About 10 days ago, I got the following email from Michael Craig Cox, a fellow participant in the 2004 Tour of Hope DC Fund-raising Ride:

First off, kudos for your Tour of Hope coverage on Operation Gadget. I, too, completed the ride last week, after raising more than $1000. My question is, have you heard, or seen, any final numbers for the total amount raised? I am sending out a final thank-you to my supporters and wanted to include this information, but I can't seem to find it anywhere.

In response, I wrote:

Thanks for emailing me. I read my mail continuously, but, due to a server migration I wasn't able to access some email messages until this week. I'm just going through that mail now.

I got an email the other day from the Lance Armstrong Foundation saying that they raised almost $800,000 through the DC Fund-raising Ride and the Finale. That's a good number considering the minimum donation for each of the 900 riders would only have brought in $450,000....

I realized that Operation Gadget readers would probably want to know this information as well, and wouldn't have gotten the email unless they participated.

Remember that money raised by the Bristol-Myers Squibb Tour of Hope will benefit cancer research and encourage adults who have cancer to participate in cancer drug clinical trials. This is truly important work, because I believe it will lead to better therapies and cures for many different types of cancer. Lots of us will benefit from these innovations in years to come.