Coast to Coast for Veterans

So, a few weeks back, I babbled on about how the Surly Long Haul Trucker was maybe a bit of pig-iron overkill for a lot of cyclists. But then, there are riders like Iris......who is stuffing DC life in an Ortlieb pannier bag, and setting out on a cross-country ride to benefit the Yellow Ribbon Fund. Iris needed a bulletproof rig that would flatten out 50-100 miles of pavement a day (here's her route) and plunked down for a nice new LHT.
She asked if we would chip in with some accessories, which we did, thanks to Serfas who is exceedingly generous in stocking our schwag bag. Iris has a noble intent -- to support the Yellow Ribbon Fund's invaluable mission to fill in the gaps in the rehabilitation efforts of troops at Walter Reed AMC and the National Naval Medical Center.

Sound familiar? You may recall a handsome young man, who is not too fond of the French and has a man-crush on Matthew McConaughey, schlepping wristbands....
Yes, the WristStrong campaign, of course. Which did not seek to appropriate the likeness to another rubber-wristband-based charitable endeavor in any way. Stephen T. Colbert raised about $172K for the Yellow Ribbon Fund, with wristbands that, paradoxically, were not yellow. Here's the very funny check presentation:


I'm sure if you click through to Iris' site, and put a few dollars down to help her top the Colbert Nation's $172K, she'll sign a 10-foot-tall novelty check too.