2011 TD LOI and other ramblings

I sent off my letter of intent for the Tour Divide. The current holder of the title "World's Toughest Mountain Bike Race". Some of you may know that I did a race similar to this last year titled the Great Divide Race which is about 5 percent shorter.

So, here I am throwing my name into the ring for this thing when I had said before that I had no intention of racing it this year and that I was going to wait for 2012. Well, months passed and the body healed. The bike, which I raced 2500 miles this summer, looks to be in fantastic condition as well. "Why not just give everything a thorough rework and go for it?" I thought. My race ended near Steamboat Springs, CO last year. From that point I kind of limped slowly to the finish, weakened by malnutrition. The divide is tough, vegan life on the divide is MENTAL! Drastic steps are going to need to be taken so I don't hit the wall like last time.

Step one, I've quit caffeine and beer/alcohol mostly until the race. It's a big step, I live in the northwest where the best coffee seems to explode from every corner and the same for the beer as well. I don't expect to completely abstain from both, but for the most part that's what's going to happen. I will have to wait until July for a chocolate espresso stout, sigh.

Step two, find a cause to donate too. I'm looking for things that are or involve (bikes, organics, produce, local stuff, kids) Pretty straight forward. I'm looking to get this nailed down in January in one way or another. Donations seem easy right?

Me: Want to make a donation for my bike race this summer? I'm only asking a penny a mile.
Somebody else: Oh yeah, for what cause?
Me: XXXX cause
Somebody else: Wow that sounds great, how far you riding?
Me: 2,745 miles.
Somebody else: I can't add that fast, sorry I don't think I will be able to donate.

Or maybe people just won't add it up! Anyway, I'm joking here if you can't tell. If you have any rad causes you think I should support along previously mentioned lines, please hit me up! On to step three!

Step three, transcend! I'm going to need to adopt the lifestyle of a monk, but with considerable amounts more excercise and eating. Being a vegan, and having given up caffeine and booze, the only area of weakness left is in my stretching routines. This is mainly because my flexibility was destroyed racing the divide this year and I'm going to ensure that it doesn't happen again. I think when Feb rolls around I should have a new routine developed to triple down on my stretching.

Everything else should be business as usual. Eat, sleep, ride! Coming up the next weekend will be a 209 mile tour of 99 east and west in hopefully a scant 18 hours. The spot tracker will be active! Here's to 2011 being the year of the bike!