09.20.2012 | 1:22 pm
As you may know, Levi Leipheimer and I will be having a race / grudge match a week from tomorrow: Friday, September 28 (at 2:00pm at the Finley Center in Santa Rosa, CA (corner of College Ave and Stony Point Road).
If you haven’t read that post, you probably should. Just so you’re all caught up to speed and stuff, so the other readers don’t have to explain what’s going on when we get to the good part of the movie.
Anyway, I’m not afraid. In fact, I think it’s pretty clear that folks have high confidence that I will actually win what is rapidly becoming known as The Race of the Century. After all, check out how much money I’ve raised by people betting on me winning, versus how much Levi has raised by people betting on him for the win.
Not bad, huh?
But things have just gotten crazy. Or, well, crazier. Check out the little conversation that happened on Twitter today between Levi, me, and Rebecca Rusch — the four-time women’s Leadville 100 champion and record holder.
And, well, we thought that was the end of that. Too bad, because it really would have been fun to have Rebecca join us.
But then Levi invited another of his friends. Here’s the conversation as it unfolded:
To which I would like to now publicly respond: “What am I, chopped liver?“
Please do not answer that. It was meant rhetorically.
Meet the New Racers
So, there are now a total of four racers in the Donut Race the day before the Gran Fondo. You already know who I am, because I am very famous, having recently played a very important part on a popular television show recently. Here’s a photograph of me, acting and interacting with my fellow actors and stuff:
Clearly, I am very famous.
What may surprise you is that Patrick Dempsey, who will also be participating in what I now choose to call The Great Pre-Fondo Donut Race, is also an actor.
Here’s a picture of him:
Like me, Patrick likes riding bicycles, and is an actor. Clearly, we are very much alike.
Next , meet Rebecca Rusch:
Rebecca is a hardcore pro mountain biker. Like me, she has won her category in the Leadville 100.
I’m really excited that I have so much in common with the new racers in this event. I’m sure they’re very excited to get to know me, so I can give them valuable advice in their various professions.
Now a Team Event
With four people in the Super-Fabulous Donut Race of Pre-Fondo Excellence, we were faced with a question:
How does this affect the race format?
The answer is simple: One of the new contestants will be on Team Fatty , and the other contestant will be on Team Levi. And this brings up another question:
Who will be on which team?
A fair and honest method for determining who is on my team and who is on Levi’s team. That method will be revealed at a future time, because I am a hopeless tease. And also I’m not sure Rebecca and Patrick (both of whom of which I suddenly find myself on a first name basis) will go for what I have in mind.
How does the race change?
Not surprisingly, I have an excellent answer to that question, which I am making up even as I type this.
- Race Becomes a Relay: The race shall be raced as a relay, with each person on each team racing three laps, for a total of six laps per team. (Six shall be the number, and the number shall be six. Five is right out.)
- Donut Eating: Prior to embarking on her or his lap, the racer may enter The Donut Zone, where she or he may eat as many donuts as she or he likes. Each donut will be worth a certain amount of time deducted from the team’s total time. Any barfing, hurling, or otherwise upchucking of donuts will result of all time for the donuts eaten in the Donut Zone during that lap to be re-added.
- Racing: After completing the course, the racer hands the team baton to her or his teammate, who then may proceed on the next lap.
Pretty darned easy.
The Prizes Remain Awesome
If you haven’t already — and maybe even if you have already — donated, you should. I’ll explain what you might win in a second, but first, the links:
For every $5.00 donated, each donor will win a chance at fabulous prizes, to be provided by BikeMonkey.
The Grand Prize shall be an all-expense paid trip for two to the 2013 (not the 2012, obviously, because it will be too late for that) Levi’s Gran Fondo, including registration in the ride, airfare, hotel, attendance at the VIP dinner, and the small-group ride with Levi. This prize will be given to a person drawn at random from the pool of people who donated to the winning racer.
The First Prize shall be two entries into the 2013 Gran Fondo, along with participation in the small-group ride with Levi. This prize will be given to a person drawn at random from the pool of people who donated to the winning racer.
Runner Up Prizes shall be drawn from both the pool of people who donated to the winning and losing racers, so that everyone will have a chance to win something, even if you did make the mistake of voting for Levi. Ha.
The prizes will include the following:
- A complete Gran Fondo kit
- Another complete Gran Fondo kit
- A Gran Fondo jersey, signed by Levi Leipheimer
- Yet another Gran Fondo jersey, also signed by Levi
- A Gran Fondo Specialized Propero II helmet
- Yep, another one of those Gran Fondo helmets just like the other one
- A Gran Fondo messenger bag
- Ditto on that previous one.
Where Does the Money Go?
100% of the money raised by your donations will be split between the following really great foundations:
- Forget Me Not Farms – Local farm for at-risk youth to connect with animals and nature in a therapeutic and healing way.
- VeloStreet – Dedicated to improving cycling resources in Sonoma County and throughout California
- Livestrong – Working to connect those living with cancer with medical, community and financial resources.
Things Could Continue to Change
This is such a strange race. It continues to evolve and become more interesting minute by minute. I gotta say, I’m pretty excited to see how it turns out.
Thanks for playing along, and I hope you win. And now, one more time, the donation pages:
Comments (51)
07.30.2012 | 8:55 am
I often think about how lucky I am to live where I live. “As a guy who loves riding both road and mountain bikes, and loves riding them in the mountains, I could not have picked a better place to live,” I tell myself.
For example, a couple weekends ago, I rode what I call “The Gauntlet Deluxe,” a 97-mile ride with 11,497 feet of climbing. Here’s the elevation profile for that ride:
And a few weeks earlier than that, I rode over Suncrest and then up a couple of canyons to a couple of ski resorts and back. That was a 95-mile ride with 11,318 feet of climbing. The elevation profile looks like this:
These are totally different rides, but they have a few things in common:
- They’re right around 100 miles
- They start and end at home
- They’re really, really hard
As I do rides like this, I often think to myself, “Wow, this is really stupid of me, and I am way over my head.”
But when I’m not thinking that, I think to myself that I live in a pretty amazing place for this kind of cycling.
But is it the most amazing place for this kind of riding? Maybe. Maybe not. I really don’t know.
Show Me Whatcha Got
But I’d be interested in finding out what kind of mountainous riding other people have available to them, right out their front door.
So why don’t you show me (or tell me, because I am a very trusting person) what your awesomest out-the-door climbing ride is? And I‘ll give a new FatCyclist jersey to the person with the climbiest ride of all.
Just a few rules.
- The ride must start and end at your home. It can be a loop or an out-and-back.
- The ride must be no more than 100 miles long.
- The ride cannot climb any road or trail more than once.
If you’re the winner, you’ve got to be prepared to prove the ride exists and satisfies the rules. That’s fair, right?
And bonus points if you’ve actually done the ride, have pictures and a story.
This contest ends end of day Tuesday.
PS: “Flatlander Boobie Prize” prize will be given to first person who can demonstrate that there’s no possible way for them to climb more than 100 feet if they satisfy all the satisfy the rules above. What is the “Flatlander Boobie Prize?” I don’t know yet, but I bet it’s cool enough to warrant submitting the entry.
Comments (94)
07.3.2012 | 7:38 am
A Note from Fatty: The 2013 FatCyclist kit pre-order begins Monday. Whether you want to show of that you’re part of Team Fatty or just like letting the world know that you are as exactly as likely to be eating pie as riding your bike, I highly recommend that you prepare to place an order.
I’ll be giving little hints throughout the week as to what you can expect from the new design. Today’s, though, may be the most revealing: Pink is back. As, obviously, is black. I’ll let you speculate as to what part of the jersey I’m showing is, though.
As always, Twin Six and I offer FatCyclist gear primarily as a get-it-while-you-can thing. If you don’t pre-order it, chances are you’re going to do without. So you might want to go ahead and get out that fancy smart phone of yours and set yourself a reminder to come back here Monday.
During the rest of this week, expect more sneak peeks into the design of the 2013 offering, as well as what items will be available as part of the 2013 kit.
Be Faster Than Me, Get a T-Shirt That Proves It
My relationship with riding bicycles is very simple: I love it. Mountain biking, road biking, track, cyclocross. Other kinds (like BMX and — why not? — recumbents) which I haven’t tried yet, too. I like them all. Simple.
My relationship with triathlon is . . . well, more complicated. If you’re one of the three or four (depending on whether my mom could get her dial-up modem working that day) people who read this blog back when it was very young, you might read that I once wrote a ridiculously provocative open letter to triathletes, imploring them to all stop it and try something else.
Later, I would make an outrageous, unfounded claim: that without really training, I could do an Ironman. Which, eventually, led to me being called out on the carpet, as it were, and I did an actual Ironman. After which I swore I would never do another triathlon.
Except, of course, I did an Xterra race last summer. And I did the local Turkey Tri last autumn.
Apart from those two, though, I’m totally done with Tri. Just through with it. Except, of course, I’m really not.
And you’re not, either.
In fact, I think you might want to join me in the next Tri I do. And if you — or your team — is faster than I am on the bike leg of the race, you’ll get a t-shirt that will make you the envy of the western world. Or something like that.
Meet the Life Time Leadman Tri Epic 250
You may know that I have something like an obsession with the Leadville 100. As in, I’ve done it fifteen times and am signed up to do it my sixteenth time about a month from now.
Well, Life Time Fitness, the company that puts on that race, recently got ahold of me and asked, “Hey, you want to try something a little different, but still ridiculously hard, and in a really amazing place?”
“OK,” I said, without even asking what it was I had just agreed to.
Well, it turns out that Life Time is promoting a new triathlon series, called The Leadman Tri Epic 250.
The first one, this year, will be raced in Bend, Oregon. Check out the distances, and you’ll see where the “epic” part comes in:
- 5k Swim (that’s 3.1 miles), as opposed to a mere 3.86k swim in iron-distance triathlons.
- 223k Bike Ride (138.5 miles), as opposed to a childish 112 miles in iron-distance races.
- 22k run (13.7 miles), which is just over half the length of the run in iron-distance races.
You see how that’s kind of interesting? A longer swim, a much longer ride, but a shorter run than an iron-distance triathlon.
Why? Well, for a pretty good reason, actually. A lot of people have great endurance and would love to prove it in a big ol’ race, but don’t want to put up with the incredibly debilitating pounding that a full marathon delivers to your body.
Plus — kinda like the Leadville 100 — if you can finish this event in under eleven hours, you get to bring home a nice little souvenir:
OK, as the owner of a few kinda cool belt buckles, I have to say: that’s a pretty darned awesome personal trophy.
But I still haven’t talked about the “Faster than Fatty” t-shirt yet, have I? OK, I’m about to.
How To Get A T-Shirt I Do Not Want You To Have
When Life Time told me about this race, I had to admit that I wasn’t ready to do the whole thing, and — especially with the huge bike-centric race schedule I’ve got set for myself this year — there was no way I was going to get to the point where I could do the whole race.
“That’s OK,” they said. “We have a cool relay category (all proceeds from this category go to the Boys and Girls Club of Central OR, by the way), too. Put together a team, and race that way.”
Of course, it took me exactly 3/1000ths of a second (should’ve taken less, but I’m not as quick as I used to be) to figure out who Team Fatty will be at the Leadman Tri:
Yep, I will once again participate in a triathlon with The Hammer (my wife, who is no slouch at running) and The Swimmer (The Hammer’s daughter, who is a star on her high school swim team).
But this time, we’ll be working together.
Oh, and if you manage to beat my time on the bike leg of the race (that’s your bike split time, and doesn’t include transition to or off the bike), you can win another little trophy you might want to show off to your friends. Here’s the front:
And here’s the back:
The Hammer and The Swimmer have each indicated that they want one of these t-shirts. But they don’t get them.
There’s only one way to get this shirt: do the Leadman Tri: be faster than I am on the bike leg of this race. You can do this either by yourself — doing the whole Leadman Tri — or as part of a relay team.
Sign Up, Get a Big Ol’ Discount
Of course, in order to win, you’ve got to race. And in order to race, you’ve got to sign up. So here’s where you go to get yourself to the registration page.
And when you sign up, be sure to use the code FattyShirt. That’s good for a whopping 40% discount on registration for the event (solo or relay, 250-mile or 125-mile distance).
Then, once you’ve done that, click here to register yourself as officially entered in the “Faster than Fatty” challenge (don’t worry, it doesn’t cost anything extra to try to beat me).
And then let me know what I’m in for when we race each other. You don’t actually have to do that part, but I’m interested in exactly how scared I should be.
I look forward to either beating you or being beaten by you in Bend on Sept 22.
PS: The folks at Life Time have put out a little press release about this little “Faster than Fatty” challenge:
Are you “FASTER THAN FATTY”? Prove it in Bend, OR on Sept 22.
Elden “Fatty” Nelson has developed one of the most heavily trafficked cycling blogs in the world. He’s cultivated an army of devoted readers and fans. Now, he’s daring every one of them to beat him on the bike at LeadmanTri in Bend, OR on Sept 22.
Fatty will be completing the 223k bike leg in a relay of this epic first-year event (his partners will be completing a 5k swim and a 22k run).
Through this unique promotion, anyone that beats Fatty’s bike split will be able to wear the accomplishment on their sleeve – literally. These lucky few will be awarded a “Faster than Fatty” limited edition t-shirt.
Now, if anyone has seen Fatty in the Leadville 100 MTB movie, Race Across the Sky, we all know he’s fast… on dirt. Well, we’re about to see how that translates on pavement against an army of triathletes and roadies now gunning for his shirt.
While LeadmanTri Bend features a Half (125k) distance, the offer is only available to solo and relay participants in the Full (250k) distance.
Sign up for the “Faster than Fatty” Challenge will be available to participants via LeadmanTri.com and Fatcyclist.com.
So…I guess this is for real now. Guess I ought to start training or something.
Comments (40)
06.23.2012 | 7:23 am
Hey, what if I liveblogged the process of me choosing a winner for the contest I’ve been running? I think that’s a great idea. Do you agree that it’s a great idea?
You do? Awesome!
6:22: I’m going to go run the report for my own donations. This will take longer than it usually does, because LiveStrong switched to a new system this year and I don’t know my way around as well.
6:25: Holy smokes. I can’t remember the password for my account, thanks to the fact that I’m using a notebook computer right now and the password is saved on my desktop computer.
6:27: OK, got it on the fifth try.
6:28: Apparently I raised $56,105, during the course of this contest. THANK YOU for your generosity, people.
6:30: Oh, downloading a CSV was easy. That’s a nice change.
6:33: Just realized that I do not have a spreadsheet program installed on this computer. Downloading one now.
6:37: Team Fatty Davis raised a total of $93,934. Congratulations on your hard work, Team Fatty!
6:42: Team Fatty Philly has raised $1201 so far, and Austin has raised $400. A good start!
6:48: Nothing to do now but wait for the spreadsheet software to download. On the super-duper fast hotel internet connection I’ve got.
6:50: The 6:48 note was sarcastic.
6:55: Oh come on. It’s just a spreadsheet.
6:57: Fine. While I wait for this to download over the next 1.8 eons or so, I’ll try using the online spreadsheet in Google Docs.
7:09: The Google Docs plan is working out fine. I’ve got all the essential data in there now and now just have to figure out enough about formulas to give everyone their assigned contest numbers before I do the random drawing.
7:22: OK, I’ve got everything in the spreadsheet and the formula is applied.
7:23: For what it’s worth, the spreadsheet software has still not completed downloading. So Google Docs was definitely the way to go here (I was not paid to say that).
7:24: Heading on over to random.org to pick a number! This is the big moment, folks.
7:28: And the winning number is 6576. That may not mean much to you, but it…doesn’t mean anything to me, either. Heading on over to see who has that number.
7:30: Oh, this is too weird. You’re not going to believe this, but it’s true: I am the one who won the contest.
Seriously, I made a donation, just like everyone else. And my number won.
Too bad I’m not eligible.
I swear, the first time in my life I’ve ever won a contest and it’s my own stupid contest.
Heading off to draw another number now.
7:33: OK, this time the number drawn was 52,315. And it is not me this time. I won’t give a lot of hints, but I will say that the winner is a man, and is from Austin TX.
No, not that man from Austin TX.
I’m going to start writing that email now.
7:41: The email is off! Now I just wait to hear back from the winner. I’ll update again when that happens.
MONDAY MORNING
7:15am: Still haven’t heard back. Oh, and also I’m traveling today and so won’t be able to post anything. I will get to work, however, on writing up my experience at the LiveStrong Challenge here in Davis today, though. Cuz it was awesome.
9:07am: I just heard from a (very surprised) Ed Perrey, who’s very excited to have won. He’s considering options and will get back to me shortly on what he’s thinking in terms of what bike to get and where to ride.
Congratulations, Ed!
Comments (29)
06.21.2012 | 10:31 am
Friday is the last day of this contest. Yes, the one where, by donating multiples of $5 at my LiveStrong Challenge page, you get to select any of several popular models of Ibis bikes. Then pick up the bike and get it professionally fitted at SLC Bicycle Company. And then head out for some amazingly good riding right here in Utah, with me as your guide (scary).
Recently, I made the case for choosing the Ibis Mojo SL. And it was a good case indeed. If you’re into mountain biking, you couldn’t do much better (though if you’re into hardtails, you should probably give the Ibis Tranny some serious consideration).
But you know, not everyone prefers dirt. Some cyclists love riding the road. And you know what? I’m one of those people. At least three days a week, on average, if you were to ask me whether I like road or mountain bike riding better, I’d choose road.
And in fact, at least 50% of the reason I picked the house I picked is its proximity to a very special road ride.
So today, let’s talk about some ideas for road riding if you win, as well as the bike itself.
Meet the Ibis Silk SL
Your Ibis Silk SL starts with an amazing frame — a 2.2lb carbon beauty, available in either a clear matte finish or Siberian white — and then adds the amazing Shimano Dura-Ace component set, making this a full-on dream bike.
You will love this bike, and it will love you back. In short, the two of you will be in love, and will never want to be apart.
Let’s Ride Local
Here’s a little secret: my day job doesn’t require that I live in Utah, and it for sure doesn’t require that I live in Alpine, Utah.
I live here because I love it here. And one of the main reasons I love it here because of a nearby road called The Alpine Loop. I like that place so much that I did my 100 Miles of Nowhere on it this year.
It’s a big, beautiful road, with incredible views of mountains, evergreens, and aspens as you go.
If I may, allow me to suggest you ride it during the early part of Autumn:
You’ll climb around 3000 feet to get to the top, and it won’t be easy. But once you get there, you get to choose whether to go back down the way you came, or head down to Cascade Springs, which is worth seeing on its own merits — its a series of beautiful, tiny waterfalls fed by an aquifer.
Of course, that big seven mile descent into Cascade Springs means you have to climb back out of it. Which is either awesome or awful, depending on your own point of view.
On the way, there’s a fair chance you’ll see moose lounging about:
Or, you know, we could go down the other side of the Alpine Loop — the Sundance side — which is just as beautiful and even more curvy and twisty. Really, just an awesome descent on a beautiful mountain road.
And if the Alpine loop doesn’t satisfy your road-riding-in-the-mountains itch, we can go do Nebo.
Or, if all this sounds like a little too much, we’ll just gather up the twins and go riding on the Provo River Trail:
Regardless, I’ll probably want to make you finish the ride (time of year permitting) by trying out the sliding rock, about a mile from my house:
Don’t worry, I won’t make you go down head first (but I will use peer pressure techniques to try to get you to).
Not Local?
If the Alpine Loop and the Nebo Loop don’t sound exotic enough for you, we can head out toward Moab, and ride in the Canyonlands. I’ve never actually done that before, but have always wanted to, and this would be a pretty awesome excuse.
Or — and I know this is breaking the rules because we wouldn’t be in Utah anymore, but we’d be pretty close — we could go to Grand Junction, CO and ride across the Colorado National Monument:
I’ve talked about riding this road before. Believe me when I say the stunning scenery is almost matched by the perfection of the pavement.
If I hadn’t already ridden this road, I would be wondering why I hadn’t.
I Believe I Have Made My Point
So I think I’ve made a pretty good case for riding your road bike in my neck of the woods. And if you win this contest, that’s an option you can consider. And consider well.
Road or MTB? It won’t be an easy decision.
But you won’t win if you don’t donate by Friday. And your donation will help LiveStrong continue it’s amazing work toward the fight against cancer.
So if you haven’t done so — and hey, maybe even if you already have — go and donate some multiple of $5.00.
You might win an awesome bike with incredible componentry, a custom fitting, and a great biking trip customized for what you like to do.
And you’ll for sure be doing a good thing.
Comments (37)
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