I’m Cycling 1300+ Miles in September, WTF?
I’ve been called crazy by good friends more than once for joining the Core Team of the 2016 Virgin Strive Challenge.
“You’re going to take all of September off to do this?”
Yes I am.
“You’re really going to ride a bike from northern Italy to southern Italy?”
Yup.
“You’re going to swim two and a half miles in the ocean?”
Gulp. Yes.
So, why did I choose to join the craziest challenge I‘ve ever heard of? I could have signed up for a Tough Mudder. That would have been A LOT easier. Or maybe ride a century before deciding to embark on 13 centuries over 15 days.
Everybody on the Core Team has their own reason for participating.
The answer for me is simple. It all started on Necker Island in May. Amanda and I were spending the week with a group of entrepreneurs from around the world called Change Makers Rule Breakers. We are a group of like minded entrepreneurs who want to leave the world a better place than it is today. People who believe in the merits of building socially conscious businesses and giving back.
That’s why Amanda and I started Sportsy a few years ago. We saw an epidemic developing where young people around the world are forgoing sports and physical activity in exchange for screen time on mobile devices, computers and TVs. To counteract this, we built a mobile training platform for sports. We leverage the very same devices and behaviors leading to a decline in sports participation and use them to make training for sports accessible no matter geography or socioeconomic status. To make the training process as much fun and as rewarding as the games, videos and social experiences that have led our youth to a sedentary lifestyle.
When Essie North, Managing Director at Big Change, came to talk over lunch our last day on Necker, she explained how the Virgin Strive Challenge is a fundraiser that supports Big Change in their initiative to finance advances in education for kids. Enabling those kids to reach their full potential. That struck a chord.
Big Change is the academic yin to Sportsy’s athletic yang.
That was very compelling. But there was more that drove the point home and resulted in me literally giving my body and mind over to Strive for the next few months.
- As the CEO of Sportsy, I want to lead by example. Get out there and train your body and mind.
- Completing a challenge like this with the 26 other people on the Core Team will lead to lifelong friendships with like minded people. People who can change the world together.
- I want to look good naked. ;-) 817 miles on a bike so far this year, nearly 200 miles running and many hours swimming builds muscle!
I’m doing the hard work training and will give 110% in September, but I need your help and support. The whole point of doing this is to raise funds for Big Change. My goal is £20,000 and I have a long way to go before Strive.
Please support my efforts and this great mission by visiting:
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JustinKifer
Strive on!
