The Echelon Chronicles

Since our May 23 Napa event the Echelon team has been out traveling and networking this summer to market our Hood River Oregon Gran Fondo starting with a Dave Cochran's drive to Oregon for the Mt Hood Cycling Classic. Hunter Ziesing later departed by small plane for a trip accross country to meet some notable charities and scout out locations for 2011 Echelon Gran Fondos as well as meeting potential sponsor donors.  This summer we will visit 20 states and 8 Cancer institutes. These photos chronicle our travels and marketing of Echelon.

 Dave, Jana & Hunter departing Napa May 23 for Oregon

                                                      Mt Hood Cycling Classic Early June

                                           Mt Adam stage of Mt Hood Cycling Classic

 Cale Reeder Echelon M45+ team, proudly wears leaders jersey. Echelon has a small masters racing team who help fundraise and market our events. Cale Reeder quit racing for 25 years only to return to racing to dominate.  His company, Cozy Winters, is a large donor to Echelon

Stopping to market Echelon in some southern OR towns
That is snow in June

Flying east over the Rockies and the Beech Bonanza

Stopping in South Dakota for supplies--yes Walmart

Welcome to South Dakota

Checked out a ride in the Caribou National forest, Idaho

Flight continued East to see the Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN

Copilot, "Charlie" responding to g-forces in bank turn

Stopping to stay with Greg and Kathy Lemond in MN

Spectacular country. Greg and Kathy are the nicest people on the planet.
Greg recently settled his lawsuit with Trek and is in a very good place. You will be seeing more of Greg in Cycling.  

Casa de Lemond in Medina MN

Greg Lemond observing Hunter on an epic new wind trainer to come due out from Lemond Fitness this fall. A low tech solution that will blow your mind. 

One of Greg's many Yellow Jerseys

Scoped out some great roads for a MN fondo, rode with Greg who still holds 400 watts on occasion. Just  got to slim him down for 2011. Stay tuned.

Departed east for Chicago to see the Kellogg Cancer Institute. Rarely saw the ground.
Hit Toronto the next day and met with Don Listwin, early investor in Open Wave Systems and Cisco Systems. He founded The Canary Foundation at Stanford--an early cancer detection research center.
We are discussing a fondo with Canary and or Stanford. Stay tuned. Don is going to put on a cool event this fall in the South Bay SF area. Don has a lot of zero's on his balance sheet but is driven by cause and to give back.

I wish

Thanks--The Echelon Staff

Hunter Ziesing & Marcy Ziesing are back in the Boston area now. 

Dave Cochran is still traveling around Oregon hitting bike shops and camping

Linda Klein (team fundraising) is at home in CA hitting the phones fundraising along with Nick Mcgowan. (fundraising and registration)

Rebecca Kotch (our marketing guru) has moved to Napa and working on projects of her own as well as Echelon. 

                                              

The Chronicles of Echelon

Mt Hood Classic

Minnesota

Flying to Minnesota

Passing a few clouds

The Copilot

ECHELON GRAN FONDO DELIGHTS A CROWD OF 700 CYCLISTS AND CONFIRMS VICTORY FOR THIS INAUGURAL EVENT

Praise from all for the May 23^rd Echelon Gran Fondo in Napa Valley as event reaffirms accomplishment of a community focused fundraising event

(Napa, CA – June 3rd, 2010) – The all-star weather conditions set the stage for this first time and first of a kind Gran Fondo produced by Echelon/PlanetZ in Napa Valley. The starting line resembled the beginning line up of a Tour de France stage, featuring the Yellow, Polk-a-dot, Green, and other colored jersey’s, which designated the levels of dollars the participants raised in their efforts to support the event’s beneficiaries. Fundraising Teams such as the world-renowned Silver Oak Winery boasted their custom-logoed Yellow Jersey, while others joined in force in their team kits.

The Napa Valley event, open to all levels and abilities of cyclists, and was focused on raising dollars for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, LIVESTRONG®, Queen of the Valley Cancer Center in Napa, and the Martin-O’Neil Cancer Center located on the campus of St. Helena Hospital. Additionally, a portion of the proceeds will be given to the Napa Valley Vine Trail and their important grassroots efforts to implement a multi-use trail from Calistoga to Vallejo.

The event, intended to offer a cycling experience beyond the expected, or what Executive Director, Hunter Ziesing has claimed, “theater on the roads”, the 700 plus participants were welcomed by a cast of characters and stunts designed to give racers and recreational cyclists a day to remember. The Angel of Echelon, a Borat-inspired character, a photographer’s helicopter hovering over the start, a hot air balloon, and cheerleaders added to the buzz and exhilaration of the cyclists’ day. 

Along with the on course entertainment – a Jazz band was stationed at the peak of the four mile hill climb - and gourmet cuisine, such as sandwiches from the famed Culinary Institute of America, the event itself was structured as a partnership model between the donors, volunteers, corporate partners and charitable recipients. “Our goal was to create a uniquely fulfilling experience for our participants and a significant contribution to worthy, local programs. Everyone gives…and everyone receives,” said Ziesing. According to Ziesing, ninety percent of the event’s expenses went to local merchants, with an additional several thousand dollars in donation to the Napa Food Bank.

David Cochran, the event’s Chief Operating Officer commented, “We have been very please by the continual positive feedback from the participants, and how our team, though limited in size, was able to pull off this new breed of event. While we had some minor glitches such as the size of our signage and our delayed start time, all in all we are encouraged by the momentum this will bring to future Echelon events.” 

With little funding from corporate sponsorship, early indication is that Echelon will make a significant donation to its beneficiaries. “Based on this level of success, we know that in 2011 along with increased participants and corporate sponsorship, we will be able to offer even a more substantial amount to our beneficiaries,” said Ziesing. The Echelon team now turns their creative efforts towards their next event, September 26^th in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge featuring pro-cyclist, Team RadioShack’s® Chris Horner.