Why Livestrong?

Note from Breaker- I set out today to write a serious post but I think there may have been a joke or two that slipped in there. I have decided that I will not actively try to get readers to donate to my Livestrong page in my post (I'll link it here though just in case you're easily swayed) and instead just tell you why I feel that you should make a donation to anyone (that's a part of Team Fatty of course). I'll have another post coming up soon where I will make an important announcement about the first race of the season next year.


The question has been asked of me,

"Jared, you hate people, why are you doing the Livestrong Challenge? Is it just to have an excuse to go for a bike ride?"

I think that I need to address these concerns because if I am going to go around begging people for money I had better be prepared to defend why I think that this is a good cause, especially since I have already begged my parents to donate to this particular organization on more than one occasion.

First of all, I do hate people. Not all people, obviously only the stupid ones, and if you are smart enough to support Team Pink Racing than you are not one of those people. It is true though that if you were to take a random sampling of the world population as a whole I'm quite sure that well over 50% of them would fall into my, "what an idiot category."

Be that as it may, I do take pride in the fact that most people don't know that I hate them. I consider myself very good at pretending to listen, pretending to care, and pretending to provide an educated opinion. In the ultimate attempt to make it appear that I care about humanity in general and not just about my selective group of friends I will occasionally do some charity work, be it helping my dad take some kids from Over the Rhine to Louisville for an afternoon, riding the Tour de Cure, or even donating money that I don't really have to give up to a worthy cause.

Now I have breached the subject of riding. In many ways the cyclist is the ultimate at the fine art of slight of hand. The charity ride allows us to have an excuse to ride that is so good that even we can't talk ourselves out of doing it. We aren't getting together for a group training ride, we are raising money and/or awareness for a problem/organization/evil corporate sponsor. This allows us to feel good as we neglect family, jobs, and personal hygiene.

This ride is different.

Honestly I have considered at different times never doing another charity ride again because I don't feel a need to hide the fact that I'd rather be riding and I don't enjoy fund raising for any reason, and doing a Livestrong Challenge because I really think that it's a good cause and it has quickly become the ultimate charity ride in the country.

This really isn't just an excuse to ride. Steve and I are making this our official stupid event of the year, which certainly doesn't mean that we won't do anything else stupid, just that we aren't going to do the Hotter than Hell Hundred or another Allamuchy or anything like that.

I think that this is a good enough cause to warrant putting my time, energy, and money into and I believe that if you think about it you'll agree, so what are you waiting for, pick a link on the side bar there and donate to one of the Team Pink members.

Not that it matters or anything, but remember that we are also helping Team Fatty in the quest to become the largest and highest earning team in the history of the Livestrong Challenge.