So we woke up Saturday morning and checked our gear and most of it was still wet.  There were changes of clothes but not much could be done about our shoes still being soaked.  Ron and Brad both weren’t feeling too motivated to get back out to the Booty loop.  I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I was disappointed.   My bike was on Ron’s car and his was the only way to get my bike to and from Raleigh.  So my plans were intertwined with Ron’s intentions. With the skies being overcast and rain looking likely plus our wet equipment and loss of campsite neither of them wanted to head back out.  We ended up watching the time trial of the Tour de France to see Contador retain his yellow jersey and Leipheimer put in one hell of a ride.  When it was over everyone decided to go grab lunch on the way home.  Of course when we got out of Charlotte the clouds cleared up and blue skies followed us home.

When we got back to Raleigh even Ron admitted that it may have been premature to have left and not gone back to continue riding.  His reasoning was that we go to the 24 Hours of Booty to put up maximum mileage and test ourselves and if there was no possibility of a lot of miles there wasn’t enough reason to go back.  When it got around to unpacking my car the rain finally started and after getting wet again I knew that I wasn’t up for another wet ride.  It wasn’t till later I found out that it hadn’t rained in Charlotte all day.

As a penance I rode 33 miles yesterday on the roads around Lake Jordan.  Booty showed me that riding the trainer wasn’t as good of a substitute as I thought.  I definitely need to spend more time on the road coming up.  Also I had forgotten just how much better it is riding on the road versus the trainer.

I just got notice by email that the Discovery Challenge cycling team is fundraising to send cancer survivors to the Ride for the Roses this year.  The Ride for the Roses is a reward for those that raise at lease $10,000  in support of their Livestrong Challenge ride. To do this they are giving the opportunity to people to sponsor individual riders over the course of the cycling season. You can donate a certain amount for each mile your rider rides this year. They break down a sampling of what your pledge would be based upon last years mileage and increments of .01, .10, 1.00, etc. There are fundraising incentives to boot. If your rider records the most mileage in a given month and you’re the biggest pledger then you receive a autographed jersey. The biggest supporter of the year gets to meet the team and attend the December training camp.

Learn more about the program here:
http://www.thepaceline.com/challenge/

If you’d like, feel free to sponsor my 100 miles at the Austin Livestrong Challenge as well.  Im no Ivan Basso but could use the support as well.

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.

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.