Buy a Cycling Jersey to Suppport Cancer Ride

September 12, 2011
by Rodney Olsen
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I’ve written here before about my upcoming Ride for Cancer

I’m about to undertake a bike ride of over 500 km from Albany to Perth to raise funds for Cancer Council Western Australia. This will be the third year in a row that I’ve cycled for this cause. I feel very strongly about it and if you’ve been effected by cancer, I’m sure you do too. The work being done by Cancer Council Western Australia is having effects right around the world through their high level research.

I’ll be joined by twelve other cyclists and each morning for a week I’ll be sharing cancer stories on the Morning Café, my 98.5 Sonshine FM radio program, before hopping onto my bike just after midday to cycle to the next town. The ride will start on the 31st of October and we’ll arrive back in Perth on Saturday the 5th of November.

The team is hoping to raise over $20 000 for Cancer Council WA. I’ve set my personal goal at $2000.

You can give directly by going to the secure Everyday Hero fund raising site set up especially for the ride. Just click the Donate Now button and select my name as the team member you’d like to support.

Buy your own exclusive jersey

Another way you can help the cause and get something for yourself is to buy a limited edition cycling jersey. These jerseys will be the same as those that the team of riders on the Albany to Perth ride will wear.

Perth Integrated Health have jumped on board as a major supporter of the Cancer Ride this year and have set up an online store for those who’d like to buy one of the limited edition jerseys. Orders close on Monday the 26th of September so you have only two weeks to order.

Follow the link to get all the details and see both the front and back views of the jersey.



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World Suicide Prevention Day

August 30, 2011
by Rodney Olsen
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It’s something that tears families apart and leaves an ache that doesn’t seem to diminish over the years. It raises unanswerable questions and takes more lives each year than the road toll, yet we hear far less about its devastating effects.

Each year in Western Australia, over 200 people complete suicide and an even greater number harm themselves in suicide attempts. Suicide prevention is everyone’s business and we all play an important role in preventing suicide in our community.

Saturday the 10th of September is International World Suicide Prevention Day.

World Suicide Prevention Day is held on September 10th each year. The purpose of this day is to raise awareness around the globe that suicide can be prevented. Disseminating information, improving education and training, and decreasing stigmatization are important tasks in such an endeavour. The theme in 2011 is “Preventing Suicide in Multicultural Societies”.

To find out more about the part that we can all play in preventing suicide I spoke to Jade Lewis on my radio program, the Morning Café. You can hear our conversation by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/MOR300811_0842.mp3]

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Cycling Survey Highlights Road Fears

August 23, 2011
by Rodney Olsen
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The RAC in Western Australia is calling for motorists and cyclists to work together to make the roads safer for all road users.

The results of their recent cycling survey showed that 91% of respondents highlighted their fear of sharing the road as one of the major barriers to getting on their bikes. There’s been a surge in cycling since Cadel Evans became the first Australian to win the Tour de France but to truly capitalise on the renewed interest in two wheeled transportation, cyclists need to feel safer.

This morning during the Morning Café on 98.5 Sonshine FM I spoke to RAC Head of Advocacy Matt Brown about the survey.

RAC cycling survey results:

57% rate Perth’s cycle network as average or below
91% of cyclists fear sharing the road with motorists
31% say the social acceptability/status of cycling is a barrier to them cycling
35% believe the government should build more cycle lanes on roads
27% would like to see more bike/shared paths built

Are you a cyclist who fears traffic? What do you think should be done to get more people out on their bikes?



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Café Fitness

August 20, 2011
by Rodney Olsen
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I recently mentioned that my radio programme was changing to become the Morning Café.

One of the new segments that I’ve been looking forward to is a look at fitness and health with personal trainer Kellie Long. We introduced the segment yesterday and got off to a wonderful start.

I know that whenever someone is introduced as being a personal trainer, the natural assumption is that they’re a person for whom fitness comes naturally. We get the idea that they’re somehow created just a little differently from us mere mortals and we’re never likely to achieve the things that they’ve been able to achieve.

That’s why we started out with a little of Kellie’s story. It’s a story with which many of us can identify. It’s a story about dissatisfaction from where we find ourselves but the difference in Kellie’s story is that she did something about it then set about inspiring others.

I am not unfamiliar with the pain of being unhappy in my own skin, both physically and emotionally. I was once 93kgs and can proudly say that after 18 months of hard work lost 30 kgs and have never looked back. Was it easy? NO! Was it worth it? Yes! This is why I have been working and studying in the fitness industry for the past five years. I enjoy training people of all walks of life whether they are mothers, aspiring firemen, police recruits or business men and women. I’m proud to be a partner in their lives and a catalyst for them to reach the goals they strive for.

My goals for my clients are to see not just the improvement of their physical capabilities but their mental and emotional progress also. Physical training cannot be separated from a person’s emotional state. Therefore, my training has a holistic approach in building self confidence through client’s achievements and newly formed lifestyles of clean eating, their ability to handle stress and of course their new found strength in all their physical achievements. – KellieLong.com

If you want to find somewhere to start on your own journey to being happy in your own skin you can listen to our segment by clicking the play button on the audio player below. We’re starting with the basics but there’ll be something for people of any fitness level in the coming weeks.

[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/MOR190811_1535.mp3]

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Riding for Cancer 2011

August 11, 2011
by Rodney Olsen
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I’ll be riding my bike with a little more purpose in the coming months as I start preparing for a ride from Albany to Perth this November.

The ride follows the success of rides held over the last couple of years. This will be our third ride highlighting the cancer journey of a number of people and raising money to fight cancer.

The Story Behind the Rides

In February 2009 my wife’s sister passed away at the age of 41 from cancer.

In the weeks leading up to her death I was throwing an idea around for a bike ride from Perth to Albany. The ride would take my morning radio programme on the road to broadcast from a different town each day.

I wanted to give people who had been touched by cancer a chance to tell their story. Whether they’d lost a loved one or survived cancer, I wanted people to have the opportunity to break the silence and let people know that they’ve been through some deep waters. I wanted others who have been touched by cancer to know they’re not alone.

That ride happened in October 2009 and was very successful in so many ways.

As well as giving people opportunity to tell their story we raised around $15 000 for Cancer Council Western Australia.

Last year we reversed the direction and cycled from Albany to Perth, raising almost $20 000.

Ride for Cancer 2011

So now we’re doing it all over again. We’ll be cycling from Albany to Perth with the event taking place in the first week of November. We’ll travel to Albany on the last weekend of October to prepare to start riding back on Monday the 31st of October, arriving back in Perth on Saturday the 5th of November.

We have a great team of cyclists ready to take part and once again I’ll broadcast my radio programme each morning before hopping onto my bike just after midday to cycle to the next town. We’ll be followed by support vehicles which will carry all our gear.

If you’re part of a business that would like to partner with us on the journey, I’m urgently looking for some sponsors for the cycling jerseys. There are different levels of sponsorship for various sized logos on the jerseys.

I also need your story. Have you been touched by cancer? Are you battling cancer now or beaten it in the past? Does a loved one have cancer? Have you lost a friend? If you’d rather not leave your story in the comments section of this post, you can go to my contact page and send me an email.

Please Support Our Ride

You can make a donation to support Cancer Council WA by heading to the Everyday Hero fundraising page. If we can raise $20 000 dollars this year it’ll bring our total so far to over $50 000.

If you’re in Australia your donation is tax deductible. Even if you’re not, the work that Cancer Council WA is doing is making a difference throughout the world through some highly regarded research projects. Just head to the webpage and click donate. You’ll see a dropdown box that you can use to select ‘Rodney Olsen’ as the team member you want to support.



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