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 :)

The Other Site is Done!!!

Check it out!!!

http://biking-for-baby-food.blogspot.com/

So Long, Old Friend

When I was 16 years old I told my dad I wanted a truck.

He told me to get a job.

So, I did and I spent the next year cleaning tables and saving every damn dime I made until I had $2000 saved. That's when I met this gal...

When I got that truck it was beautiful, not a scratch or a spot of rust. Over the years I had a lot of "first experiences" in that truck, not the least of which was getting into some chick's pants. I later went on to marry/divorce that woman...but that's another story.

Over the years I put that truck on the back burner, dreaming of someday "fixing it up" and blah blah blah.....it's been sitting in the driveway for about 3 years now. Well, today I did the unthinkable..

I sold that fucker.

With that money + my tax return I was able to pay off my daily driver and get my boat knocked down to $500. After that my only non-utility bill will be my mortgage.

I'm gon' be rich, beeyitch!!!

Looks like I might be getting that full-suspension Epic sooner than I thought.

Riding for a Reason

During the past few weeks I've been trying to figure out how to use the 24 Hours of Syllamo race as a means to raise money for a worthy cause. I'm not exactly what you'd call a "podium finisher" so I need alternate motivation.

Here's what I came up with: The Samaritan Center has a program that raises money for baby food. The baby-food goes to people who are raising other people's babies since those people are unable to breastfeed. I like the program because it's not giving away actual money, just food.

So I think what I'll do is have people pledge to donate X amount of money per lap I complete. For example, Dew Schpagg pledges $5 per lap, and then if I make it 10 laps he owes $50.

I got an email back from the Samaritan Center today saying that they'd love to do this. Now all I have to do is figure out how to get people to sign up.

I'm pretty pumped about this.

Luke Smashes 57.5 Miles of Gravel

On Saturday Luke, Phil and I rode a customized version of Nick's gravel road ride. I know Luke is in the process of putting a proper write-up w/ photos on http://www.blogger.com/www.team-virtus.com so I'll keep this short.

We met at Dos Primos at 6am and started the ride on frozen trails. The weather was fantastic, (very little wind), and there was a lot of pretty scenery along the way. About 13 (?) miles into the ride we found an abandoned puppy. He seemed to be a pretty healthy guy, but was very much freezing his ass off. So we dumped out Luke's pack and wriggled him into it. Phil was planning on turning around anyway, so he transported the pooch home while Luke and I rode on.

At around the 35-40 mile mark things got pretty wet and sloppy. The gravel roads were pretty much mud roads laden with slush-filled potholes. It was pretty brutal. When we got to the Katy Trail is was completely fucked so we followed Hwy 94 a little bit until we found a suitable detour.

I guess I should probably admit that I got mildly lost and rode an extra 5 miles.

I think Luke and I were both surprised at how good we felt when we were done. Maybe it was the awesomeness of the route or the scenery, I don't know, but I wasn't feeling much pain at all until about the 40 mile mark.

We had a great ride on a great day, and the Dos Primos JUMBO margarita I had afterwards gave me the lazy eye in record time.

I think Luke was pretty happy with his meal as well.

Cyclometer reading at the end of the ride showed 59.14 miles and 4hrs 44mins of riding time. I think that comes out to an average speed a little bit better than 12mph. Not good, but it's a starting point. This was only my 2nd ride using a computer, so I really don't even know what a good "goal" average speed would be. 15 maybe?

Here's the overview of our ride that I've tried to send to Luke 5 times but the link doesn't work. I've got a few more pics but for some reason I can't get them to load. I got pics of Luke's food, our muddy bikes, etc..but they won't upload. FML. I really need to get my own pc.

It's Official

....The shit has hit the fan.

Today when I got to work I found this in my inbox:

"CONGRATULATIONS! Your entry into the Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race has been accepted. Get ready to "Dig Deep" and challenge yourself to the highest and biggest mountain bike race around. Gear up to race with the world's BEST cyclists at the nation's highest quality athletic experience with the utmost degree of safety, medical care and racer support......."

Fuck me, I'm going to be in the Leadville 100.