The old adage, “where the rubber meets the road,” is an apt phrase for Craig Ruoff”™s life outside the office.
It means the moment of truth.
When he hops on his bike and rides 200 miles for the Bresnan Bike Tour, the rubber really meets the road. The ride raises money for the Westchester Arc Foundation and Special Olympics of the Hudson Valley Region.
When he”™s raising funds and awareness for the tour or for the Child Care Council of Westchester Inc., of whose boards he is a member, it”™s also rubber hitting road.
Ruoff started riding a bike as a youngster growing up in Scarsdale. He and his buddies would bike to get a hot dog at Nathan”™s in Yonkers or maybe play games at Cook”™s in Mamaroneck. At Scarsdale High School, he was on the swimming and wrestling teams. Cycling fell off when he attended Union College in Schenectady; it”™s a small campus and a bike wasn”™t needed to get from class to class.
After college, he picked up a mountain bike and rode around the trails and byways of Westchester. He kept up with his hobby as he worked in the commercial real estate industry. He is now marking his 17th year in the business and his fourth year with Rakow Commercial Realty Group in White Plains.
He had heard of the tour in the mid-1990s when it operated under another sponsor. In 1997, a year after he got married, he was ready for the 200-mile undertaking. He had bought a touring bike and built up his endurance, getting up at 5 a.m. for training. He met the minimum requirement of raising $2,000 that allowed him to ride from Patterson in Putnam County to Lenox, Mass. It was a great ride and it hooked him up with a great group of people, he said. It also let him “really get to know about the Special Olympics and Arc.”
Since it was started in 1989, the tour has raised more than $3.1 million, all of which goes to the two organizations. In 2006, the tour raised more than $375,000.
When the previous sponsor bowed out, Ruoff convinced a client, Bill Bresnan, chairman and CEO of Bresnan Communications in Purchase, to take over. Bresnan agreed and in turn brought other corporate sponsors on and the tour has thrived under them, Ruoff said.
The fundraiser is a true touring event, he said. It”™s not a race; everyone goes at their own pace. He is constantly on the lookout for recruiting other cyclists for the tour and increasing the money raised.
Although his riding has fallen off a bit after the birth of his son and daughter, preventing him from doing the training for the challenging and often grueling ride, Ruoff rode in the support van on a recent tour. It gave him a different perspective; forcing him to keep an eye out for the riders, making sure they were OK.
Now that he”™s on the board of the bike tour, he”™s mindful of the fundraising aspect and how it helps a program such as the Special Olympics, which provides training programs year-round for the athletes.
A self-proclaimed “sucker for all things kids,” Ruoff this year is now on the board of the Child Care Council of Westchester. The group supports the “healthy development of children, families and communities by promoting quality early child care and education.”
Like biking, Ruoff says “it”™s a challenge to get the word out” about the groups and their respective missions.
Ruoff”™s wife, Jennifer, is a special education advocate who helps parents of special-needs children learn the skills needed to deal with the daily difficulties of raising their children as well as helping them obtain the proper services.
Ruoff says: “I pay for the bills and she does the good in the family.”
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