Meet Tim W
I got back from California about one o’clock this morning; I spent last Friday – Sunday in a mountain bike racing paradise.
I do not ask for your pity, but I do ask for your understanding as today I do one very important thing, which I shall conveniently list for you:
- Introduce you to the winner of the World Bicycle Relief fundraising contest, with the Specialized S-Works bike of your choice, outfitted with ENVE components.
Now that we have a plan, let’s get started, shall we?
Meet Tim W
I got up early on Friday, excited to build the spreadsheet for the drawing. I take this job seriously…and with no small amount of pleasure. I know that a lot of you would participate in these fundraisers even if there weren’t prizes, but that doesn’t mean they’re not fun to give out.
Then, when I got to Boggs forest and met Dave Thompson — my co-ambassador for WBR — I had him use random.org to pick a random number based on the rows in the spreadsheet.
Here’s that moment, captured forever (courtesy of Dave H):
The number? 2940.
And that number corresponded to Tim W, who has been contributing to fundraisers I’ve been doing for years. Here he is, with his lovely wife Deedee:
I called Tim (many of the entries had corresponding phone numbers) and left a voicemail:
“Hi Tim. This is Fatty. If you like really nice bikes and vacations, you should give me a call back.”
And then I sent him an email saying essentially the same thing.
Then I went racing.
Later that evening, Tim called me. “Is this a prank? Is this real or are you punking me?” he asked.
“It’s real,” I said. “What bike are you going to pick?”
“I don’t know yet,” Tim said. “I need to do some serious thinking.”
However, since Tim does live in Northern California and loves visiting Utah (once, during a vacation they were taking to Zions National Park, Tim and Deedee came and watched The Hammer and me race a couple laps of 24 Hours of Frog Hollow), he does plan to visit Utah.
So that much is certain. One tough decision down, one extremely tough decision to go!
I asked Tim to send me an email telling me a little bit about himself:
I could not believe the message that I received Friday night. I returned what I thought was a prank call, to get Fatty on the other end. He informed me of the fantastic luck I had. I was the winner of his latest fundraiser for WBR. My name is Tim. I live in Livermore, CA. and have been following The Fat Cyclist for years as well as participating in his fundraisers, never expecting to win, just knowing they were always for a great cause.
I do not race but ride quite a bit recreationally. The bike will be way beyond my abilities, whatever I get. Now I have some decisions to make.
Thank You Fatty for the entertaining blog posts that you do, keep up the good work, as well as Thanks to WBR, Specialized, ENVE and SRAM.
I think that’s really well put.
Now, for all of you who are not Tim W, please take a moment to leave a note of congratulations to him, as well as bike / component mix you think he should get (i.e., what you would have gotten).
And don’t worry, folks. You may not have won this time, but the Grand Slam is coming. And the quantity and quality of prizes is going to be outrageous.
Comment by GenghisKhan | 05.4.2015 | 12:13 pm
Yay, Tim W! You are not me, and I am not you, but you winning is still pretty cool! Ride on!
Comment by Mike McMahan | 05.4.2015 | 12:36 pm
Nothing beats that new bike smell.
Comment by MattC | 05.4.2015 | 12:45 pm
Nice Tim! Congrats on winning the contest, and the AWESOME bike you are about to receive (not to mention the incredible travel package that goes with it)!
I must admit that I’m absolutely dying with envy. That nasty little devil-dude on my shoulder already had a bike picked out…guess I’ll just keep riding my 12yr old heavy-a$# bike (sympathy sounds go here…awwwwwwwwww, Matt, you POOR THING you!).
Comment by Liz M. | 05.4.2015 | 12:51 pm
Congrats, Tim! Have fun no matter what you choose!
Comment by davidh-marin,ca | 05.4.2015 | 12:55 pm
@Tim W.
DougB, JeffD, ChrisD, and I were crossing our fingers and biting our lips as the random choice application made it’s calculations. I can assure you that Fatty and Dave are men of honor, and despite offering even more donation money to WBR we could not get Elden to even punk BostonCarlos (though we offered several enticing story lines.
Congratulations on your win, and if you would like to recreationally ride come join us May 9th in Mll Valley for WBR (I think there is still space) https://www.sram.com/stories/ride-mill-valley-may-10-wbr-and-gamba
Next time @BostonCarlos
Comment by davidh-marin,ca | 05.4.2015 | 1:07 pm
Sorry Tim, that was last year’s link. Here is May 9th 2015
https://www.worldbicyclerelief.org/joao-correia
LauraS, UptheGradeinSantaRosa, LeviL, LeanneD, other NorCal fatties come ride with @TeamThomps
on for WBR;
Comment by Andy@wdw | 05.4.2015 | 1:08 pm
Congratulations Tim!! While I’m incredibly jealous right now, I do not envy you for the decisions you get to fret over now.
Each day for the last month while bicycle commuting I’ve been imagining myself riding various S-Works bikes (my second favorite part of Fatty’s contests is the escapism of imagining that I’ve already won). After all of those imaginary test rides, I think I would go with the S-Works Venge frame (wicked-cool looking aerodynamic road frame) and the SES 6.7 wheels. The Venge is a bit heavier than the Tarmac, but but I’m a quite bit heavier than most race bike owners, so I doubt I’d ever notice.
Never forget though, no matter what you choose you’ll end up with a simply incredible ride, so you literally can’t go wrong! Congratulations!
Comment by CVR | 05.4.2015 | 1:09 pm
congrats Tim!go with the Crux disc its so versatile – you can’t go wrong
Comment by NZ Ev | 05.4.2015 | 1:11 pm
Congratulations Tim!!! Go with the Crux disc. That’s what I would’ve picked. No matter what you get you will ahve an awesome ride!!!!
Comment by Scott R | 05.4.2015 | 1:45 pm
Congrats Tim!
Keep in mind, whatever bike you choose will beyond 99.9% of your fellow reader’s abilities.
It would be a tough choice for most of us :-)
Comment by Rishy Chacko | 05.4.2015 | 1:57 pm
Congrats Tim!
Don’t worry about choosing a bike, you can’t go wrong.
Enjoy tailwinds and ride often :D
Comment by Fat Cathy | 05.4.2015 | 2:06 pm
Congrats Tim! Don’t worry about the bike being beyond your capabilities – everybody deserves a fabulous bike, no matter what level they are at. The important part is just enjoying it.
P.S. I’m really jealous.
Comment by Tim W | 05.4.2015 | 2:24 pm
are you sure that it wasn’t me? I’m Tim W too…dangit!!!
Comment by Jeff Dieffenbach | 05.4.2015 | 2:27 pm
Tim, my prediction is that your biking talents will rise to fill whatever saddle you choose. So choose a great one–there may be podia in your future!
Comment by Mark in Bremerton | 05.4.2015 | 2:37 pm
Congrats, Tim! I’d get the road bike (either is awesome) with all that cool stuff Fatty lured us all in with (besides the WBR hook, I mean). Enjoy, whatever you get.
Comment by Dave H | 05.4.2015 | 2:37 pm
Congrats! Now you will have to ride my imaginary S-Works Roubaix with Red 22 many miles :)
Comment by Brian in VA | 05.4.2015 | 2:43 pm
It’s great when a longtime FoF wins! Congrats Tim and enjoy that new bike!
Comment by leroy | 05.4.2015 | 3:46 pm
Congratulations Tim!!!!
Comment by rb | 05.4.2015 | 4:48 pm
congrats Tim! Whatever you choose you will certainly be happy! May I suggest for the vacation portion asking Fatty and a FoF pace you on a RAWROD ride. Perhaps Fatty could take ALL the pulls. As in ALL.
Comment by Mark | 05.4.2015 | 5:53 pm
Way to go Tim! Enjoy the new bike.
Comment by wharton_crew | 05.4.2015 | 6:18 pm
Tim, you’re the man…and now you’re the man with the sweet new set of wheels! If you’ve been a dedicated donor / FOF all this time, then I’m the first to stand and slow-clap for your win! :-)
Comment by BostonCarlos (Formerly NYC) | 05.4.2015 | 6:19 pm
Congrats Tim! Welcome to the fatty-contest-winners club! Next time I’m out for a norcal FoF ride, we’ll have to sync up and ride!
DavidH, I might have died from shock had I actually won a second fatty contest. You would have been responsible for my death if you had convinced fatty to prank me!!
PS: I’ll be in sunnyvale again later this summer. I’ll keep you posted on dates!
Comment by Corrine | 05.4.2015 | 6:28 pm
Congrats, Tim. No matter which bike you chose, it is going to make for a sweet ride! Enjoy!!
Comment by davidh-Marin,ca | 05.4.2015 | 8:11 pm
@BostonCarlos we’ll let Tim take us up Mines Road to Mt Hamilton. A proper ride for his new bike, whatever it is.
Comment by Nic Grillo | 05.4.2015 | 9:40 pm
Congrats Tim! Enjoy the new bike! And whatever awesome trip you choose! Having been to Gooseberry Mesa, I’d say get a MTB and go there! Unreal terrain!
Comment by Sylvia S. | 05.4.2015 | 9:48 pm
How exciting! Congratulations Tim!
Comment by Davidg | 05.5.2015 | 4:27 am
Congrats
Riding breathing donating all part of life. Keep at it in good health
Comment by t.belch | 05.5.2015 | 6:11 am
Congratulations Tim *grits teeth
Comment by Tom in Albany | 05.5.2015 | 6:13 am
congratulations, Tim W! And, thanks for winning the prize so no one else has to pay the taxes on it! You’ve done them a huge favor!!!!!!
There are no bikes beyond your ability – unless you select the unicycle and can’t ride it, of course!
Have fun choosing!
Comment by Dave T | 05.5.2015 | 6:58 am
Congratulations Tim really looking forward to making your trip to Utah a memorable one.
Comment by cyclingjimbo | 05.5.2015 | 7:46 am
Congratulations Tim! Enjoy the bike, whatever you choose. We are all looking forward to pictures and a full report on your weekend with Fatty and Dave.
Good on you.
Comment by Doug (way upstate NY) | 05.5.2015 | 7:51 am
Congrats Tim! It was fun to see the super secret hi tech selection and notification process. Now I need to figure out how to hack it for next time :)
Comment by Doug (way upstate NY) | 05.5.2015 | 7:52 am
@Carlos, you should know Elden is a very very kind man. If we had been able to execute our plan….. Well. ????
Comment by Frank | 05.5.2015 | 8:37 am
Congratulations Tim. I am sure you will have lots of fun on the trip and the many weekends afterward on the new bike. Welcome to the club.
Comment by The Hammer/Lisa | 05.5.2015 | 8:49 am
Congrats Tim! Super excited to ride with you on whatever bike you choose!
Comment by Pat W | 05.5.2015 | 9:17 am
As his brother I can tell everyone how excited Tim was with his good luck in this promotion. He called that night and was so excited that he couldn’t sleep. We played golf the next day and had phone calls all morning. Great job on the blog and good work with WBR.
Comment by AKChick | 05.5.2015 | 9:42 am
Yay! Another worthy winner! :) Congratulations Tim! Can’t wait to see the final product. :)
Comment by HyperSprite | 05.5.2015 | 10:24 am
So awesome Tim, you really can’t go wrong with whatever you pick given the fantastic options.
Fatty and Dave, this was a great contest and a great cause, I’m glad I could be a part of it. Thanks
Comment by Brandon Banks | 05.5.2015 | 1:38 pm
Congrats Tim—–ride like the wind!
Comment by sr | 05.5.2015 | 5:08 pm
Yay Tim! Nice to hear that a long-time fatcyclist.com supporter (and fellow NorCal-er, woot woot) has won. Go you!
Comment by ed | 05.5.2015 | 5:33 pm
congrats Tim! What is your connection to Efffingham, I grew up there.
Comment by Anonymous | 05.5.2015 | 6:49 pm
I won the moment I donated a bike to WBR. Congrats Tim!
Comment by Rockstarster | 05.5.2015 | 8:10 pm
I am somewhat — wait, a lot more than that — jealous. But this is not about me. Congratulations! The Enduro with Sram XX1. Then come see me in Colorado and I will show you it’s intended (ab) use. :-)
Comment by Bob W. | 05.5.2015 | 11:36 pm
As Tim’s other brother, I can tell you that he is a long time athletic supporter (insert joke here). Congrats to Tim on his great fortune. I know the drawing was purely random, but you really selected a man who is deserving as a role model.
Tim, maybe you could use your new found winnings and come up here for the annual Cycle Oregon event. You’ll see some sights that are both unique and awe-inspiring.
Comment by Heidi | 05.6.2015 | 8:47 am
Congratulations Tim, I can guarantee you’ll have an excellent adventure in Utah!
Comment by Tim W | 05.6.2015 | 9:09 am
Thanks for all the great comments.
ed-I have no connection to effingham, that is a jersey a distant cousin who lives in that area had from when he rode and completed RAAM last year.
As far as the bike choice goes I’m pretty sure that it will be the s-works roubaix disc, SES 3.4 disc wheels and SRAM red22 components. I can’t wait.
Thanks again to Fatty, Dave, Specialized, SRAM and ENVE…
Comment by MattC | 05.6.2015 | 10:32 am
Oooh….nice choices Tim! IF I had won (AND decided on a road bike), that’s likely what I would have picked. I bet the S-Works Roubaix is just a wicked comfy awesome steed (and consider it’s the Hammer’s choice too I seem to recall Fatty saying). Keep us informed on things, we’ll all be waiting w/ baited breath to hear your stories. And congrats again! ENJOY one of the sweetest rides money can buy you LUCKY MAN!
Comment by Christina | 05.7.2015 | 10:24 am
Congratulations!
Comment by Diane | 05.7.2015 | 11:35 am
Congrats Tim W!!
It’s so great that you’ve been a longtime supporter. I truly hope you enjoy your trip to Utah, and that you love riding the new bike for many years to come. Ride on : )
Comment by Bykjunkie | 05.7.2015 | 1:18 pm
Congrats Tim!!
Comment by Tes | 05.26.2015 | 3:06 pm
Congrats!