Hi, friends.

As many of you know, one of Big Cranks missions is building bridges -
bridges between the gay and non-gay communities, bridges between
the cycling and non-cycling communities, bridges between cycling
organizataions and non-cycling organizations, etc. Big Crank is a
bridge in many respects.

One outcome of that motivation to bridge communities is that last
year Big Crank managed to raise over $8,000 for non-profit
organizations other than ourselves. We were so successful, in fact,
that we managed to be the 8th largest fundraiser in last year's Tour
de Cure. After having only been in existence for less than 6 months
and having only had an annual budget last year of a bit over
$10,000.

Obviously, we take our bridging role very seriously and we continue
to look for ways to build bridges as we move into our 2007 season.
One first, major step along that path is the reason for our
announcement this afternoon.

We are proud to announce the creation of Big Crank Blend coffee as a
new fundraising tool for Doorways, an interfaith non-profit agency
providing services to those living with HIV/AIDS. Each bag of Big
Crank Blend sold will generate $3 for Doorways.

Big Crank Blend coffee is a high caffeine (of course), medium roast
coffee with a bit more body than most high caffeine blends. It has
been described by those who have tried it as "yummy". And it makes
you go fast. Big Crank Blend has been developed for us by our
excellent corporate sponsor and home base, Hartford Coffee
Company.

Our coffee will be available for sale in 3 ways. Beginning soon
(within the next week), grab and go bags of Big Crank Blend will be
available on the shelf at Hartford Coffee Company (Roger and
Hartford in Tower Grove South). Shortly after that, our coffee will
go on sale at Big Shark Bicycle Company (another of our excellent
corporate sponsors)in the U. City Loop. Finally, we as a club will
begin selling Big Crank Blend in the same was as the Girl Scout's
sell cookies (sash is optional).

It is highly likely that Big Crank Blend will become the coffee of
choice for some organizations in St. Louis (including one church I
know very well)and you can expect to see Big Crank Blend making an
appearance in a variety of places as it increases in popularity (did
I mention that its yummy?).

How does this benefit us? Well, our roll in fundraising for other
organizations is a great motivator for our corporate sponsors to
continue sponsoring us. It makes us a community investment for
them. By giving to Big Crank, they are also giving to all those
organizations for whom we raise funds. Our beneficiary
organizations know who our sponsors are because we make a point of
telling them.

Also, we think that having our logo on shelves at Big Shark and
Hartford is good for our club. Not to mention the likelihood of
bags of Big Crank Blend showing up in people's offices, as stocking
stuffers next Christmas, during church coffee hours, etc.

Finally, we can all be proud that we spend as much time and energy
helping other people (by raising funds for them) as we do in
building our own club. That is something we can be very, very proud
of. In our minds, that goes way beyond whatever benefit we might
realize if we spent our energies raising money for ourselves.

Big Crank Cycling and Big Crank Blend - ride bikes, drink coffee,
save the world.

Big Crank Cycling