Thank you to everyone who helped make this Ride the most fun, meaningful and memorable 50th birthday celebration I could have imagined. You can read about how it went, and view photos from the road, as well as a photo album documenting the entire Ride, with commentary, on TheHistoriCycle Facebook page. - Shawn

Hi. My name is Shawn Burke, and from July 29 to September 21, 2012, in celebration of my 50th birthday on July 22, I will be riding my bike 1962 miles from Vancouver to San Diego, and inviting friends and family to join me.

This 55-day journey will consist of 40 days of riding (average about 50 miles a day) interspersed with 15 days of relaxing. Our gear will be transported by car and we will spend nights either camping, with friends or family, or in a variety of lodgings. This pace was designed to be leisurely and enjoyable, providing a decent challenge for sure but also allowing for lots of sightseeing, relaxation and other activities.

The Route

The route connects many of my favorite places, going from Vancouver and the San Juan Islands to Victoria, Seattle, Mt. Ranier, Portland, Hood River and the Willamette Valley, along hundreds of miles of spectacular Oregon and California Pacific coastline, through the redwood forests of northern California, Mendocino, Sonoma and Marin Counties, and to San Francisco, Oakland, Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur, Pismo Beach, the San Ynez Valley, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Laguna Beach and San Diego. For a day-to-day itinerary and highlights, click here.

Join Me

I am inviting friends, family and like-minded individuals to participate in this journey with me, either by cycling a portion with us, following a portion of the route by car (including the opportunity to drive mine), or meeting us somewhere along the way just for the day. If interested, please visit TheHistoricYcle on Facebook and let me know.

TheHistoricYcle!

I am also doing this Ride to raise money for six non-profit grassroots organizations whose work has great and positive impact for our communities and environment. I have dubbed the Ride TheHistoricYcle! because the organizations - Arizona Wilderness Coalition, Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection, The Rogue Theatre, Sky Island Alliance, Western Watersheds Project, and ZUZI! Dance Company - are all located in The Historic Y [ website | Facebook ], an historic property in Tucson Arizona that since 2004 I have as its owner been developing and nurturing as a Center for the Arts, Education and the Environment. For more information about the benefiting organizations, click here.

The benefiting organizations of TheHistoricYcle do not have huge development operations, and are only able to continue their commitment to the arts, education and the environment by receiving grassroots community support from people like me and you.

Pledging

Please join me and help celebrate my birthday by making a tax-deductible donation. (I, and those accompanying me, will be paying our own way, so no amount of your donations will be used to produce or pay for this ride.)

Thanks so much!

Make Your Pledge

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    You'll be sent to the organization's website to complete your tax-deductible donation. If you select for your donation to be divided equally among the organizations, you will be directed to Sky Island Alliance's website to complete the donation. SIA will forward each organization's portion of the total split donations upon the conclusion of the ride.