Team Switchback Welcomes Vecchio's of Boulder!

Team Switchback is proud to announce a partnership with Vecchio's Bicicletteria of Boulder, Colorado as our preferred provider of bicycle parts and service for our entry into the Race Across the West.

Vecchio's has an incredible reputation as the place to go for expert bicycle service in the Rocky Mountain region and we are proud to welcome them onto our team!

Buongiorno!

Personal Appeal

Dear Team Switchback supporter,

Next June, Eric Begin and I will be racing our bicycles in the 2010 Race Across the West (www.raceacrossthewest.org), which travels from Oceanside, California to Durango, Colorado in a non-stop, around the clock race.

The Race Across the West (RAW) is held in conjunction with the Race Across America (RAAM) bicycle race, termed the "world's toughest sporting event" by Outside Magazine. Eric Begin is a one time RAAM-crewing veteran and was my crew chief during my successful 2008 solo RAAM effort. I have raced RAAM three times and the 4-man team I was on last year WON the race. The RAW is an international, highly esteemed competition and we are excited to be participating as a 2-man team.

For 2010, Eric and I have created "Team Switchback," founded on the principal that real, everyday people can effect positive, lasting change in world. We all have "switchbacks" in our life and sometimes it's hard to figure out when the road will straighten out and the top of the mountain will be reached. Eric and I are using our talents for endurance athletics to help straighten that road out for people and causes all over the globe.

Team Switchback is partnering with the Southern Exposure foundation (SEF), a group based in Arvada, CO that works with the impoverished citizens of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico and builds homes for them in the city that the BBC recently called the "murder capital of the world." Juarez is located a short distance across the border from El Paso, Texas and has become a major battleground for drug smugglers and major drug cartels.

There is terrible violence and poverty in Juarez (over 2600 murders last year) and the Southern Exposure foundation is hoping to bring a semblance of "normalcy" back to its citizens by building homes and employing skilled labor in the area. The SEF has built over 230 homes so far, approximately 30% of which are inhabited by single mothers and their children.

Team Switchback is raising funds and awareness for this incredibly difficult humanitarian effort by participating in the Race Across the West. YOU can directly impact our endeavor by sending a tax-deductible donation to the address at the end of this letter. Every single dollar raised with DIRECTLY impact our and the SEF's mission. Eric and I are hoping to raise at least enough money to build one single family home in Juarez (approximately $4500 USD).

Won't YOU help Team Switchback and the citizens of Ciudad Juarez?

Checks can be made out to:

Southern Exposure
c/o Tim Case
PO Box 270671
Louisville, CO 80027


Sincerely,

Tim Case
Team Switchback
2010 Race Across the West
www.teamswitchback.blogspot.com
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What is Your Balm?

Right after September 11, 2001 I went to a lecture in Minnesota given by Maya Angelou, famous author, poet and social commentator.

Maya is known for her wisdom and wit, and so it was very fitting that she packed a lecture hall at a local university, full of people desperate for answers and understanding after that terrible morning 9 years ago...

Maya implored the crowd to find what she called our own personal "balm." Think about it. We all have those things in our lives that find comfort in...some healthy, others not so much. As the level of stress increases for each one of us...bigger, better job, bills, kids, etc., we need to find those things that will bring us peace and security.

For Eric Begin and I, Team Switchback, we have found that our passion for endurance cycling can bring a measure of balm to the citizens of Juarez, Mexico. In a sense, we are using our balm to bring others into a more certain world, if only for the moment.

Cycling has changed our lives for the better and so we seek ways to pay that forward to another people and another place. We are hoping that you will find balm and peace in your life and help us bring that comfort to the impoverished world of Juarez, Mexico.

Next June, Eric and I will be racing our bicycles across the American West with the basic premise that individual people with a passion for humanitarian causes, such as ours, can effect positive, secure change as the world seems to be spinning out of control.

Maya Angelou spoke for a bit over an hour to a mass of people looking for something to grip onto, days after planes crashed, people jumped, rescuers ran in and our world was turned upside down and as she begged us to find our center, she sang out, "There is a balm in Gilead, to make the wounded whole..."

Help Team Switchback carry this message to the residents of Juarez...

Team Switchback c/o Tim Case
PO Box 270671
Louisville, CO 80027

Introduction to the Team

Team Switchback is composed of two racers, Eric Begin and Tim Case and is kicking off the team's creation by participating in the Race Across the West bicycle race in June.

Tim Case is employed as a professional firefighter at Boulder Fire Rescue and is a three time veteran of the Race Across America bicycle race, termed the "world's toughest sporting event" by Outside Magazine, twice on a relay team and once (2008) solo. Most recently, Tim has lended his talent for ultra-endurance athletics to Team Strong Heart and continues to be a member of that organization.

Eric Begin is a Fort Lewis (Durango, CO) alum and is also a professional firefighter with Boulder Fire Rescue in Boulder, CO. He has a wife, Andrea and a new baby girl. Eric was Tim's Crew Chief during his 2008 solo Race Across America effort.

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For 2010, Team Switchback is proud to be partnering with the Southern Exposure Foundation, which is a non-profit charity based in Arvada, CO (http://www.southernexposureinc.org/) that brings funding and human resources to building homes for the impoverished citizens of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Southern Exposure has built over 230 homes for the people of Juarez, 30% of which have been inhabited by single women with children.

Team Switchback has been created for the explicit purpose of racing funding and awareness for this incredible charity and hopes to raise enough funding in 2010 for the materials and resources needed to complete one single family home in Juarez, or about $4500.

Eric and I are proud to support this mission and are pleased that we can use our talents for gathering resources and people while racing our bikes across the western third of our Nation in support of Southern Exposure.

If you would like to help Team Switchback and the Southern Exposure Foundation, tax exempt donations can be sent to the following address:

Southern Exposure c/o Tim Case
PO Box 270671
Louisville, CO 80027

The dawn is approaching...