraise

As most of you can guess, or have already started to do, the easiest way to begin fundraising for the Audi Best Buddies Challenge is to send out emails to everyone you know. Emailing is such an instant form of communication that you may start to see donations rolling in within minutes. There is, however, another less obvious way to use your email to hook potential donors: your signature.

Email signatures are set up by users usually to display contact information, but we've found that adding in a message to let recipients know that you are training and fundraising for the Audi Best Buddies Challenge will act as a great reminder for potential donors or even pique the interest of someone you might not have thought to ask for a donation. You never know who might have a connection to Best Buddies or to a person with intellectual or developmental disabilities, so it can't hurt!

Make sure that you include your shortened link to your HQ page, so that recipients can go right to your website and make a donation. Here's a simple example of an email signature that is just waiting for you to personalize it!

Sincerely,
Joe Smith

P.S. On June 5th, I will be taking part in the Audi Best Buddies Challenge: Hyannis Port. As a rider, I have committed to ride 100 miles and fundraise $1,550 for people with intellectual disabilities. I need your support! To donate to me, please visit my personal web page: www.HPChallenge2010.org/joesmith

Setting up a signature will just take a minute, but it can help you reach (and pass!) your fundraising commitment quickly and easily!

The Santos Tour Down Under: Jan 17-24, 2010

Need a little motivation to train this month? I've always found there's nothing better than watching the pros race to get me motivated to ride! Fortunately, this Sunday marks the start of the 2010 UCI Pro Tour race series. The first of this 16-race series kicks off with the Santos Tour Down Under. This festival of cycling starts with the Santos Tour Down Under Classic, a criterium race set in the heart of Adelaide's city center followed by 6 stages and almost 500 miles of racing. Some of the biggest names in cycling - Lance Armstrong, George Hancapie, David Allan and Cadel Evans to name a few - will be fighting it out for the Ochre Leader's Jersey.

Daily coverage of the Santos Tour Down Under can be seen on Versus. Check your local listings for air times and prepare to see some great racing! If watching this race doesn't get you excited to ride your bike, I'm not sure what will!

Jeremiah Angel
Audi Best Buddies Challenge