A New Year begins...

So, here it is, the New Year! Did that come along particularly fast this time? So the first day of the year seems like the perfect time to do a basic summary of why I will be shaving my hair off for $10K for charity.

In 2012, as I did in 2011 and as I will in 2013, I rode the fabulous Rio Tinto Ride to Conquer Cancer!

It has been a year that I did not manage to train as hard as I wanted and I certainly did not do as many k's on the bike as I envisioned (I am actually embarassed by the lack of k's that I covered, but I did complete 'the Ride' in a fashion that I would even describe as... easily!). This year I wish to complete it faster and the first thing on my list is to hop into the saddle more, a lot more!

The Ride to Conquer Cancer is my main fundraising adventure of the year and is the catalyst for each fundraising event that we hold throughout the year. We have had Garage Sales and Car Boot Sales and Bake Sales - these are all small fry compared to some of the events that we have held in previous years... but, everyone seems to be charity'd out.

So this year, I am approaching things differently. We are organising an amazing event - a 1920's speakeasy event. We have an amazing Jazz crooner lined up and she is going to help us get the amazing band together that will accompany her - more down the track for that one! We will be having a Charity Auction and lots of fun! This event is our cornerstone event and will set the way for the rest of the year! It will be in 'secret' location and a password will be required - this is the IT event of the year... you get the idea!

Secondly, our fabulous team of riders (I won't call us cyclists, as the only one who truly is a cyclist hasn't put his team entry in yet - Dad, you know who you are, and lives down in Melbourne, far enough away for me not to annoy him constantly about entering this fabulous event!!) have formed a motley crew called Team Cycle Logical - is this not the very coolest name ever?! We are putting our jerseys up for hire!

Our training officially starts in February and we are looking for sponsors to go on our training jerseys, sponsorship starts as little as $500 and is fully tax deductible. As a small business owner, I have to say that this makes for very cheap advertising for mobile billboards that will be going all over the Gold Coast on two wheels. It is not uncommon for us to ride from Southport to Main Beach (out to the Spit), through Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach and on to Burleigh and back via Bundall Road or up through the back to Robina, Carrara and in through Ashmore. This is a good area of coverage for any business, be it big or small!!

The third BIG fundraising tool is my hair! This is also a way for local hairdressers and salons to get some advertising. All who contribute to my hair's adventures will be blogged, facebook'd and linked to left, right and centre... so, all I ask is that you help me with upstyles, colour (it can even be hair chalk!), you can add bits (feathers, extensions, anything that your heart desires!), you can sic your apprentice onto me, but the one thing that cannot happen is a hair cut! The most that will be taken off the length of my hair is 1cm, yep, that's right, one centimetre! Then the salon/hairdresser that has helped me to raise the most funds will be the one that gets to shave my hair off in October. This is the final event for 'the Ride' fundraising and I will be aiming for media coverage.

So, I am looking forward to some fabulous adventures in 2013 raising funds for an amazing group of people who do incredible things daily to help cure cancer - the Queensland Institute of Medical Research.

I wish for everyone a fabulous 2013 filled with Happiness, Strength and Hope.

Yours in health & happiness,
Carly xx

For any fundraising Q's, either comment or send an email through to team.cycle.logical@hotmail.com