2020 BAH Ride: Updates and Your Help

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Charlie Inman

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May 12, 2020, 11:14:03 AM5/12/20

to Charlie Inman

Dear BAH community,

We hope you, your families and friends are all doing well and are weathering the coronavirus lockdown well. Please let me know if I can pray for you.

We wanted to provide you all with an update on this year's 2020 BAH ride, and solicit your input as riders from the past, present, and maybe future. Even if you are no longer in the greater NJ area, we have an option this year for you to participate for your local charity (or even for NJ if you prefer).

First, note that this year's ride will move back to the weekend after Labor Day. It is planned for Friday, September 11 - Sunday, September 13.

As we continue to face this pandemic together, the safety of our riders, SAG, supporters, and families is of utmost importance and is our main focus when planning for this year. With that in mind, we are hoping for the best but planning for the worst. Thus, our planning team has come up with three options for this year's ride, all designed to balance safety with the ultimate goal of raising much needed funds for the organizations that BAH supports.

Please note that we will make our final determination as to what option we feel is safest by Sunday July 5, and will communicate out to all and update the website accordingly.

Option 1 - Traditional 2-Day & 1-Day Ride: We are planning (and praying) for the option of continuing with the traditional 2-day ride in the hopes that hotels will open, the weather this summer will cooperate and help tamp down the spread, and our wonderful scientists and medical professionals will get closer to treatments and a vaccine. If we are able to safely conduct the 2-Day ride, that will be our plan.

Option 2 - 1-Day Only Ride: If we don't feel it is safe for the teams to stay in hotels, etc., we will forgo the 2-day ride this year and only conduct a one-day ride. This ride will offer multiple options (up to a 100-mile century), and will depart from and return to the Washington Crossing Park area. It will follow a path that we traditionally used as a training route that follows the river out and back, with cross over points for each of the various legs.

Option 3 - 1-Day Virtual Ride: If we decide that the 1-Day Only in person ride is not an option due to safety, we plan on introducing a virtual, self-led and self-paced ride this year. Essentially, our ask is you commit to a distance, fund raise accordingly, and then complete the ride (hopefully in a single day) between the first and third weekends in September. If you want to recruit other riders, family, or friends to help you that is completely up to you. We feel this option allows for maximum flexibility and safety. Note that we aren't yet sure what the registration fee would be if we pick this option. We are also thinking that we will support this option regardless of the selections above to make it easier on riders this year.

So, here is where you come in. Please let us know if you have any feedback, concerns, or even other ideas/options. Please provide this no later than Sunday, May 17 to allow us to incorporate the feedback.