I was looking at the Lance Armstrong Foundation store today and found that the 2006 Livestrong Challenge gear is on sale. Here’s the link: http://www.store-laf.org/lscgear.html. I got the jersey while in Austin last year for my ride and its a pretty cool jersey. A word of warning, all the jersey’s fit very tight so i’d recommend moving up a size if you get one. So if you wear a large Id get an X-Large. I guess its a matter of preference but I prefer not to ride feeling like im in a wetsuit, snug but not skin tight. Doesnt help that no matter how much i work i still keep a little bit of a gut. They also have hats, shirts, and shorts.

Getting some gear could help inspire you while you train for the 2007 Livestrong Challenge wearing some Livestrong Challenge gear. Could be a stretch to think that but its strange the things that get us going. It’s also a good conversation starter and could help with fundraising. While riding in the 24 Hours of Booty last year I wore my Ride for the Roses jersey and it started some conversations with people who were interested in where I got it.

I have put up a new section of the website entitled Races and Results and it can be found in the menu bar above.  This section could be considered a bit of a brag board and I guess it is in a way.  Im okay with that I guess.  It’s also a place to track the results of the races I have participated in and an outline of those races that Im hoping to take part in this year.  Most everyone keeps a schedule of their races but I think sharing mine is a good tool to help show how I am training and getting ready for this year’s Livestrong Challenge in Austin.

Having a section like this is probably advisable for any athelete whether its online or not.  This allows you to keep track of your progress in both time and level of competition.  This will let you see your results and learn your PR’s and set goals for your next undertaking.  PR is short for personal record or more simply your best time in the distance you’ve completed.  For me I have a PR of 23 minutes and seven seconds running the distance of 5 kilometers (K).  This lets me know that the next time I run that distance I have a goal to beat and a speed i’m capable of maintaining.

One thing I learned putting this schedule together is that the Fall is going to be an immense undertaking and may even be too much to do at once.  Last year during the MS 150 I ended up injuring my knee which made it very difficult to ride my bike for several weeks and caused me to shorten my Livestrong Challenge from 100 miles to 75.  Through my experience last year and the spacing of my schedule this year I hope to build my endurance levels and get my body more use to the stress of the distances im planning on running and riding.  Even though last year I trained for the ride prior to the MS 150 those two days were the longest distances I had ridden to that point and were back to back which pushed my body, specifically my knee, past the point it had been conditioned to undertake.

Proper conditioning and progressive distance scheduling is an advantage we can all find through the scheduling, pacing, and experience of current and past races/rides.

Those that read the site last year know that I have been holding a monthly home poker tournament as a fundraiser to support my Livestrong Challenge rides.

The post detailing the tournament setup is here:
http://www.lafrider.com/index.php/home-poker-tournament-fundraiser/

I made modifications after a few tournaments here:
http://www.lafrider.com/index.php/modifications-to-the-home-poker-tournament/

These tournaments raised over $1000 last year for my ride and were the most successful fundraiser of all I attempted. This year Ive started the tournaments again and made a few changes per suggestions from players last year.

• Rebuys are now allowed. For those that dont know a rebuy is when you are allowed to buy back into the tournament if you lose all your chips before a specified time limit. In the case of the Home Poker Tournament I am allowing rebuys until the first break when chips are colored up or if they fall below $500 in chips. This means that for the first 6 rounds of the tournament if someone goes out or drops under $500 they can rebuy for $20 and get 2500 more in chips. This months tournament was the first time we’ve done this and resulted in three rebuys which increased the pot $60 and garnered more money in support of my Livestrong Challenge ride.
• Each rebuy results in another person being counted as playing in the tournament. For example, if there are nine players as there were this month and three rebuys you will divide the winnings as if there were 12 players in the payout scale (see prior posts above for payout structure). This is done because since the pot increases and the players investment increases then the payouts should also increase. If this were not done then people who did a rebuy would actually be losing money even if they placed in the payouts but did not win, though this still may occur based on the amount of times a player rebuys.
• The second change is I am now giving an attendance bonus of $25 in chips for the final tournament. This means that those that play each month are gaining chips over those that only play in the final tournament. This also allows players to earn extra chips for the finale tournament even if they do not place in the top three and garner points. For an explanation of the points system see the earlier posts above.

I think these changes are positive and the players seem to enjoy them. It results in more action for the betting as well as, and most importantly, more funds raised for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

This months tournament had 9 players and raised $90 for my Livestrong Challenge ride and then made another $90 when my friend graciously donated his winnings by coming in first place to the LAF. This means that in one night there was $180 raised. This is another great thing about the tournament, several times players who have won have donated their winnings to the LAF unexpectedly. You will find that people will randomly go above and beyond the fundrasing you are expecting by hosting the tournament just due to their goodwill and appreciation for what you are doing and the fun they have had.

Im looking forward to the year ahead and this fundraiser that has turned into almost a tradition of good friends having a good time in the name of the Livestrong Challenge.

This year the Lance Armstrong Foundation announced their incentives for the Livestrong Challenge participants at the same time as registration. This means no fun days of speculating on jersey levels and their amounts.

From the Livestrong Challenge 2007 Website:

LIVESTRONG Challenge Incentives

	$50	$100 (run only)	$250	$500	$1,000	$2,500	$5,000+
Run/Walk Entry with T-shirt	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Waterbottle		x	x	x	x	x	x
Ride Entry with T-shirt			x	x	x	x	x
Cap				x	x	x	x
Bag					x	x	x
Challenge Jersey / Dri-Fit T-shirt						x	x
Saturday Dinner Ticket (+ 1 guest ticket)							x

Ride for the Roses Incentives

	White Jersey	Green Jersey	Polka Dot Jersey	Yellow Jersey
	$10,000	$15,000	$20,000	$30,000
Transportation to Friday Night Dinner Only (participant only)	x
Friday Welcome Celebration & Dinner (participant only)	x
Lance Armstrong Signed Item	x
Sunday Ride or Run/Walk Entry	x	x	x	x
Ride for the Roses Jacket	x	x	x	x
Ride for the Roses Jersey or Dri-Fit T-shirt	x	x	x	x
Saturday Awards Dinner (+1 guest)	x	x	x	x
Participant Airfare		x	x	x
3 Night Hotel Stay (Oct. 12, 13 & 14)		x	x	x
Transportation to all Weekend Events		x	x	x
Friday Welcome Celebration & Dinner (+1 guest)		x	x	x
Autograph Session		x (1 item)	x (1 item)	x (2 items)
Special Hospitality Tent Entry (+1 guest)		x	x	x
Photograph at Autograph Session			x	x
Saturday Pre-Dinner Reception				x
Guest Airfare				x
Private Group Ride (participant only)				x

The first thing I noticed is that fundraising levels have been dropped from $500 to $250 in order to participate. I think that was a good move because Im sure it will attract more particpants who felt the $500 level was out of reach. If this change attracts two more participants and the one who would do $500 then they’ve increased their fundraising already.

The only other major change I see is that the White jersey level has increased from $7500 to $10000. While i still would love to get that jersey I dont mind the increase because it comes with more goodies associated with it such as the entry into the Ride For The Roses.

The locations have been announced for this years Livestrong Challenge and this time they are concentrating on only three cities instead of five. This year there will be Livestrong Challenge’s in Austin, Portland, and Philadelphia and gone are Southern California and Denver.

The following is the official answer for the changes to the locations from the Lance Armstrong Foundation:

I attended the 2006 event in Denver or Southern California. Why aren’t you coming back to these cities?
The LAF is committed to providing each Challenge participant and volunteer with a unique experience. By limiting the number of events and locations, we can concentrate our limited resources to providing you with an event that leaves you transformed -energized, inspired and empowered to make a difference. We encourage you to register for one of the three scheduled LIVESTRONG Challenge events, with locations carefully selected to provide easy access from across the country. If traveling is not possible, you can still support the LAF by raising awareness and funds in your community.

This answer makes sense but may be the whole story. I spoke with a fellow rider during the Austin Livestrong Challenge in Austin last year who participated in the Southern California ride. According to him it wasnt the greatest of routes in that it was forced to go through several stops and starts due to stoplights, traffic, and many turns. From what he said I gathered that they had to run through several crowded areas and that probably necessitated a lot of police support and road closures. Im sure that that made the management of the course and the costs much higher than the other challenge locations. Keep in mind this is heresay from a participant but it does help to understand why it may not be a location this year.

For Denver there was issues last year with a new law being passed by their Department of Transportation. It seems from articles I found last year that the DOT for Colorado was seeking to cap cycling events to a certain size which would have severely hampered the Livestrong Challenge. If I remember right the law was put off a year which allowed the challenge to be held there but Im suspecting that this year that law did go into effect. Again this is conjecture but it does jibe with what I remember reading last year and explains their absence in addition to the LAF’s reasons above.

Portland was the site of the original Livestrong Challenge in 2005 so Im sure thats why it remains. Philadelphia probably go to stay because it is an east coast location that can attract cyclists who cannot make it to Austin and beyond. It opens up the whole other side of the country to the LAF and interested cyclists. I know that I was considering Philadelphia last year and may do both Austin and Philadelphia this year, though that is still up in the air.

I like the changes and the trimming down of Livestrong Challenge locations. Last year my friend Ron and I were disappointed with the Livestrong Village and overall size of the event. Disappointed may be a bit harsh but we were comparing things to the Ride for the Roses from the year before which was a huge event. This by no means means that we didnt have fun and enjoy the event immensely it was just different from our expectations. We’re doing Austin again this year so that should say something about our feelings.

Another thing to look forward to is that this year they are combining the Livestrong Challenge and Ride for the Roses into the same weekend in Austin this year. That should bring the event in line with our expectations of size and scope that we missed last year. The rides will not be happening together but they will be happening over the same weekend which I think is a great idea. I was suprised that they had separate weekends last year due to the overhead and costs of running the same course over two separate weekends.

The final plus for this year’s locations is that Lance Armstrong will be attending all the rides. This will definitely help participation because Im sure many people will participate just for the chance to see Lance and the very slight chance of meeting him. I just hope that this year I dont almost knock him off his bike.