LiVe To RiDe, LoVe To RidE

Not Long ago I heard about John Stamstad conquering the Divide in a self supported fashion during an 18 day Ordeal.

My Friend Aaron told me about it, and I was fascinated, enamoured.

That was about 10 years ago when I first started riding Mountain Bikes.

And For the past three years I have been preparing to do the very same thing. Maybe not as fast, but gonna go just a little bit farther then John did years ago.

What alot of you may or may not know is that I am a single dad with custody of my kids. Yes thats right, these beautiful sons of mine which I call LIL NI and LIL'r NI live with me and they have lived with me for the past 11 years.

I am part of the few and the proud but growing clans of single fathers.

And this Father here has a dream. To ride his bike from Banff Canada to Antelope Wells New mexico along the Great Divide Moutain Bike route.

There is no charity. Just a selfish desire to live out a dream.

Over the years I have grown, and blogged about my adventures. Shared about my heart ache and hardships, my successes and my failures.

I have poured out my heart and sould on this blog right here.

With assistance from Rob Roberts I put together The Cross Florida Individual Time trial, Pioneered a coast to coast off road route and this past weekend successfully put on the hardest mountain bike race in the state of Florida. A self supported Mountain Bike Epic called the Huracan 300.

And for all these events, I never asked for a single entry fee. I just asked for the people who were willing to step up and ride, step up and adventure. I put these routes together, with the sole purpose of bringing the sport of bikepacking to the state. Giving our community right here the ability to go bikepacking without having to travel. Giving us the ability to go ride 100 off road miles without having to drive 500 miles. Even got Trackleaders involved and had a podcast created. All this done, with 0 budget and with 0 dollars from participants.

Why?

Cause I wanted to give to the sport that I love so much. I wanted to give something to the community that would last way beyond my years, I wanted to pioneer the development of a sport that was growing across the united states and bring it to my home turf. And like they say, if you want something done, you got to do it yourself.

But folks this is who I am. A generous being who believes in giving. Once when I was on the Swamp Forum, I saw a bike that a poster was riding and with the help of Marcel we coordinated the first ever Frankenbike build. I gave him a frame and the community put in the parts. It was truly a beautiful gesture.

AND now, I have a dream. A dream that I have been wanting to manifest for years. A dream to ride in the hardest longest mountain bike race in the world. And for the past three years I have done nothing but study the sport and prepare.

I have manged to get some money together to go. But you got to figure, I have to cover the expenses of the preparation, the expenses of traveling as well as cover the loss of income while I am gone. All the while training and preparing. Its quite a bit.

BUT in the end, something that I didn't calculate in my complex budget has befallen me.

My bike that I planned to ride in the divide, is in a state that it could not safely complete the route, it is essentially broken. The warranty will not cover it, and I totally respect that, I think wholeheartedly that I got my moneys worth out of this bike. AND it still works, I just don't know if its the smartest thing in the world to be bombing a mountain on the bike in the state its in.

Do you read my blog?
Have you followed it for years?
Have you ever been inspired by it?
Have you lost weight following my nutritional advice?
Have you learned something from my mistake or my successes?
Well If you have then I ask you to return the positive vibes I have sent your way.

For about the price of a cup of coffee a day, I could have a cup of coffee a day or better yet, replace the bike that I didn't anticipate not having for my trip. No donation is too big, nor too small. So far just through a facebook status update, and through the kindness of individuals I have raised 530$. I get choked up and my eyes well up with tears when I think about how generous people have been.

DO I have a fundraising goal? Truly, enough to replace my bike would be all I need. The bikeshop I have rode for years can help me get a super sweet deal that would put me on a new and capable ride and give me extra parts that can be used on the Divide. But all you donate can help me survive during the ride and help me and my sons survive when I return, before my 3 week delay checks start rolling in.( no vacation pay in my line of work)

In fact, all this time, I didn't really know if people payed attention to my online ramblings. For the one's who have already donated I am thankful, touched and will never forget. For the one's who can and will donate I am thankful as well. And for those that can only donate positive vibes and well wishes, heck I will gladly take those too, it all helps in the end.

Lynne Daniels said it would be a truly inspirational thing for me to ride a bike From Canada to Mexico, sponsored by friends, Fans and the Mountain Bike community. I cant say that I don't agree and see the beauty of such a venture.

The donate button is on the side bar.

Thanks ahead of time,

Take Care,

Laters,

The NaKeD InDiaN