Pedaling For The Paws

If you drive down Alford Street, past the Public Works Department, just follow the paw prints past the school bus graveyard, the piles of sewer pipe, and dempster dumpsters, you will soon come to a dead end.  There, among the rubble, is a small 40+ year old building that houses the Athens Animal Shelter.

But step inside and you can see the love that has been showered upon this structure that houses the unfortunate, abandoned, abused, and previously unloved.  The McMinn Regional Humane Society has made leaps and bounds over the past few years to see that 2019 became the first year where no animal was euthanized because of lack of space.

Headed by those board members, with full-time jobs, they, along with a handful of volunteers, have poured countless hours into devising and executing plans to work with rescue societies to transport animals up North to their forever homes.  And they vet the locals wishing to adopt to ensure the dogs and cats go to good homes.

I tragically remember my rookie year of veterinary practice.  One of my jobs was go to this shelter every other week, to perform euthanasias.  Some were medical, some were because of aggression, but the majority were due to overcrowding.  The dogs and cats, most of which I remember as litters, were lined up and "put down."  No disrespect to the survivors of the Holocaust, but to 22 year old me, this was how I thought about this duty.  AWFUL!  I would often cry on the way back to the clinic and have to put a cold compress on my puffy eyes before I could begin seeing clients and patients that afternoon.

Fortunately through the hard efforts of the McMinn Regional Humane Society, almost all animals now go to a forever home.  Before heading out, all animals are spayed or neutered, vaccinated, and dewormed.  All cats are FeLV/FIV tested and all dogs are heartworm tested.

Community cat room where they get a chance to socialize and stretch their legs.

It takes a small army of volunteers to provide the necessary exercise, socialization, and thorough cleaning of the kennels, cages, and facilities.  The shelter has been blessed with a lot of local businesses donating money, food, treats, and kennel supplies.  But only a small portion of the dog kennels are heated.  The remaining 75% are open to the elements.  Steps are taken to ensure that the dogs have extra bedding and the kennel gates are wind-proofed in the winter.

Most kennels don't have heat/air.

Since most of the donations go directly to the medical care and feeding of the animals, there is little left to devote to building maintenance and improvements.

Most recent update was the addition of an exercise yard.

So, to pay it forward (it has been 10 years since my last fundraiser where I raised $5000 both City Park and  Ingleside Elementary school playground improvements), I have aligned myself alongside MRHS fundraiser coordinator Erica Allen Peden in an attempt to raise at least $5000 for much needed infrastructure improvements.  I am also going to try to secure a major donor to match the individual funds.

On July 3, 2020, I will be tackling a vEveresting at The Animal Clinic of Athens.  This is a challenge to climb the height of Mount Everest, in a single activity, on one hill (by doing repeats) with no sleep.  The "v" stands for virtual, meaning that I will be riding on a stationary bike, using an electronically controlled smart trainer, that will simulate climbing a mountain.  I will be using the Saris H3 smart trainer and the Zwift platform.  In May of 2019, I completed an Everest Challenge on the Foothills Parkway.  It took 17 hours 25 minutes, 22 hill repeats, and 218 miles to climb 29,029 feet. I plan to start just before the clinic opens at 7:30 am and hopefully finish by the time it closes at midnight.

I can say that this will fall under the moniker of #doinghardthings.  I abhor the trainer.  Anything longer than 2 hours on this piece of torture equipment takes a hell of a lot of grit, gristle, and gumption.  I am looking at a time of 17 - 19 hours on this machine to complete this vEverest.  No doubt I will be suffering, but I have chosen this path.  These animals don't get a choice; it is thrust upon them unmercifully.

Scott's Bikes has graciously offered their support in the use of their Saris H3 Smart Trainer and the necessary equipment to run the Zwift platform.  I am still old school and have only a dumb trainer, which I practice mental sufferfests by looking at a wall when I train inside.

In the upcoming weeks, I will be putting together a FaceBook event page, where you can follow me on this adventure and perhaps give a small donation.  I also hope that on July 3, I can get some of you to join with me on my adventure through the Zwift platform.

Please help me to help them.