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Apr 7, 2011

Project Biwa update

It has already been a week since I told you about Project Biwa, and so far training is going well. Of course, we are still at the early stages, and the distances remain fairly modest, but one has to start somewhere.

Before starting the project, I was cycling less than 20 kilometers per week on average. The objective for week 1 was to increase this to 40 kilometers. I could not ride on Sunday and ended up 8 kilometers short, at 32, but doubled Monday's distance to quickly catch up on this. The objective for this week originally was 100 kilometers and therefore becomes 108km. I am at 52km so far, and will post another 10km later today. The first test of this training schedule comes on Saturday, with 25km.

I also want to update you on the fundraising efforts.

Based on the statistics for this website, you may be reading these lines from almost anywhere in the world (though most likely Japan, Europe or the US), and the idea was to find a solution that would be suitable for everyone.

An account has therefore been created on GlobalGiving, where you will be able to find a fundraiser page for Project Biwa. All donations made through this page will go to their Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund.

This fund directs money to several organisations already on the field. These include Save the Children, International Medical Corps, Japan Platform (a network of Japanese NGOs, businesses and local governments) and Civic Force, among others. Please help them.

Of course, with such a setup, your donations go directly to GlobalGiving, and I do not have to handle anything. I will just be notified when donations are made, which will obviously be a motivation boost.

I have added a widget on the right panel of this blog. Feel free add it to your website as well if you wish to spread the word. Technical details are available here.

This fundraiser page will stay online after the ride itself, but I suspect that at that stage most of the donations will come from book sales. These will go to the Japanese Red Cross Society. I will of course put all the details online (how many books we sold, receipts from the donations to the Red Cross, and so on).

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments below or by email.

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