07.29.2013 | 8:11 am
I’m out of town for work all this week, and am not going to have a lot of time to post, but I want to remind you that we’re down to the final three days of the contest to Change a Life, Get Your Money Doubled, and Win a Dream Bike. The last day to donate is this Wednesday.
And remember, the grand prize bike is off the charts. Check out the details here, but let me give you a quick recap.
The winner gets a Trek Madone 7 Series Frameset, the absolute top-of-the-line road racing frame, styled with Trek’s Project One customizing program:
Then you get wheels, bars and stem from ENVE Composites, a designer and manufacturer (right here in the USA, thank you very much) of parts so beautiful you can’t help but want to frame them:
And by “would choose” I mean “did choose.” These are the wheels I ride with on my own personal road bike. And they are amazing. They seriously, genuinely, and for reals make you a faster rider.
Finally, SRAM completes your bike with a full complement of SRAM RED – Black Edition components: Shifters, derailleurs, crankset, cassette, everything.
The Daily Drawing
As if that weren’t enough, we’re also doing a daily drawing from the list of people who have donated so far. Today’s giveaway from TheFeed.com is awesome: a THREE-month subscription at the $19.99 level, which means that every month for three months, you’re going to get a box of food good for 10-12 rides. Like this:
In addition to this, the winner is going to get a 30 serving container of Fluid Hydration Mix.
So how do you enter and be eligible to win this prize from TheFeed.com, the ones after that (there will be six more!) and the bike? Just donate here, in increments of $10.00. It’s that easy.
Comments (29)
07.26.2013 | 11:50 am
A Note from Fatty: Wow. We’re almost to the end of the Dream Bike Giveaway. But not quite. And in fact, today’s giveaway from The Feed is tres awesome. (“Tres” is French for “triple.”) specifically, the winner of today’s drawing gets a three-month subscription to The Feed, plus a 4-pack of Probar Core Protein Recovery Bars. Yum!
So, if you haven’t donated yet, get yourself on board and go donate now.
Ode to the Otter Pop
Summer
You punish
With your heat
And your arid heat
And your humid heat
And in short, your heat
Riding
Parched
Withering
I’m so thirsty
I am so very hot
And not in the sense
Made famous in the Foreigner song.
I want
No I need
The perfect
Post-ride food
I must have an Otter Pop
Or
Perhaps
I will have 6.
Because after all
Who am I kidding?
Icy
Cold
Sweet
So good
In their fruitiness
If that’s what you call it
But
Remember
Do not leave
The cut-off tops
Or empty containers
Nor gross sticky scissors
Laying about, lest you risk
The wrath of The Hammer.
Trust me, you don’t want that.
Comments (19)
07.25.2013 | 11:08 am
A Note from Fatty: I’m incredibly proud to announce that as of last night we hit the 100% mark of the $26,978 goal for the WBR fundraiser. This unusual number indicates that — even without Trek Matching — Friends of Fatty have raised $400,000 for World Bicycle Relief in less than a year.
And with Trek Matching, we’re well beyond that $400,000 number.
So, first and foremost today, I want to thank you for your generosity. I’m overwhelmed, and very grateful to see how much good you people do.
Next, I wanted to say that the contest to win the Trek Madone Project One / ENVE / SRAM dream bike is still in full swing, and will be ’til the last day of the month. So if you haven’t donated yet, you still can, and you should. Because someone is going to win this bike, and it might be you.
Also, you might win one of the eight very cool prizes from The Feed, including the one we’re announcing today: A 3-month subscription to The Feed, which means you’ll get a $19.99, 14-piece box of food each month for three months. Plus, you’ll get a 16-serving container of Fluid Chocolate Recovery mix, a $31.99 value.
And in short, there are still plenty of reasons for you to go donate.
What I Did Before Work This Morning
Most mornings, I get up at 5:00am and work on this blog ’til it’s time for me to go to work, at which point I swivel my chair 90 degrees and start typing on a different computer for my day job. (I may have the world’s shortest commute)
This morning, however, I went on a ride with Rick Sunderlage (not his real name) and Dug, on some of the trails in American Fork Canyon.
I do not regret this decision.
Rather than write much of anything today, then, I think I’ll just show you a few photos from my ride, then sit back and let you envy me.
Before the ride. Sunderlage is itching to go; Dug needs a rest.
Our local trails do not suck.
Nor do our views.
Sunderlage: Game face.
Dug: Game face.
I took this picture specifically to show that I got somewhere before Sunderlage did.
The sky was blue, with very few clouds. Yes, I really took this picture.
Dug summits the Mud Springs climb, a trail unusually rich in Pain Pellets.
A selfie after the Mud Springs Climb. I’m happy, because I had my suspicions about something. It turns out I was correct.
Yes, this is the view from the ride that is fifteen minutes from my house.
Comments (33)
07.24.2013 | 7:55 am
A Note from Fatty about the WBR Contest: I have two awesome things to tell you today. I shall reveal them to you in the form of this convenient numerical list.
- Today’s Giveaway from TheFeed.com: Today TheFeed will be giving away a one-month subscription to The Feed – the 14-piece, 19.99 pack — along with a six-pack of Garmin-Sharp Podium Bottles.
- We’ve Reached the Ceiling: Trek’s matching program for the month had the upper limit of $90,000. We’ve reached that limit, and blown right by it So from this point our dollars are not being matched by Trek. This does not however alter the number of chances you will get in any donations you make in the contest for the bike and The Feed. Which means when you donate you still get the same number of bonus chances as when the matching was going on.
I have to say, I love the fact that Trek put together an audacious matching program with a very large matching ceiling — and then donors smashed right through that ceiling, with plenty of days left in the month. That says good things about everyone.
And remember, the Trek Madone Series 7 / ENVE Wheels and Cockpit / SRAM RED bike contest continues through the end of the month, so — if you haven’t already — be sure to donate today.
Aligning the Stem and the Front Wheel AKA Why I am Now Insane
I have ridden in an astonishing number of conditions. In the snow. In rain. Up steep hills with grocery bags hanging from my handlebars. In 111-degree (F) temperatures (last weekend, in fact).
No matter what, though, I love being on my bike. I just do.
Unless and except when I start fixating on one thing. One simple, unimportant — but absolutely infuriating — thing that completely absorbs my attention and has, I’m sad to report, driven me completely insane.
I am speaking, of course, of the alignment of my bike stem to my front wheel.
Now, some of you are cocking your heads in confusion. What could I possibly mean? What problem is there with stem / wheel alignment? The stem points forward, the wheel points forward. They’re aligned.
Others of you, on the other hand, know exactly what I’m talking about, and are nodding sympathetically. You may even be suppressing an urge to reach out and give me a hug, for which I thank you (for the suppression of the urge part, I mean).
The Problem
For those of you who don’t get it, let me try to explain.
In an ideal universe, your stem should be pointing exactly straight when your front wheel is pointing exactly straight. Like in this very well-drawn illustration:
See how nice that is? The line of the stem is obviously going right down the middle of the front wheel, which means the handlebar is perfectly perpendicular to both the front wheel and the stem.
Unfortunately, real-world space is three dimensional. Which poses a real problem for me. Specifically, neither of my eyes is exactly in the center of my head, so even if the stem is perfectly aligned, when I look down at the stem and bar with just my right eye, it looks like this:
And if I look at it with just my left eye, it looks like this:
And before long, I’m riding along, looking straight down, peering through one eye and then the other, moving my head side to side, wondering not whether my stem is perhaps slightly off, but just exactly how incredibly misaligned it is.
And also, how is it even possible that I’m able to stay on my bike with my handlebar turned so egregiously either this way or that (depending on which eye is open at the moment).
No, Seriously, This IS a PROBLEM
I try to calm myself. I tell myself, “Look, even if the stem isn’t perfectly aligned with the wheel, it’s pretty darned close. I mean, think about your arms for a second. Is one or the other of them closer or farther away than the other when you’re riding?
So I begin to focus on my arms. I look at the left, then the right. They’re out at approximately the same angle.
Approximately?!
I look again. I’m not sure, but I think my right arm might be stretched out a little bit further than my left arm. Or it’s possible that the opposite is true. Regardless, I am beginning to be convinced that — one way or another — my arms aren’t stretched out the same amount.
“This must be why my right hand goes to sleep when I ride,” I think. “Because my right arm is stretched out further than my left arm.”
“Or not as far, I guess,” I conclude to myself.
And then I begin to wonder how it’s possible that I’m ever able to even ride in a straight line at all. With my stem so crooked (either pointing too far left or too far right…I’m still not sure), I should be riding in perpetual circles.
Then, just to see whether it helps me figure things out, I try riding around in circles to see which is easier: clockwise or counterclockwise.
The results are troubling, but inconclusive.
Attempts at Diagnosis
Back at home, I stand over my bike. My left eye closed, my neck craned slightly so that my right eye is — I imagine — exactly lined up with the top tube. I position the stem so that it is a perfect continuance of that straight line, then look to see if the front wheel continues that Platonic Straight Line.
It does. Or maybe it doesn’t, quite. It’s hard to tell.
So I do it over, this time with my left eye. In the end, I give up without adjusting anything. Whenever I adjust things, it only gets worse the next ride. “Did I adjust it too much? Or maybe not enough? Is it better now, even a little? Or is it out of alignment now, but just in a different way?”
And then, “You know, I’m not even sure I adjusted it in the correct direction. And now I think my headset is creaking.”
I tell Lisa about this problem, wondering if she does the same thing. She looks at me uncomprehendingly. “My bike is fine.”
What does she know?
Invention is Needed
I go to the Park Tools website. There must be a tool for this, something that makes it mathematically certain that your stem is lined up with your wheel. I can even picture it: two ratcheting clamps, parallel to each other, on a telescoping bar. Fasten one end to the stem, the other to the wheel.
There is no such tool. I consider a Kickstarter to create one, then realize I’m terrible with using tools and may be the single worst person in the world to invent one.
So maybe there needs to be a new standard, I think. Where forks and stems interlock, so they line up perfectly all the time.
Also, by the way, I’d like someone to do the same with seatposts.
And In Conclusion
I’m heading out on a ride now; it is my sincere hope that I will be able to ignore the horror that is the misaligned stem / front wheel.
Further, I am acutely aware that there will be someone who will read this and — having never before given this malady a single thought — will suddenly become obsessed.
And in short, I apologize for having brought this to your attention.
Comments (63)
07.22.2013 | 10:47 am
A Note From Fatty: If you find my writing as meandering as it is interminable and would like to just get on with the donating and prize-winning already, click here to go to the donation page.
I am not one to leave well-enough alone. For example, while some may be content with making their breakfast burrito with a couple scrambled eggs and a slice of bacon, I up the ante by adding adding onions, peppers, mushrooms, cumin, an extra slice of bacon, and choice cuts of avocado.
And I make the tortilla myself, using a secret recipe that came to me in a dream and which is as unrivaled as it is secret.
And then I add salsa.
You see, I live by the maxim, “If something good is good, something better is even better.” I believe you will find it difficult to argue with my logic.
But Now There’s More
Now, let me give you another example, based on something that — with any luck at all — will affect you more personally than what I had for breakfast.
But first I feel I should recap, for those who have short memories, as well as for those among you who are new to this contest.
Late last week, I revealed a plan to help World Bicycle Relief in its efforts to completely drain Trek’s college savings account. Specifically, Trek has agreed to — through the end of July — match every dollar donated to World Bicycle Relief. I put a fundraiser in place, the grand prize of which is detailed last week (and re-detailed later in this post, for people who don’t like links).
And then I started talking with the guys at The Feed, a terrific new company from the same good folks who brought you the Garmin-Sharp pro cycling team. Their business is cleverly summed up in their tagline: “The best in sports nutrition delivered to your door every month.”
Which means you subscribe to their service, then they send you bike food (and drink) — along with info on how much and when — every month, at a much better price than you’d pay at the store.
I just happen to have gotten my first shipment last week, as a matter of fact, and I’m a believer.
So anyway.
The guys at The Feed had a suggestion. “What if,” they said, “we give away something every day left in the contest? And we’ll make it something a little different each time, to keep it interesting.”
I liked that idea. In fact, I liked it a lot.
So here’s how it’s going to work. At the end of every weekday — including today — through the end of this month, I’m going to draw a name from all the donors (and that includes people who bought jerseys earlier this month). And that person’s going to get something really cool from The Feed.
And by the way, getting this prize does not remove any of your chances at winning the bike at the end of the contest.
A Hint, Just In Case You’re Not Really Good at Strategy
So here’s the thing. If you plan to donate at some point during this contest, you should probably donate as soon as you can. Because the sooner you donate, the more times your name is in the hat when prizes are drawn.
And that seems like a good thing to me.
Today’s Prize
I want to kick off the daily drawing with a super nice prize — one of my favorites, for sure. So, today’s winner is going to get a 14-piece, $19.99 food box from The Feed, which is enough food for 10 – 12 rides, and has all this:
But wait. That’s not all. You’re also going to get hooked up with a Team Garmin-Sharp Cycling Kit. The jersey ($99 value) and bibs:
…and bib shorts ($119 value):
That is a pretty darned nice prize to win. Indeed, I’d say it’s the first of an coot-cascade of awesomeness, if I were prone to hyperbole. Which of course I am absolutely not.
And This Prize Was Already Better Than It Had Any Right To Be, Anyway
So let’s get back to the main prize for a moment. As I mentioned, Trek is generously matching all donations to World Bicycle Relief this month.
Then they had the temerity to heap generosity upon generosity by telling World Bicycle Relief they had a bike frame on hand, to give away as part of the fundraiser. And not just any bike frame, either. But rather, a Madone 7 Series Frameset, styled all sexy-like with Trek’s Project One customizing program.
And then ENVE, which makes carbon wheels and components so extraordinarily perfect they put the “lick” in “likable,” said they’d like to kick in some of their top-end wheels: 3.4s, 6.7s, tubular, clincher, you name it.
And how about their exquisite handlebars and stem too? Sure, why not.
And then — then – SRAM joined in, kicking in their SRAM RED — Black Edition components.
And to get a chance at winning this bike — this bike that is really far too nice to be called a mere dream bike – all you need to do is donate in multiples of $10 at my World Bicycle Relief Fundraiser page. Every $10 buys you a chance, and if you donate $134 — the cost of a bike for a child in Zambia — you’ll get a bonus three chances. (see the donation page for details.)
So between the main prize, today’s prize, and the fact that there will be daily drawings each weekday through the end of this contest (July 31), well…that’s a lot of prizes. For a contest that is raising money for about as righteous (in every sense of the word) a cause as there could be.
And in conclusion, I — as a person with a sizable imagination — must confess: I simply cannot imagine anyone not being a part of this. So: Click here to go to the donation page, and thank you for being a part of this.
Comments (19)
« Previous Page — « Previous Entries Next Entries » — Next Page »
