100 days

June 14, 2014 is the team start for RAAM.  100 days from now The Georgia Chain Gang will once again roll under the banner in Oceanside California and start what we hope is a sub 6 day trip across the country.  Now is the time when all the dreams and broad strokes of planning start coming down to the actual dirty little details of getting stuff done.  In the engineering and manufacturing world that I live in, you'll hear the phrase 'there are a million ways to do something wrong and only a few ways to do it right'.  The Chain Gang is into the phase of this project where the details are getting nailed down.

I've posted in the past about the simple logistical problems that RAAM imposes.  Getting 18 people, 10+ bikes, material, vans, etc. from Atlanta to Oceanside, bunking and feeding said people for 10+ days while moving the entire circus 3000 miles across the country is a pretty complex problem to solve and manage.  If you add in the fact that the reason we're doing all of this is to raise money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the budget constraints start to make this a really interesting problem to get right.  The reality is that the $200,000 that we're going to raise, is likely less than what some teams are going to spend on RAAM.  So... the entire team is feeling a little bit more of the workload, not only training and fundraising, now all the little details are reaching deadlines.  Stuff is getting done and it's getting done economically.

Fundraising for the team is going well.  This year we have some new blood in the rider and crew pool so the net is getting cast on a slightly different group than in years past.  We also have some team members with a very passionate connection to the cause.  I and the entire team are humbled and grateful for the support we have already received, and I encourage you visit our team fundraising page, donate early and donate often.  As I type this, 03/06/14, we're currently at nearly $90K.  Again, thank you.

Staying on the fundraising for another moment, mark your calendars for a couple of upcoming events.

March 22, RAAM Spring Jam with the Stems - at Atlanta Beltline Bicycle

April 24, Chain Gang Silent Auction - at Ormsby's

May 18, Ride With the Gang - location TBD

June 8, Virginia Highlands Summerfest Ride - Atkins Park

Make sure to like the Georgia Chain Gang's Facebook page to keep up with all the upcoming events and encourage your friends to do the same.

Also tune in tonight at 8PM eastern to Google+ for an interview with some of the team.  Lee Kreider from the Ohio RAAM Show will be hosting, go to this link to check it out.  Hopefully my bandwidth at home will allow me to stay connected through the entire interview.

Enough for now...  I've got some interesting (technical) bike stuff on the horizon, so it might not be quite so long before the next post.