Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB - Riding for Relay for Life (NZ

Greetings fellow HUBB members

In February next year, my wife and I are organising and participating in a Major Charity event here in New Zealand.
As promised I thought I would let the HUBB team know first hand what the plan is.
So you can say you read it here first, this is the first public announcement.
We are still planning, so it is in the very early stages, so expect some changes along the way and would appreciate any comments/suggestions you may have after reading this letter.

The basic concept is that my wife and I will
Ride around the entire New Zealand Coastline on Adventure Bikes, raising money for The Relay for Life (Cancer Society and Cancer Survivors) prior to their annual event in March next year!
More info on the Relay for Life Event can be found by clicking on this link
As the Relay for Life event is a teams event, we have decided to call our Team "Team Horizons Unlimited" , we think this name has many significant meanings to us and also to the event.
I want to take this moment to thank Grant and Susan Johnson for allowing us to use the name.
The Team for both the Ride and the Relay for Life events will be know as Team Horizons Unlimited.

So why a Motorbike adventure ride?
We came up with the Riding for Relay for Life idea from a discussion of ways that could challenge us, and really appreciate what Cancer Survivors must be challenged with every day.

Our goals
1.Our target we would love to achieve is $10,000 for the Hawkes Bay Relay for Life Event
2.To raise awareness of the Relay for Life events around New Zealand
3.To raise the awareness of Cancer Survivors across New Zealand
4.To showcase the Hawkes Bay Relay for Life Event
To show through the various Media channels that motorbike riding is fun and a great way to explore the country, and at the same time to promote road and motorcycle safety. (we hope to attract a documentary crew to follow our progress, as well as the main stream media channels, including television, press and radio)

Now many of you guys and gals on this site are experienced adventure riders, and I can see you thinking "That's not hard to do", here is some facts to put it into a little more perspective.
1. " Carissa (my wife) has never ridden motorcycles before, and I have only ever ridden off-road".
2. " We are both on learner Motorcycle licenses".
3. " Neither of us have undertaken any like this before"
3. " We will complete the journey on 250cc motorcycles, not really made for comfort or long journeys".
5. " The Journey will be approximately 7000km, and we plan to complete this within 14 riding days (we will need rest days along the way)"
6. " We will be self sufficient for the entire journey (we will carry all the equipment we need for the trip on the motorcycles").

My wife and I are just ordinary Kiwis with an interesting idea, Carissa is 31 years old and a mum, I am 34 years old, we have to start at the very basics and work our way through as a family through what we expect to have, many ups and downs.
What an amazing journey it will be, it will be a life changing experience for both of us, but to us the most amazing thing we can hopefully achieve is if we can help just one person improve their life a little.
We will plan ahead with the Cancer Society to meet both Cancer sufferers and Cancer Survivors, so that we can (and the rest of NZ) understand a little better what they must of been through and to share our experiences with them.

Now this is what we would call an epic adventure for us, we will be way out of our comfort zone (but really looking forward to it now), and that this is something that maybe just the thing to get others out and about and exploring this magnificent country we have.
The journey is not all tar sealed highways, we detour to places like the East Coast Lighthouse (New Zealand's most Eastern Point), Cape Reinga (Most Northern Point) and Ninety Mile Beach, Golden Bay, Bluff (Most Southern Point) Molesworth Station etc, so there will be lots of rough roads and dust and dirt to contend with (and more than likely the odd spill), not to mention the bad weather we also may have to contend with, but in all reality the things we are looking forward to the most is New Zealand's beautiful places we see and people that we will meet.

We came up with the idea for Riding for the Relay for Life from the discussions we have had at the previous Relay for Life events, on how can we challenge ourselves, just like cancer survivors have to do every day.
We also hope to speak at small events as we travel NZ, whether its schools, hospitals or community halls we need to spread the message.

Now we would like to involve as many motorcyclists with a sense of adventure as we can, before, during and of course after the event, and that is where you may be able to assist.
We welcome any support from Adventure, trail or road bikes as there will be days where we will ride on the tarmac, then there are days where it is just gravel tracks.

The Plan
The Basic Calender is that from next month we start the ball rolling by investigating which bikes to use, the process to selecting them based on professional advice from the likes of ACC (safety), motorcycle dealers (comfort and performance) and of course the equipment we need to successfully finish the adventure.
Then from September its onto Riding lessons, road safety, and sponsor and supporter meetings, right through to the end of February 2007 when we depart on the adventure, leaving Hawkes Bay approx 14 days before the annual Relay for life event in Hawkes Bay, we head out to the East Cape, along Bay of Plenty and right to Cape Reinga and back down the West Coast of both Islands and into Bluff, before heading back up the East Coast, across the Cook Strait again and up the East Coast until we arrive back in Hawkes Bay, and then its the 24 walk for the Relay for life!

We will be inviting all motorcyclists that want to tag along for all or part of the journey to make a donation to the Relay for life, so they too can participate in what we believe could be New Zealand's Greatest Motorbike Adventure in 2007. We will also try to approach celebrities to participate as well (Aaron Slight etc).

Hubb Members
As the Hubb Community has been a huge inspiration to us for many different reasons, I would like to invite you all to attend.
There are many ways in which you can support us and the charity.
1. You can tag along on the adventure as a rider, with us, to experience the ride and the amazing scenery and people we will meet along the way, there are currently 6 options available
1. The Entire Journey -Cost =Hubb Members $500 (normally $600)
2. North Island only - Cost = Hubb Members $280 (normally $320)
3. South Island only - Cost = Hubb Members $280 (normally $320)
4. Two days only - Cost = Hubb Members $280(normally $80)
5. One day only - Cost = Hubb Members $40(normally $50)
6. Last Day Ride - Cost =Hubb Members $80 (normally $100)

As you can see each option has an associated cost, and the entire cost will be donated to the Riding for the Relay for Life Fundraising event.
Options 1, 2 and 3 have some value added benefits as outlined below
Option 1 =
Riding Shirt – (the same as we will wear, yet to be designed)
Entry into the Event on their bikes (after all they have just completed what we did)
Riding for Relay for Life Stickers for their bikes
Certificate of Completion
And a few other benefits that we are currently in negotiation with

Option 2 & 3 =
Riding for Relay for Life Stickers for their bikes
Certificate of completion

Hubb Members refers to anyone that is a registered user to Horizons Unlimited before the 1st July 2006.

2. Hubb Meeting
We are also thinking that we could have the New Zealand Hubb Meeting at the Relay for Life event.
As the event is a 24 hour event, teams currently camp overnight at the venue, and this could be a great location and time to have the meeting.

4. Still interested?
Then drop me an email or PM, any questions or ideas please leave on this post.

Thanks for taking the time to read this letter, and we wish you all well and safe journeys on any expeditions you may be on or are planning.

Kind Regards
Scott & Carissa McIsaac