Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Time to start again.

Well the Launch is over and now it is time to start on all our other "stuff".

Good news first - we are very happy to welcome Dulwich IGA as a supporter. Unfortunately they do not have a web site so I cannot link you to it, but their address is 7 Stuart Road, Dulwich. IGA is short for Independent Grocers of Australia. Peter has committed to providing us with water and various other items for our rides in both SA and the main ride. Thank you.

Our next event proposed is a Business Lunch in late August/September. The theme will be "Investing in Todays Climate" and we plan to have guest speakers from the Real Estate, Financial Planning and Lending/Mortgage sectors. Should be a very interesting lunch!

Our first Trial Ride will hopefully be to the Barossa Valley on September 13th. Still have to line it up with the local Make-A-Wish Australia Branch but I am sure they will do something to help us out. Will probably also contact cycling clubs in the Barossa and see if any riders want to join in for part of the ride.

We are also happy to welcome the newest member of our Support Crew, James. This wonderful man has agreed to drive our motorhome, cook all our meals and be nice to all of us! Welcome aboard James - we appreciate your commitment!

We are always looking for new sponsors and those who confirm their support in the next few weeks will have their logos displayed on our new cycling gear. We are planning to have an outfit designed for the Trial Rides, with a separate and more complete outfit ready for the Main Ride next October. Ray from Get Marketing has cheerfully agreed to design them! Thanks Ray! Now I need someone to actually make them - at no charge of course! Will keep you updated on that area of support.

Remember to listen to Coast FM on Thursday this week, 31st July at 4.20pm. Ashley and I will be interviewed by Allan Baird on his "drive" show. 88.7 on your FM dial,

Catch you soon.....

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Wow .... thank you everyone.

What a night. So many people to thank .... too many to name in case I miss someone out! You know who you are and please know that we appreciate your help enormously.



We expected around 100 guests and I think we came very close. Our aim was to Launch the Big Wish Bike Ride, help people understand what we are doing and why, seek committment from sponsors and raise awareness for Make-A-Wish Australia. Based on those objectives - it was a huge success.



And - we even made some money on the side .... just over $4000 in fact. Not too bad for a starter.

I am not the best photographer and when I finally remembered to take a fews shots, people kept on moving (definitely not my hand shaking at all...) so I have uploaded just a few pics to give you a bit of an idea of what the night looked like. I must say - the Eagles Footy Club was a fantastic venue - and the food - delicious, a good variety and plenty of it! I think guests well and truly got their moneys worth. We will certainly hold another event there in the future!

Will try to work out the video uploading later this weekend - #3 son was in charge of that area so we should get some good footage.

Off to watch the footy now - catch you later......

Friday, July 25, 2008

This is it!

Everything is organised and it is now only a matter of hours until our Launch begins.

Am taking my camera with me so will hopefully be able to put up some pictures and a video tomorrow. Be patient as I will be learning how to do the video!

Thank you to everyone who has helped us get to this stage ..... now for a complete list of the major auction items.

We have:
2 pieces of artwork - one by Stefan Maguran and one by Bernice Addison.
1 cricket bat signed by Darren Lehmann
General admission passes to the 2009 Clipsal 500
Gold Reserved Grandstand seating to the 2009 Clipsal 500
A Port Adelaide Power guernsey - framed and signed by the 2008 team
An AFL Heritage guernsey - framed and signed by the Dream Team Coach, Mark Williams, and Dream Team Captain, Andrew McLeod.

Obviously we are fundraising so there will be other things like raffles and a secret bid item!

Our drink bottles will be available for anyone who donates $10 or more and above all - we will be having fun!

Better go .... need to put on a face and a shirt and get myself down to the venue.

Catch you tomorrow.......

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Official Launch

Just a reminder .....





The Official Launch of the 2009 Big Wish Bike Ride will be held on Friday 25th July, 2008 in the Champs Function Room at the Woodville West Torrens Football Club, from 7pm to 10pm. Finger food and entertainment included in the ticket price of $20 per person. Drinks available to purchase from the Bar. Auctions, raffles and much fundraising on the night so please bring extra cash with you. Purchase tickets from Ashley or Richard if you know them, or me - Margaret - on 0412 104 751 or email margaret@jgg.com.au

One day to go .....

Only one more day until our Launch ..... everything is in place and now we just need to get underway.

Met with Marcia at the Eagles venue yesterday - very helpful in all areas.

As we have a number of family supporters attending, we have now included a price for children under 12 years who are coming along with their parents. $10 will get the kids a "special" table where they will have their own food platters and soft drinks provided. Thank you very much to the Eagles for accommodating us in this way.

I would like to just add a special thank you to supporters Crumpler and Fruit Only for also donating goods for the Launch.

Have you looked at the range of Crumpler bags? Amazing ... I will be visiting their Adelaide store next week looking for a computer bag for my lap top. I want something just a bit more feminine than what my husband thinks I should have!

Fruit Only are associated with Roses Only .... but if you want something a bit more nutritious than flowers (for a guy maybe), then Fruit Only have the gift for you. Check them out - they deliver Australia wide!

We are also looking at other events to raise funds before we leave on the bike ride. So far we have planned a quiz night in May 2009, a Gala Dinner on 20th March 2009 and a Fashion Parade - date to be confirmed. The Cyclethon we are hoping to have in late November this year but are still awaiting a reply from the SuperDrome. Hopefully we will also be able to book a few BBQ nights at the Lion over the summer months - I better get organised before they are all booked out!

We will also have some "trial" rides throughout South Australia visiting various Make A Wish Branches. Once again those dates are still being organised.

So much to do and only 14 months to do it in!!!! I am not starting to panic .. I am just getting my head around it all.

Did I tell you we have our own drink bottles now too? We are planning to give them to people who donate at least $10 to the Big Wish Bike Ride. Thanks to Ashleys brother for arranging them for us.

Must go - need to collect our special Launch polo tops from Ray at Get Marketing - another of our wonderful supporters!

Catch you soon.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Latest Auction Item update

So I have already told you about the AFL Heritage Jumper, and the artwork we have for sale in our Auction on Friday night.

Now for all you "revheads" - we have 3 sets of tickets to the 2009 Clipsal 500. Two sets are for 2 x 4 day general admission passes and the third set is for 4 x 4 day entry and Gold Reserved Grandstand Seating!

So in total - we have 8 auction items up for grabs. If you want the complete list just drop me an email (margaret@jgg.com.au) and I will send it out. You can still bid on the items even if you cannot attend the Launch, as long as you let us know your name, contact details and maximum bid. We will do the rest on the night for you!

I would love to attach the list as a pdf but have no idea how to do that yet. Advice would be welcome......

Launch auction

The Launch is getting closer ... only a few days to go now. Thank you to Mr JABA for his efforts with the Powerpoint presentation - beautiful piece of work!

Another of our auction items on the night is a painting by emerging artist Stefan Maguran. It is valued at $1300 and a similar piece of his artwork sold for more than that recently. Titled "Wind in the Mountains", the painting measures 90 x 90 cm and is mixed media on canvas.

Remember, if you cannot attend on the night and want to bid on any of the items, just send me an email with your maximum bid and we will organise someone to bid on your behalf.

Just going through our route yesterday and planning our accomodation stops - we are in for quite a ride! Hopefully there will be some whales on view when we hit the Nullarbor - from all accounts they put on quite a spectacular display. I cannot believe the guys are riding almost 4000 kms in 23 days! Glad I will be in the car .... catch you soon. Cheers.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Launch and Auction News

Just home from Melbourne so thought I should let you know some of the auction items we will have at our Launch.

For the Aussie Rules football fans we have 2 signed and framed guernseys. We have a Port Adelaide Power guernsey signed by the 2008 team and an AFL Heritage jumper (150 games) signed by the Dream Team Captain, popular Adelaide Crow player Andrew McLeod, as well as the Dream Team Coach, Port Power coach Mark Williams. Needless to say the AFL Heritage guernsey is priceless - very hard to come by at the moment - and the Port Power guernsey will be subject to some spirited bidding on the night as well! (just ask Frank...)

We also have some other goodies lined up which I will divulge during the coming week. Suggest you buy your tickets early this week if you have not already got them so you can bid at the auction!

My trip to Melbourne was a bit sad - rather embarrassing in fact! We went over to watch our #3 son play in the SAAFL U23 team against the VFA U23 side. Expectations were very high as we thrashed the Vics last year. Unfortunately, after losing to SA twice in recent times, the Vics had way more to lose than us and pride had them winning the game by double our score. All that way for a loss! Being a supportive parent is very hard (and expensive) sometimes! To be fair though - the Vics did have some very good players in the side and had an especially good backline. Next year perhaps .......

If you do happen to read our site - leaving a comment would be fantastic. Any words of support for the guys or our fundraising will be passed on, hopefully with answers to any questions you ask.

Hope to meet many of you at the Launch on Friday night. Cheers ......

Thursday, July 17, 2008

More exciting news .....


Need a bag? Any bag? Then you need look no further than Crumpler who have come on board to support our 2009 BWBR.

Crumpler have very generously donated cash as well as bike bags for the guys and a couple of bags for the auction at our Launch next week!

Thank you very much.

Great News!


Just home from a "waterbag" trek to Elizabeth with some great news.

Rebel Ford have once again agreed to sponsor the BWBR.

All our SA trial rides will be supplied with a fantastic vehicle from Rebel Ford at Elizabeth. Thank you Darren for believing in us again!

Fingers crossed that we will be able to use a Ford for the long ride from Perth to Sydney as well!

This is the car Rebel Ford provided for our trial ride to Angaston in 2006. The riders that day were Matthew Primus (Port Power), Ashley, Ray Ebel (Get Marketing) and Steve.

Hard to miss us on the road that's for sure!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Moving along .....

Well - we had a good meeting last night and I think we are pretty much organised for our Launch.

Now all we have to do is sell those tickets - so, we need final numbers by Tuesday night - if you want to come along, please send me an email or speak with either Ashley or Richard. You can always donate some cash if you cannot make it BUT we would prefer your company on the night!

For those of you who do not know Ashley very well, he is a big ideas man. His latest idea is to hold a "cyclethon" where he and Richard will ride their bikes for 24 hours straight. Have I mentioned this before? Well, he has had the idea and is really keen to get it happening but guess who gets to actually make it happen? That's right - good old Margaret! Thanks Ashley .... he even gave me a couple of months to do it in - wants to do the cyclethon at the end of November! Men!

So today I looked at some venue options. The Victoria Park racetrack seemed like a good place to start - central location, able to accommodate vehicles, entertainment and food. A very good price for a minor event under 5000 people too - FREE! On reading the Terms and Conditions though I discovered we had to have our own Public Risk Insurance - so far out of our budget we cannot even consider the place.

So, next venue to look at is the Velodrome - sorry - Adelaide Super-Drome. Have sent them an email and am hoping for a positive reply very quickly. It would actually be ideal if it is available and a realistic cost as the weather would not be detrimental to any riders. We thought we might invite some local cycling clubs to participate as well. They could choose how long they wanted to ride - 2 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours etc - and donate funds to the BWBR. Of course Ashley and Richard would be looking for sponsors to encourage them to complete the solid 24 hour ride!

So, please cross your fingers and toes that we get a positive response for this one and then be prepared for the calls for HELP!

The guys had their photo taken last night for the local Messenger Press - will let you know when that article comes out.

We have also bought back our original domain name and have had it redirected to this site. So if you want to give out our web address to anyone and are getting tired fingers with writing such a long address - you can just cut it down to www.bigwishbikeride.com

Time for this little (in my eyes) chicky babe to get dinner sorted for the hungry male bodies in the house.

Cheers ......

Monday, July 14, 2008

Organising

So we have made it through another weekend! The guys will be having an interview this week with my local paper, Messenger Press, so hopefully you will see them in the next week or so. Think we might get a front page article? Fingers crossed......

We have a few interesting items for auctioning at the Launch, including a 4 day Gold Reserved Grandstand Seating pass to the 2009 Clipsal 500!

I will put up a list shortly once we have confirmed one more item, however we will have something for the art critics, the football fanatics and the cricket supporters! Quite a mix ... have you got your ticket yet?

I think I will need to travel to Perth and Sydney in the near future to meet with the police from both those states to finalise our route. Last time I relied on other people to make these arrangements and when we were about 2 days out it all went pear shaped! Almost didn't get the event on the road.

Once I have the final detailed route I will put that on the web as well - if you live in or near one of the towns we will pass through and want to meet us, or even better, organise a fundraiser - just let me know.

We welcome the company of local cyclists in each region/city/town to join us on the final few kilometres into and out of towns!

Have much to organise - will catch you all again later.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Introducing Ashley and Richard

Most people know who Ashley is - it is his face on our masthead - and he completed the 2006 BWBR.

There are no photos however of Richard - so here we are - a photo of both riders courtesy of the Barossa & Light Herald, who recently ran an article about the guys in their local paper.


Ashley is the one on the left in the red Big Wish Bike Ride T-shirt from the 2006 ride, and obviously Richard is shown on the right!

They look like normal people don't they?

They are really crazy nuts who are prepared to ride a mere 4000 kms in about 3 weeks!

All this to support Make-A-Wish Australia ..... and get the odd massage or two as well.

I know they look pretty scrappy in their "civilian" clothes, so if you want to help clothe them in proper cycling jerseys and shorts - send me an email and we can discuss your options.

They will need to update their bikes as well and we are looking for help in that area too. If you have any contacts or want to donate some cash, let me know!

Poor Richard is suffering badly with a cold and was unable to make it to our meeting last night - hope you feel better soon Richard and can get back to work today. Anyway - Ashley and I had a great meeting - talked about almost everything else except the Launch! So we meet again next week ......

Seriously though - we seem to be almost organised. We have the services of a wonderful Auctioneer in Golden Gavel winner, Lindsay Warner. He was the auctioneer at the recent Make-A-Wish Adelaide Gala Ball - a great success!

Our Band, Fear of Flying, is confirmed and now all we need is an MC. Any suggestions? Let me know.

Number 4 son just arrived home so will now go and do the motherly thing and iron his work shirt!

Talk again soon......

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Just look at us now!

So what do you think of our new look?

Thank you to Mr Jaba for his creative talents with the header and to Mrs Jaba for her expertise with blogging!

Life has been so very busy lately but it is now time to focus on the Bike Ride. Hope you have read about our Launch and decided to buy yourself a ticket or 2 ... if so .... please contact me at margaret@jgg.com.au and I will organise those tickets for you. Details in previous email below.

Catch you soon.