Best Weekend Ever

The High Profile Adventure Racing Camp/Race was absolutely mind-blowing.

Luke, Casey and I are working on a write-up to post on www.team-virtus.com that will do it justice, but no words or pictures will ever bring you close to the experiences we had.

In the mean-time, here are just a few captioned photos to give you an idea of what an amazing event this was:

^^ 1st rappel ever, trying to pretend I'm not scared shitless. ^^

^^ Here we see Luke at the same spot belaying for Casey^^

^^Casey makes his way across the tyrolean traverse^^

^^Luke free-climbing up the "Shimmy in the Chimney"^^

2 dimensional photos don't do justice to this event.

Unbelievable

Today the babyfood fundraiser hit a milestone. Pre-race lump-sum donations just hit $200.



We've taken $70 worth of donations in the last 2 days from two people: One person I barely know and one person I've never even met.



Add to that, we get to donate anther $25 for every lap additional lap and I'm not even counting the donations from the other (3) racers.



I know it's completely impossible, but what if we raised like.... 800 or even 1,000 dollars?

Should I even say something like that out loud?

I probably shouldn't but a guy can dream, right?

In other news, Luke and I are heading to Illinois tomorrow for AR Camp, so if you see a couple of guys looking like this, honk and wave:)

Hangin' With Das Boot

Wednesday was a good day.



Robby Brown and I met at the shop for a quick 20 miler on a sunny 60 degree afternoon.

We picked up our new team-kits, (which are awesome), and took off. I've never had a pair of cycling bibs before, and I've gotta say they're great.

No more worrying about plumber's crack and there is definitely more ball-support.


We held a 17.7 mph average, which is pretty good for me. I'm sure Robby could have gone much faster without my sorry ass trying to keep up, but we had a good time.



I even managed to get a quick photo of Herr Brown riding off into the sunset..or maybe it was a nuclear blast?

Fundraiser Update

Right now all I need to do is show up and ride one lap for the Samaritan center to have earned: $175

Damn!!

Each additional lap will produce another $45

Double Damn!!

That's not even counting the money coming from the other riders.

I'm also excited about the new kit I won on ebay last night for Syllamo!!

Feelin' the Pressure

Lately I find myself looking at the list of donors for the Babyfood/Syllamo project, and I can't help but marvel at the quality of people I've surrounded myself with.



Damn near every person I know has contributed to this project in some way; Some people have forwarded the link to a bajillion people I don't know, others have donated a set amount, and still more are pledging to donate $x per lap. On top of that, Don tells me he's getting a lot of donors from his neck of the woods. I don't know what Corey and Zack are up to, but I'm sure their list is growing as well.



This thing has exploded; what started as a simple idea for extra motivation to ride has become a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to really do some good and help a lot of people.



I've gotta admit, it's stressin' me out a little bit thinking about the different ways this race could play out. Historically speaking, 50 miles of singletrack has been unachievable for me. My longest stretch EVER was last year at Syllamo's Revenge when I rolled 36 miles into the DNF column.

And now here I am, talking shit about riding 100 miles in the same neighborhood.



The time for trying to be a tough guy on a fully rigid has passed, and I can definitely forget about having the chicken fried steak and eggs with hashbrowns for a pre-ride meal.



Talk about "burning the ships," if I fuck this up I'll never live it down.



So........What better excuse could I possibly have to finally buy a full-suspension Epic 29'er?

It'll be like racing on a Caddy :)