11.12.2008 | 3:32 pm
Here are some interesting facts for you:
- Team Dell — you know, the computer guys — had the largest LiveStrong Challenge team ever last year, with more than 260 people in it.
- Team Toi raised the most money ever, raising over $350,000 for the LiveStrong Challenge.
Here are my thoughts on both of these records: Pffff.
Team Fat Cyclist: Fighting For Susan
For 2009, I am going to form Team Fat Cyclist: Fighting For Susan for the LiveStrong Challenge, and I want you to join me. If you’re willing to put in some work, together our neighborhood will not simply break these records; we will crush them.
No, we will demolish them.
And humiliate them, just for fun.
Oh, and by the way, by either joining the team or contributing to the team — your choice — you will automatically be entering yourself in raffles to win prizes that will make your head spin.
Let’s Talk About The Prizes A Little Bit
I love to give stuff away; that’s one of the things I like best about my blog. And as part of this LiveStrong Challenge, I have asked my friends in the industry to donate some cool stuff to raffle off to those who donate.
And they have come through in spades.
Here are just a few of the things you can look forward to. I’m being vague here about brands and so forth until I have things nailed down, but the truth is, the odds are good that there will be more — not less — than what I’m talking about.
- An ultra-high-end 29″ single speed mountain bike. And by ultra-high-end, I mean ultra-ultra-high end.
- An ultra-high-end road bike. By which I mean, ultra-ultra-ultra high end.
- A bombproof, light wheelset for mountain biking
- A featherweight wheelset for road biking
- A ridiculously high-end road group — one of the first of its kind available, in fact.
- A top of the top-end MTB group
- A full-service mountain MTB vacation with a top-notch touring outfit
- A beautiful and functional commuter bike.
- Be the first person alive to ever meet, ride with, and learn the identity of Bike Snob NYC. Yes, really. But you can’t photograph him or tell anyone else who he is. Or you’ll be sorry.
- Bike Clothes, Components, and Gear Galore.
And there are more prizes I haven’t mentioned here because I’m not perfectly confident they’ll come through. But I will say this: I am amazed at how many generous people there are in the bike industry, and am incredibly impressed at how badly they want to fight cancer.
The short version: if you’re willing to donate some time and / or money, you’re going to help me create an incredible legacy for Susan, and you might win some cool stuff. Really, really cool stuff.
How It’s Going to Work
I love competition, and I love silliness. So we’re going to have fun making a huge impact and raising money.
Here’s what we’re going to do.
- On December 1 — the first day it’s allowed — of this year, I’ll be creating Team Fat Cyclist: Fighting for Susan.
- Anytime on that day or after, you can join the team, which will give you your very own fundraising page. It costs $50 to register. That’s your entry fee to be able to participate in the event.
- Start bugging your friends and family to donate to your fundraising page.
- I will start holding raffles on a frequent basis. Sometimes, anyone who wants to donate will be included in the raffles, sometimes the raffles will only be available to team members.
- Sometimes, I’ll give prizes to people who are kicking butt at fundraising. The prizes will not be trivial. At all.
This may sound crazy, but I really believe it’s possible: If 500 of us join this team, and then we each raise $1000 — an easily attainable sum — we’ll shatter the previous team fundraising records with half a million dollars.
If, on the other hand, we all kick butt and each raise $2000, we’ll astound the world by having raised a million dollars together.
And I love the idea of telling Susan that 500 of her friends got together and raised a million bucks to fight cancer in her honor.
What You Should Do Right Now
Actually, there’s not too much you need to do just yet. I can’t form Team Fat Cyclist: Fighting For Susan until the beginning of next month.
But there are a few things you can do. Most of them are easy.
- Decide you’re going to join. You’ll be part of something big, and worthwhile, and hopefully record-breaking. Start saving up your $50 membership fee, and some extra to donate for your own page, so you’ll have a good chance of winning one of the prizes.
- Start making a list of who you can ask to donate. There will be some giveaways where team members who have earned the most will get prizes.
- If you’re in the bike — or a related — industry and want to be a part of this, you can. Think about what you’d like to donate, and then email me. I will give you the recognition you deserve, and you’ll have done something awesome. If you need to convince the higher-ups at your company that you’re reaching a sizeable audience, let them know that Fat Cyclist averages 60,000+ unique visitors, 250,000 visits, and 640,000 pageviews per month. Which is quite a few.
- Tell other cycling friends they need to join. Last year the team competition was dominated by a computer company (Dell) and a fashion designer (Toi). Seriously, that’s just sad. It’s like having Richard Simmons beat you up for your lunch money.
In the next few weeks, I’ll be revealing more about what the contests will be like, what you’ll be able to win, and some more surprises.
For now, I’m just excited to be doing something positive, and am looking forward to having you be a big part of it.
We’re going to kick butt.
PS: Big thanks to Mike Roadie for emailing me with the suggestion of doing a Team Fatty this year. I’ll be relying on him for a lot of the logistics and whatnot, since he clearly knows his way around his program.
Comments (172)
10.13.2008 | 10:02 am
A Note from Fatty: Everyone makes choices as to what’s important enough to spend a lot of time with, and I’ve (clearly) made a decision that this blog is one of those things.
The thing is, without my noticing it (until very recently), my life has gotten out of balance. There are people and things I have neglected, and I need to make some adjustments.
I know I’m being vague here. That’s on purpose. I’ve got my reasons.
What I’m saying is, expect kinda light posting for a bit, starting with this grab bag of non-related-but-still-interesting tidbits.
CycleDog Flies the Fat Cyclist Flag on TV
CycleDog was on the Tulsa, OK news recently, talking about why he bike commutes…and he’s wearing a pink Fat Cyclist jersey while doing so.
Nice work, CycleDog!
About the Raffle Second Place Winner
A lot of you were wondering — as was I — why the second place winner for the raffle last week didn’t bother emailing me.
Well, it turns out she had a pretty good reason: she was in Hawaii, kicking butt at the Kona Ironman. Congratulations, Charisa Wernick, on a great race, and on winning second prize in the Ciclismo Classico raffle!
I’ll let Charisa tell a little about herself:
My blog is, http://charisawernick.blogspot.com/. I am a triathlete, in Hawaii right now. This was my 2nd time competing in the Kona IronMan.
I sell microscopes for a living – it’s a small business that my Dad and I run. (www.microscopeworld.com). My husband recently started cycling (I’ll be giving the jerseys I won to him, so THANK YOU!).
I absolutely love cycling – it’s so awesome how many places your bike can take you!
You know something I’m noticing? Every time I learn something about any of the Fat Cyclist readers, I’m fascinated by who they are, why they ride, and what they do. I seriously have no idea why I have such an interesting set of readers / friends, but I like it.
Be sure, by the way, to read Charisa’s account of her race. It’s almost enough to make me want to try triathlons. Except for the swimming part, which I continue to never want to do.
And her description doesn’t help.
About That Ride for Awareness
Last Saturday, I showed up at SLC Bicycle for Trek’s Annual WSD Breast Cancer Awareness Ride.
Rain, wind, and snow showed up, too.
My intentions were good, but my threshold for pain was low. Which is to say, while I originally intended to do the 25-mile version, I made a game-time decision to do the ten mile version, and even that seemed a little long.
I am a pansy.
The good news, though, is others across the country showed up for the ride, raising money and awareness for one of the most common forms of cancer there is.
And a couple people sent me photos. Here’s Ro and Laurie, after their ride in Ventura (Ro drove 1.5 hours to get to the ride — way to go, Ro!):
And here’s Clay’s twin girls before their ride in Stillwater:
I think Clay will agree with me: there’s nothing better than to be a dad of twin girls (at least at this age — I reserve the right to reassess once they’re teenagers).Big props to Trek for supporting the fight against cancer (and for making that the focus of their current home page).
Comments (35)
10.7.2008 | 8:32 am
On September 25, I attended the Lance Armstrong press conference. I had a few questions written down about how Lance hoped to use his return to the sport to fight cancer, so kept my hand in the air for pretty much the whole conference.
Toward the end, I bounced up and down and waved that arm around vigorously, thinking that maybe if I looked like I really needed to use the bathroom, Lance would call on me.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to ask my questions — it turns out that Greg Lemond figured that he needed some extra quality time with Lance, and the rest of us could just wait.
Of course, I still got a photo of me with Eddy Merckx, so I have no regrets, but I still had my questions.
So I emailed them to Doug Ulman, President of the Lance Armstrong Foundation (I have his email address because he sent me a really nice “thanks” email after the Ibis Silk SL raffle).
And you know what? He answered them. Pretty cool, if you ask me. And I didn’t even have to frantically wave my arm around in the air.
Here we go:
How will Lance riding as a pro help achieve the 3 goals stated in the Global Cancer Initiative?
He will be riding in countries all over the world and while there, engage with world leaders to talk about cancer in their country and how they might make a commitment to address the cancer burden.
He will also be a visible sign that cancer is not a death sentence and challenge the myths and misperceptions often associated with the disease. Through his appearances and media interviews, Lance will speak about the importance of cancer survivors sharing their stories and advocating for their rights to their leaders.
Say it’s Autumn 2010. What needs to have happened for you and Lance to call his return to pro cycling a success? What needs to have happened for you to call the Global Cancer Initiative a success?
For the Global cancer Initiative to have been a success, leaders and advocates from around the world will have participated in a world cancer summit in Paris at the conclusion of the Tour de France and have made significant commitments to address the cancer burden in their countries. Also, advocates from around the world will have been trained to ensure their governments are held accountable for the commitments made.
What new ways will people who are already fans of Lance and the LAF be able to leverage Lance’s return to pro cycling to further their efforts toward fighting cancer?
We will be asking people to visit www.livestrong.org to learn how they can take action and stay informed as to how they can make an impact in their community and country.
What ways do you hope to garner attention from those who aren’t interested in pro cycling or Lance’s return to it?
We hope to build momentum and global awareness that cancer should be on the agenda of all world leaders and that everyone has a role to play in reducing the burden of the disease – from individual health behavior to advocating for change to their leaders.
Follow-Up
I’ve asked Doug — and Katherine McLane, Communications Director at LAF — to check in on this site a few times today. If you’ve got questions about LAF or the Global Cancer Initiative, post a comment and they might answer.
And Mr. Lemond, please don’t even think about hijacking my comments section.
Last Day for the Ciclismo Classico Raffle
As you have no doubt noticed, I’m not even remotely close to being an impartial journalistic type when it comes to LAF. I’m a fan. And I’m a fan because I’ve seen firsthand what good work they’re doing.
And that’s why I do these raffles.
Sure, there’s an outside chance you’ll win an awesome cycling trip in Italy or France, but probably not. No matter what, though, you’re helping fight cancer. And I can’t think of a fight that matters more. So click here to enter the raffle. You’ll find out who the winner is tomorrow — and hey, maybe it’ll be you!
Regardless, thanks for reading this past week while I focus on more serious topics, and thanks for joining in the fight.
Comments (45)
10.6.2008 | 11:08 am
In comments and email, I’ve been getting a lot of requests lately for an update on how Susan’s doing. I’ve been mostly ignoring those requests, though. And I have a good reason.
Superstition.
Basically, things have been going pretty well for the last several weeks, and I’ve been loathe to jinx our good luck by saying, “Things have been going pretty well.”
However, it’s well known (within the part of my head that sets the rules for jinxes) that by explicitly acknowledging the potential jinx, you defuse it, so I think we’re OK, and I can give you a little bit of an update about how she’s doing…and about how I’m doing, too. Because I like to talk about me.
Mildly Good News Is Really Great News
Susan’s recent MRI shows no new cancer growth in any of her soft tissue trouble spots: nothing in her lungs, nothing on her liver. The MRI also shows that the blood clot that went into Susan’s lung is dissipating.
MRIs don’t show what’s going on in the bones and it’s been a while since Susan’s had a bone scan, so we don’t really know for sure how she’s doing there — and her bones are where the cancer has really taken root and given her trouble. However, a pretty simple way to tell whether you’ve got tumors growing in your bones is by the intense pain they cause — and Susan isn’t experiencing any new pain.
Susan’s tolerating her chemo very well. We seem to have the dosage right, because by being careful about what she eats, Susan isn’t feeling a lot of side effects from the Xeloda. Meanwhile, we’re slowly reducing the steroid (Decadron) dose, which Susan is really excited about, because she hates the way it puffs out her face. Who wouldn’t?
Susan has a physical therapist coming over to our house three times a week, helping Susan get some strength back into her legs. And it seems to be helping. I notice that Susan’s able to get around much more quickly and confidently with her walker, and is able to do tasks that she hadn’t been able to do just a month ago.
There are some little signs that Susan’s getting some feeling back in her lower legs. That’s of course good news, but the bad news is that feeling is in the form of pain. Susan’s being very tough about that, though, and only complains about the pain when I tell her that she’s required to complain at least a little bit or I won’t feel good about myself when I complain nonstop about this nasty hangnail.
As far as her brain goes, Susan’s still totally mentally clear, which is the best news of all.
How I’m Doing
If it’s OK, I’d like to take a moment to boast, because I feel like it. Namely, I feel like boasting that I’m pretty proud of the fact that I’m able to take care of Susan and the kids. Right now, every day I am:
- Getting the kids up
- Getting the kids dressed and to school on time
- Fixing all the meals for everyone
- Taking care of the dishes
- Doing the laundry
- Straightening the house
- Making sure homework gets done
Until this year, I’ve pretty much left these tasks to Susan. Sure, I could handle these jobs when Susan was sick or unavailable, but that was always in emergency mode. Now I do them every day, and I’m getting darn close to having them down to a system.
In addition to all this, I of course still have my job, this blog, and my cycling. And other stuff.
So yeah, I feel pretty pleased with myself. Kind of like I’ve moved into the Expert class or something.
Win a Cycling Trip in Italy or France — More Prizes!
As you no doubt know by now, Ciclismo Classico is donating a cycling trip — either the Maratona of the Dolomites in Italy or the Tour de France, your choice — as part of a raffle to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
Well, The Minnehaha Classic Canvas Bag Company is sweetening the pot. First, Second and Third prize winners will also get their choice of one of the following:
Canvas Shoulder Bag
Canvas Saddle Bag
Canvas Grocery Bag Pannier
You’ve only got today and tomorrow to enter the raffle, so you’d better get going on it now.
Comments (44)
10.1.2008 | 10:31 am
Yesterday, I announced a new raffle (with all proceeds going to the Lance Armstrong Foundation) we’re doing where you can win a Ciclismo Classico tour to Italy.
Well, perhaps you’d rather go see — and ride the routes of — next year’s Tour de France instead?
Well, now you get to choose.
If you win this raffle (see yesterday’s post for details on how it works), you can choose whether you’d like to go on the Maratona of the Dolomites tour or the “Follow the Race in France” tour. If you select the TdF tour, you’ll get to:
- View 3 stages of the race from the best vantage points
- Ride portions of the race before watching the pros tackle them
- Watch firsthand the drama of what I’m expecting to be a very interesting tour (has anyone considered the possibility of having all three people on the final podium be from the same team?)
Click here for more details on this tour.
Quick Recap on How to Enter
To enter this raffle, you simply donate to the Lance Armstrong Foundation via Brad Stratton’s donation page. The more you donate, the more bonus tickets you get. See yesterday’s post for details.
I tell you what: this contest keeps getting more and more awesome.
And huge props to Ciclismo Classico for upping the ante on this prize. Be sure to check these guys out when you’re thinking about taking a bike trip.
PS: More prizes to be announced tomorrow, too!
Comments (30)
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