Conference noted::bicycle

    	Pick up the latest issue of Bicycling, dude.
    	(I'm beginning to "read" like a broken keyboard)
    
    	Check out some cross-state cycling, like RAGBRAI for instance.
    
    	Minimal fees, no heavy fund raising.

    	Please don't take this too harshly...   (Here it comes...)
        
    	There's a reason WHY these folks are trying to raise funds -
    
    	                             Dude.

    	Like, to fund research, to help a few humans with some problems...
    
    	Perhaps, just maybe?   Think about the topic you entered here,
    
    	                             Dude.

        							Face.

I rode the MS 150 last year along with many others here in the 'file'.
We had a VERY good time. I havn't talked to anyone who was not happy
that they did it. Raising money is not that hard to do. You just have to
keep the benifits to the people they help in mind. The MS 150 required you 
to raise 150.00 and pay 49.00 I believe for expenses. With DEC matching
funds 75.00 is not that hard to raise. I was able to raise over 400.00
including matching funds just by talking to my friends and co-workers.
The real high when I finished the ride came not only from completing the
ride but in the fact thay I met a personal challenge AND helped a lot of
people in the process. It wouldn't have been as sweet without the cause.

I'm sure others who have ridden the MS150 (and other benifit rides) would
say they felt the same.

Mano 

    RE 1.1
	 Read the note again DUDE.  You missed the point
*entirely*.  What I am trying to point out is that there are
many people that would like to participate and pay for their
own expenses PLUS a sizeable donation.  If you and the ALA are
interested in helping people you should also be interested in
helping as much as you can.  Lets say I was willing to donate
$100 to participate.  With DEC's matching contribution that
would be $200 more to benefit the fund than they are going to
get from me because I'm not willing to raise $1500.  It's a
compromise that would benefit both the riders and the charities.
Sorry I torqued you the wrong way....I wasn't trying to suggest
that people should be allowed to participate without paying,
just that not everyone has the time to raise that much cash,
hold down a job, maintain a family and be able to have some time 
left over to spend on a weekly bike ride.

						Jerry

    You might want to pick up the Vermont Bicycle Touring catalogue.
     They have all sorts of organized tours, not just in VT, anywheres
    from 2 days to 2 weeks, from 10 miles a day to 100 miles a day.
     They will even design a tour For YOU if you tell that what you
    want to do.  I have the catalogue - I love to sit back and fantasize
    about some of the trips.  Most of them are reasonalby priced - a
    couple of hundred $$$ for a week - other get pricey, like the trip
    in France - but then again, your airfare was included in the
    overathousand $$$ price.  This way you just pay for the tour and
    then don't have to worry about making a donation.  Or you could
    still pay and go on the tour, but also make a donation to your favorite
    charity anyway.
    
    		-Nancy

re .0	I sympathize, they're NOT reading your question, are they ?
I think you want to go on these rides, that you want to contribute a
decent donation yourself and pay your own way - but that you DON'T want to,
even WANT NOT TO, have to hussle for $1500. 

	Reg

    re 1010.4
    
    	I'd be interested in looking through the catalog, but the idea
    was to be with a large group of people from my own geography and
    to meet and make new biking friends. 
    
    re 1010.5
   
    	Right.  Since they are going thru the motions of organizing
    these rides for charity, whats wrong with having the riders be
    responsible for the entire donation?  Just bring it down to a
    reality level and make it affordable for individuals to participate.
    The charity will still get the publicity from the promotion, the
    charity will receive some compensation, the riders wil no doubt
    enjoy the event more and probably participate more frequently since
    they won't have to put the bite on all of their freinds and relatives
    to support multiple bike rides.  The incentives to generate mass
    contributions could still be applied by awarding prizes to those
    that raise a certain amount of pledges, but no one would be barred
    from participation because they failed to generate the prescribed
    amount.  Doesn't this seem like a better alternative?

    						Jerry

I did not in any way want my reply to convey a message similar to .1
I did misunderstand your base note a little. With what you have
mentioned again, you would be able to do the small tours such as ms150
I don't know what the Pan Mass wants you to raise. I can understand your
schedule. I paid for the MS 100 myself. I couldn't get up to ask my friends
and co-workers again after the 150. I'll wait till this year for that :-).
DEC matching funds are a great benifit for charitable deeds.

Mano

    RE .3
    
    I apologize if I torqued YOU the wrong way, dude.
    
    Perhaps my personal feelings clouded my eyesight, thusly blinding
    me from seeing the point of this topic. I DO agree that any & all
    contributions would and should be looked upon most adoringly. But
    I'm not a representative of the ALA, so unfortunately my strongly
    rooted feelings can serve your cause no purpose.
    
    I can only offer conjecture here...
    There is a reason for the ALA to require the larger than feasible
    donation, for cyclist participation. I'm sure that by now it's no
    secret why,  they would not be able to raise enough money to make
    the event worthwhile. As I said before,  in my opinion, any offer,
    including $5 from a 14 year-old riding with his father,  would be
    acceptable, if not encouraged.
    
    Perhaps you could construct a memo to the organizers of the event,
    stating your ideas? If the addresee's were good enough to respond
    to you, I'd be most interested to see their response here.

    My overall feelings are still the same though. The cause is worth
    the effort.  It's too bad that individuals like yourself won't be
    able to participate, due to insufficient funds.  Your absence can
    only be viewed as a setback for the event, even if the organizers
    are not sympathetic to your ideas.
    
    I hope your cycling pursuits are fruitful, and that no loved ones
    ever need the help of the American Lung Association.  I'm sure no
    one in this notes file wants to contract lung disease.
    
    I know that I hope I'll never need the services of the American
    Lung Association...
    
    Good luck, dude...
    
    							Face.

    I think this is just another matter where the laws of supply and
    demand come into play.  If I were organizing such an event and
    trying to find 100 particpants and 30 to 50 volunteers and donated
    supplies, I would not want to do it unless I could net $100K for
    my organization.   Allowing participants to raise whatever they
    could instead of a minimum of, in this case, $1500 would not achieve
    that goal.
    
    On the other side of the coin, if the resource of buyers were to
    dry up, that is, there were not 100 people capable of raising the
    money for the event, such events would disappear or lower their
    sights.
    
    It has been my observation that most of these events charge 3 to
    4 times the rock bottom price of a cheaply run compararable
    operation.  Since much of the costs to the charity are also donated
    they do succeed in raising money.
    
    To summarize:  I think $1500 is a fair price for a charity thing
    like this.   A comparable commercial price would be about $400 for
    6 nights, 12 meals, and continuous sag support.  You could probably
    tour it yourself with a partner for $250 to $300 each without camping.
    
    I sympathize because I haven't solicited funds for my recreation
    since 1982, but I don't blame them one bit for trying to get every
    buck they can.
    
    ed

    fyi
    
    This years Pan-Mass will also include a one day, 80 mile (I think) ride
    for those who don't want or can't handle the two day 194 mile ride.
    
    The min donation this year (for the 2-day ride) will be $700 with a max 
    number of rider of 900.  The reason for the high min donation is that 
    they can only handle 900 riders, both on the roads and lodging, so they 
    want to make sure they get all the money they can.
    
    I hated the thought of fund raising, but had my reasons for doing it
    and the money actually came pretty easy.  In asking one person someone
    else would hear and actually offer without being asked.  Alot of my
    pledge money came by just telling people what I was doing without
    directly asking for cash.  People will surprise you!
    
    (Hope this didn't sound wrong, just my $.02)
    
    Good luck,
    
    Tim B   PMC '88 

    My first experience with the ALA and fund raising was back in upstate
    NY. For raising $150.00 I recieved over the course of three days...
    
    	o on road help if needed (medical, mechanical,etc)
    
    	o 8 outstanding meals...
    
    	o clean sheets in a college dorm...
               
    	o fun that I hadn't had since I roamed the streets of  SF, CA
    	  in route to Vietnam...even my wife who drove down for dinner
          had  fun...
    
    Than in 87 I did the ALA TRANSAM TREK, Seattle Wa to Atlantic City
    NJ....for this one you needed to raise 5k...I was ready to sell
    stock, etc to make this trip...a once in a life time endeavor. But
    through the help of friends at work I was able to raise 10k....
    On this trek you were provided two meals a day, a place to camp
    each night, medic's, mechanics, shag wagon's, 2 1/2 ton truck to
    transport your gear  daily trip tickets (like AAA).
    
    The bottom line is this.....
    
    	o the ALA puts together "QUALITY" treks...
    
    	o yes, raising money is a very demeaning thing...
    
    	o but it was worth it.....
    
    	o the one you may be going on sounds interesting...I might be
    	  interested in it my self..for next year
    
    What ever you do...good luck...go for it, it's only money and you'll
    get more back than you put in....
    
    regards,
       bernie