Newsletter
June 5, 2008
Happy Thursday Wheels of Justice! . . .
Our Inspiration for 2008 -- Allison Winn -- pictured here at the WoJ Kick Off party with her dad, Dr. Scott Winn (right) and Aaron Bradford (left):
Strength, courage, wisdom and a sense of humor to get through an ordeal are attributes that we never know we possess until put into a situation for which they are required. Do you have the strength to summit Vail Pass, do you have the courage to fly down Fremont, do you have the wisdom to draft behind a friendly cyclist and do you have the sense of humor needed to appreciate the beauty of a flat one mile from the finish?
Seven year old Allison Winn provides us the shining example of the strength, courage, wisdom and sense of humor necessary to overcome a life altering ordeal. Many of us appreciated those attributes as we watched her at the kick-off party just weeks away from completion of a year’s worth of chemotherapy and oncologic care for the treatment of a medulla blastoma at the base of her brain. Allison is a triumph, an inspiration, a shining example from which we all can learn and grow . She is the epitome of the courage we all hope to draw upon in completing this race and the challenges we encounter in life.
Allison’s story can be fully appreciated by review of her website at www.allison winn.blogspot.com. I would encourage everyone to visit the website and review the postings from the family in order to appreciate the impact such a diagnosis has on a family and the benefits provided by the Children’s Hospital and the truly world-class care that Allison received here in Denver due to the efforts of those on this team and others who have raised money for the Children’s Hospital over the years. Please feel free to attach Allison’s blog spot to your marketing and fundraising emails and letters as it will serve as a true inspiration to those you are asking to finance your fundraising efforts.
Fund Raising
$80K -- On Our Way -- Will our 189 riders reach the peak? What do you think? Here's how we can become the #1 team again: Each of us takes personal responsibility for posting our personal fundraising page on the Courage Classic site, enters the email addresses for all of our friends, colleagues, clients, vendors, family members, neighbors, old high school and college buddies (they will be psyched to hear from you!), hair stylists, dog walkers, mechanics, etc. If you know 'em, ask 'em! This strategy helped me to raise over $10K last year. You will be amazed, as I was, how willing people are to pitch in just a little for a great cause like Children's Hospital -- no matter where they live. You'll usually have to send 2-3 emails to get a donation -- use this opportunity to update them on your life, your training and the team. Right now, the only thing standing between us and our $200K goal is each of taking the time to post these pages and send this e-mails. So please take some time this weekend to do your part for the kids, docs and families at Children's Hospital.
Do you have amazing tales from your fundraising efforts in previous years? If so, please shoot me an email that I can share with the team in coming weeks.
Flat Changing Class
Flat Changing Class This Friday: WoJ Coach and Cycling Goddess Megan Hottman has kindly invited the team to join her for a Flat Changing Seminar.
More Information
Team Slots on the Tour
Do you know someone who wants to ride and fundraise for the Wheels of Justice but missed the registration deadline for the Courage Classic? If so, please let me know, as we are hearing of a few WoJ riders who can’t make it this year and we may be able to get a limited number of riders off the waitlist to replace them.! Also, please let me know asap if for any reason you realize that you will not be able to ride the Courage Classic. Last year, 10% of our 206 riders did not ride or fundraise due to injury, illness or change of plans -- as we all know, sometimes this just happens. Unfortunately, this meant that 20 slots could have been filled by riders eager to ride and fundraise for Children's. Now wiser this year, I am asking team members to notify me as soon you know of a change in plans, so that we can possibly accommodate riders on the waitlist. Thanks for your help in maximizing our contribution to Children's Hospital!
Training Ride
Wheels of Justice Training Ride this Saturday June 7th
Many thanks to our buddy Dan Kapsak who hosted last week's epic ride in Larimer County -- Dan reports that the sheriff deputies there were sweet as pie to our group -- a little courtesy on both sides can go a long, long way! The Elephant Rock ride was fun too, with at least WoJ 8 riders participating! Now for this week:Saturday, June 7th
Jamestown and Lefthand Canyon
Training Ride Host: Craig Neugeboren; cell phone 720-810-1999
Please RSVP by COB Friday to Craig Neugeboren, craig@neugeborenlaw.com 720-536-4901Meeting Location:
Ride will start promptly at 8:30 a.m. We will meet at 8:00a.m. at 727 Evergreen Ave. in Boulder.
We’ll have bagels and coffee. Total ride time to Jamestown and back will be about 2 - 2 ½ hours, depending on whether we tackle some of the famous climbs on the way back down the Canyon. Jamestown has a very convenient spot to fill water bottles and get some food so you don’t need to pack too heavy.
Directions:
Directions to Brad's house:
I-36 toward Boulder to Baseline exit. Left on Baseline to Right (north) on Broadway. Follow Broadway through town, past Pearl Street and keep heading north approximately 10 blocks to Evergreen Avenue (at Alpine, the streets start in alphabetical order, so if you hit Forrest, Grape, or Hawthorne, you have gone too far). Take a left (west) on Evergreen and follow to 727 Evergreen (on the right/north side, in between 7th and 8th street).Ride Summary / Distance / Ride Difficulty:
More DetailsMap and elevation of the ride can be found at:
http://www.runningmap.com/?id=53897
Morgan Adams Foundation
Great Comedy Works Fundraiser for the Morgan Adams Foundation on June 11. This event also supports pediatric Cancer Research at Children's Hospital, so it's very fitting for the Wheels of Justice to turn out in force! Here's the latest from WoJ supporter and Denver attorney Brad Haight
Hello, Everyone
We’re doing it, again!!
Last year’s first-ever Morgan Adams Foundation Comedy Works fundraiser was so much fun for all and so successful that we decided to give it another go. And this year’s event should be even better than last year!!The event is Wednesday June 11 at the Downtown Comedy Works at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $25.00.
The amazing and funny George McClure has lined up a great group of comics, including national act Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald (Animal Planet, Today Show, NBC Nightly News w/ Tom Brokaw, The Late Show, ….).
Tickets are moving, but we need some help. Individual tickets can be bought through the Comedy Works site (link below). We’re also looking for committed supporters to buy (and then sell or give away) blocks of tickets (preferably 10). Please write me if you can commit to a block of tickets. Also, please feel free to forward this to your friends.
We really appreciate your support in helping us fund critical pediatric cancer research and look forward to seeing you!!
Thanks
Brad
http://www.comedyworks.com/Members/Event.aspx?cid=159. .
Riding Etiquette Part II
Finally, here's an update on last week's NYC spin class story -- Non-grunting cyclists of the world may rejoice at their sole discretion!
June 3, 2008
NY Times
Gym Grunter Not Assaulted by Silencer, a Jury Rules
By JOHN ELIGON
They are among the irritants who are an unfortunate part of the New York experience: the loud cellphone talker in the elevator, the picture-happy tourist blocking a crowded sidewalk, the testosterone-laced grunter who practically coughs up a parakeet with each biceps curl.For the suffering New Yorkers who have only dreamed of eliminating nuisances like these without having to be polite, Christopher Carter might be a hero.
On Monday, a jury acquitted Mr. Carter of assault charges for manhandling the stationary bike of a fellow gym member, Stuart Sugarman, who was shouting and grunting during a spin class. Even though Mr. Carter’s defense lawyer acknowledged in court that his client had grabbed Mr. Sugarman’s bike by the handlebars, tilted it back and then released it, with Mr. Sugarman astride, the jury decided that he was not a criminal for having done so.
After nearly 10 hours of deliberations, the six jurors agreed that they could not say beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Carter had caused the back and neck trouble that hospitalized Mr. Sugarman for nearly two weeks.
“Probably, most likely, but not definitely,” said one juror, Marybeth Roman. It was hardly a landmark case. It will not be highlighted in lawbooks. But the verdict may provide many a New Yorker with the satisfaction of a “gotcha” moment.
The jurors who heard the case in Manhattan Criminal Court, several of whom were interviewed afterward, certainly did not seem to be on the side of Mr. Sugarman, who had described his grunts in testimony as “expelling air.”
“I was like, ‘Why must he be obnoxious and disrespectful to the others?’ ” said Ms. Roman, a 20-year-old sociology student who lives on the Lower East Side.
Ms. Roman said she and the other jurors questioned the credibility of Mr. Sugarman, who testified that he had suffered chronic neck and back pain.
The altercation occurred at an Equinox fitness club on the Upper East Side in August. Mr. Sugarman, a 49-year-old senior partner at an investment firm, was yelling things like “You go, girl!” and “Good burn!” in spin class, and Mr. Carter could not take it anymore. He twice asked the instructors to get Mr. Sugarman to quiet down, according to trial testimony. But after Mr. Sugarman continued, harsh words were exchanged.
Mr. Carter, 45, a stockbroker, stormed over to Mr. Sugarman’s bike and lifted it, crashing the back of it into a wall, witnesses said. Mr. Sugarman said the force of the bike dropping to the ground caused a herniated disc in his neck.
Although Mr. Carter was not proud of his actions, according to his lawyer, Michael C. Farkas, he maintained that he did not cause Mr. Sugarman’s injury. The verdict, Mr. Farkas said, proves what he and his client have been saying all along: Mr. Sugarman is not believable.
“If you’re going to act in a manner that’s going to be completely inconsiderate of others, then great things aren’t going to happen for you,” Mr. Farkas said outside court.
Mr. Carter, who was not claiming the mantle of everyday New York hero, was relieved to leave court a free man. “I had some long nights over the last nine and a half months,” he said. But the ordeal is hardly over. Samuel L. Davis, a New Jersey lawyer representing Mr. Sugarman, said his client planned to file a lawsuit Tuesday against Mr. Carter and Equinox. He said he hoped that New Yorkers would not view the verdict as a call to arms of sorts.
“I don’t know if there’s going to be an uprising, but the short-term message is sometimes you can get away with assaulting somebody who’s annoying,” he said.
Indeed, some of the annoyed sat on the jury. “I probably would’ve helped Carter with telling the instructors, ‘Look, this guy, he’s being a nuisance,’ ” Ms. Roman said.
B. J. Tormon, a 21-year-old nursing student whose thick biceps indicate that he has spent some time working out, said confrontations in exercise class were common. “Stuff like that happens in the gym,” he said.
Even Brigid Harrington, the assistant district attorney prosecuting the case, painted a less-than-sympathetic portrait of Mr. Sugarman.
In her closing arguments on Friday, she told the jurors that Mr. Sugarman was probably not someone “you would want to hang out with regularly.” But that should not matter, she said.
“I don’t want you to think that Stuart Sugarman had it coming,” Ms. Harrington said. “We know that society and the law does not work that way.”
All the best,
Heather
Heather A. Purcell
Levine + Purcell LLC
600 17th Street, Suite 2800 South
Denver, CO 80202
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