12.13.2013 | 12:47 pm
Sometimes I work through things by writing. Today is one of those times. And I’d love to have your thoughts as well.
Maybe you’ve noticed that I don’t talk a lot about pro cycling much — if at all — anymore. As an example, check my archive for this year and see how much I wrote about the Tour de France (hint: I can’t remember writing anything at all about it).
Part of that has to do with the fact that, to me, my own riding and racing seems a lot more interesting (and dramatic) to me lately, and I write about what interests me.
Part of it has to do with the “Once bitten, twice shy” thing.
But even though I don’t write about it much in the blog, I do still follow it. And so, after reading an extremely well-conducted interview with Lance Armstrong yesterday, I tweeted:
To which my friend Paul Guyot replied:
I can understand Paul’s point of view. But you know, I can’t help it. I followed Lance for a long time, got to know him (I thought) a little bit, spent a ton of my fundraising efforts on LiveStrong. So I’m still interested when he says things like this:
And that’s been the biggest issue I think, is that this hurt the support that survivors had and their friends and family had and the organization had. I know this will sound bad, but I don’t really care what the hard-core cycling geek thinks. I don’t. No offense to them. But I care about what a supporter of Livestrong thinks, and I care about what the survivor thinks. I think back to someone who was diagnosed back in 1999, and this whole story they believed in. And more than that, they fought for me, whether it’s in an online discussion or in a hallway or a workplace or café or bar, they had my back. And now they got egg on their face. That’s the thing that hurts me the most and the thing I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make up for. And I hope I can. I’m in timeout right now. And I may be in timeout forever. But I hope not to be.
I’m pretty sure I’m one of those guys with egg on his face. I might even be one of the more prominent ones, what with Team Fatty having raised close to two million dollars for LiveStrong. But the sole interaction I’ve had with Lance Armstrong, post-Oprah, is that he’s unfollowed me on Twitter.
Which, you know, doesn’t exactly jibe with what Lance is saying above.
But here’s the thing. This past few post-Oprah months has been useful. I’ve considered a little more deeply how I want to spend my fundraising time and effort (and — much less importantly — my charitable giving). And I’ve decided I want my efforts to go to charities that help individual people, in very specific ways.
Like, for example, the way a World Bicycle Relief bicycle helps an individual child stay in school. Or the way Camp Kesem helps children compensate for the unhappiness and stress of having a parent with cancer.
I feel like I’m now a more thoughtful — and maybe a little more careful — person. I still want to make a difference in the world, but I think I’ve got a better idea of what kind of difference. So the end result, for me, has been positive.
And I wish Lance well, too. I hope he’s able to find a path toward redemption and greater involvement with things that matter to him.
As for me, I’ve got plenty of work to do, and am grateful for those who are helping me do it.
Comments (45)
12.11.2013 | 9:40 am
Of all the ways that World Bicycle Relief helps people in Africa, the thing that I love most is the way it completely changes kids’ lives, transforming education from a near-impossibility to something they merely have to work extremely hard for.
And the “Ethel” video in the “Mobilize Me” series of videos beautifully shows and tells the story of what a bicycle means to a student:
One thing the girl says in the video really hits home for me. “The bicycle,” says Ethel, “has already shown me that I will have a bright future.”
Think about that. A $134 bicycle, in a practical and immediate way, has given a person a bright future.
Wow.
Can you think of any other way so little money can make such a big difference to a person’s whole life (or actually, to the lives around her too)? Cuz I can’t.
So — more than any prizes your donations might (or might not) win, your donation in the Grand Slam for Zambia: The Power of 5 is incredible.
Literally life-changing.
Which is pretty remarkable. No, make that really remarkable
Win a Trek Madone 7 Series, Customized Through Project One!
Last Wednesday, I announced the first of the five dream bikes you might win by donating. Today, I’m happy to announce the second: a Trek Madone 7 Series frame, loaded up with your choice of top-end SRAM parts and components, and customized to be incredibly beautiful through Trek’s Project One.
That, my friends, is about as dreamy a dream bike as a dream bike can get.
We’re talking, retail-wise, about a bike that’s worth well north of $10,000.
And you know what? This is the second time this year that Trek’s been so generous about donating this kind of bike for me to fundraise for WBR, making for what was truly the best July ever.
And remember, Trek wasn’t just donating bikes in this fundraiser. They were also matching, dollar-for-dollar, all the donations that were coming in. That’s beyond generous. That’s downright touching to see a bike company doing so much of the right thing.
Just to refresh your memory, here’s what the winning bike from that fundraiser looks like:
and
and
I tell you what: I am still jealous of Jim for that amazing bike he won. In a nice way.
A Little More About The Bike
The Madone 7 Series is Trek’s top of the line frame in the Madone family, hand-built in the USA, and completely customizable through Project One.
The lucky winner can choose any Project One paint scheme that they desire—from boldly simple to outrageously cool.
And you can build this bike up with any parts you want that SRAM has to offer, which means, between a SRAM Red drivetrain and some sexy Zipp wheels (I’d personally go with the 404 Carbon Clinchers) and parts, you’re looking at a bike that is going to weigh less than fifteen pounds.
Yeah, I mean it.
This is going to be a beautiful, glorious racing machine.
Why Trek is Supporting WBR
I asked Brandon Buth of Trek about why Trek supports WBR. Here’s what he said:
Trek has been a supporter of WBR since the beginning, and we have continually been impressed by the work they are doing and the countless lives they are positively affecting.
When you think about it, the bike really has been good to all of us in the industry—we use it for fun, recreation, and competition (to name a few), and it provides our livelihood.
How many other products can you say that about?
The way I see it, we owe a lot to the bike. So, supporting WBR is such an easy, relatable way for us to help an organization who is focused on improving the lives through the Power of Bicycles.
Huge thanks go out to Trek for their amazing support of this cause. And just as huge of thanks go out to you, for donating (click here to donate, ok?).
Good luck, and I hope you win.
Comments (36)
12.9.2013 | 12:32 pm
I wonder how many times in my life the bicycle will amaze me. The way this incredibly topheavy-looking machine manages to stay upright with just a couple square inches of rubber touching the ground. It’s like it’s defying gravity.
Or the way it moves much faster than you otherwise could, while requiring less energy, in spite of the fact that your net weight is higher. It’s like it’s defying the laws of physics.
Or the way they can make you happy, just by being out on one, going somewhere…or nowhere.
Or — and this is what I want to talk about today — the way they can help save lives.
I’ve talked a lot about how World Bicycle Relief bikes donated to kids help them get to school, as well as how bikes give them more time for their work and studies. But WBR bikes are also given to volunteer health caregivers, who use them to visit the people who desperately need their help.
These bikes make it possible for these health caregivers to see more people. To help them get water. To bring them medicine. To get them to the clinic. To give them the moral support they need. To, in short, save their lives.
Today, I’m lucky enough to be the first person to get to show you the latest video in World Bicycle Relief’s “Mobilize Me” series, about the power of a bike. Please watch what Royce, a volunteer caregiver rural Zambia, is able to accomplish with a Buffalo Bicycle has to say:
So, yes. The $134 bicycle you donate might make it so that a person (no, make that two people, because of the dollar-for-dollar matching) like Royce is able to see five times as many patients. Helping people, educating them, and improving lives throughout her village.
That amazes me. And makes me so happy.
I’ve written a little bit more about the volunteer caregivers who get WBR bikes. Take a look at that post…and then take the time to donate. You might win win one of the five incredible bikes we’ll be giving away.
Comments (8)
12.6.2013 | 9:38 am
A Note from Fatty: The Grand Slam for Zambia: The Power of 5 is going strong. To learn the basics of this amazing event, click here. To learn about the Ibis Ripley (one of 5 bikes to be given away as prizes), click here. To learn more about World Bicycle Relief itself, click here. And to make a donation to be entered in this contest, click here.
Lament in Three Parts Over Inclement Weather in an Oft-Sunny Clime
Betimes I consider
How it could be possible
That I have stumbled
Into this, my life
How is it that I am me
And not another
Some other guy
Who maybe doesn’t even own a bike
When I think such Thoughts
My heart recoils
And I once again
Reflect upon my luck
For I ride with the core team
And each autumn we get together
For an event called Fall Moab
Which—truth be known—is only occasionally in Moab
But it is during the autumn!
And usually it is perfect
The weather is mild
Note how I said “usually,” above
Part I: The Bad
The core team gathered
With intent
To ride in St George
For a long weekend
We had plans
Oh such grand plans
To stay in the yurt
Which Kenny has built
A yurt on Gooseberry Mesa!
Surely it will, one day,
Be a coveted destination
A place to stay while riding in beautiful desert
But not this day
For the weather kicked up
As we drove to St George
And the snow was so hard-driven
We nearly turned around
But we did not
No, we did not turn around
But we also did not stay in a yurt
We camped, instead, at Kenny and Heather’s home
Part II: The Good
I confess I was weak
I had my doubts
And in short
Riding in the rain didn’t sound that great
And yet, it was great
Sure, we didn’t ride as far
Or as long
But sometimes, riding at all is what matters
And when it comes right down to it
Most of us are closing in on 50
And one good ride per day
Is probably enough
And so we rode
For three days
On local trails
Often, beginning from Kenny’s house
And you know
Maybe Fall Moab
Isn’t about where or how much
But about who is there
Yeah, let’s go with that for now
Part III: The Video
I shall now conclude
With a video montage
Of Fall Moab 2014
(Fiscal)
Thank you.
Comments (11)
12.4.2013 | 8:20 am
A Note from Fatty: Not sure what the Grand Slam for Zambia: The Power of 5 is? Click here for the basics. Want to just get an easy link to where you go to donate (and hopefully win this incredible bike)? Click right here.
Let me take you back about 18 years ago. A bunch of us in the core team were on the way back from Moab, talking about the ride. Exaggerating our successful moves. Exaggerating our unsuccessful moves even more.
And talking about bikes. Of course. I posed an open-ended question to everyone in the car: “If you could get any mountain bike, what would it be?”
I don’t remember anyone else’s answer, but I remember Dug’s: “An Ibis Szazbo.”
“A what?” I replied.
I had never heard of Ibis before, much less the Szazbo, and started researching. And before long, I fell in love with the company. Before long, I owned an Ibis Mojo, a Bow Ti, a Ti Mojo, and a Silk Ti (I tend to go a little overboard when I love something).
And to this day, the only bike — out of the dozens of bikes I have owned over the years — I have ever regretted selling is my Ibis Ti Mojo. I really wish I still had that bike.
Ibis bikes have a tendency to inspire that kind of devotion in its riders.
“Let Me Show You Something”
So now, let me flash forward about fifteen years, to just a few years ago. The Hammer and I were in France with Andy Hampsten’s riding tour…and Scot Nicol—the founder and head honcho for Ibis—was one of the tour guides with us. Which is very much like having Jimi Hendrix being your tour guide through the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Except that Scot Nicol—aka Chuck Ibis—isn’t dead. He’s alive and well and still creating bikes that make me want one so very, very badly.
During one of the evenings while we were in France, Scot pulled me aside and said, “Let me show you something.” That “something” was the suspension design for a new bike they were working on: the Ripley 29.
It was astonishing. Like, ridiculously amazing alien space technology.
“How soon can I have one?” I asked.
“It’ll be a while,” Scot replied.
And in fact, it was another three years. Because Ibis takes the time to get bikes right.
But when they unveil a bike, well, wow:
You should read the story of how this bike came to be; it’s an incredibly fascinating read. I should warn you, though: I think you’re going to want one.
Which actually works out well, because the Ibis Ripley 29 — a dream frame dressed out in dream parts — is one of the bikes we’ll be giving away as part of the Grand Slam for Zambia: The Power of 5.
A Little More About The Bike
In a minute I’m going to show you just a few of the pages and pages of glowing reviews for the Ripley 29er, but first, how about some of the basic specs?
Well, first of all, there’s the frame itself, which you can (and should) read about in Ibis’s Ripley 29 product page.
Thanks to the ingenious design of the Ripley 29, you can build it up either as a XC racer (which is how I’d do it), or as more of an all-mountain machine if that’s more your riding style.
For the drivetrain, you’ll want to set it up with the SRAM XX1 group (if you’re thinking in terms of XC) or the XO1 group (for an all-mountain build). Both are innovative and highly lustworthy drivetrains that let you skip the front derailleur nonsense, doing all your shifting in the back. Hey, it’s really nice to no longer have to ever think about dropping your chain.
If you’re keeping it light, Chuck recommends you go with a set of Rise wheels and a SID fork. You’ll also want to go with a 32-tooth chainring, and then choose between either Gripshift or trigger shifting. Either way, SRAM’s got you covered. Icing on this drivetrain cake of awesomeness will be XX Brakes.
If you are thinking more All-Mountain-y, maybe you should go with Roam wheels and a Pike fork, with XO trail brakes.
However you’re going to build it, you’re going to make me drool with envy and probably beg to come over and borrow your bike.
Asking Chuck
So, how did I get Ibis to join in the Grand Slam for Zambia: The Power of 5?
Well, Ibis has a history of being great guys. And Chuck — Scot — in particular has a thing about doing the right thing.
So when I emailed him about this fundraiser, asking him to be part of it, he said:
I have not yet talked to my partners about this but we are in. I’m going to tell them right now.
Ripley it is. We can get the winner a bike almost immediately. So that should entice folks.
This looks really great. In fact, it looks freaking awesome.
We can kick in the parts that SRAM doesn’t make.
Then they went and posted their own story about this fundraiser. I especially liked this part:
We at Ibis did nothing for Black Friday or Cyber Monday. We know it’s cliché, but we rode our bikes. The calendar skipped over to December this weekend and we were experiencing temperatures that were unseasonable to say the least, 72º F in our part of California, which translates to 22º C in the rest of the solar system. So we exercised our bodies rather than our credit cards.
We decided not to inundate either your email or your senses with offers of great deals. And we’re still not going to ask you to buy anything from us. But we do want to make you aware that today is “Giving Tuesday”, and with that, we’d like to let you know about a wonderful organization that is doing the right thing.
And that wonderful organization is World Bicycle Relief. And the fundraiser is this one. And — as many of you know — Ibis has helped me in a lot of other fundraisers in the past.
And in short, I want to give Scot and everyone else at Ibis a big Fatty-style hug for being the kind of people we all want to be, while building the kinds of bikes we all want to ride.
Ibis is awesome.
More About the Ripley 29
I’m not the only one who’s kind of head-over-heels about the Ripley 29. Basically, everyone who’s ridden one is, too. Check out the Ripley 29 review page for all the reviews; here are just a few excerpts:
SEHR GUT! Critics will be enthralled by its agile handling.- MOUNTAIN BIKE GERMANY
Long days in the saddle on challenging terrain are its dream territory, but short blasts in the local woods have been equally enticing, with a couple of rides where the word ‘sublime’ was uttered….Ibis says the aim was ‘to bring the advantages of a 29in wheel to a lightweight, nimble and fun trail bike’. We think Ibis has managed that perfectly. -Singletrack Magazine
It is a dreamy combination of laser-sharp pointability and mistake forgiving stability. Combine this with the low head tube and short rear, and the Ripley is as nimble as any 26-inch bike with a 29er’s penchant for simply obliterating obstacles under pure circumference. It is divine. -Switchback Magazine
It’s ridiculously flickable in fast, twisty singletrack – big wheels and all – and even tight uphill switchbacks are easy to navigate….Taken in total, the blistering pedaling performance, supple rear end, fast-rolling 29in wheels, and quick yet stable handling make for a freakishly fast ride. We smashed more than a few Strava PRs on standard test loops, and continued to record similarly fast times on other familiar trails. -Bike Radar
The bike offers a great feeling of stability without sacrificing the all important playfulness that a proper bike must have, and it made for a feeling of traction that you wanted to quantify with high-fives and huge grins at the bottom of every loose downhill section of trail….we should mention that we actually scaled two sections of trail aboard the Ripley that we have never managed while on any other bike, as well as setting a personal best time on a local singletrack climb that always tests us. -Pinkbike.com
Ripley gives you all the tools to slay any ride, but does so in a way that allows you to just forget all that technology is there and simply ride with a big smile on your face….Few other trail bikes could be your all-day backcountry mule one weekend, and cutting-edge race machine the next….It took me riding the Ripley to realize I’ve never ridden a bike with perfectly tuned kinematics—until now. -Bike Magazine
So yeah. You want one.
A Little Bit More About the Grand Slam
In my post last Monday I gave you the general details about this fundraiser and what’s amazing about it, but there are a few points I want to emphasize here.
First, this is an amazing cause. It makes a difference, immediately and permanently. The help you give these people now gives them the boost they need to make their own lives better. Check out this inspiring video from World Bicycle Relief to get a sense of what I mean.
Second, your money is getting doubled. Honestly, that’s a pretty hard thing for me to wrap my mind around, but it’s true. Whatever you donate, someone else is matching. Your money has double power. Really, I should have called this fundraiser “The Power of 10” because every $134 you donate to buy a bike becomes two bikes, and every bike makes a difference to five people, on average.
Seriously, that’s more bang for your donation buck than I can comprehend.
Third, while the odds are that you aren’t going to win this Ripley 29 — or any of the four other bikes I’ll be talking about in the next few weeks — somebody is going to win them. Yep, five top-end bikes, in one contest. I am not aware of any other bike contest, ever, that has ever had such an extraordinary spread of prizes. So, huge thanks to SRAM and the five bike companies that have been insanely generous with their donations.
And even huger thanks to everyone who has donated or is going to donate. I love and appreciate your generosity.
So, again: Thank you for donating. And I hope you win.
Comments (32)
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