05.25.2018 | 4:19 pm
UPDATE (Tuesday, 5/29): Over the long weekend, I thought more about this giveaway. I still like the idea, but it has problems. Specifically, I have a long history (and fair amount of success) with giveaways and contests that happen via a blog, which allow you to quickly and instantly take action (i.e., participate in the contest) if you want to. That’s not the case with a podcast-based contest. I think of my own podcast usage and I rarely (if ever!) am near a computer when I listen to a podcast. I’m driving, or exercising, or doing the dishes. I’m in no position to take action at that moment.
So.
I need to figure out how to make a podcast / blog integrated contest / game that doesn’t require my readers / listeners to behave in a way that I myself never behave. I’ll probably talk this over with my 22yo son, who has a great mind for gamification.
This isn’t over. I just need to figure out how to make it work for you, for me, and for my podcast sponsors. Stay tuned!
Those of you who’ve known me for a while know that I like contests. I like designing contests so they accomplish something good — sometimes raising money for a cause, sometimes to learn something, sometimes to help me keep some kind of commitment…like getting myself to race weight.
When I design a good contest, it’s easy to participate, fun, doesn’t hurt anyone (except possibly me), and is interesting. And of course, it brings attention to things I want attention drawn to.
I think I’ve got a good contest figured out. I hope you’ll participate. It won’t cost you anything to play, and there’s a pretty decent chance you’ll win something.
Wow, that was an unnecessarily large amount of preamble. You totally could have skipped it. I’m sorry you didn’t. You could have skipped everything in this paragraph also.
And this one, too. But not the next one.
The Idea
In each of the upcoming episodes of my new podcast (beginning with S1E2 coming out this Tuesday), I’m going to announce both my current weight (as of the morning we record) and my target weight for the next time we record.
I will at that time also give a URL for where you can go to enter the contest (that link will also be in the show notes for that episode at leadville100podcast.com).
All you have to do to enter the contest will be go to that site — it will be a simple little Google Form-ish survey — and enter your first name, your email address, your t-shirt size and shipping address (in case you win!) and the weight I announce I have (because one of my objectives for this contest is to build an audience for this podcast, so if you don’t listen, you won’t know the number and won’t win).
I will choose two winners each week: the first person to enter the correct number in the form, and a random person to enter the correct number in the form.
Both the first person and the random person will get a podcast t-shirt. The shirt design I’m showing here isn’t final, but it ain’t far off.
The random person (not the first person) will also win a $50 gift certificate to The Feed, which has been gracious enough to be one of the sponsors for this show.
Easy, right? Damn right it’s easy.
The Catch
Well of course there’s a catch. But the catch isn’t for you, it’s for me. Because if I don’t hit the weight target I set the previous week, there are FIVE MORE prizes. Specifically, I will draw at random five more t-shirts and send them out. And I have to pay for those shirts. Including shipping.
How Will You Know You Won?
I’ll send you an email telling you you’ve won. And also, you’ll get free stuff.
Let me know what you think of this contest idea. I especially am interested in ideas on how I could make it better and easier for you and more complicated and more work for me.
Help Me Hold On To My Moment of Glory
Here’s an interesting fact: thanks to you and your subscribetasticness to the Leadville Podcast (on Apple Podcasts and everywhere else), my new show is currently in the Outdoor Podcasts Top 10 list (#9 as I write this on Friday afternoon) and has been for more than 24 hours, meaning it’s not a momentary fluke.
Why don’t you help me hold on to this moment of glory — and get yourself set for entering this weekly giveaway — by subscribing to my Leadville Podcast on Apple Podcasts right now — and then listening to all of the “Season 0″ stories I’ve posted during the weekend.
What are these “Season 0″ stories? Well, I’m so very glad you asked. They’re me, reading my best Leadville race reports, aloud. Including:
- S0E1: My First Leadville 100
- S0E2: My Second Leadville 100, with race reports from Dug and Bob, too.
- S0E3: The First Time I Raced Singlespeed
- S0E4: The First Time I Finished Under 9 Hours
- S0E5: My Fastest Leadville AKA My Rebecca Rusch Grudge Match
The Hammer told me last night that she just listened to my story of the first time I finished under 9 hours and it made her cry, which maybe is the nicest thing she’s ever said to me. So here it is for you to play / download / subscribe in whatever way suits you.
PS: Have a great weekend. I’ll be back Tuesday, with the next weekly show…and I wouldn’t be surprised if I have the beginning of a long training ride report.
PS: My current weight is 169.5, for crying out loud.
Comments (7)
05.24.2018 | 9:10 am
Yeah, I know: I’m 5′7″ so everything I write is a short version.
Ha!
But I think before I start writing stories, it might be worth a little (ha!) recap of the real reason I quit blogging, what’s going on, and what I’m planning to do with this blog now.
Why I Quit and What Happened Next
In my “Thank You” post I wrote back in 2016, I said I was grateful for the 12 years I’d had blogging, which is true. And for all the good you’ve helped me do, which is true.
What I did not write is why I was ending the blog. The reason for that was simple: I was miserable and simply couldn’t handle everything anymore. I had made a huge mistake in taking a particular job and knew something had to give. I compounded the mistake by instead of giving up the job, giving up this blog.
By the time a few more months had come and gone, I was a wreck. And by summer of 2017, I was a disaster.
Finally, on the advice of a very good friend (who also helped me out in some very material ways), I quit. And went job hunting.
And then I got very lucky.
Last October, I got hired by Adobe. I’m the comms guy for the TechOps department. And I am without question the happiest I have ever been in my career. It is so great to be excited to come into work every day and be a part of a company you’ve admired for pretty much ever.
What’s Going On
This is not going to be a fast year for me. This is a year when I work on getting up to speed at my job, and ride for fun.
And yet, The Hammer and I are signed up for the Breck Epic — six days of glorious endurance mountain bike racing in Breckenridge, CO.
And the day after the Breck Epic, we’re racing the Leadville 100 (my 21st finish, hopefully!). So yes, that’s seven days of racing, with the seventh day being pretty danged hard. Luckily, however, the first six days of racing are also hard, so that should be good training.
What I’m Going To Do With This Blog
I’m going to do things I love in this blog. First, I’m going to tell stories — funny when I feel like it, serious when I feel like it. Absurd when I feel like it.
I’m going to fundraise, albeit less often. Like, one fundraiser per year, and it’s got to be easy for me to do. 100 Miles of Nowhere benefitting Camp Kesem, anyone?
I’m also going to go back to my roots: Tomorrow will be my first weigh-in as I try to get the “weight” part of my personal power-to-weight equation a little more to my liking. Will there be a contest? Probably. But I haven’t figured out the details.
And finally — and this is important to me — I’m going to podcast, and I’m going to ask you to listen. Specifically, it’s important to me that you listen and subscribe to my new Leadville Podcast.
Here’s the thing: You don’t need to be signed up for Leadville or any other race to enjoy this podcast, because there’s going to be a lot of storytelling in it. Like Season 0, Episode 1, for example, which is me recounting the first time I raced the Leadville 100:
Please, head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe, rate, and review this show. I’m incredibly proud of it, and your rating and reviewing it helps it rise above the noise out there.
I’ve got two other podcasts I’m involved in — the GU Pinnacle Podcast, and the AF Canyon Run Against Cancer. I’ll be promoting those here too, because they’re both great shows. There are episodes of the AF Canyon Run Against Cancer podcast that will break your heart, and that’s WHY you should listen to it.
One Last Thing
I’m going to do more cliffhangers in my race reports than I ever have before. I love cliffhangers.
PS: I’m probably less than 5′7″ since most people shrink as they age. I’m unwilling to find out.
PPS: Here’s a photo of The Hammer riding some brand new singletrack accessible out the front door of my house. Feel free to express your envy in the comments.
Comments (58)
05.23.2018 | 8:02 am
First off, a question: have you missed me? It’s very very important to me that I was missed.
Also, I’m really curious whether anyone checks back here anymore. I mean I do, but if you do too, why do you? Not that I’m complaining.
Next off, though, the reason I’m firing this back up. Two reasons, actually.
The main reason is: I discovered that when I’m writing for someone else’s blog, I wind up not writing. At all. Like, I’ve gone a year or more without writing a thing about bikes. So I wanted to come back.
The other reason is that I’ve started a new podcast that I think fits here beautifully. It’s the Leadville 100 Podcast, hosted by Michael Hotten and me, with weekly segments by Jonathan Lee of TrainerRoad and Rebecca Rusch, the Queen of Pain.
Frankly, it’s pretty awesome. Please give it a listen. In fact, give it a listen below, or — better yet — subscribe (and rate, and review) on Apple Podcasts.
I look forward to hearing what you think. Especially if you love it, like, a lot.
Comments (93)
11.24.2016 | 8:39 am
About a week ago, I started a list of people and companies I’m grateful to. At some point, the list became overwhelming. Twelve years (I’m rounding up by four months or so, but I don’t think anyone is really surprised to have me exaggerate) of people being unbelievably nice to you can make creating a “gratitude list” almost impossible.
So I’m setting aside the list and am instead going to thank the people I really owe thanks to: my readers. You.
I love writing, but I am not content to write for myself. I need to know people read and enjoy what I write. And for twelve years, you’ve been here for me. Whether you’ve commented or put me in your RSS feed or just come back to the site on a regular basis, you’ve been here for me.
But you’ve done more for me than just read.
When I was in the most difficult part of my life — when Susan was suffering from and, eventually, dying from cancer — you read and commented in unimaginable numbers. I used this blog to express and document pain and death, and you stuck with me and supported me.
Even more, you changed me and my worldview. Until this tragedy, I had never really gotten behind a cause. In response to some prodding from readers, I experimented with asking you to fundraise with me, and you did. And you still do.
Together, you’ve raised well over three million dollars for charity. You’ve made me realize that people, when given a chance, want to do good. You’ve transformed me into a positive person.
Thank you for that, too.
I will miss writing here sometimes, I’m sure of it.
But mostly, I’m grateful. You have been wonderful readers for a dozen years, and I will always think of you as my friends.
Thank you.
Comments (211)
11.8.2016 | 11:36 am
I know, I’ve been gone and haven’t said why. It’s just been work: we ship a new version of a product Thursday, and I’m busy. You know, to the extent that I’m working late, working early, and working weekends.
But I wanted to write a little something today anyway, so you’d know I’m alive and stuff.
Plus, I have a story to tell.
Last Sunday
The Monster moved out into an apartment of her own a few weeks ago; the hour-long-each-way commute to school every day was wearing her down.
The practical result has been that we now see her when she needs groceries or laundry done or a bike repair. Or when she misses Duke (everyone instantly falls in love with Duke, buckets of slobber notwithstanding).
And, importantly, we see her once in a while when she decides to ride with us instead of with some of the boys in her fan club.
That’s what happened last Sunday.
The Beginning of the Ride
But here’s the thing. when I talk about The Monster’s “fan club,” what I really mean is that she’s been riding with guys from the U of U Cycling Team. Which is to say, The Monster has gotten a lot faster very quickly, as she’s been riding with skinny, fit, young men.
So it should be no surprise that, just like when we did our 100 Miles of Nowhere, The Monster shot off the front right from the beginning, with The Hammer and me deep into the red zone.
Zone 9, to be precise.
I looked over at The Hammer with a big smile and said, “So is this how it’s gonna be today?”
The Hammer didn’t respond. She was focused on not losing The Monster’s wheel.
I laughed again, getting a good sense of how this day was going to unfold. Three family members, three competitors, a beautiful Sunday morning on perfect singletrack close to home.
Awesome.
Bomber to the Bottom
By the time we got about halfway up the Mercer Hollow climb — a mile of fun new singletrack just about two miles from home — things had settled down and the three of us rode together to the Peak View parking lot.
At which point, without further discussion, The Hammer and I yielded to The Monster. Because we were about to go down Rush, and there is no question whatsoever who is fastest on descents.
She was waiting at the bottom of Rush, both feet on the ground, looking well-rested when I arrived.
“It’s nice to take it slow sometimes,” she said, off-handedly.
“Yeah, I know,” I replied, “though I’m a little bit disappointed that I had to stop halfway down and swap out my rear derailleur.”
The Hammer Strikes Back
The Hammer arrived ten seconds later and — without stopping — made the turn toward Potato Hill and began riding at what I’d like to call “95% of race pace.” You know: that speed you go when you want to hurt people, but also want plausible deniability when they accuse you of trying to hurt them.
I couldn’t help myself: I started laughing. We had gone at this pace on this climb exactly one day earlier, after we had caught some strong kid on a bike…who had pulled off the trail to yield until he saw it was a woman about to pass, after which he had pretty much killed himself to never let us by.
I would have laughed at how much alike The Hammer and Monster are, but I had to reserve all my breath for holding The Hammer’s wheel.
The Monster, doggedly, held onto mine.
Stranger Danger
And then, an unusual thing happened: a guy caught up to us. Now, I’m not saying that’s just nuts or anything — once in a while, someone will catch up to us and want by.
But usually the guys who catch us are skinny college-age kids on high-zoot hardtails.
This guy, from what I could see, was about my age (in his fifties I’m guessing), and about my build (not huge, but not gutless).
And he was, from what I could tell with my quick backward glances, riding a big ol’ full-suspension bike.
“This aggression will not stand, man,” The Hammer did not say, because she’s not a fan of The Big Lebowski. That’s OK, though, because I thought it for her.
The Hammer went into full-on attack mode, in the way that made me fall in love with her in the first place (not kidding here: her riding and running intensity are incredibly attractive). I stayed with her, but it was a near thing.
The Monster — and this stranger on a bike — couldn’t quite hold us and fell back as we rode Ann’s trail to the Maple Hollow climb.
“Where’s Melisa?” The Hammer asked — all innocence — when we got to the Maple Hollow trailhead.
“Well, you dropped her when you attacked that badass grandpa on the full-suspension rig,” I said.
The Monster arrived — evidently, she had finally dropped the fast guy — and said some sharp words to her mom about how you don’t have to treat every ride like a race, and we began our mile-long climb to the Maple Hollow summit.
This time, I got out in front and picked a nice, reasonable pace that would keep us all riding together. By which I mean, of course, I went just below my barf threshold.
We rolled up to the top of the steep mile-long climb completely smoked: our Sunday/funday ride had turned into a slugfest, somehow. I was loving it.
The Punchline
And then, one second later, this guy rolls up on his full-suspension bike. “You guys are strong,” he said, taking off his helmet.
He didn’t look particularly worn out.
He continued, “It’s really rare that I don’t just catch and pass every rider on the trail. I’m impressed that you held me off.”
“In fact,” he concluded, “you guys were going so fast that I very nearly had to switch out of econo-mode.”
PS: Yes, this is a true story. And after he said this, we talked some more. His name’s Eric, he loves mountain biking, and he had heart surgery a year ago. His Specialized Turbo Levo makes it so it’s possible for him to be back on the trail. I think it’s awesome that e-bikes exist and make it possible for people to do stuff they love. And also, Eric let me borrow his bike and try riding it up a trail. It was…surreal.
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