Chefs Cycle - Giant and EVOL rider Mike Friedberg team up with No Kid Hungry

Make $50 a life changing sum of money!  

Does that headline seem like an infomercial?  Keep reading, I promise I will show you how!

Can you think of a time where you had a bad start at a race?  It’s happened to all of us for a million different reasons.  The guy ahead of you slips a pedal, your rear tire was on a loose patch, you were distracted, had a mechanical or just plain old bad luck.  It’s so frustrating!  You have to exert so much energy just to get back into the field.  When the race really gets going, you’re exhausted having expended so much effort just to be mid pack. Is everyone with me? At the end of the race you are left wondering what could have been if you’d had a decent start & could have used that same energy to move up, rather than catch up. Can you think of a time where this has happened to you?  This is the perfect metaphor for childhood hunger. Kids who do not get a good start in life have to work so hard just to be average. 

This fall I got involved with Chefs Cycle, a group of restaurant professionals who love cycling & use it raise money for No Kid Hungry, a charity dedicated to eliminating childhood hunger in America.  I was lucky enough to do a Pro/Am event with them at Blackberry Farms in Tennessee.  We rode well & raised $30,000 for No Kid Hungry. It has been an amazing journey personally & professionally.

Professionally, I am the co-founder/co-owner of Yellowbelly Chicken. We are a fast casual, fried chicken concept built around offering people better, healthier versions of the food they already love. We want to change the way people eat! We want people to eat better, feel better & do better.  I’m passionate about healthy food & lifestyle.  I love helping people eat better.  At the same time it is important to respect the fact that there are still lots of people in this country who are not getting enough to eat. I struggle with the idea that we are able to scrutinize every ingredient we source while so many people are still going hungry.  While we are at Whole Foods worrying about whether or not something is local or organic others are wondering how they are going to feed their kids.  

Personally, I have been lucky enough to be an athlete all my life. I was on the US Ski Team when I was younger.  I skied moguls on the World Cup Tour. Now I race bikes for fun. Sports are all about self actualization. For the most part they are selfish pursuits. You have to have a lot of things in place to be able to focus on yourself & what you need to be successful. I feel truly blessed to have been able to chase my dreams. As I get older I realize what a gift it has been. My parents were able to provide me with everything I needed. Not everyone is so lucky.  In America, 1 in 5 kids are not getting the food they need.  

Chefs Cycle is an amazing opportunity for us to give to others through the sport we love. Too many people are living without & we can help. This season I am donating every dollar I make racing (both in the form of prize money & also in beer drenched hand ups) to No Kid Hungry.  For every $1 donated up to 10 meals will be provided for kids in need.  Here is where I make good on the headline: I won $50 at a race called Cross of the North.  That is 500 meals for kids that would not otherwise eat.  That is a life changing amount of money! Together we can end childhood hunger in this country. Who knows what great things these kids will achieve with our help!  

Please consider donating to No Kid Hungry through my Chefs Cycle Page.