Not Long Now...

Phew! I think I'm finally ready for the big night tomorrow. I've gotten all the silent auction items wrapped up and just finished writing up the bid sheets for each one. There aren't nearly as many items as I was aiming for, in fact, at nine so far it's about half of what I was expecting. Still, they're all great items that should be pretty easy to get rid of. I calculated that if everything goes just for its minimum bid price (rouhgly 30-35% of its retail value) then we'll bring in a little less than $200 for the LAF. Of course, I hope that most of the items will go for more than that and I could end up with closer to $300.

I wish I had thought of this months ago so I could have planned it better and maybe pulled in a lot more, but I'll probably still give myself a pat on the back when all is said and done for getting this thing together in a just about a week and a half. If I ever find myself in a position to do something similar I'll have this experience to help me do it better. (Honestly, though, I don't wanna do this again, it's wicked hard! I'm exhausted.)

Here's a list of the auction items and their full retail value:

Two bottles of wine from Telluride Bottle Works, $45
ExOfficio shirt from Telluride Outside, $50
Gift Certificate from Brown Dog Pizza, $30
Gift Certificate from Steaming Bean Coffee Co, $50
Gift Certificate from Tommy's, $50
Gift Certificate from La Marmotte, $75
One Bottle of wine from Telluride Liquors, $15
Full tune-up for a mountain bike from Paragon Sports, $50
Two hour massage and/or healing session from Telluride Natural Medical Center, $160

That last one is interesting. I got a phone call two days ago from a woman named Sunny McCory. She said she read the article about me in the Telluride Watch. She's an "intuitive healer," which is a phrase I hadn't heard before, but she specializes in helping people with cancer and she was really interested in finding a way to help out with my project. How cool is that? I think she was hoping that there would be people at Tommy's tomorrow night who might be able to take advantage of what she has to offer, but I had to tell her that I'm not sure if that'll be the case. It would be fantastic if the local press I've gotten attracts people in town that have or have survived cancer, but I don't know very many in town, so that may not happen. Still, I'm certain a two-hour massage won't go cheaply.

So some of the nerves are subsiding now that I've gotten all the preparations and all the press out of the way (I did a brief radio announcement on KOTO that'll be broadcast during the news today and tomorrow morning; and I had an interview and an on-the-bike photo shoot with the Daily Planet for an article to run tomorrow; it was a busy day). With all of this running around and all the rain we've gotten I've had very little time on the bike this past week. So now I'm a bit more anxious about the first few legs of the ride than I was before I got bogged down in all the fund raising, but oh well, it'll be fine. I can't wait to get riding. In fact, I may actually leave a day or two early just to satisfy the little demon in my gut that won't let me sit still. We'll see.

New Friend

Just returned from today's ride. I was going up to the airport again (quickly becoming a favorite ride because it's a nice climb with mild traffic and only a couple of hairpin curves) and about halfway up I looked in my mirror and there was a rider closing in on me, fast! Now, I'm no Lance, but I've never been passed like that before. Granted, I wasn't riding for speed, but still.

Anyway, this guy rode up along side me and stayed with me for a chat. Turns out he used to ride with the Paragon Cycling Team -- one of the more highly regarded teams in the state -- based here in Telluride. He also was riding a beautiful Moots titanium bike and has a newborn son (the adrenaline from which I assume was fueling him), all of which made me feel better about getting schooled. I'm just kidding, I don't mind being passed. Not really.

As a bonus, he took me up a different road which climbs another few hundred vertical above where I had been going. It was nice because I never would have gone on that road myself, because it's technically private property. We're talking Aldasoro Ranch territory, a.k.a. where Tom Cruise lives. He told me that a little while ago a cyclist got into an argument with a home owner and now no one's allowed up there unless they're on a guest list with the HOA. It's too bad, because it's an absolutely beautiful ride and there's NO traffic. Pretty much the only place around where you've got miles of paved roads that no one drives on.

I didn't take any pictures today, it was all I could do to just keep up with this guy who had slowed significantly to talk to me and wasn't even breathing hard. Meanwhile, I'm huffing and puffing and trying not to swerve into him or off the pavement.

So here's some more photos from the Yellowstone ride. In this one, you can clearly see where my shorts are ripped from an earlier fall.

This one was taken at the campground in the park, when we finally got a fire started and I could start to dry out. I'm wearing plastic bags over my socks to keep them dry. No, it didn't work too well.

This is my erstwhile roommate, Finn. He's the one I rode with and took all the photos of me. This shot was on the way back when we were just getting back into Grand Teton National Park. That's the Grand behind him. I like to think he's giving thanks to the gods here, but he's probably just sneezing or something.



Please make a donation to the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Original "Help Me Out" Email Text

This is the original email I sent out to everyone explaining what was going on.

Dear Friends and Family,

Apologies for the mass email (especially if this is the second time you've gotten it; I don't believe it went through the first time). This is actually the most massive email I've ever sent, and for those of you who haven't heard from me in a while I'm sorry I'm so bad at keeping in touch, but this is very important to me. As some of you already know, this August I intend to embark on a bicycle ride from my current home in Telluride, Colorado to my childhood home in Larchmont, New York. I haven't found anyone to ride with yet, so at this point it looks like it'll be just me, my bike, my trailer, and my sleeping bag.

Needless to say, this will be the most difficult task I've ever undertaken, physically and psychologically. Now, there's not much anyone can do to help with the former, but you might be surprised how much each and every one of you can help with the latter.

With the advice of some friends and family, I've chosen to ride not just for myself but for a truly worthy cause. Through their Grassroots Fundraising program I've gotten the support of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. There's a link at the bottom of this email to a simple webpage, from which you can make a donation that will help this foundation in its efforts to fight cancer. If you don't know, the LAF has already raised millions of dollars towards fighting cancer, and I would love to do my part. I know I don't need to beat anyone over the head with this, so I'll leave it at that.

The money you donate will do more than help these people with their important work. Every dollar you give toward the monetary goal will push me a little bit closer to my physical goal. Whenever the going gets rough for me out there I'll remember the support that I've got from all of you and I'll push on.

Some of the email addresses I have may be out of date and I'm sure there are others who should be on the list that aren't, so I would definitely appreciate you forwarding this to those who might be interested in making a donation. Thank you so much for reading this, and I'll be thinking about you all as the miles tick away behind me.

http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots/ridingforareason2007

With love,
--Matt Eisenberg