Bicycles Change Lives

Proud to support the orphanage bicycle team in Peru, The Casa Girasoles Bicycle Team:

One of our recent partnerships has been around helping to bring more bicycles and support to the boys in the Casa Girasoles. Mike Colbach and BicycleAttorney.com have over a two-decade commitment to promoting cycling and healthy living. The BicyleAttorney.com team, started by a Portland based lawyer and social justice advocate – Mike Colbach – is a vehicle for bringing together people from different walks of life and experiences to share their love of exercise.

 

In 2022 and 2021 Mike sent 18 new bicycles to the Peru Orphanage bicycle team and some members of the team to train and teach the boys some bicycle mechanic skills. KGW did a news story about this:

Avid cyclist Hugh Givens joined Centrone's team on a recent trip in November. Givens races with the Bicycleattorney.com cycling team. [...] A friend and fellow cycling teammate, Kevin Chudy, joined Givens on the trip. For decades, Chudy ran his own bicycle shop and spent years assembling and repairing bicycles.[...] The team rode bikes with the kids for nearly a month, teaching them how to repair them, and Givens and Chudy said they know the boys gave more to them than they received.

I Support The Oregon Tuna Classic Reelin' in Hunger with Tuna and money raised going to the Oregon Food Bank, Z-Man Foundation, Alpenrose Velodrome (now formerly, but still missing this velodrome and racing venue since the dairy was purchased); I am a Portland Bicycle Attorney and proud continued contributing sponsor of OBRA (Oregon Bicycle Racing Association), and main cash sponsor of the bicycleattorney.com/racing team, contributing partner of the Monday Nights Bike Race Series at Portland International Raceway - racing starts mid April. I have donated to the endeavor to bring the Road Cycling Worlds UCI races to Portland. Proud to have supported the Peru bicycle team at the Health Bridges International Orphanage and looking forward to sending more new bicycles and folks to the next Gravel Camp.

Proud to be affiliated with Andy DiBrino Pro Motorcycle Racing since 2016.

Bicycles

The BicycleAttorney.com cycling team folks are always working on a good cause, and usually that involves bicycles. This year Hugh G. built three drop bar bikes for the Casa Girasoles Cycling Team and shipped them to Perú in late September, which you can see in this picture where they were about to go on their first ride after a year of lockdowns due to the pandemic.

I gave Hugh two of my old Hi-Fi wheels which Hugh sold and with the cash, secured enough parts to build and send two more bicycles for this awesome cycling team.

But Hugh wanted better bicycles to send to this team.

But in order to be eligible for participation in sanctioned events, the team must possess a "national" level of equipment and clothing. This includes a "high end" bicycle with disc brakes, integrated shifting, wheels and tires in an excellent operational state, and personal cycling equipment including a team jersey and shorts, matching socks and helmet.

We're working to provide the boys with equipment that is durable, efficient, and suitable for the extremely rough surfaces they encounter in the desert environment near Ica. We've specified a robust steel frame outfitted with sturdy wheels and tires, disc brakes, and a dependable, smooth-shifting gear train that can endure heavy use and help the boys to be competitive.

In October 2021, I then bought five more brand new bikes which Hugh selected from Westend Bikes which are being shipped to Perú.

In 2022 I bought 13 more new bicycles for this cycling team and sent the new bicycles purchased from West End Bikes along with members of the BicycleAttorney.com/racing team to Peru to their first Gravel Camp 2022 November 2-9.

This November, we are going to combine two loves together. We're holding a Gravel Cycling Camp over the dates of November 2-9. We will be based out of the Casa Girasoles in Ica and riding on some amazing gravel and dirt roads. One day will be a true adventure – rising to over 3,800 meters above sea-level on a gravel road in the Andes.

And they are off to Peru delivering the 13 new bicycles that I bought which Hugh selected from West End Bikes  to the orphange and the Casa Girasoles Cycling Team, then enjoying an epic cycling adventure.

And here they all are in Peru.

Per Keven Chudy, "This is much of what our first week of adventure was like in Peru. (18 minutes of video.) We volunteered to instruct the foster boys on bicycle repair and maintenance. We also donated gear: bottle cages, tools, new and used cycle clothing, etc."

2022 Gravel Camp - Video Blog for Health Bridges International

We took a team of volunteers to Peru to ride bikes, spend time with the boys in the Casa Girasoles, and get to know one another deeper! Check out this montage of video from our 10-day Adventure Gravel Camp.

Learn more about Casa Girasoles cycling team and how you can help.

Bicycles #2

In the summer of 2021, I donated my lightly used Colnago Prestige Carbon Cyclocross bike to PDX Cycling Worlds to help support their effort to bring the Road Cycling World Championships to Oregon, while delivering a near mint-condition bike in time for Cross season to the lucky winner. I am looking forward to seeing the winner on this bike out in the wild at rides and racing.

2020 The Pandemic

 

Oregon Tuna Classic / Deep Canyon Challenge

I've been supporting and usually fishing in the Oregon Tuna Classic since it started on my own boat, Shake N Bake Sport Fishing, or the Double Down. We actually won the tournament in 2014. The tournament has grown and branched out with the Deep Canyon Challenge (sometimes the Washington Tuna Classic as well) giving anglers more fishing tournaments to fish for a good cause benefitting Oregon and Washington food banks. In just the first ten years of the Oregon Tuna Classic, over a million pounds of tuna was donated to the Oregon Food Bank!

Oregon Tuna Classic helps meet needs for Oregon Food Bank

We've just about doubled our donations each year," said Del Stephens, OTC chairman. "This will put us a little over 10,000 pounds;last year we raised $46,000 and 13,000 pounds (in three events). If we'reable to hold even one of the other two (weather dependent; Aug. 15 in Charleston and Aug. 29 in Garibaldi), we'll go higher again.

Oregon Tuna Classic taps an exciting fishery to feed the needy

In 2010, Bill Monroe of The Oregonian wrote an article about the event while riding along on my boat:

The Oregonian
August 6, 2010

Bill Monroe: Tuna Classic unleashes a frenzy on the ocean

[...] We were team No. 57 in Saturday's field and ended the day with 57 tuna, sixth in the event. The Classic weighs each boat's top five fish. Nearly 6,000 pounds of tuna and thousands of dollars were donated to local food banks from the Ilwaco tournament as the Oregon Tuna Classic heads for its third leg Saturday at Charleston.

Track the summer's uniquely Northwest event online at oregontunaclassic.org.

Colbach, circumspect about his team's results, has never been rabidly competitive, opting instead for simply participating and donating to the cause.

"That's the beauty of this thing," he said. "You can catch five fish and win or 57 and lose ... but still everyone wins." [...]

Z-man Foundation

I donated a couple of fishing trips and raised a few thousand dollars for the Z-Man foundation. Mark was an excellent guy who met a tragic death.