04.7.2014 | 9:49 pm
Last week I stumbled upon my pictures of my trip to Africa.
Two years ago, Elden and our two teenage children — Melisa and Brice — were given the opportunity to visit Zambia and see firsthand the efforts of World Bicycle Relief. As I scanned over the pictures on the computer I was reminded of their smiles.
The Zambian people have amazing smiles.
The pictures instantly brought a smile to my face. “What an amazing people,” I thought. “These people that have very little worldly possessions have the most authentic smiles I’ve ever seen.”
It’s easy to forget how truly blessed we are to live in a country that provides so much for us. Meanwhile, the people of rural Zambia consider themselves fortunate when they have clean water to drink, a clean hole in the ground for a bathroom, a roof over their heads, and a school to attend (even if its more than a three mile walk each way just to attend it).
The very real and pressing concerns they have to think about don’t even register on our conciousness. In our world, all these necessities are taken care of and taken for granted — so we can worry about more important things like fancy cars, fancy bikes and fancy places to live.
Making a Difference
The “Power of Bicycles” is WBR’s slogan. WBR provides bikes to young Zambian girls and caregivers in rural Zambia. By providing bicycles for these young girls, we are providing them with a future.
Before receiving their bikes, they sign a contract promising to use their bike for transportation to and from school. These will enable them to spend the time it takes to walk to and from school, to spend on their studies.
Having a form of transportation allows them to be more productive in their chores around the village and lessens some of the burden placed upon them in collecting water from the well and making the trek into the market.
I also love the fact that WBR provides bikes to the caregivers of the village. As a nurse I can sympathize with the plight of these good people who are trying to care for the people in the area.
These caregivers could end up walking for hours each day and only be able to see a few people. The bicycle enables them to move between patients much quicker.
Leaving My Comfort Zone
A few months ago, Elden came to me with the idea of becoming an athlete ambassador for World Bicycle Relief. My immediate response was NO WAY! I’m a very shy, introverted person. I don’t like to be the center of attention — I’d rather fade into the background.
But the more I thought about it, the more I remembered the smiles of the people of Zambia, and I started to change my mind.
How could I pass this opportunity by? That would be the selfish thing to do. If I could possibly help bring one of those smiles I love so much to some young person’s face in Zambia, how could I pass up the opportunity? I needed to come out of my comfort zone and help!
So here I am, asking you to help me bring a smile to some young people in Zambia. Lets come out of all of our comfort zones and bring a smile to at least 120 Zambian kids by providing bicycles to them.
Smiles for Them, Smiles for You
I would like to bring a smile to one of your faces, too. Specifically, I want to take you mountain biking and/or hiking in beautiful southern Utah.
And one lucky person who donates at my fundraising page between now and the end of April is going to win an amazing weekend riding (or hiking, or running, or just enjoying the beauty of the place) at Gooseberry Mesa, staying and hanging out with Fatty and me, as we give you the full on Best-Friends-of-Fatty-and-The-Hammer treatment.
Here’s what we’re gonna do.
First of all, we’ll find a weekend (or possibly some weekdays — we’ll find something) that works for all of us. Probably this Autumn or next Spring, when it’s not miserably hot in Southern Utah.
Next, I will fly you out to Utah and we will spend the weekend at and around the Gooseberry Yurt. Last week, Elden and I had the opportunity to spend the weekend in the Gooseberry Yurt. Elden spent a considerable amount of time bragging it up. And I would have to agree with everything he said! What an awesome place to spend a few days.
I have to admit, though, that mountain biking on Gooseberry Mesa is NOT my favorite type of riding. I prefer to keep the skin on my arms and legs intact…not left in small quantities all over the rocks on the mesa.
But I cannot say enough about the beauty of the place. You don’t need to be a biker to enjoy it.
I actually went on a trail run. I loved enjoying the views from the mesa as I ran along the edge.
So if you’re wondering: no…you don’t have to be an absolute technical hardcore virtuoso to enjoy a weekend at the Gooseberry Yurt.
All you have to do is love being outside and going on walks, or hikes, or reading a good book in a beautiful, secluded, private place.
Or If you are more my style of mountain biker and actually enjoy a climb on your bike — followed by a swooping fun descent — the gooseberry yurt is only a mere 20 minute drive to the famous Hurricane Rim Trail/Gem trailhead, Where you can enjoy a beautiful moderately technical mountain bike ride.
And we are less than an hour away from the entrance of Zion National Park, where the hiking and spectacular views cannot be oversold.
The view from Angel’s Landing. A scary hike, but we’ll take you there if you want!
The hike to Observation Point is unimaginably beautiful. Even Fatty couldn’t take a bad picture here.
Or if you’re like Fatty and Kenny and love riding on technical sandstone, they’ll take good care of you. I might even come along and ride too…for a little while.
When you try tricky moves, sometimes it’s helpful to get a spot…just in case.
And we’re going to take care of food for you, too: I’ll get Fatty to boil and grill you his famous bratwurst. I’ll make a kick-butt quiche. We’ll have burgers, done right. Or if you’ve got a more vegetarian bent, we’ll have Heather cook for you.
If you need a bike, we’ll set you up with a very nice one to borrow for the trip — you won’t need to break down and ship your own.
Basically, we’re going to take very, very good care of you and give you an incredibly fun, relaxing weekend at one of the most beautiful places you could ever imagine.
But you can’t win unless you go to my donation page and donate. And for every $5.00 you donate between now and the end of this month (April), you’ll get a chance at this prize.
So, you’re giving a Zambian girl a great opportunity — and lots of smiles — and you’re getting a shot at a weekend I promise you’re going to love.
That should put a big fat grin on your face, right?
One Last Thing
Oh, just in case you need one more reason to donate: My birthday is this week and I would love nothing more than a simple $5 donation to WBR.
That would make me smile!
Comments (22)
04.2.2014 | 7:36 am
My April Fools post yesterday actually had a lot of truth in it. One of those truths is that I haven’t had much time to post lately. I’ll get to the the “why” and the implications of that in another post (soon, I swear), but for right now, trust me: I currently have very little spare time. Many days I have to choose between writing and riding. Writing (almost) always loses.
So it’s really great, once in a while, to be able to get away for a few days. To decompress, ride, hang out with some great friends, and to have — for a couple hours — nothing to do.
And that’s what the weekend at the Gooseberry Yurt was for me.
The Riding
I’m not going to go into the riding a ton here. I’ve written about riding Gooseberry before, and the video I posted earlier this week tells the story pretty well. Oh, and I’m going to embed it below again, because I’m shameless.
So to recap, Gooseberry is awesome for riding. But it’s the hanging out I want to talk about.
Relaxing
Until this weekend, I had never been in a yurt. I didn’t even realize what one was. So this is what a yurt looks like from the outside:
It’s a round, semi-permanent structure. Thick, insulated canvas is built around a wooden frame with a domed roof above it all.
This yurt is just a couple dozen yards away from the edge of the Gooseberry mesa, which means I was able to take this picture literally from out the front door:
But it’s the inside that makes this particular yurt awesome. Here’s a panorama of the inside, after we had all settled in and spread out:
OK, it’s hard to tell what’s going on, so here are a few details. There’s a nice wood-burning stove:
This, combined with the thickly insulated walls, keeps the cold out at night easily.
And the yurt will sleep nine people — not in cots, but in beds. Here’s The Hammer, playing a little Candy Crush (yes, she’s obsessed) early in the morning.
There’s also a nice gas stove, a bookshelf full of books, and immediate access to all the amazing biking and hiking trails Gooseberry has to offer. All while being in a private, secluded setting.
I’ve been given to understand that the sunsets there are spectacular.
Okay, this one wasn’t. But it’s still not like the view sucked.
My Point
So my Core Team friends Kenny and Brad have spent years getting the land for this yurt bought, the permits secured, and the yurt built.
Now it’s ready to go. It’s open for business. And it is an incredible place to spend a couple days and nights. Riding (or hiking) during the day, and maybe reading, eating, and talking at night.
Or, sure, playing Jenga.
It’s a beautiful, homey, relaxing spot (with a strong LTE phone / data signal, by the way, in case you don’t want to fully unplug). And I cannot wait to go back.
And in the next couple of days, I’m going to unveil a little contest where one or two of you will get to come out to the yurt and hang out / ride / hike / relax / eat with us, all expenses paid.
Meanwhile, be sure to check out the Gooseberry Mesa Yurts for yourself, and reserve your spot. My guess is they’re gonna fill up quickly.
Comments (47)
04.1.2014 | 10:55 am
I think it’s pretty obvious that I haven’t been posting very often lately. I haven’t really explained why, because I had hoped I wouldn’t need to.
But I’ve reached a point where it’s obvious that something’s wrong, and I feel like I owe you an explanation. And, quite honestly, an apology.
Then Vs. Now
Really, the signs have been obvious to anyone who would care to observe them. Which, I guess, just goes to show that people prefer not to see some things.
All you really need to do is look at my results for the Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race.
For fifteen years, I tried and tried (and tried and tried and tried) to finish in under nine hours. And I never did. I never even really came close. The best time I ever finished with was 9:13. And that was just once, when I was in my early thirties.
I was a lot more likely to finish in around 9:30. Or 10:00. Or even 10:20. That’s nothing to be ashamed of — those are all good finishing times. Times many people — most people — would be proud of.
And then, three years ago, I finished in 8:18. As I noted at the time, that was nearly a full hour faster than my previous best. In spite of the fact that I was now in my mid-forties, a full decade older than the prime of my life.
The next year, I finished in under nine hours again — this time winning the singlespeed division. And then the following year — last year — I did the race in 8:25. That’s only seven minutes slower than my previous best…and this time I did it on a singlespeed. At the age of 47.
You think I got that much faster just because of the bike? Yeah. Right.
But it hasn’t just been at Leadville that I’ve suddenly—almost unbelievably—gotten faster.
Last year, I took time off Kenny’s best times at the Rockwell Relay for every single leg of the race. I beat him in the Crusher in the Tushars, too. I took a podium spot in what was my rookie 25 hour singlespeed race.
At Rebecca’s Private Idaho last year, there was exactly one person who beat me in the first KOM climb that day: Levi Leipheimer.
Yeah, things have obviously changed since I began this blog almost exactly nine years ago when I started this blog because I was so fat I had to push my bike up an easy hill.
Things have changed significantly. Like I’m a cycling fairy tale. My results have been too good to be true.
And if any of us have learned anything in the past couple years, it’s that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Truth
I am the kind of person who goes after things he wants. And I wanted to finish Leadville in under nine hours very, very badly.
But — after fifteen tries — it didn’t seem like it was going to happen.
I distinctly remember my friend Dug telling me one time after I had finished yet another Leadville in around 9:20, “Not everyone is built to go fast. You’ve hit your ceiling. You’re as fast as you’re going to get. Stop beating yourself up about it.”
I had to agree with part of what Dug said: I had hit my ceiling. But I hated that ceiling.
And I knew there were ways to break through ceilings.
So I looked into EPO. And testosterone. And immediately knew…I had to look elsewhere. That stuff was expensive. The money I make by blogging certainly wouldn’t cover that kind of thing.
Amphetamines, on the other hand, are surprisingly affordable, and remarkably easy to obtain.
I wasn’t worried about being tested. As near as I can tell, nobody tests at any events I do — there’s no money for winners. And — I told myself — it wasn’t like I was really cheating anyone. I wasn’t going to get on any podiums. I just wanted to finish under nine hours.
But then I did start winning stuff (or at least getting on the podium). And — bonus — I found that my weight was dropping. And to a guy like me, those two amazing facts were enough to overcome any minor ethical issues I might have had when I first started.
Fast Forward
I don’t know if I even really need to write the rest of this. You know how it goes. I found that being faster on races made me want to be faster on training rides. And in fact, if I didn’t take something before a ride, I wasn’t able to keep up with The Hammer.
And then my teeth started falling out, which is less obvious (but more permanent) than the scabs I’m always picking at on my face now.
And then I lost my job a few months ago. Yeah, I said I quit so I could write more, but I think it’s pretty obvious that all my ads are freebies I give to friends; this blog doesn’t make me any money whatsoever. Never has.
In fact, I’ve had to sell several of my bikes just to keep up with house and meth payments. At the current rate, I’ve only got enough bikes to last me a few more months before I’m down to just one mountain bike, a road bike, and a time trial bike.
Apology
So. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I have deceived you. I’m sorry I doped.
More than anything else, though, I’m sorry I need to ask you to donate $20 to help me continue my habit. You see, I hope to get a sub-8 at Leadville this year, which means I kind of need to step up my game, and I think meth has taken me as far as it can.
I’m going to need to try some new things, and that’s going to take money. And while I could try a Kickstarter campaign, I’d rather just come out and ask directly.
So: please click here to donate. Thank you. And again, I’m sorry.
Comments (48)
03.31.2014 | 12:56 pm
Oh, hi there. A bunch of us just got back from a nice weekend of luxury camping and mountain biking on Gooseberry Mesa, just outside of St. George, Utah.
I can now say, with absolute conviction, that yurt camping is exponentially more awesome than any other kind of camping. Especially when you’re staying right on top of one of the most highly-acclaimed mountain bike trails in the known universe: Gooseberry Mesa.
Here’s a little video I made of the weekend:
In the next couple days, I’ll be telling the story of the weekend…and describing a little contest where you can join us for a little slice of luxury mountain biking / camping yourself.
’Til then, if you’re interested in learning more about the Gooseberry Yurt (and maybe renting it yourself), click here.
Comments (18)
03.28.2014 | 9:50 am
A Note from Fatty:
Friday
End of week approaches
I am excitement
Personified.
Singletrack
To ride with friends
On perfect trail
I just can’t even.
The Hammer
And Kenny and Heather
And I
Shall all be riding
Near St. George
On Gooseberry Mesa
Which I should note
Is known to be the best trail
In the whole world.
But wait!
There is more!
We will be camping-in-quotes
Staying in a yurt
Of Kenny’s own construction
Right on the border
Of Gooseberry Mesa.
Tent?
I should say not
It is more like a nice apartment
Check it out from within.
We are bringing four bikes
Two singlespeeds
And two geared hardtails
All four are Stumpjumpers
All four are carbon
All four are 29ers.
The Hammer
Has made quiche
We will bring it with us
One is vegetarian
Without onions
(It is for Heather)
The other one will be
Delicious.
My GoPro is charged
And I have figured out
How the iPhone app
Works with it.
I shall bring back video.
I shall bring back stories.
I shall bring back
More than likely
A scab or two.
Above all else
I shall bring back a tale
Of how you
Like I
Can spend a weekend
Riding incredible trails
And staying at
An incredible place.
Perhaps
As the winner
Of a contest.
Thank you.
Comments (21)
« Previous Page — « Previous Entries Next Entries » — Next Page »
