From a press release:

Fourth Annual Ride for Life to benefit Duke Children’s Hospital

The Fourth Annual Ride for Life, to benefit Duke Children’s Hospital, is set to roll on Saturday, July 19th in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The ride, started 3 years ago by CCS Racer and Duke Registered Nurse Stan Simmerson, has seen impressive growth these past years, and this year’s ride promises to be the biggest yet.

Riders will meet for sign-in at Scooter’s Bar and Grill in Raleigh at 9:00 a.m., then depart at 11 to visit some of the area’s best bike dealerships and tempting restaurants, then proceed to Duke University Medical Center with police escort to visit the Children’s Hospital. There they will meet just a few of the many kids that benefit from the riders’ generosity.

In years past there were always great door-prizes for the participants, but this year the prizes are indeed impressive, and include free tires from Pirelli, a free track day/school at Virginia International Raceway from Cornerspeed.net, an autographed basketball from Duke’s own Coach K, and certificates from many of the area’s finest restaurants.

On top of that, Simmerson has collected some highly-prized motorcycle racing memorabilia for auction on Ebay to coincide with this ride. The items include an Arai helmet that has been signed by a “who’s who” list of motorcycle racing champions, including World Champions Freddie Spencer, Kevin Schwantz and Scott Russell. Also on the helmet are AMA Champions Nicky Hayden, Miguel Duhamel, Kurtis Roberts, Mat Mladin, Aaron Yates, Rich Oliver, Jason Pridmore, Doug Chandler, and many many more names.

The tuners weren’t left out either; legendary tuners Al Ludington, Ray Plumb and Vic Fasola are on the helmet, along with former Daytona 200 winner David Sadowski.

Journalists are accounted for too, Brian Drebber of SpeedTV signed the helmet, along with Roadracing World editor John Ulrich. Many more names are there too, too many to list!

Also up for auction is Kurtis Rober’s Leathers from VIR, Aaron Yates’ boots, Rich Oliver’s boots, and Eric Bostrom’s gloves.

“I can’t thank these guys enough for their generosity,” said Simmerson, when speaking about the auction. “That these guys would donate like they have speaks volumes of their character”.

The items can be viewed by visiting www.ebay.com and typing in “ride for life” into their search engine. Persons interested in participating in the charity ride or with questions regarding the items up for auction can contact Stan Simmerson at Duke at 919-668-2934, or can call Scooter’s about the ride at 919-954-2171.



More from Stan Simmerson, RN, on what the money is used for:

The money raised goes to the Duke Children’s Miracle Network, an organization here at the hospital that works to benefit the patients and their families that are here for extended stays due to the serious nature of the illnesses faced by these kids. (Duke has one of the largest Bone Marrow Transplant programs in the nation). Duke does not turn away any patient, regardless of their ability to pay. For this reason, the Duke Children’s Miracle Network was created.

If a family is from far away from this area, and cannot afford a hotel room while their child is in the hospital, the Network makes sure that mom and dad have a place to stay while their child is in the hospital. Other things the Network supports is the procurement of video tapes, games, puzzles, etc for the kids as they face long periods of isolation after their chemotherapy, (They are especially vulnerable during this period as their natural immune system is gone). The Network makes sure that there are enough copies of “The Little Mermaid”, etc. to keep the kids entertained during their forced isolation.

The Children’s Miracle Network also hosts a summer camp for seriously ill kids, where there are doctors and nurses on the camp, so that kids can, well, be kids, while still having the closely watched medical care they require.

There are many more things that this money will help.

Last year we had around 200 motorcycles on the ride and raised over $10,000. This year, weather permitting, we’ll do even better.