Climate Ride NYC to DC

Our very own purely team member, Julie, participated in Climate Ride NYC to DC this May 19th through the 23rd. Here she tells the story about this life changing experience!

            I first heard about the Climate Ride through a friend who had participated twice. The Climate Ride is a 300 mile bike ride from NYC to DC that raises funding for nonprofit organizations that are making a difference by promoting clean energy, safe bicycle transportation and fighting climate change. She, kind of jokingly, suggested that I consider doing it because of my interest in the environment and climate change. At the same time, I was fairly out of shape and didn’t even own a bike! It was pretty scary to sign up knowing what I had ahead of me: $2.400 worth of donations to collect, a ton of training and then the actual ride. I began talking to everyone I could about climate ride and collecting donations and advice all over. It was extremely motivating.

            Here at purely elizabeth, we quickly realized how well Climate Ride aligned with our values as a company and how easy it would be for us, as a company, to get involved. As members of 1% for the planet, we allocated our 1% of our profits this year to Climate Ride, as well as donated enough granola for the 200 riders!

            Now, with the 300 miles behind me, I can say it was one of the best, most rewarding things I have done. My commitment to the environment was completely renewed. Sometimes, I felt like climate change was such a huge issue that it was hard to be optimistic about its reversal. Spending the 5 days, with 200 people who were willing to ride from NYC to DC to make a positive impact on our planet was an amazingly inspiring experience. I learned so much from the speakers and also from fellow riders. I would definitely do it again!