I know you guys are probably getting terribly sick of me and this contest stuff, but I’m desperate, so I’m making one last push.
This push has a story though. I hope it is enough of a story to collect three clicks from you (and your friends, family, co-workers, acquaintances) in the next 29 hours.
My home office is one of the best I’ve ever had. The windows look out onto the street in front of the house. It’s a beautiful neighborhood with a lot of pedestrian and bike traffic. Other than my basketball sessions, people watching is the only form of socialization I get when I’m working at home. I love watching people walk by, and even more, ride by on their bikes.
But it’s starting to hurt because I can’t get out on my bike and ride around. It’s like the entire city of Minneapolis is teasing me because I don’t have a bike to ride.
I don’t have a bike to ride.
After working so hard on cycling last year to achieve a goal I’m really proud of (riding 102-miles in one day), it feels wrong to not spend time cycling this year. I’m not riding because my bike broke down during the ADA Tour de Cure this year. I don’t think I ever told the story here.
I rode a much shorter route this year. I wanted to enjoy the event, participate in the festivities, and not be totally spent afterward. Everything went really great until my bike had a catastrophic breakdown. Though in terms of breakdowns, I couldn’t have planned a better one.
I was riding along the Midtown Greenway and closing in on the finish line. Just about four miles left in the ride. I zoomed past an official ADA Tour de Cure rest stop (food, water, support) on my right, almost immediately followed by a bike shop on my left. Not thirty seconds after passing the bike shop I heard the noise that no cyclist likes to hear… “POPSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh……”
Popped tire. Flat as can be. I was so casual about the ride this year that I didn’t have a spare tube, or even a pump with me (shame, shame). I was totally unprepared.
But I was less than a two-minute walk back to the bike shop. I went in expecting to pay for a new tube and some manual labor. I came out with a bike that had been declared unsafe to ride (cracked crank arm).
I bought this bike in the early nineties. It’s very likely at least twenty years old. When the mechanic got above $50 in his repair estimate I waved the white flag and started to plan the funeral. It served me well, but I’m not willing to put much more money into it.
I walked another minute back to the ADA rest stop and bumped into a teammate who broke his arm while on a training ride earlier that spring. He offered to give me a lift back to home base. I was back at the team tent with a cold Diet Coke in less than 20 minutes after my tire blew. Talk about an ideal breakdown!
Here’s where I need your help. I’m begging for it. I really miss cycling. I want so bad to get back out there and feel the wind in my hair. But there’s no way I can afford a bike unless I win this contest.
You don’t have to sign up for anything, you don’t have to give up your e-mail address, you don’t have to watch anything, or “Like” anything, or register for anything. It’s three clicks. One on the link (2013 AAA Finalist Voting), one to select my video, and one to click the “Vote” button. That’s all there is to it.
You can only vote one time for each computer/device you have, so sharing is the key. Vote on each computer, tablet, phone, or laptop that you can get your hands on. Voting ends at 11:59 PM ET on Thursday (8/15) night.
On Friday, I’m flying out to San Diego for the live award show – which is a prize in and of itself. Thank you for getting me so far already. I’ll find out on Saturday night who the winner is, and with your help I think I have a good chance.
