2010 Seacoast Bike Tour for Breathe New Hampshire

I don't know if this is the right spot for this, or if it's OK to post this. Mods, please feel free to move/delete if it's not OK. Not sure how many cyclists we have on the site, but I'm sure that many of us have been impacted by issues with lung health. It's a subject I feel strongly about, and this is one way I've found to make a difference.

I've signed up again this year to participate in the Seacoast Bike Tour in support of Breathe New Hampshire! This is the 25th year of the Bike Tour and will be the 4th year I have ridden in the event.

On May 15-16, 2010, I will be participating in the two-day Seacoast Bike Tour. Proceeds from this event will enable Breathe New Hampshire to expand lung health education and outreach throughout NH. Here are just a few of the programs and initiatives Breathe New Hampshire continues to work on to further its mission of eliminating lung disease and improving the quality of life for those living with lung disease in New Hampshire:

Breathe New Hampshire educates thousands of Granite State 5th grade students about the health and social effects of tobacco use through the No Butts About It™ program. Breathe New Hampshire also supports dozens of businesses statewide through its When You Can’t Light Up program™. This program helps employees who are smokers adjust to smoke-free workplaces. Working with over 100 health care providers, Breathe New Hampshire provides training to providers helping them prepare for the National Asthma Educator Certification Exam. Breathe New Hampshire contributed over $140,000 to scientific research in the 2006-2007 fiscal year. This research may lead to better treatments and ultimately a cure for asthma, lung cancer, and other lung diseases.

Just in the last year, Breathe New Hampshire has:

• Worked with a focus group of senior citizens to determine the best methods to help this rapidly growing population to overcome nicotine dependence.

• Successfully advocated for FDA regulation of tobacco products, and tobacco tax increases at the federal and state levels.

• Partnered with the NH Tobacco Prevention and Control Program and the NH Department of Corrections to work with prison inmates on tobacco education and cessation.

• Conducted the state’s first community-based COPD screening event at no cost to individuals.

• Implemented a Healthy Schools, Healthy Children, Healthy Minds initiative that improves the health and well being of school-age children, from Kindergarten through grade 12, by addressing anti-idling, high performance design, green cleaning, and asthma education.

• Educated over 2,000 fifth grade students through the No Butts About It™ curriculum that addresses the health and social effects of tobacco use.

• Through the David and Anna Stevens Memorial Fund, provided assistance to patients who needed financial support for medications, medical equipment, and other expenditures related to compromised lung health.

• Provided support to New Hampshire communities through the Asthma Educator/Asthma Health Improvement Network, Asthma Care for Kids™, Motivational Interviewing Basic and Advanced Trainings, and Understanding Asthma and COPD Trainings.

• Launched the New Hampshire Youth Network™.

I'm asking my family, friends, coworkers, and business associates to sponsor me in my efforts on behalf of a great cause. I need to raise a minimum of $350.00; however, my goal is $1000.00. Every dollar counts! Your gift will make a critical difference in the lives of thousands of NH people living with lung disease, and the families who love them. Last year I just met my goal - let's see if I can really exceed it this year!

Last year, I rode 56 miles on Saturday and 35 miles on Sunday. This year, I've stepped it up and will be riding 56 miles on Saturday and 53 miles on Sunday. As with the past few years, I will be doing dual-duty; in addition to participating in the event as a rider I will also be assisting with emergency communications in support of the event through an amateur radio mounted on my bicycle. Again this year I have formed a team and so far recruited three additional riders, with promises from a couple of others. If you would be interested in joining my team and participating, I would love to have more company!

Anyone who pledges $20.00 or more and enters their pledge online via credit card will be entered in a raffle. Raffle winners will be picked the week of June 15 to allow all pledge support monies to be collected after the Tour and winners will be contacted directly. Prizes will be listed on the Seacoast Bike Tour page of the Breathe New Hampshire website at http://www.breathenh.org

Contributions may be made by check (made out to Breathe New Hampshire), or credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express). PayPal is another possibility. Please contact me for my mailing address or E-mail address. For your convenience you can also pledge me directly using your credit card by going online to http://www.breathenh.org or by visiting my official Bike Tour site at:

Or at my team page:

If you are unable to sponsor me for this event, but would like to support Breathe New Hampshire, I would be glad to provide you with other opportunities such as volunteering or joining me as a participant. I am really looking forward to participating in this fundraising event again and will let you know about my experience when it's all over.

Your support is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Lee Hillsgrove, Sr.

This will be my new ride for this year's event, just got it a couple of weeks ago and haven't even ridden it yet!

(picture of my new bike)

Previously, I was riding a Trek Hybrid:

(picture of my old bike)

That's the amateur radio antenna mounted on the back. I have the radio tucked into the handlebar bag and use a PTT switch mounted on the bars along with a cordless phone-style earpiece and boom mike that hooks around my ear. It doesn't get in the way of my helmet straps and has proven to work very well.

A little less than two months to go until the event. If anyone from NH or elsewhere would like to join me and my team members, I'd love to have more company! As of now I'm just shy of halfway to my fundraising goal and I'm always looking for more donations for an excellent cause.

Thanks!