Philly and Austin
Philly Jen and MikeRoadie on the way to dinner, Friday night. All four
co-captains, the guys from Twin Six, and my sister are all with me.
How awesome is that?
My LiveStrong Challenge Bike
Here’s the bike they had waiting for me. Yes, really.
And then they busted out a beautiful Cervelo for me to ride.
But I’m going to ride this one. Wait and see.
My Plan for the Austin LiveStrong Challenge
I will be riding the Austin LiveStrong Challenge and Ride for the Roses this weekend. I talked a little bit about what we’ve accomplished in terms of fundraising yesterday, but I have not yet talked about a very, very important fact about this event:
My sister Kellene will be coming to Austin with me, as my guest.
Yes, the very same Kellene who:
- Has fallen off a cliff while mountain biking, but who still loves mountain biking.
- Has perfectly illustrated the difference between how men and women approach mountain biking road trips.
- Has put her own life on hold I don’t even know how many times to come to my house and take care of me and my family.
- Is able to persuade me to do anything. Including her famous “jump for the camera” poses. Note that she has the same expression in both these photos:
Kellene, I should add, is a professional photographer for her day job. So photos from the trip are probably going to be a step or twelve above the ones you usually get from me. And also, they’re less likely to be taken with my phone.
I should also point out that of all five of the Nelson kids, Kellene is tied for most outgoing. (I believe I am in fourth place.)
So don’t be too surprised if I bring back a “jump for the camera” photo of Lance and me.
The Ride
My ride plan for the LiveStrong Challenge is really very simple: GO HARD. Yes, I am going to treat it like a Charity Race. If I can bridge up to the Armstrong Group, I will. And I will hang with them until I cannot, after which I will finish the ride as fast as I can.
If you are a fast Team Fatty member, please work with me. Help me get to that front group and hang with them as long as possible.
Then, once I finish the ride, I plan to stick around at the finish line and thank / hang out with Team Fatty members who finish after me (as well as anyone who finishes before I do and is willing to stick around).
I promise I will be very sweaty and stinky.
And grateful.
Big Day for Team Fatty
I just sent an email to the winner in the “Win An Ibis, Take It Anywhere You Want, and Ride it With Andy Hampsten, Chuck Ibis and Fatty” contest, and have heard back from the winner: Kyle, of Evergreen, CO. Here’s what he had to say:
I just got into to work through the muck and snow, opened up your blog and read your description of the winner and my heart started pounding.
Wow! I’ve never won anything. Thank You! I was sitting at dinner last night and telling my wife that I felt really confident. I said it was for a good cause and winning wasn’t important so that’s usually when good things happen.
I’m 39 years old and live in Evergreen CO, in the foothills west of Denver. I’m an operations manager for a small steel company in Wheat Ridge in the suburbs of Denver. I’m married and have a 6 year old girl and a new born baby girl (5 weeks tomorrow). My wife and I were born and raised in Pittsburgh and that’s where I started mountain biking in 1993. I bought a Paramount hardtail with my first real paycheck when I got my first real job out of college. So I’m a mountain biker through and through so it will definetly be one of the mountain bikes. (I’m scared of cars so I don’t ride on the road much.)
I’m thinking California for the trip since I’ve never really ridden there ( I rode the Kamakazi trail at Mammoth and then the Flume trail in Tahoe, but that was 15 years ago) and Colorado and Utah are so close that I can ride them anytime. Maybe we can hash out between your guys expertise the benefits of both So Cal and No Cal.
Anyway, I am stoked! I’m looking forward to meeting you.Thanks for letting us all be a part of your journey as it’s affected the way I approach my own life.
Kyle seems like a great guy; I’m excited to meet and ride with him.
So What Have We Accomplished?
With the final LiveStrong Challenge of the year happening this weekend and the last big Team Fatty fundraiser push behind us, now seems like a good moment to consider a few facts about what we’ve accomplished:
- There are nearly 600 of us. 596 people have joined up to be a part of Team Fat Cyclist: Fighting Like Susan. No LiveStrong Challenge Team has ever had that many team members.
- We have raised more than 3/4 million dollars. As of the check I just did — which does not count membership fees — we have raised $761,968. No LiveStrong Challenge Team has ever raised that much money. And when you consider the economy we did this in, I think this achievement is doubly huge.
- We have gotten thousands of people to donate to the fight against cancer. Just looking at the number of people — who aren’t even signed up as part of Team Fatty — who have donated to my LiveStrong Challenge pages is hard to comprehend. Close to 7,000, I believe (which may or may not be a new record; I don’t know). And while I have definitely dangled a lot of carrots as incentives, I don’t believe anyone was making the donation simply because they thought they were going to win something.
And as far as this weekend goes, we’ve done pretty well, award-wise:
- Austin LiveStrong Challenge Team Messenger Award
- Austin LiveStrong Challenge Individual Messenger Award
- Ride for the Roses Team Messenger Award
- Ride for the Roses Individual Messenger Award
- Ride for the Roses Team Champion Award
So, um, wow.
Apart from these numbers and awards, though, there’s something Team Fatty has done for me: It’s allowed me to convert something random and evil into something meaningful and good.
So, to everyone at the LAF, to everyone in Team Fatty, and to everyone who ever donated as part of my contests: Thank you.
Seriously, Thanks
I have asked, so many times this year, for people to donate money. And now it’s time, I believe for me to give something away without asking for anything. As a “Thanks for sticking with me through one helluva year” kind of thing.
I don’t know exactly what this is going to take the form of, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be giving away a bike.
And if you’re local (or willing to make the trip), I daresay bratwurst will be involved.
Ibis Contest: Bonus New Prizes! Last Day Today! Donate Now!!!
Believe it or not, today — up until Midnight (MDT) tonight — is the last day you have to enter the “Win An Ibis, Take it Anywhere You Want, and Ride it With Andy Hampsten, Chuck Ibis, and Fatty” Contest.
Just in case you have forgotten, here is what you win with this contest:
- You get a bike. But not just any bike. An Ibis bike. And not one we pick out for you. You get to decide which one suits your fancy best: a Mojo SL? A Tranny? The Hakkalügi? Or a Silk SL? Really, you can’t go wrong.
- You get to take it for a ride. Where would be a great place to take that new bike for a ride? Think about it long and hard. Cuz we’re going to send you there.
- You get to ride your bike with two famous people, and one beloved, award-winning, Internet cycling blog celebrity (me): Andy Hampsten and Chuck Ibis are going to go riding with you at your awesome place. Seriously. Andy. Freaking. Hampsten. And I’m coming too, because Chuck is awesome and because I want to meet Andy, too. And because I love you.
So, that’s not a half-bad prize, is it? No sir, it is not. Especially considering the fact that even if you don’t win, your donation is still doing a heckuva lotta good. Specifically, it’s going straight to the Lance Armstrong Foundation, to help them bring the fight to cancer.
But guess what? Just to help those of you who are on the fence about donating get off the fence, today we’re going to throw in a couple of last minute prizes (and for those of you who already donated, don’t worry: if you win, you still definitely get these prizes).
First off, you’ll get this Tour of California jersey, which is signed by Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, and Bob Roll.
I’ve been holding on to this jersey for a long time (since the Tour of California), waiting for the right moment to give it away. And the last day of the last big contest seems like a good moment.
And, as if that weren’t enough, you’re going to get one more thing:
Yes, that’s right. The winner of this contest gets a pair of Oakley LiveStrong JAWBONEs. Now, I have a pair of these, myself. And I don’t mind saying that they are, bar none, the best cycling glasses I have ever owned. Changing out the lenses takes seconds. The glasses fit so comfortably. And they look good, even on a doofus:
So, you know what I think you should do? I think you should read the contest details here, then click here to go enter.
Thanks.
And Now for a Little Bit About the Ibis Silk SL
You know, this isn’t the first time we’ve given an Ibis bike away. Last year, we had a similar contest, and Friend of Fatty Matt Kreger won it.
Well, he’s had that bike for a year now, and it’s looking darned good:
Along with this photo, Matt emailed me, saying, “As it sits, this bike weighs under 15 pounds. I love my Ibis Silk SL.
And let me add my own two cents. I also have an Ibis Silk SL — currently being built up as a 13-pound SS Road Climber’s Delight project — and I love mine too.
This is a great bike. A really great bike. Which leads us to Chuck Ibis’s final installment in…
The Great Bike and Ride Pairing Miniseries
It’s time to talk about the wine country.
One of the things I’ve been lucky enough to do is spend a lot of time riding in the great cycling regions of the world and in particular Mediterranean Europe: Spain, Italy, France and Switzerland. Even luckier, I get to guide for Andy Hampsten’s touring company based in Tuscany, where he’s found some of the best roads on the planet. Here’s an example (Courtesy of our friend Arnaud).
Not only do Andy and and I have hairy legs in common, we both share a love for riding in Sonoma County, where I live. It’s also where another pro you might have heard of lives, named Levi Leipheimer. The point is, these guys ride all over the world in the best places, and one of their favorites (enough so that Levi lives here and Andy rides here and leads tours here) is Sonoma.
Here’s a picture of me riding my Silk SL out on King Ridge road on this year’s GranFondo route.
The “King” of rides around here is called King Ridge road. That’s only the tip of the iceberg as far as our choices go. Years ago we made a water bottle celebrating our favorite rides in the area.
That’s right, the Safeway pony is one of them.
Raffle Winner, if you choose any of these rides, prepare to smile. And for the rest of you, you might want to save this graphic. If you ever need a ride guide for Sonoma County (and over into Napa) this will serve you well.
After the winner’s glorious ride in Sonoma, maybe a trip down to San Francisco (an hour south) will be in order.
You could do worse!
PS From Fatty: This contest is seriously the best I can do. The last big contest of the year. The grand finale. I’m maxed out here. Exhausted, really. And you’re fighting cancer when you enter. So, one last time: Click here to enter,
And I hope you win.
« Previous Page — « Previous Entries Next Entries » — Next Page »