Dear friends and supporters, 

Happy new year and all the best for 2024! 

Thank you for supporting my cycling for charity in 2023 (and to many of you, for continuing to support me through the years). As you may know, cycling is one of my major hobbies. What drives me to train and cycle thousands of miles is being able to convert all of this effort into good we can do in the world. This is my guiding light and your support is my inspiration.   

As you supported my rides for charities this year, I wanted to send you a summary of the good we were able to accomplish together. Last year, we were able to raise $12,043 for two charities: The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the Riaan Research Initiative. It was a groundbreaking year as this was the highest annual total we’ve raised!

$5,214 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

In June, I cycled 100 miles around Lake Tahoe in America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride to support The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. It was my fifth time finishing this ride. You helped me raise $5,214, the most that I have raised for this event, ever. As I got close to ride day, I wasn’t sure if I’d make my fundraising goal but many of you stepped up in the last few days before the ride to get me over.
Our Sacramento fundraising team was able to raise over $100K total and earn a cancer research grant named in honor of our head coach Scott Faser. You can read more about his inspirational story here.

The event raised more than $2.6M for blood cancer patients. During the event, I heard many other inspirational and touching stories of survivors and families for whom this cause is so important. These funds go a long way to help people overcome blood cancers and to develop breakthrough therapeutics that treat other cancers, too.

Here’s a short video of my ride with our team:

You can find out more about the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at lls.org. 

$6,829 for the Riaan Research Initiative

Almost three months later, I cycled my third annual #ride4Riaan. This ride was 191 miles over two days from Seattle to Vancouver in the Ride from Seattle to Vancouver & Party event, crossing an international boundary for the first time on my bike. You supported me by donating $6,829 to the Riaan Research Initiative, the most I’ve ever raised for any charity in a single event! Riaan Research Initiative is a non-profit founded by my friends Jo and Richie to develop a cure for Cockayne syndrome, the disease afflicting their son, Riaan. It’s a rare neurodegenerative disease that does not give children long to live. It’s so rare that many clinicians don’t even know about it, and no cure has yet been developed. 

My friends have come a long way in such a short time to push the development of a cure. Riaan Research Initiative has now raised $3 million to drive cutting-edge research, and you’re a part of their “journey of miracles.” Every dollar is so vitally important to help save Riaan and children like him. You can learn more about the Riaan Research Initiative in this recent article from the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. 

I made video logs of my ride, which you can view below:

You can find out more about the Riaan Research Initiative at riaanresearch.org.

What’s next? 

I would be remiss to not mention that I had a third charity ride scheduled for 2023. This ride was to help in the fight against climate change and for the cause of protecting our biodiversity. As irony would have it, the ride was canceled because of flood damage to roads on the course. So, I wasn’t able to embark on that journey last year. I’m hoping to try again in 2024. 

Speaking of 2024, I’m now planning my ride calendar and my charity rides for the year. I’ll be returning to ride for the same two charities above and, with your support, more! 

I’ll be in touch again nearer to the dates of these rides (I wish to respect your inboxes!). But, I did want to give you a recap of the good we did this past year, and I hope that I can count on your support again in this new year. I would love to hear from you about these rides or anything you’d like to share. If you have ideas for causes that we could support, I’d love to explore how to make that happen too. 

Here’s to more riding for good in the new year! 

In gratitude, 

Winty Singh