Print This PageAll Sevens
7 Days, 7 Countries, 7 Cities, 777 Miles – and Finishing on 07/07/07
Monsanto cell biologist Mark Neuman describes his love affair with the bicycle – and how he's using it to help AIDS workers in Zambia.
I grew up in Chicago, a chubby teenager who wasn't good in sports. But I could ride the bicycle – and I started a lifelong love affair with cycling.
It was freedom for me. And now I have the opportunity to use bicycles to help provide freedom for a special group of people in Zambia. The idea is to provide bicycles to health workers there so that they can visit more people and/or increase their ability to reach families further afield.
In late June, I'll be traveling to Basel, Switzerland, with Bert Berla and Nigel Taylor, two friends who work at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis. There we'll join Chris Davey, another friend from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom. Basel is the departure city for a seven-day, seven-country, seven-city, 777-mile cycling trip that will finish in London on July 7, or 07/07/07. Thus the project's name – "All Sevens."
Volunteer care givers in Zambia with
their World Bicycle Relief bikes
What's special about the cities is that all seven have at some point been the departure cities (Le Grand Depart) for the Tour de France, the 21-day cycling stage race that is the oldest and arguably the best known of international cycling's major racing events. This year, the Tour's prologue will begin in London on July 7.
In addition to Basel, the other cities included in our All Sevens itinerary are Frankfurt, Germany; Luxembourg City; Liege, Belgium; and s'-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch), Scheveningen and Leiden, The Netherlands.
While we wanted to undertake an interesting bicycle trip, we also wanted to do something more. And the desire for "something more" led us to programs sponsored by World Bicycle Relief, which is involved in a large program to tackle HIV/AIDS. Shipment of the bicycles will be arranged through Jole Rider, an organization in the U.K. that collects unused bikes for use in Africa.
A typical bike donated through
World Bicycle Relief
The goal of our All Sevens team in the U.S. is to raise $10,900 to provide 100 bicycles for health workers in Zambia .In the U.K., the goal is to raise £3,000 (approximately US $6,000) to purchase a shipping container for the bikes. An additional £1,000 (US $2,000) would allow for refurbishing of the bikes before shipment.
We became interested in a project for Africa because Nigel Taylor works on disease-resistant cassava at the Danforth Center, and has traveled to Kenya several times. My own commitment to the project was a result of Monsanto's growing interest in African projects as well as the spirit of the Monsanto Pledge.
I was a founding member of the Monsanto Mavericks, a cycling team based in St. Louis that focuses on fitness and fun, with a signature ride each year for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's MS 150 in Columbia, Missouri. In 2006, the Mavericks fielded almost 100 riders for the fundraising event and was the largest fund raiser, collecting $100,000 for the Gateway MS Society.
With the All Sevens project, I will get to visit places I've never seen, help people who desperately need help – and ride my bike. It doesn't get much better than that.
More information about the riders and the route can be found at our web site, www.allsevens.org or blog www.allsevens.blogspot.com.
