Send Team Juju to the RAAM

I am Juliana, an ultra-endurance cyclist who enjoys a good challenge and pushing my mind and body to extremes, but mostly I just love to ride! Times are hard for people's pockets these days, which makes it even tougher for a girl like me to find a sponsor in order to race. I had a sponsor ready to help get me to the RAAM (Race Across America), but they've had a hard year financially and in the end, could not come through with the full amount needed. I rather dislike the idea of asking people to send me money for what is essentially a really tough bike ride; not a real need, but a choice and desire. 

I got a lovely message from a girl called Lizzy. She has been living aboard a tiny sailboat in Annapolis, bicycle commuting everywhere and going on extended solo rides and tours. She had just tied her kayak to the dock, going for groceries, when she saw the first RAAM competitors of 2015 make it across the finish line. At the time, she had never heard of ultra endurance cycling. Now she can not imagine a more incredible way to live life. She is 23 and has a sub-standard income, but is working on farms to save money to compete as an ultra endurance rider. This summer she hopes to ride self supported across country on her brother's hand-me-down bike. Here is another woman passionate to begin ultra endurance cycling, and I know only too well what it means to not be able to afford a bike.

I too do not have much money, and to raise the amount I need to get to this year's race, I am selling my beautiful Cannondale Synapse that I raced the Transcontinental Race with last year. Then it hit me. Instead of sell my bike, if I can raise the 5,000 I need instead, I can gift my bike to Lizzy and get one more woman on two wheels and riding! So it's a kill-two-birds, or rather, fund-two-birds plea here. Every bit adds up!