An idea so crazy it just might work

So here's the deal: Team Fatty is doing 100 Miles of Nowhere. That's right. 100 miles going absolutely nowhere and I'm going right along.

So what does that have to do with me, you say. Well, I'm glad you asked. You get to choose what I do and how long I ride.

How? It's simple donate any amount of money on my LIVESTRONG Challenge page. For every $5 raised between today and the event somewhere near the end of April, I will ride a mile. For every $10 you donate, you get a vote on my method of completing the ride: the trainer, the spin bike at the athletic club or riding circles around a .165 mile loop near my house (GPS tracking on this one should be hilarious).

I will ride for as many miles as you all donate, in whatever way you all choose. It's a win for everybody but me. You choose how I suffer and an invitation to come laugh at me while you enjoy some food and drink. The Lance Armstrong Foundation gets donations to improve cancer care around the world. I just get the mind-numbing joy that comes only from riding for hours on end and going absolutely nowhere.

Just one thing: I would love to raise $1000+ on this little endeavor, but I will ride a maximum of 200 miles. (Sorry to disappoint.)

Finally, a good ride outside

I've been working on support documents for Team Fat Cyclist: Fighting for Susan when I can. I'm getting set to find a printer for the flyers this afternoon so things are in motion for the Iris Festival booth in May.

I got a new toy before break as my wife needed a smartphone for her consulting work this spring. The iPhone has GPS capabilities and applications to track your rides so I gave one a try today. It's pretty cool, in a nerdy way, to finish a ride with a map documenting where you went and your elevation profile.

It's easy to forget how liberating a nice day and a bicycle can be. The crisp spring air sears the lungs as the engine gets warmed up. The whir of spokes in the crosswind as I pedal into the bottom by the river. The call of the avian multitudes as they comb over the freshly plowed and fallow fields. I love watching the fields change as spring and sumer progress along my routes out of town.

It's been a long time since I got outside on the bike for any significant distance. I took the blue Klein out and did 30 miles in just under 2 hours. Not fast, but enjoyable. Now, I just need to keep it up so I'm ready for the very challenging course in Seattle.

It's time to take names and kick..

You missed the pre-order for Team Fatty jerseys, but some will be available in June (act fast). Join Team Fatty today!

Join Team Fatty!

Just thought I'd drop a note in here. This year's LIVESTRONG Challenge series will be in Seattle, San Jose, Philadelphia and Austin. If you are thinking about riding it and are otherwise unaffiliated, I would suggest joining Team Fat Cyclist: Fighting for Susan. Our goal is to be the largest team in the history of the series and raise the most money in the history of the series. This is in honor of Susan Nelson, Fatty's wife, who has metastatic brain cancer.

You are still eligible for all the just rewards from the Challenge itself but the team has rewards, too. And we have really snazzy kit, but it's only available via preorder at TwinSix until March 17th. ($30 from every jersey goes to the LAF and you don't have to be a team member to get one.)

Check out FatCyclist.comFatCyclist.com for more info, humorous bike stories, and heart-wrenching tidbits about what it is like to live with someone you love fighting for her life. I hope it moves you as it moves me.

P.S. I will be hosting a booth to distribute LAF cancer survivorship materials and raise money for Team Fatty at the 2009 Keizer Iris Festival, May 15-17. If anyone knows a good place to have 11x17 color print done for that event relatively cheaply, I'd love to hear where. Feel free to drop in and say hi. (And, no, I'm really not too proud to beg at this point. :D )

P.P.S. Please donate.

Join Me at the Keizer Iris Festival

Things are starting to come together for a booth at the Keizer Iris Festival, May 15, 16, ans 17, 2009. Big thank you to my father-in-law for sponsoring the space. I am beginning the search for giveaways and information to stock the booth, along with donation forms and things. My goal is to have some local fitness and wellness companies involved on the giveaways and some local doctor's involved in maybe providing cancer screenings to some visitors.