12.10.2014 | 4:47 pm
A Great Fatsby Note from Fatty: I’m happy to announce that as of this morning, The Great Fatsby: The Best of FatCyclist.com, Volume 2, is now available on the Kindle. Please go check it out. And then buy a copy, for crying out loud. It’s been years since I’ve won an award or been invited to a fancy dinner party as the guest of honor, and if I don’t get some kind of validation soon I’m going to crumble.
Please make me feel good about myself. Buy a copy of my book, or I’ll cry.
You don’t want me to cry, do you?
Oh, and if you pre-ordered the Kindle version of The Great Fatsby, check your email. You should have the code for downloading it in your inbox right now.
A Donation Note from Fatty: If you’re looking to make a donation to WBR, and would like to have a chance at winning some awesome bike gear by doing so, allow me to recommend you check out Jordan Rapp’s RappStar Charity Challenge. His contest works (more or less) like my contests, though he sets his minimum prize-worthy donation quite a bit higher: $134 (the cost of a bike).
And this is pretty exciting: The Great Fatsby is currently the #1 top-selling cycling book in Amazon.com’s Kindle list:
About which I proclaim: Huzzah! And also: go buy a copy!
How to Pedal Your Bike Properly
As a cycling expert, I am frequently asked what the best way is to be faster and win races. The answer, of course, is to always wear a matching cycling kit, have the most expensive and newest bike of anyone in the race, and—above all—to enter in the least-populated age / gender / equipment / experience level group you possibly can.
I, for example, am very excited about my chances in the 80+ novice singlespeed women division when I race this year. Indeed, I expect to crush the competition.
But believe it or not, there is actually more to being fast and winning races than just how you dress, what you ride, and finding racing category nobody else has found.
And that is: pedaling.
Oh, I know what you’re saying. You’re saying, “Well of course we have to pedal if we want to go fast!
[Unless we have an e-bike, in which case all we have to do is sorta-kinda make a pedaling motion at all! But let us dismiss e-bikes from our thoughts. They are too ridiculous, even for this blog.]
But pedaling isn’t enough. No, not at all. There is a proper way to pedal. An efficient and smooth way. A correct way. A way that is vastly different than the way you are doing it right now.
Fortunately for you, I will now instruct you in the proper technique to pedal your bicycle.
Pedal in Circles
The most important thing you can do when riding your bike is to remember: pedal in circles. Only when you pedal in circles will you achieve the speed and grace of a pro cyclist.
You can prove the truth of this statement by climbing onto your bike right now and pedaling. But do not pedal in a circle. Instead, pedal in a square. You’ll find, thanks to the fact that your feet are attached to a device that has both a fixed center and radius, that it is very difficult to pedal an actual square.
Now try a rhombus. It’s not easy, productive, or comfortable, is it?
Now try pedaling in a figure-8 motion. Still no good, right?
OK, now pedal in a circle. Suddenly, your bike moves forward. In fact, it moves forward with considerable ease. The difference is astonishing.
Well, it moves forwards as long as you pedal circles in the correct directions.
Yes, I said directions. Plural. Because the number of directions your feet must go in describing circles is as important as it is complex and counterintuitive.
Luckily for you, I am here to help you understand.
First of all, you must realize that you must turn your feet in opposite directions, simultaneously. I know, how strange is that? But you must trust me: the circle you describe with your right foot is clockwise, while the circle you describe with your left foot is counter-clockwise.
Here. I’ll illustrate:
You see what I mean? You’d think each of your feet would go around in the same direction, but the truth is demonstrably the opposite. This seems like madness. If you will follow this top-secret tip, though, you’ll find your bike goes so much faster.
Pedaling With Power
Of course, it’s not enough to merely make your bike go forward. You want to go forward fast. Toward this end, I have several secrets the pros use.
First, try the Wipe Your Foot Off technique. This means that as each foot reaches the bottom of the pedal stroke, you should perform the same action as you do when scraping gum off the bottom of your shoe. Specifically, this means you should follow this sequence with each turn of the cranks:
- Push down to nearly the bottom of the pedal stroke.
- Kick back, as if wiping your foot on the street / grass / carpet to get a piece of gum off your shoe (but hopefully not actually on the carpet, because that’s gross).
- Curse at the way some people spit gum out onto the street. Why would they do that? Why not just throw it away? Don’t they know someone’s going to step in it? Don’t they have any consideration at all?
- Go find a stick or something to try to scrape it off your shoe, because scraping it off on the curb didn’t do much good at all.
- Ask yourself why anyone even chews gum. It’s not like the gum keeps its flavor for more than twenty seconds anyways. And there’s probably nothing in the world that makes someone look cow-like as chewing gum does. Plus, it makes you hungry. Resolve to never chew gum yourself. Or if you do, to at least never just spit it out on the sidewalk.
- Repeat this process ninety times per second.
The second technique to use is to Pull Up With Your Foot. Did you know that when you pedal a bike, up to 50% of your effort can go toward just lifting the leg that’s going up? It very well might be true!
That’s wasted effort. And if there’s one thing you don’t want when you’re riding a bike for exercise, it’s to expend unnecessary effort.
So: with every stroke, as soon as your get to the bottom of the rotation, begin pulling up. By doing so, not only are you not forcing your other leg to lift it, but you’re actually sending additional power to the wheel.
Or maybe you’re not. Maybe you’re just unweighting the crank.
Or maybe you’re not even doing that, either. Everyone seems to disagree how much you’re accomplishing by trying to pull up on your pedals as well as push down on them.
But beware of the dead spot at the bottom of the stroke—the spot where you don’t have much power, and also it sounds kind of ominous.
Except there’s really nothing much you can do about that dead spot. It’s not like you can skip past it or anything. In fact, forget about this part altogether.
Just push down on the pedals really hard and really often on the pedals and you’ll probably be OK.
Advanced Techniques
There’s more to proper pedaling technique than pedaling fast and hard in the correct direction, however. Advanced cyclists also know and religiously adhere to these three top techniques:
- Bring your feet to a level position at the bottom of each stroke, then stretch and flex your calves on the upstroke. This may or may not actually improve your cycling performance, but it is guaranteed to show your calves off to maximum advantage.
- Keep your legs together, so your knees graze your top tube with every up and downstroke. If you do this properly and consistently, you should wear through the bike’s finish before the end of the season.
- Remain seated when riding. This is the most effective way to pedal. Although it’s okay to stand during climbs. And sprints. And during hard efforts. Or when you want to switch up positions. Okay, never mind. Sit or stand, whichever you prefer. It’s all the same to me.
With strict adherence to these pedaling techniques, you’ll soon (over the course of seven or so years, generally) find that you have more power and speed on the bike than you could have ever imagined.
Or you could just get an e-bike. Those things make you go fast.
Comments (24)
12.8.2014 | 11:31 am
I have many superpowers. Too many to list, really. But among the most awesome and mysterious of these powers is the ability to select incredible and inspiring people from a very long list at random.
Honestly, I do not know how I do it. But I suspect this superpower is at its strongest when I am furthest from a yellow star, because I drew names for the winners of the Great Fatsby pre-order contest last weekend as we near Winter Solstice, and this power manifested itself in extraordinary ways.
Here, let me show you how that works.
First Drawing
My contest drawings always start out kind of mundane. I start with a spreadsheet detailing who bought / donated what, then I do some Excel magic to assign everyone unique numbers corresponding to the chances they get in the contest.
And then I go to random.org and have it pick a number corresponding to one of those chances. There’s a moment of excitement as I do this, and I think to myself, “Someone’s day just got amazing and they don’t even know it yet.”
Then I send an email to the winner. A short one that communicates the point that they won a prize, but avoiding language that is likely to make it wind up in the spam folder. I let them know that if they’re worried this might be a hoax, trick, or scam, they can call me personally.
In this case, I sent an email to the first person I drew—who comments on this blog as EsteeFatty—who then called me Sunday afternoon.
My excitement turned to disappointment when she said she wouldn’t be able to accept any prize. In her own words:
I won’t begin to try to explain how wondrously overwhelming it is to have won the contest. I love reading your blog and all of the comments and have been doing so for many years. It is an honor to be a part of a community that through you and Lisa have been doing so much good.
I always enter your contests and look forward to the excitement of the winner. I never once believed I would win, and now I have. Elden you will never know how sorry I am to say that I can not use a glorious Ibis cycle or the entry to the LT 100.
As I told you on the phone, my health just won’t permit it. I have 2 more rounds of chemo to do and then a follow up brain MRI. If there is no progression of the disease from the last scan the team will take me off chemo till the next test in May.
Most days my longest trek is out to the mailbox. In honor of my annual participation in the 100 MON I make the walk back from the mailbox a longer route, Whenever I have to make an extra trip upstairs I just tell myself, “It’s another Fatty opportunity for exercise.” The extra effort is good for me and I am lucky to have you as a goad…er…inspiration that is.
On the phone, I told EsteeFatty that the prize was hers if she wants it, and she could give it to a friend or loved one, or have me do a new fundraiser against it, whatever she liked.
We talked together, promised to stay in touch, and then she asked me to choose another winner at random in her place.
Second Drawing
I had random.org pick another number for me. This time it chose Halley from Portland. I sent the email and then—while I waited for her to reply with whether she wanted the bike or race, I looked her up on Facebook and saw this photo:
And then I was sure she’d choose the bike.
What I didn’t realize, however, was that Halley is a pretty extraordinary person who makes the world a better place for a living. Here’s what she said about herself:
I am a 28 year old cyclist with a rare form of epilepsy. I treat every day as an excuse to have an adventure and try something new. I write a blog of my trials and successes as a bike commuter, racer and camper and the complications that present themselves with living with a chronic disability at bikeleptic.com.
I work with people transitioning from homelessness to housing. I am a life skills coordinator at a short-term transitional residential facility and my focus is in serving women veterans who are experiencing homelessness and assisting them with employment, education and volunteer opportunities in addressing their barriers to housing.
I am overwhelmed with gratitude and surprise by this. I definitely live paycheck to paycheck and large purchases are budgeted in for a long period of time. This is so amazing. Thank you.
Could anyone argue that Halley is not a perfect storm of awesomeness? I have to say, I am so excited that Halley won this bike.
However, there are two problems Halley must now confront:
- The reason she bought a book was as a Christmas present for her boyfriend…who now knows what he’s getting for Christmas.
- She does not yet know which Ibis she should get. A terrible choice to have to make. Feel free to offer guidance in this area.
Third Drawing
Now I was ready to do the third drawing. I went to random.org, had it pick a number, and then looked that number up on my spreadsheet.
Sarah Barber. Hm. That name seemed familiar. I yelled out to The Hammer, “Someone named ‘Sarah Barber’ won the entry into the Leadville 100. Do we know anyone by that name?”
“Yes!” The Hammer called.
As it turns out, The Hammer and Sarah had met at Rebecca’s Private Idaho last September.
Specifically, they had met on the podium—Sarah taking first, The Hammer taking second.
To be honest, I had been worried about whether the person who won the Leadville entry would be able to do this race—whether winning this prize would be a sentence to a day of misery.
With Sarah winning this prize, I’m no longer even a little bit concerned about this. She is going to be awesome.
Here’s what Sarah has to say about herself:
I’m a Life Flight paramedic and have been for nine years, but I moonlight as an endurance athlete. I discovered cycling only as an alternative to running, which is my true passion but not a natural talent, at least not as far as I can see.
Over time, I have grown to love cycling as much as I love running, but in a different way. I’ve been fortunate to have opportunities to compete, most recently as a member of the domestic elite women’s team DNA Cycling p/b K4 Racing.
My specialty has always been time trialing, but after doing my first gravel ginder at the end of the 2014 season, I have begun to wonder if I should try another one. I love riding on dirt because it reminds me of trail running, but I am woefully inept when it comes to technical skills and descents.
Rebecca’s Private Idaho was my longest bike ride ever–road or dirt–so I’m a little bummed it didn’t quite tally 100 miles. However, I’m guessing the Leadville Trail 100 is not even half a mile short. The idea of participating in it is simultaneously terrifying and exhilarating, but winning the entry via a random drawing is a dream come true–a dream I didn’t know I had until I felt like I could describe it that way.
I know I’ll need a lot of help preparing, but I’m lucky to have a great team of supporters at home, including my husband and my two dogs, none of whom are bike riders.
They are my biggest fans, though, and sometimes that is enough. Next year, during the moments when I’m not training for Leadville or at work, I’ll be doing other fun things like drinking wine, trying out new recipes on the Traeger, and having Sportsmobile adventures as part of my husband’s latest project.
I’m completely stoked to have Sarah win this prize, but I think The Hammer is even more excited. Sarah’s based in Idaho and comes down to Utah from time to time, so some LT100 training rides together are definitely going to have to go on their plan.
I hope they let me tag along.
(Sarah will be glad to know, I’m sure, that the Leadville 100 is 104 miles long.)
What We Did
Of course, every book and jersey you pre-ordered, along with the donations you made, helped raise money for World Bicycle Relief. And we raised enough money to fund thirty new Buffalo bicycles, which WBR awesomely posted on their Facebook page:
I’ll let you in on a little secret: my theory is that my superpower isn’t drawing great people at random from a long list. My superpower is having the good fortune to have an innumerable number of good and generous friends. Any time I choose a few of you from a list to win something, I always wind up astonished at how inspiring you are.
Thank you.
Comments (28)
12.4.2014 | 11:55 am
For some reason, today I found myself in a nostalgic mood, thinking back to the bike I raced my tenth Leadville 100 in back in 2006, when this blog was young, which I called The Weapon of Choice.
It was an aluminum Gary Fisher Paragon, heavily-modified—I pretty much replaced everything, making it as light as possible.
Back then, “as light as possible” was 22.5 pounds. I would finish this race in a disappointing 10:06, in spite of the fact that I was the lightest I had been in my adult life (154 pounds). Not that 10:06 is an objectively bad time. I had just thought I was a lock for sub-9.
Eventually, I’d get that sub-9. But not on that bike. Nor the next. Nor the next. Nor the next.
Each time I get a new bike, I am sure that this is going to be the bike that makes the difference. The one that really makes me fast and capable. And so I have justified my new bike addiction with a ridiculous number of bikes.
You know that “N+1” cliche? The one that says something along the lines of “The number of bikes a cyclist needs is N+1, where N is the cyclist’s current number of bikes.”
Well, that gag doesn’t even start to work with me, because it’s rare that I don’t have at least two bikes I’m planning out. And it’s usually closer to three or four: a road bike, a geared mountain bike, a singlespeed mountain bike, and something for The Hammer.
I am not joking. Not even a little bit.
The result is a garage that looks like this:
How many bikes is that? I have no idea. I will say, though, that this doesn’t represent all the bikes I’ve owned in recent memory, because I tend to be pretty free with my bike loans to friends. Dug’s got my old Waltworks. Kenny’s got my Specialized TriCross.
And how many have there been that have come before? Good question.
In truth, I I’m not sure I can even remember how many bikes I’ve had since I’ve started riding seriously. Clearly, I’ve got a problem.
But let me take a swing at it. Order isn’t strictly chronological or anything, because that would be too overwhelming, to be honest.
- The bikes up ‘to 2007: Bridgestone MB5, Specialized Stumpjumpoer M2, Ibis Steel Mojo, Ibis Bow Ti, Ibis Ti Mojo, Fisher Paragon, Bianchi ??? (low-end road bike: Campionissimo?), Ibis road Ti, Gary Fisher Sugar 2, Gary Fisher Sugar 1. I’m cheating here, because I did a post in 2007 listing my bikes up to that point.
- Lemond ???: I owned a Lemond road bike very briefly after my Ibis Road Ti died. Honestly, I recall it only very vaguely.
- Ibis Silk Carbon: This was my road bike ’til I got the Orbea with the Di2. But I still have this, and have converted it into my singlespeed road bike.
- Lemond Fillmore: A steel singlespeed road bike. Incredibly heavy, incredibly inexpensive. I gave it away in a fundraiser when I converted my Ibis Silk Carbon to a singlespeed.
- Bianchi Pista: When I lived in Washington, I rode by the Marymoor velodrome on my way to work every day. I bought the Pista with the hope of starting to race track. But then I moved and gave the Pista away as part of a fundraiser.
- Fisher Paragon: A light-for-its-time aluminum 29er. Finally sold it locally.
- Dahon Flo: The first bike I ever got as a perk for being a blogger. Eventually it became the bike I used to pull trailers and tagalong bikes. Now that my kids are all grown up, I finally sold it.
- Gary Fisher Superfly: My first carbon bike. The frame cracked, so it was also my second carbon bike. I still have this; The Hammer rode it for a couple years and now The Swimmer rides it.
- Matt Chester Dinglespeed: Back before I started this blog, I had a website called “Epic Rides,” where I wrote about my long rides and invited others to do the same. Matt Chester contributed and eventually I built a website for him when he started building bikes for a living. He built me this really cool dinglespeed (double singlespeed) titanium bike, but I got it before I really understood or had the strength for singlespeeding. I still have the bike, though, and think maybe it’s time I get it conditioned and give it another try. I’ve lost touch with Matt and wish I hadn’t. I hope he’s doing great.
- Gary Fisher Superfly Singlespeed: This was a hard bike to get ahold of when it first came out; it was not sold at retail. I sold this when I got the next year’s version. I wish I wouldn’t have.
- Gary Fisher Superfly Singlespeed 2nd Year: This bike was a mix of awesome and tragic. The good folks at Gary Fisher did a custom paint job for me. Unfortunately, the swinging dropout is notoriously slippery and won’t stay put. I still have this bike and will never sell it, but I don’t ride it (in part because of the dropout, but mostly because the frame is too awesome).
- Waltworks SS: A cool singlespeed custom-decaled by Twin Six. the frame cracked and has been repaired, and I let Dug’s son ride it ’til he outgrew it. I think Dug has cannibalized it for parts on other bikes now.
- Some Cheesy Tandem: I bought a super-cheap tandem for a few hundred bucks. It’s a terrible, Walmart-quality bike that was fun for some laughs but now sits rusting in the backyard.
- Orbea Orca: A gorgeous carbon road bike, outfitted with the then-brand-new Shimano Di2. I still own this bike; it lives in Austin and I ride it when I am at the office there.
- Gary Fisher Superfly 100: I wanted to see how I felt riding a full suspension carbon cross country racer. I never really fell in love with it though, and it sat around mostly unused for years. I finally sold it a few months ago.
- Specialized Stumpjumper: Specialized wooed me away from Fisher with this incredibly light, fast, sophisticated carbon hardtail. Riding it, I got my first sub-9 Leadville time. 8:18 in fact. Specialized congratulated me / rewarded me by letting me keep this bike.
- Specialized Stumpjumper Singlespeed: This is the fastest, lightest singlespeed I could ever imagine. I built it up with crazy-nice ENVE wheels and cockpit and I am still in love with it. I did an 8:25 on it at Leadville a couple years ago.
- Ibis Tranny 29: My current favorite go-anywhere, do-anything machine. I originally had it built up with a belt drive, but prefer it with gears and the incredible Ibis 941 wheels. Built with a dropper post, this is not my lightest hardtail ever, but it may be the funnest, most versatile bike I’ve ever owned.
- Specialized Shiv: I’ve never gone so fast as on this bike. And I might start racing more with this this summer…I’m kind of thinking it might be fun to start racing some time trials, and I understand there’s a local time trial series in SLC.
- Specialized Tarmac: My gorgeous, exquisite, rocket-fast, incredibly light, silver road race machine. I cannot imagine a better, faster road bike.
I think that’s it. I didn’t cheat by looking in the garage or checking old posts in my blog, so I don’t know for sure.
And you know what? Now that I’ve written this, out, I’ve changed my mind. I don’t have a problem. Sure, I’ve had a lot of bikes. But I’ve had an extraordinary amount of fun on almost every single one of them. They’ve each reflected something I wanted and was at the time.
I started this post thinking I was going to poke fun at how many bikes I’ve had. But I’m finishing it happy. These bikes are all part of who I am and what I do.
I expected to finish this post with some kind of jokey “I’m going to change, I’m going to repent” tone. Instead, I’m finishing nearly in tears (I’m serious), grateful for the joy these bikes have all bought me.
At some point, all these bicycles—the ones I have and the ones that have moved on—have become members of my family.
Comments (45)
12.3.2014 | 10:35 am
The dirt-and-rock jump at the top of Zig in Lambert Park is not a big jump. At least, some of you wouldn’t think it’s a big jump. But ever since I first saw it, about five years ago, it’s been big enough that I have never been brave / foolish enough to try it.
Sure, I’ve come close to doing it. Several times, in fact. I ride up to it, stop, take a good look at the approach, decide what the best line is and make sure that the landing looks safe.
Then I ride back a couple hundred feet, turn around, and come charging at it.
But by the time I’m 25 feet away from it, I already know I’m going to bail out. I’ve already started the process of bailing, in fact. My fingers are on the brakes. Instead of looking at the line for the jump, I’m looking at the little trail that veers away from it.
The line that’s been created for and by people like me. People who want to do this jump, but chicken out before they get there.
Five years I’ve done this. Abandoning every single time.
Until last Sunday.
The Hammer and I have been riding in Lambert Park, because Corner Canyon seemed like it might be too muddy. She’s been riding her singlespeed, I’ve been riding my Ibis Tranny 29. And I had told her, “Let’s make sure we come down from Corkscrew onto Zig. I’m going to do that jump today.
So, following my usual script, I rolled up to the jump, looked at it, made note of a little rock embedded in the dirt jump that seemed like a good mark for me to target. I rode back a couple hundred feet, turned around, and started toward the jump.
But this time, I did things a little differently. I took my braking fingers off the levers and wrapped them around the grips. I made myself focus on the little rock that meant I was lining up for the jump…instead of fixating on the bailout line.
I pedaled, hit the jump, caught nice air (probably four or five five horizontal feet, but felt like a lot more), landed comfortably and safely, and rolled to a stop by The Hammer, who was watching.
“I did it,” I said. “I finally did it, and it was easy.”
Then I went back and did it again. Twice.
Why Now?
So why, after five years of inspecting and fretting and last-moment-bailing, did I finally have the confidence to do this jump?
I think there are a couple reasons.
First, I have Rush to thank. This very popular down-only flow trail in Corner Canyon has—guessing here—a dozen whoop-de-doo-ish jumps. You can slow down and roll over them (which is what I used to do) or you can hit them fast and get some air (which is what I’ve started doing as I’ve become more confident this past two years).
Yes, that’s right. This past two years marks the first time I’ve dared get any air at all.
Second, I have the new Ibis 941 wheels to thank. They’re much wider than normal mountain bike wheels, and can be run at much lower pressure without burping or pinch-flatting. I’ve been running them at around 15psi on all my rides, and they’re the most confidence-inspirting wheels I’ve ever used. They just seem to grip everything, corner unbelievably, and allow me to just stomp landings on my (admittedly modest) jumps.
And so, with the confidence that comes from lots of positive experience on smaller jumps, combined with wheels that I trust won’t betray me if/when I land hard, I’ve started doing some things that I haven’t dared do, up ’til now.
Why Not Before?
And now I’m getting to the point of this story.
Like most cyclists, I’m more or less entirely self-taught. And I’ve never really questioned whether that was the right way for me to learn during this twenty-or-so years I’ve been riding. I mean, after all, I already knew how to ride a bike, right? So all I needed to do was ride more, and I’d get better.
Which is true, up to a point.
But a lot of what I learned about mountain biking got ingrained back when wheels were small, tires were hard as rocks, suspension didn’t suspend, and bike geometry was more guesswork than anything else.
Plus, I’m not what you’d call a “natural” at technical riding. I’m not one of those flowy, graceful smooth riders. I’m the opposite. Indeed, scientists postulate that if Danny MacAskill and I ever met, there would be a universe-ending talent/anti-talent explosion.
But while I don’t think I’ll ever be able to claim grace, I think I could aspire to technical competence. To confidence.
Maybe even to not riding like a complete goofball. A goofball that is making do with what he’s been able to figure out himself, rather than learning from people who have actual expertise.
From what I understand, there are some skills camps that are exactly for people like me. People who ride a lot and love riding and think about riding…but never actually, you know, learned to ride.
I think, maybe, it’s time for me to learn to ride a bike.
Comments (20)
12.2.2014 | 11:40 am
It’s December 2nd, often called Giving Tuesday. It’s also the penultimate day of my Great Fatsby pre-order.
So how about this: today, I’m going to donate ALL profits from pre-orders of The Great Fatsby, the Great Fatsby t-shirt, and the Team Fatty jersey to World Bicycle Relief.
But here’s the really crazy part: since the profits will be matched, the amount of money donated to WBR will in many cases be more than the cost of the item itself.
Here, let me give you a few examples.
If You Pre-Order The Great Fatsby
Let’s just suppose you pre-order the Kindle version of The Great Fatsby. That costs you $9.95. Amazon.com takes a cut out of every Kindle book I sell, so my profit is $9.05. I’ll donate that whole $9.05. But also, that $9.05 gets matched anonymously, so the amount World Bicycle Relief gets when you pre-order this $9.95 book is $18.10.
Plus, by ordering it you still get two chances at winning any Ibis bike you want or getting into the Leadville 100.
Yeah, I know. Crazy. But true.
And just so we understand each other, this is a pre-order where you can specify the email where the redemption code will go. You (or whoever you specify in the email) will get the redemption code on December 10.
The math works out pretty similarly for paper versions of the book, although I can’t give you as exact of numbers (because the hard costs of the printed version depend on how many copies I order). But here’s a guestimate of how much will be donated for the various flavors of the book:
If You Pre-Order A T-Shirt or Jersey
At $124.95, The Long-Sleeve Tecno Wool Long Sleeve Jersey is maybe already the best deal on a clothing Item I’ve ever offered. But with 100% of the profits being donated and matched to WBR today, that means you get a screaming deal on a beautiful, comfortable, Italian-made wool jersey…and WBR gets about $70.00 (and you get SIX chances at the bike and Leadville 100 entry).
So if you buy two, WBR makes enough to buy a bike for a schoolgirl in Zambia.
Matched set, anyone?
By the way, today is the last day you can order these Long-Sleeve Jerseys and still get them in time for Christmas.
As far as t-shirts go, if you buy one for $19.95, pretty much that exact amount gets donated to WBR (plus you get two chances at the prizes).
Astonishing. It’s like some insane and generous alchemy!
But What About Bundles?
The bundles are already discounted, so of course there’s a little bit less profit built in to those. Still, here’s how things work out (not exact, because my prices depend on how many of different things I sell):
It’s pure madness, I tell you.
And, dare I say it: perhaps a really good reason to pre-order some Great Fatsby books and gear as Christmas presents.
Comments (7)
« Previous Page — « Previous Entries Next Entries » — Next Page »
