Need 30 Cyclists by Friday 7/6/07

Dear Mountain Bikers and Road Cyclists:

We really need your help. As you know, we've planned "The Battle of North Valley's Hills" (www.forba.org) as a fund raising ride for a local group that modifies homes for special needs families. It's a great organization and they provide their services free of charge... I know most of us can't imagine what it would be like to not be able to hop on our bikes and ride as far and as long as we wanted, but some folks can't even get in the front door of their home, because of things as simple as one stair... and, believe it or not, the State of Virginia comes in second to dead last at meeting the needs of persons with special needs in our state. (source:
http://www.ucp.org/medicaid/index.cf...s&thisState=VA)

Anyway, we did get a late start planning The Battle of North Valley's Hills (www.forba.org) and so we missed the deadline for advertising in virtually every cycling periodical in existence. We've had to make some modifications and eliminate some extras for this year's ride, but we've also reduced the rate to reflect the changes. The entire county rallied behind us in this effort and offered great deals on all kinds of area attractions.

What we need are 50 cyclists who enjoy either Metrics, Centuries, or MTB tours to believe in us enough to come out this year, experience the ride, and give us input to help us grow it to become a premiere annual event that folks will brag about all year long.

We've reduced the rate of the ride to $40 for this year and that will include cue sheets, Rest Stops every 15 miles, lunch at Shenandoah Caverns, and limited SAG support.

If we don't have 30 registrants by this Friday and 50 by next Friday, we lose the participation of some of the most awesome Rest Stops and attractions :0(

We believe these relationships are so important to this event that we're willing to offer 50% off next year's registration to anyone who will come out for the reduced rate of $40 (which really will just cover our expenses) this year and help us grow this baby :0)

Details on the charity this event benefits can be found at www.onestepclosertv.org and details on the event (both this year's and next year's) can be found at www.forba.org

We promise, if you'll come and help us grow this event, we'll make it worth your while. We need you! We need your input!

Thanks for considering this and, hey, please do tell all your friends. We want this to be successful and we're willing to wear a little egg on our faces to see it happen :0)

With heartfelt thanks,
Margaret
The Battle of North Valley's Hills
www.forba.org
(540) 465-1972

Details follow:

July 28, 2007

The Battle of North Valley's Hills '07

Saturday's Metric and Century will take you from Town Park in Strasburg, VA down one of Virginia's most enchanting Scenic Byways, through all of Shenandoah County's charming and historical small towns, past the famous battlefields of Fisher's Hill, Toms Brook, and New Market (only 100 milers will visit New Market) and on to Shenandoah Caverns for lunch.

After leaving Shenandoah Caverns, the real workout begins as you traverse the foothills of the Massanutten and Blue Ridge Mountains. Steep climbs and rolling hills take you past beautiful vintage farmlands while enjoying breathtaking mountain views. This is some of the most beautiful countryside Virginia has to offer.

(The highest elevation in Shenandoah County is 3293 feet at the summit of Mill Mountain and the lowest elevation is 490 feet where Cedar Creek meets with the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. Source: Shenandoah Co Gazetteer and Historical Geography, Irvin D. Magin, 1991)

Paugh's Orchard and North Mountain Vineyard will be featured Rest Stops along the way as you make your way to Middletown for a sampling of Route 11 Potato Chips... fresh from the factory... and on to Belle Grove Plantation for Tea & Pastries as they may have been served in Belle Grove's hey-day... before and after the Battle of Cedar Creek which raged right on her very grounds.

The Battle of Hupp's Hill offers one more glimpse of history as you make your way back to Strasburg, "The Antique Capital of Virginia" to enjoy a hot shower and all this charming and extremely friendly little town has to offer.

Rest Stops will be set up every 15 miles and as you relax and relish in the sense of pride in having conquered all those Shenandoah Valley hills, you can smile extra hard for knowing your efforts will have helped provide home modifications for special needs families living in the area surrounding you.

There's also THREE AWESOME OPTIONS FOR MTB TOURS on all three days!!!! CLICK HERE for details.

We got a late start on this year's event and so we've had to make some changes and adjustments, but we hope you'll come join us and help us build this event into a premiere annual event that cyclists all over the world will brag about all year long!

For Details, Information, and Registration for:
The Battle of North Valley's Hills '07
taking place
July 28, 2007
CLICK HERE

SPECIAL NOTE: We regret that we were really late getting the word out about the '07 event and, therefore, we missed all the deadlines for cycling publications and advertising :0( Although we've had to trim the '07 event and work toward building it bigger and better for '08, we're making a special offer to anyone who comes out to join us for the 60 and 100 mile rides on July 28, 2007. You can still camp both nights (Friday and Saturday and there are still options for MTB tours on all three days, but this year's road event is limited to Saturday only).

Those who attend this year will receive a 50% discount on next year's registration! Rest Stops will be every 15 miles for the '07 event and every 7 miles for the '08 event. The price for registration for this year's Metric and Century has been reduced to $40 to reflect the changes and includes lunch and some really great Rest Stops AND you'll be helping a really great cause!

For all those who come out this year to give the ride a test drive and give us input to help us fine tune it for next year, we promise to make it worth your while! THANKS! :0)

-----------------------------------------------------------

The Battle of North Valley's Hills

http://www.forba.org

Margaret, that sounds like a wonderful ride for a terrific cause. I'm not able to participate, but I wish you luck in getting the number of riders you need to make it a success!

Thanks SO much! I appreciate the encouragement... be sure to bookmark us for next year... the dates will be June 6-8, 2008 and it will be an awesome ride. Thanks for being so supportive!

As a mother of a daughter with special needs, it was nice to hear of such an organization. I will have to check around here in Arizona to see if there is something similar and get involved. Thanks for all that you are doing for the special needs community - we are often forgotten.

I know the Strasburg area and it is indeed beautiful. If you can fix me up with a nice looking intelligent single straight man in the age range of 40-55 I'll be there!

Dear AZSpinner, thanks for your kind words and encouragement... if you don't find anything in Arizona, let me know... my niece is working on a project to help other groups start an organization like One Step Closer... you can reach her at info@onestepclosertv.org... my heart, thoughts, and prayers go out to you. I have the deepest admiration for loving mothers like you who hang in there and go the second mile to give their kids the care, dignity, and normalcy they both desire and deserve... Blessings to you and your dear daughter!

zencentury, you're actually the second woman to make that identical request! I can tell you that mostly men are signed up right now... if you get here and none meet your criteria, you can always fake heat exhaustion in each town you go through and see if there's anything you like in any of the local rescue squads or fire departments... you'll have at least 7 different departments to choose from depending on where you're at in the ride! :) Of course, they might be on to you by the third or fourth call, maybe you and the other lady could tag team! :) lol

Margaret-
I don't see any mention of SAG being available. also, I think you would have better turnout if there were a shorter ride option, 30 miles perhaps. I know my personal best in the mountains is 40.

OOPS
Never mind, i see there will be SAG.
Now the question is, will there still be rest stops every 7 miles?

Hi zencentury

We will definitely have SAG and, originally, we were going to have a 30 mile ride as well, but dropped it due to no registrations in that category... however, the route we have is such that turnarounds can be done at a number of intervals without backtracking on the same roads and still being where SAG would find you or Rest Stops would come up... so, in short, a 30 mile option is very possible.

We had to cut the Rest Stops to every 15 miles for this year's event, but if you come this year, we'll give you 50% off next year's registration where there will be Rest Stops every 7.

Thanks... if you have any questions, feel free to email me at f5 at bfpd.com 'cuz I don't always get a chance to check the message boards. I, of course, scrambled the email address so robots don't pick it up -- I get a ton of spam from listing my email address on the event website, but just replace the at with the @ sign and close the spaces in between.

I sure appreciate your interest... and I really appreciate all the encouragement I'm hearing. You guys are awesome!

Thanks,
Margaret