Everything Matters
This is a story about the bike community.
On Tuesday, this Tweet appeared in my timeline:
Sold my bike and now I’m sad. Decision I had to go with for now though. Ho hum. I’ll be living through all of you for a while.
— velohut | kristin (@velohut) April 29, 2014
If you don’t know Kristin (aka @velohut), you should. She’s a tireless advocate for bikes and has built an online community dedicated to cycling. Velohut provides a forum for everything relating to bikes, including reviews, nutrition, clothing, maintenance tips, and ride maps. People for Bikes and World Bicycle Relief logos appear in the head banner of her site, and she participates in weekly #bikeschool chats and started a daily #chainringchat. Surely something must be amiss if she was selling her bike. Others noticed this as well, and questioned her about it.
What we didn’t know was that Kristin has been fighting cancer for a while – primarily through diet and exercise, which included riding her bike. But fighting cancer is expensive and bills mount. And that causes stress, which isn’t good for anyone let alone someone battling cancer. She sold her bike in an effort to pay down some of her debt.
Three women quickly started a GiveForward campaign. @echointhecity, @bicyclingbroad, and @iridelikeagirl set a goal of $2,000 and tweeted the link. Within hours the goal was met and exceeded. As of this writing, 56 people have donated almost $2,900.
Then this.
After watching my bike taken by fedex yesterday, I’d given up on my cancer fight. Today I’m reminded why I have to continue. Friends.
— velohut | kristin (@velohut) April 30, 2014
Yes, everything matters.
– Suzanne
I wish I had seen this earlier. Wow. Humbling.
My favorite thing about social media is the opportunity it has given me to connect with great people from around the world. This story about @velohut and our awesome community of cyclists is so beautiful.
Yes it does.
I keep volunteering and throwing a couple bucks at causes (usually all bike related) when I can. Its my hope that someday someone is going to either point me in the right direction or maybe even give me a direction to focus my efforts/energies. Until then I just keep trying.
Thanks for the links-