Rising Dragon Palace Hotel in Hanoi

In case you are wondering what The Rising Dragon Palace Hotel looks like from the inside, check out my YouTube Video starring my partner in crimes Ree! Many thanks to the Palace Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam, for supporting Cystic Fibrosis!

Fundraising!

We just had 65 Roses Day and I was in the Rooke Street Mall with friends and Lions Club members collecting funds and selling CF merchandise. Despite the rain we collected $500+ for the Cystic Fibrosis Association! I also gave out lots of postcards and business cards advertising the Vietnam to Singapore Coughing4CF ride. I am continuing to print more and more Coughing4CF propaganda. We will be carrying postcards that explain to people what we are doing in different languages. When I did the Paris to Istanbul ride people in foreign countries had no idea what we were doing and assumed we were rich tourists. 

The spending has started, and a lot more spending still to come. We now need to encourage people to support us and ask for small donations! All of us are mostly self-funded on the trip, but some expenses I hope to cover with funds raised. These cost include the printing of thank-you/information cards in Vietnamese and Cantonese, Malay and Thai, some t-shirts etc. We also need help in renting the occasional transport such as taxis or vans  to help carry some of our gear.

So if you can spare a few dollars we would very much appreciate your support! Some of you have already donated, and some of you were very very generous indeed, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart as that has made it possible for me to start the publicity machine!

Also for fundraising we are planning a Spellathon (how do you spell that?) and a Fundraising dinner, both in Devonport. Details still to be finalized, watch this space!

Give

Zoco Electric Bike Sponsorship!

Shaun McTaggart from Zoco Electric Bikes met with me and my cycle expert  friend Glen van Hest and have concluded we are proceding with a Zoco Electric Bike to ride from Vietnam to Singapore. The Zoco Electric bike has some interesting features, such as a specialised transmission better suited to hilly terrain, and  a 200W electric central drive system to assist my cycling. Of course I will still be pedalling as 200W is essentially a tail-wind, and not a motorbike. To give you a comparison, the average lounge room lightbulb is 100W. 



Here is a photo of the bike.

Welcome on board 300K

300K has come aboard again! 300K is an innovative industrial organisation that specialises in inventing safe and environemtally responsible process solutions. 300K, a Tasmanian company, has supported me on the succesfully Mount Kinabalu expedition in 2010!

Who wants to join me?

Opportunity for someone to come and have an adventure with us! Cindy just got a great job offer, and she needs to be replaced! Maybe you want to film the ride, maybe you like to have a good adventure, maybe Cystic Fibrosis is close to your heart. If you feel in any way inclined to come along and spend 2 months travelling Asia with us (approx 1 September - 1 November 2012). No need to ride every day, no need to be a 'serious cyclist', we just need someone with energy and good vibes!

Beam Walter a message! supportteam@coughing4cf.com .

Help or Hindrance?

Electric Bicycles are awesome. No arguments with that. Until you run out of charge, or maybe if all your electrics get soaked in tropical rains perhaps.... but I had not imagined that flying with the bikes would be a problem!

Here is our first dilemma. Lithium batteries are not permitted on the plane... Plane crashes have been caused by exploding Lithium batteries, and they are strictly forbidden if exceeding a certain size. Our bike batteries are way too big.

We likely need to ship the batteries separately as Dangerous Goods, probably via slow surface mail, to Vietnam. Sigh. I am working on the logistics. We may be able to ship spare batteries* well in advance to a hotel in Hanoi,Vietnam, so in case we fail to safely/legally take the batteries on the plane we at least have batteries waiting for us. If we get the batteries across we have spare batteries for the ride and therefore longer range.

Charging batteries may also cause a problem. Imagine us stopping for lunch at a road side cafe in Asia and plugging in 4-5 exhausted batteries (each drawing 1+Amp) we are likely to blow a fuse! Same in makeshift little hotels in rural Asia, we are likely to blow a fuse or two if we need to recharge 2 batteries each!

It is great to see the challenges mounting. It shows me that Cystic Fibrosis is really just another little issue in a heap of other ones! CF I've had all my life, I can deal with that. Overcoming challenges on a 5000km expedition from Vietnam to Singapore will be new and unique ones!

Still looking for sponsors to help us with some of these possibly costly hurdles! Email: sponsors@coughing4cf.com!!


* Each battery costs $300+ so spares are a serious luxury!

Looking for Support

Dear Business Owner,

We are sure you have heard of Walter van Praag's Epic bicycle ride from Paris to Istanbul for Cystic Fibrosis in 2007. Well, he is at it again, and he needs your support!

From 65Roses day (25 May) till departure date (25 August) Walter will be receiving national press for his upcoming Vietnam to Singapore bicycle ride. Walter van Praag with his team will cycle 5000 kilometres through Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. The team will be riding Aseako electric assist bicycles, which have a 200Watt electric motor and a battery which will help provide a virtual 'tail-wind' for 30-50km per charge. Cycling 5000 kms will be a great test for a person with Cystic Fibrosis, operating on half normal lung function, with insulin dependent diabetes and pancreatic deficiency to name just a few of the issues associated with Cystic Fibrosis.

Will the 200 Watt (two light-bulbs) electric motor make all the difference? Walter is not adverse to a challenge, and if ever he had one, finding power-points might just be his main challenge this time around. 

Here is your chance to support Walter with his mission! Just donate $50 and be included on his sponsor web page with your company name and a website link. All sponsors who donate $2000 towards the 2 months ride will be considered a major sponsor and receive mentions during press and publicity events and be prominently mentioned on the website and publicity. Commercial sponsors who donate $5000 will be mentioned in radio interviews, TV interviews and will be acknowledged in all related press statements. 

There will be a public send off from the Devonport airport on 25 August as he flies out. To donate visit www.coughing4cf.com or email sponsor@coughing4cf.com

Rosemaree Loane
PR for Coughing4cf 50% of money collected through FundraZR (below) I pledge to donate to CF Associations at end of ride! Give