A Note from Fatty:Be sure to check in tomorrow, when I will be launching the contest where you can fight cancer and win the Orbea Orca / Diva with the Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 build. This bike is a work of art (click the thumbnail to the right for a larger view of the bike). Very fast, light, responsive, and technically-advanced art. Rideable art that retails for $9600. That your riding friends will be jealous of forever and ever, and rightly so.
So, like I said: Check back tomorrow. And bring your wallet.
Another Note from Fatty: Team Fatty members (all cities), you’ll be able to work toward winning this bike by getting people to donate to your LiveStrong Challenge page. So start bugging your friends and family now and tell them to start donating rightnow. All donations made to your account starting last Friday count toward your chances of winning this bike.
Annual Tradition
For each of the past twelve years, I’ve signed up for the Leadville 100. I’ve started all twelve times, and I’ve finished all twelve times (stories here, here, and here, just for example). I’ve been as fast as 9:13, and as slow as 11:40. This race is one of my very favorite annual traditions. If, for instance, I had to give up my birthday and Father’s Day to go to Leadville, it would be a very easy trade. I’d throw in Halloween and Thanksgiving, too. And Arbor day.
But here’s a little surprise I wasn’t planning to reveal until after this year’s race: I’m currently in very good shape. I weigh about 161 pounds and am currently riding with the fast guys in my group. Last Saturday as we rode together, Kenny said I was climbing stronger than I ever have before.
The weight loss has been easy this year: my interest in food is way down. Evidently, I’m only a stress eater up to a certain level of stress. Past that, I start to forget about food.
And the “fast” part has come easily this year, too. My two hours on a bike every day has become more than a fun way to exercise and be with my friends; it’s become a pressure release valve. I’ve been riding angry, to good effect.
My descending skills have improved dramatically over the past season, too. In a race that includes several multiple-mile descents, that could buy me several important minutes.
Add in an extremely light and responsive bike — my Gary Fisher Superfly Singlespeed — and I’ve got myself a recipe for a fast Leadville 100. Certainly not in under nine hours, but quite possibly under 9:30. And on a singlespeed, that’s not half bad.
But I just don’t see how I can go.
The Math
I’ve always made a four-day trip out of the Leadville 100. Leave Utah (or Washington for a couple years) on Thursday, hang out in Leadville on Friday, race on Saturday, come home on Sunday.
Theoretically, I could shorten this to an extremely tightly-scheduled (and exhausting) Friday-Saturday trip. But the fact is, the annual Leadville 100 trip stopped being mostly about the race a long time ago — I’d say about 70% of why I like to be there is to catch up with old friends and spend a couple days wandering around the town being a bike bum.
And there is just no possible way I can leave Susan for four days — or even two days — right now. The truth is, last Saturday I had a difficult time leaving her for six hours. Sometimes she needs me — and only me. And sometimes I just need to be with her. True, she spends about 20-22 hours of most days sleeping now, but when she wakes up, she calls for me. And I need to be there.
Churn
I guess it says how much I love this race, though, that in spite of the realities of my situation, I still play through the possible scenarios, trying to find the path that lets me go to Leadville without feeling like a total heel.
In my heart I know there’s no such path. But my head’s still looking for it.
And I guess that at least a piece of me thinks I can still go, because when friends ask whether I’m going to Leadville, I say, “I’m at about 10-90 right now.”
But that 10% chance — which is in all honesty more like a 3% chance — is enough for me to keep training like I’m all in.
I know: it’s just a race, and it’s not as important as taking care of Susan and my family right now.
Still: when you’ve done something every single year for a dozen years, missing it for the first time isn’t easy.
A Note About Susan from Fatty: Susan is showing — once again — how tenacious she can be. She’s begun drinking again — water, Gatorade, andGuarana Antarcticaare her favorites — and is talking more. The doctor has said he’s just amazed at how resilient and strong she is. And I am too.
Big Tease
I recently gave you a clue about the next big Fat Cyclist fundraiser for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. It was a very difficult clue: “the prize will rhyme with “Orbea Orca with a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 build.”
Well, are you ready for your second clue? The prize will look very much like this (click the bike to see a larger version):
Oh, OK. I know these clues are too hard. I am actually going to be giving away an Orbea Orca (or Orbea Diva, winner’s choice) with a Shimano Di2 build.
That’s a $9,600 bike, people.
And you know what? The contest begins this Tuesday. So you might want to check in then for details.
Including the story of why and how I am giving away the most insanely delicious bike ever given away by anyone.
Big Tibble
For years, I have talked about Tibble, describing it as the best trail in the world. And now, finally, I have video from earlier this week of a group of friends and me riding this trail. I just couldn’t compress that much wonderfulness into a one-song video, so I went with two songs. I hope you’ll understand.
I don’t know about you, but I could watch this video over and over.
In fact, I’m going to go watch it again right now.
My weekend was full of awesomeness, all centered around the LiveStrong Challenge. I am pretty sure, for example, that Matt Chapek’s — Team Fatty-San Jose Co-Captain — speech is the awesomest thing I saw this weekend. Watch it.
Matt’s speech makes me really, really glad that he was the one up there, and not me. Clearly, he was born for that.
Although to be honest, I’m not sure what was with all those bald head caps and muscle poses at the end of his presentation.
That’s Team Fatty-San Jose, standing at the front of the starting line of the San Jose LiveStrong Challenge.
And why are they at the front of the line? Because they raised more money to fight cancer than any other team there.
Congratulations, Team Fatty!
Oh, and be sure to read Ryan’s race ride report from the event, if you want to know what it’s like to spend the day in a breakaway group.
Surprise Awesomeness
Those of you who pay attention to the Team Fatty LiveStrong ticker I keep on the right side of my blog may have noticed something unusual between Thursday afternoon and now.
Specifically, we went from $370,000 to $411,000.
$40,000+, over a weekend.
How did that happen?
Well, The Pioneer Woman happened, that’s what. Ree — a longtime Friend of Fatty — asked her readers to pitch in and help us in our fight with cancer.
And did they pitch in? Um, yeah. In just over three days, 1,551 Pioneer Woman readers donated, for a total of $28,632. Which puts Team Fatty-Philly within spitting distance of $100,000.
That’s not awesome. That’s beyond awesome. That’s awesometastariffic. Ree’s readers rock. (Though I have a sneaking suspicion that many of them may prefer country.)
(Oh, and by the way, Team Fatty-Philly, since The Pioneer Woman and her readers have given us an incredible head start, I think it would be really cool if we could get past that $100,000 mark by tomorrow. Don’t you?)
So, one more time (and don’t forget to echo me in the comments): Ree and Pioneer Woman readers: thank you for helping us as we fight cancer.
PS: This whole Internet – blog thing is turning out to be a pretty darned good neighborhood, isn’t it?
PPS: Congratulations to Jessica of Virginia, who won the Nikon D80, lens kit and copy of Photoshop CS4 in Pioneer Woman’s giveaway. Here’s how Jessica says she plans to use her new camera and software:
I have a gorgeous little 8-month-old baby that is about the most photogenic thing ever, so I will no doubt be taking copious amounts of photos of her and me together — and then using the Photoshop to erase some of my baby weight in said photos (hehe). Also, my four cats and two dogs think they are the center of the universe and usually plop down in the perfect ray of sunshine to guarantee a pretty cat/dog picture!
Hey Jessica, don’t forget to buy a bike trailer for that baby, too. OK?
I have no arc, no unifying story for today. Just lots of good things. Like I’m Martha Stewart or something.
Good Thing #1: Congratulations to Team Fatty-San Jose: Team Champions!
Tomorrow is the LiveStrong Challenge event for San Jose, and with $61,801 earned, Team Fatty is — for the second event in a row — the top-earning team. Congratulations to everyone in Team Fatty who worked for this. I consider it — in addition to a tribute and honor to all those you individually know who are fighting cancer — a very meaningful tribute to Susan.
Good Thing #2: Your Birthday Present Bought Me the San Jose “Individual Messenger” Award
If you remember, back on June 18, I asked everyone to buy me a birthday present — a $5.00 donation on my LiveStrong Challenge page. And more than 400 of you did. This was enough to make me (by a huge margin, actually) the person in the San Jose LiveStrong Challenge who had received the greatest number of donations.
So your present turned out to be two presents. Thanks!
Good Thing #3: A Video of Susan
I won’t be able to go out to San Jose to collect either the Team Champion or the Individual Messenger award — Matt Chapek, Co-Captain of Team Fatty-San Jose will handle that — but the LAF folks said I could send a video over, like I did in Seattle.
This time, I made Susan scoot over, and we made the video together. Here it is:
Good Thing #4: Congratulations to Team Pedalout: Team Messenger Award
Earlier this week, my good friends at Twin Six did an incredibly awesome thing: They donated enough to make sure that every Team Fatty-San Jose member had at least $100.66 (I love the “66″ at the end of each of their donations). This, they thought, would guarantee that Team Fatty-San Jose won the “Team Messenger” award for the San Jose LiveStrong event.
But then, right at the last possible hour, Team Pedalout beat us at our own game, donating $100 to their dozens of formerly-zeroed team members.
An excellent surprise sprint, you’ve got to admit.
Kudos to Team Pedalout, especially when you consider that between our tactic and their countertactic, we raised a couple thousand dollars to fight cancer that otherwise may not have been raised.
Of course, I’d also like to point out that Team Fatty-San Jose — with our smaller team — raised $25,000 more than Team Pedalout.
Good Thing #5: Today’s Ride
It’s become a tradition for a group of us to ride to the summit of the Alpine Loop each Friday morning. In the group email that circulates, yesterday Mark and I announced that we’d be making an attempt on doing a sub-hour climb (starts at the toll booth ends at the summit parking lot turnoff).
And we did it.
The group acted as incredible domestiques, pacing Mark and me past the Tibble turnoff, which signals the beginning of the climb in earnest.
From there we shed everyone but Sam, who continued to pace us like we were paying him or something.
Then, shortly before the Pine Hollow hairpin, I felt a surprising thing: like I could go faster. I rode forward from the back, figuring I’d pull for a while.
But Mark and Sam didn’t grab on. So my ride became a solo breakaway.
My gap was never more than thirty seconds, but I held it the whole way to the top, finishing first and alone at 57:45. Mark was right there, ten seconds behind. And then Sam — even after doing the lion’s share of pulling at the beginning of the ride — just 15 seconds behind Mark.
Aaron’s story was one of heartbreak: 1:00:09.
It felt good to be the fast guy today.
Good Thing #6: Susan’s Out of Bed Again
Susan continues to amaze me with her resilience. Wednesday afternoon she said she wanted to get out of bed, so we worked it out. I could tell it hurt, but she did it.
And everyone in the family was so happy to have her back in the family room, in the mix with all of us.
Susan and I watched stages 2-5 of the TdF together. Wow. I’ve been intentionally not following what’s been going on, so seeing a big chunk of it all at once has been astounding. Very exciting year.
Tonight, we’ll watch yesterday’s and today’s stage. Don’t anyone dare even mention today’s stage in the comments today. Not as a joke, not as false information.
Good Thing #7: We Have a Sidis Winner
Bert J of San Francisco is the very lucky winner of any pair of Sidis he wants. But there’s someone even luckier than Bert, it turns out: his wife (and fellow Team Fatty-San Jose member), Kathleen.
He’s going to get the shoes for her, as an early birthday present, thereby earning him Awesome Husband of the Month award. And no small number of brownie points, I’ll bet.
Congratulations, Bert and Kathleen!
Good Thing #8: We Have a Trip-to-Italy Winner
A huge congratulations to Ken H of Ohio, who will be taking a dream cycling trip to Italy.
And I have to say, I’m especially excited for Ken to go since I got his email detailing his plans:
“For the past two years my daughter and I have done the week-long Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure, apparently it was training for this trip.”
“The Italian hotels look much nicer than tents in the middle of county fairgrounds.”
“This 2009 picture is right after we did 50 miles on a 90+ degree day. I’m beat, but my 11-year-old stoker is ready for another 50. She is the happiest girl in the world when we bike together.”
I seriously cannot think of a better team to go tour Italy together. Congratulations, Ken!
PS: [Late Friday Night Update] Good Thing #9: The combined total for Team Fatty just crossed $400,000. Yeah, I’d say that qualifies as a good thing!
A Note to Team Fatty-San Jose Members: One of you is about towin a pair of Sidi shoes. Which kind? Any kind you want. That includes the $500Ergo 2road shoes or theDragon 2MTB shoes (a pair of which I both own and love). Mmmm. Handmade Italian cycling shoes. Smells like love.
How do you win, might you ask? Well, you have to be a member of Team Fatty San Jose, first of all. (If you want to join as a virtual team member and start getting people to donate right now, that’s totally cool with me.)
Second, you’ve got to raise money in your personal LiveStrong Challenge between now andthis Wednesday at Midnight.
The more you raise between now and Wednesday, the better your chances of winning shoes that will make all of your riding friends’ jaws drop with a combination of lust and envy. And the best part is, you’ll have won these shoes by doing something really, really good.
That’s all there is to it. Now get out there and hit up your friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers. Tell them you want an early (late?) birthday present, and that present is a donation to your LiveStrong Challenge page. You don’t have to tell them what’s in it for you. That can be our secret.
Hugethanks goes out toVeltec Sportsand Sidi for providing this very sexy prize.
Win a Dream Cycling Vacation to Italy
Dorothy Gibson takes the fight against cancer very personally. She should. She lost her mother and her father to it. Her two brothers are both survivors.
She also loves riding her bike.
And so, after coming home from a once-in-a-lifetime self-guided cycling tour through the heart of Tuscany, Italy with her friends, Dorothy didn’t just put the memories away. She looked for a way to share the experience, while helping Team Fatty with our LiveStrong Challenge.
And that, combined with the generosity of several Fat Cyclist readers who have volunteered their frequent flier miles, is how we have arrived at this contest.
Win the Terre di Siena Self-Guided Bike Tour With Cicloposse.
I’ll get to Dorothy’s story of her tour in a moment, but first, here are the details of how to enter:
Go to Dorothy’s LiveStrong Challenge page and donate any multiple of $5.00. You’ll automatically be assigned a random number for every $5 you donate.
Deadline for donations is Wednesday, July 8, at Midnight Mountain Daylight Time. That’s just three days, folks. Don’t put off your donation.
Cross your fingers and hope you win, because this looks pretty darned incredible.
What You Get
If you win, you get the Cicloposse Terre di Siene Self-Guided Bike Tour for two, plus roundtrip airfare for two to Italy. Of course, you’re going to need to bring some money for handling buying stuff along the way.
Cicloposse supplies the bikes, pedals, and helmets, as well as pumps, spare tube, patch kits. You could also ship or take your own bike if you prefer. Dorothy and her crew went with a compromise route of bringing their own pedals, saddles, and helmets. Which seems like a good call.
Now, you may wonder, what does “self-guided” mean? Here’s how Dorothy describes it, at least in context of this trip. Self-Guided means you:
have your luggage in the lobby at the appointed time for transport to the next location
enjoy a leisurely breakfast at the hotel
carry your raingear, money, passports, snacks, tubes, tools, etc, to take care of yourself on the way (no sag wagon)–just like your regular road rides
follow the detailed map and route descriptions, odometer, and road signs (good map reading skills a plus, but Cicloposse makes this very easy)
ride as fast, or slow, as you’d like
stop when you’d like, eat when and where you’d (they have fabulous suggestions)
call the hot line number if in need of emergency support
arrive at your next hotel with your bags already there
I don’t know about you, but this sounds pretty much perfect to me. And from the way Dorothy describes them, Marco and Guilianna Mulas — the owners of Cicloposse — take great care of you and are excited to help out with the fight against cancer, too.
And now, to whet your appetite for this trip, here’s Dorothy’s story, along with a few photos.
Dorothy’s Terre di Siene Trip
We are tough, independent women…and are passionate cyclists. We’d also like to think that we ride too fast to be with an organized group, but, truth be told, we really just wanted to stop for gelato, pastries, or chocolate anytime we wanted. Terre di Siene was perfect for us!
We met Marco and Guilianna Mulas in the courtyard of our hotel, Relais il Chiostro (The Cloister), for our bike fitting and orientation on Day 1. This fabulous hotel is a renovated 15th century convent, adjacent to the church in the town square in the heart of Pienza.
A few streets away is “Via del Bacio,” or “Street of the Kiss” (just one street up from the “Via dell Amore”). We were only slightly disappointed to find neither there, and loved exploring this Renaissance town.
After and unbelievable breakfast the next morning, we started out into the Tuscan countryside, a patchwork of vineyards, fields, and orchards, punctuated by cypress trees. We circled back to Pienza the first day… our destination the summit in the distance.
Joy is reaching the town limits of Pienza.
They actually like cyclists here! We found the hospitality of motorists strangely refreshing.
That evening we dined in what is now one of my most favorite restaurant in the Northern Hemisphere. We were delighted we listened to Marco and Guinliana’s recommendations here–this is their hometown; they know what they are talking about.
The climb into Montepulchiano burned most of those calories…
Montalchino’s medieval fortress is impressive. We loved exploring the many castles along the way.
The ride into Siena was one of our favorites of this trip. We encountered some wet conditions that day, but loved the climb through quiet olive groves to Monte Oliveto Maggiore (Mount of Olives) to the Benedictine Abbey there. Here Joy and I were dropped hard, and were grateful to each have our own sets of maps and detailed instructions! It was blissful to arrive at our Siena hotel (another cloister/convent) to have our luggage ready and awaiting us, and to be clean and dry for our evenings out.
Siena was amazing. The heart of Tuscany.
We fell in love with this town, and came back again after our cycling was finished…one day here is just not enough! The Duomo is one of the most magnificent cathedrals in all of Italy, and not to be missed.
The Chianti wine region offers more splendid landscapes. Those that imbibe in the fine wines of the region may take a little more time on this leg than others.
Last, but certainly not least, was San Gimignano. Castles, towers, fountains, vineyards, art. How soon can I go back?
This trip was a dream… incredible cycling, scenery, history, art, food, and friends. It was educational, too.
A few of take home gems:
1. Gelato, enjoyed anywhere in Italy, is the best recovery food. Ever. We kept a commitment to have at least one gelato a day.
2. Climb any turret, tower, or Duomo you may come to in Italy. The views are spectacular, and may burn enough calories to have another gelato. Maybe.
3. You can never have too much memory for your camera.
4. Learning a little Italian can be very helpful.
5. Cinque Terre is a trip extension that is a “must do.” If, I mean when, I return there… I will mountain bike, as well as hike that.
So, Once Again, What’s The URL to Enter this Contest?
With those pictures and that story, I don’t feel like I need to give you a hard sell on entering this contest. You’re fighting cancer. You’re having the vacation of your life. Seriously, what could be better? Nothing comes to mind. Click here to donate and enter now.
A Note from Fatty: Be sure to check in tomorrow, when I will be launching the contest where you can fight cancer and win the Orbea Orca / Diva with the Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 build. This bike is a work of art (click the thumbnail to the right for a larger view of the bike). Very fast, light, responsive, and technically-advanced art. Rideable art that retails for $9600. That your riding friends will be jealous of forever and ever, and rightly so.
1. Gelato, enjoyed anywhere in Italy, is the best recovery food. Ever. We kept a commitment to have at least one gelato a day.