The perfect blend of work and pleasure...

It should come as no great surprise that many people who work in green energy, sustainability, or climate change policy are also cyclists. Over the course of Day 4, along the leisurely cruise through wine country, riders again and again explained that the combination of these two passions is what makes Climate Ride so special. Rider Scott McGlashan said "I like biking and I’m an ecological architect, and I thought I’d be able to give money to organizations I give to anyway, and get a great bike ride out of it. When I heard about the ride I said, 'of course I’m doing it, it’s perfect.'" Rider Michel St. Pierre called the ride "a chance to merge work and pleasure." Rider Sara Alm brought a new twist to the work/pleasure balance. Sara teaches pattern-making at Apparel Arts in San Francisco, and made all of her own jerseys for the ride - one for each day! "I'm getting a lot of good feedback," she said, "I'm starting to think I should turn it into a business..."

A sense of coming together

The Greenbelt Alliance has taken Climate Ride by storm this year, with a team of 12 riders raising nearly $40,000! Greenbelt rider (and board president!) John Chapman said he rides for the comradeship. It's cool to be around people that have similar values and interests, there’s a certain feeling of power and rejuvenation and enthusiasm. Sometimes it seems we’re all alone doing these things, and it’s great to be around so many other people of like mind." Greenbelt rider Elliot Evers agreed that the best part of the ride "is the people, the energy, the sense of coming together." Arvind Patel also rides for Greenbelt, just took up cycling for this ride - starting four weeks ago - rode his first century yesterday. Amazing! Arvind says that "It’s a challenge. it's nice to set up little challenges in life. It keeps you alive.”

We couldn't agree more.

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