Well, our pre-ride was last Sunday and it was great! Our daughter Holly was pretty happy to check off "being a mascot" from her Bucket List, and did the ride in the Skelley suit. Her Bike helmet fit under the suit!

I've tallied the ballots, both on here in the messages area, and the ones that arrived by email. All the folks who contributed were moved into a spreadsheet, and I implemented a random number generator to randomly select two rows. Since not everyone voted, I decided not to assume that those folks didn't want an airplane ride, but rather missed the part about voting! So, to sweeten the pot a little there were two winners. The result amonsgt voting contributors yielded Alan Henry as the winner. Shelley Wollin won amongst those who contributed but didn't vote, so I'll be in touch with them to arrange flights.

Bike B was the voter's choice by a small margin of two votes, so that's the one we rode.

I'm riding for two of my coworkers, whose kids have CF, and all the kids out there with this really awful disease. CF is a terminal disease that causes excess mucous secretions in the body. In addition to a lot of other effects, people with CF eventually can't breathe because their lungs fill up. It's one of those nasty diseases that we can probably cure if the research were to be funded properly.

A couple of my partners at work have kids with CF and as one watches their own kids grow up alongside those of their coworkers, you just want them to all have long, happy lives. It's neat to see the kids with CF so positive in spite of such an awful afflication, despite the very sad stories associated with CF. This is my small way of doing something to try and help.

I really appreciate all the sponsorship people provided last year. Together, we raised more than $2,000, and as part of Team Sierra Thunder, we raised over $13,000. My daughter came with me and we really enjoyed the ride and helping out the CF cause. This year, I am hoping you will help me personally raise $5,000 for this very worthy cause.

To aid in this, I am offering a small and fun incentive. I ask that you help me pick the Bike I will use for this year's ride. When you are donating, there is a spot to leave a message. In that message area, Vote A or B for the bike you would like to see hauling Skelly the Skunk in this year's ride in the comments on any donation you might make. Skelly was picked as the CF mascot by one of my coworker's little girls, Erica, who has CF. She said the mascot had to be a skunk, 'cuz CF Stinks'.

For all those who donate and vote before June 18, we will conduct a random draw and I will take the winner on a 1 to 1.5 hour sightseeing flight in one of my airplanes, or if you don't like flying, on a cruise and lunch on one of the bikes (your choice). If you forgot to vote, just send me an email to mikehughes@sierrasystems.com and let me know your vote.

Please note I did the pre-ride safety planning ride this year a week earlier (June 13) than the official ride (June 19) as our God Son is getting married in Sicamous on June 19. Team Sierra Thunder was along along as witness riders and for group photos with Skelly!