Almost immediately, I started to think about next year. Crazy Faith was successful enough that planning v2.0 seemed to be a no-brainer. The questions then becomes:
What do we do?
Do we do the same thing again? Will the congregation respond as well as they did this year? Should I include others more prominently?
Before those questions can be answered, a few points need to be considered. There were several reasons I feel Crazy Faith was successful.
- It was pretty crazy. I mean 12 hours on a bike!?!? C'mon! Really? Probably 98% of the congregation had no conception of what it might be like to be on a bike for that long.
- It was a new and fresh idea. Crazy Faith caught the attention of the congregation.
- It took place at the beginning of the school year when education and Christian Education is on the forefront of people's minds.
- The congregation wasn't asked to do much of anything other than donate money. Most of the effort came from me. All they had to do was pledge and write a check.
- Not to toot my own horn, but it was marketed well. There was information given multiple times through multiple different formats to let people know what was going on. No one could say they didn't know about it.
- The money raised went towards a cause that the congregation already supports and has been supporting for quite some time. They were not asked to support some brand new charitable cause.
If the above points are accurate, that tells me we would need to do something different (but still crazy), near the beginning of the church/school year, and do something that doesn't ask too much of the congregation as a whole.
Here are some of the random thoughts and ideas I, and others, have had:
Two Man Team Time Trials
So here's the idea...we would have 2, two man teams that would ride an approximate 25 mile route. Team One would start and try to cover the route as quickly as they could. As they pull into the church parking lot, Team Two would then take off and ride the same route, trying to finish as fast as possible. If you repeated the process for say, I don't know, 12 hours, how many miles could we cover?
100 Miles to Nowhere
Imagine running a marathon...on a treadmill. Take that basic idea and apply it to the bike. What if I set up my indoor trainer in the Fellowship Hall and rode 100 miles without moving even an inch? A century ride is hard. A century ride without actually going anywhere might just qualify as torture. This idea could also be adapted for a particular length of time, maybe 8-12 hours.
Duathalon Repeats
Along with cycling, I dabble in running. Not nearly as much as cycling but enough to do a 5K every now and then. What if I picked a cycling route and a running route and I switched back and forth from one to the other for a set amount of time? Maybe something like 25 miles of cycling and a 5K run done over and over. That, honestly, sounds pretty crazy.
100 Miles to Nowhere Duathalon
How about combining the duathalon idea with the not-actually-going-anywhere idea? Maybe we could set up a treadmill and a trainer and go back and forth from one to the other until we got to 100 miles. That sounds like a fun kind of self-flagellation.
The Obvious Plan
If you just rode your bike for 12 hours, the most obvious next step would be something like 13-16 hours. "You rode 12 hours. Thirteen hours isn't that much more!"
The Overnight
What if we repeated the 12 hour idea but it was from 7 pm to 7 am? The danger quotient definitely goes up for an overnight ride. That makes the overnight option not terribly likely. There is crazy and there is stupid. We're going to avoid stupid.
Other Ideas
Several other little ideas have been floated about. These could be done in conjunction with one of the "bigger" ideas above.
Maybe have one person from each church come up with their own Crazy Faith idea and do it on the same day. Or maybe do the same thing together. Maybe, just maybe, make it into a friendly competition between churches.
Here are some of the random thoughts and ideas I, and others, have had:
Two Man Team Time Trials
So here's the idea...we would have 2, two man teams that would ride an approximate 25 mile route. Team One would start and try to cover the route as quickly as they could. As they pull into the church parking lot, Team Two would then take off and ride the same route, trying to finish as fast as possible. If you repeated the process for say, I don't know, 12 hours, how many miles could we cover?
100 Miles to Nowhere
Imagine running a marathon...on a treadmill. Take that basic idea and apply it to the bike. What if I set up my indoor trainer in the Fellowship Hall and rode 100 miles without moving even an inch? A century ride is hard. A century ride without actually going anywhere might just qualify as torture. This idea could also be adapted for a particular length of time, maybe 8-12 hours.
Duathalon Repeats
Along with cycling, I dabble in running. Not nearly as much as cycling but enough to do a 5K every now and then. What if I picked a cycling route and a running route and I switched back and forth from one to the other for a set amount of time? Maybe something like 25 miles of cycling and a 5K run done over and over. That, honestly, sounds pretty crazy.
100 Miles to Nowhere Duathalon
How about combining the duathalon idea with the not-actually-going-anywhere idea? Maybe we could set up a treadmill and a trainer and go back and forth from one to the other until we got to 100 miles. That sounds like a fun kind of self-flagellation.
The Obvious Plan
If you just rode your bike for 12 hours, the most obvious next step would be something like 13-16 hours. "You rode 12 hours. Thirteen hours isn't that much more!"
The Overnight
What if we repeated the 12 hour idea but it was from 7 pm to 7 am? The danger quotient definitely goes up for an overnight ride. That makes the overnight option not terribly likely. There is crazy and there is stupid. We're going to avoid stupid.
Other Ideas
Several other little ideas have been floated about. These could be done in conjunction with one of the "bigger" ideas above.
- Have a fun ride for church members and there families. Maybe around Millenium Park.
- Set up a kids race course in the church parking lot and see who can record the fastest lap.
- Have a raffle of donated bike goods.
- If we do a 100 Miles to Nowhere format, we could set up a trainer next to me and charge people $10 for 10 minutes.
- If the duathalon idea comes about, let others do the running portion with me, since more church members run then bike.
Maybe have one person from each church come up with their own Crazy Faith idea and do it on the same day. Or maybe do the same thing together. Maybe, just maybe, make it into a friendly competition between churches.
"Our church can go farther than your church! Na-na-na-na-na!"
We'll try to avoid the above sentiment. Yeah, that would probably be a good idea.
At this time, I'm keeping my mind open. The sky's the limit. There are lots of good ideas out there and I'll be doing some fishing with others to see what comes up.
Do you have ideas? Write me a comment.
At this time, I'm keeping my mind open. The sky's the limit. There are lots of good ideas out there and I'll be doing some fishing with others to see what comes up.
Do you have ideas? Write me a comment.
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