Race weekend is upon us.

Here it is, Friday the 21st. That means that tomorrow we head to Philly and the next day we ride. Can't believe it's finally and yet suddenly here. Let me bring you up to speed on some recent LIVESTRONG Challenge happenings that have got us amped up before even leaving CT.

First of all, I made it to $2500.00 in funds raised. $2,555.00 to be exact. All thanks to you guys, a few key last minute donations and a little help from the little, I mean younger brother. All tolled, together the Frost boys raised over $7,100.00 to help benefit cancer research and awareness. And by Frost boys, I of course mean you guys, the people who we reached out to and who answered the call with resounding generosity and warmth.

We couldn't have done it without you.

I can't speak for Chad or Clint, but I am personally very humbled by the outpouring of support, and I'm very grateful for it. When it all came to a close, 85 people broke out their checkbooks, even in this hard economy to support me. That number itself surprises me but what surprises and humbles me even more, is the fact that out of the 85 donors, I only personally know 32 of them! That's right 53 people that I've never even met before donated to help me achieve my goal and to help us win the battle against cancer. Unbelievable! Really, I'm dumbfounded by this. I don't know what to say, it makes me feel wonderful that there is so much generosity and so many good people in the world, but it makes me a little bummed to know that cancer affects nearly everyone out there. You can see why it's important to me to do something, even if it's just a little fundraiser, to help the cause. Thank you too, you have obviously felt the call to help in this fight and I'll be thinking of you during the race.

Now that fundraising is closed, the thoughts turn to the actual ride itself. As you know, it's in Philly and since Becky and I live in CT, you'd assume that it's pretty important to have a place to stay in Philly. You'd be right in that assumption. We had even thought this through ourselves, and even went so far as to book a hotel room that that night. Wise idea right. So you can imagine what kind of fiasco ensued when we got a call from the DoubleTree West Philadelphia that we no longer can stay in the room that we booked months ago. Seriously, two days before the event we got that call. Apparently they've had some rain in Philly and the DoubleTree roof wasn't prepared for precipitation. Crazy. Now that they have water damage in some rooms, they are systematically ousting people. Our whole team is/was staying there so it's been quite a headache. They are trying to rebook us in an Embassy Suites, 13 miles away. Apparently they didn't think 100 miles was quite man enough, why not throw on a dozen more. Anyway, I've been going "Cathy Frost" on the GM of the hotel so there's a chance that we'll get a room there.

Besides the stress of worrying about a roof over our heads race-day-eve, (seriously, I had a dream about a strong chat with the GM last night) everything else I think is ready to go. My body feels as ready as it's gonna be. The bike's been tuned up and I'm about to hit the garage and give it a good cleaning. I know Chad and Clint are ready, Todd's feeling good, so it's on.

In other good news, since Team Fat Cyclist has ballooned to 197 participants and raised over $265,000.00, we won every award that the LAF gives out for the Philly event. This means that our team got 20 tickets to go to the LIVESTRONG Fundraising Appreciation dinner Saturday night. We were very honored to get invited by our team captain to help represent the team at this invite only dinner and I'm sure I'll have great stories and memories from the night.

So, the plan is to caravan with Todd and Katie tomorrow morning to Philly, sort out the hotel stuff and then relax until dinner, dine with other cancer fighters, sleep, wake up crazy early, ride, ride some more, keep riding, turn left and keep riding, turn the corner to the finish line, ride a little bit more, and then finish in a heap. Can't wait and you'll hear all about it after I recover next week.

Wish us luck.

Less than 24 hours to Fundraise...

And only 4 days till race morning.

Can't believe it, it's all happening. Last minute donations are coming in and while I'd love to still top the $3000 mark, I think a more realistic goal for the next 23 hours is to get to the $2,500 milestone. If you've been putting it off (like I probably would have done) the time to donate is now. Thanks to all who have donated, your support means the world to me and I'll be thinking of you during the race.

Since Monday nights ride, I've been resting the legs. I might get out and get in a few easy miles tonight after work, and Thursday I'll probably get in a nice jog (can't forget about marathon training). Sunday will be here before you know it. Can't wait to fill you in on how it goes.

Less than a week to go

Can't believe it, we're less than 7 days from race day. Fundraising officially ends Thursday morning at 9am sharp. If you are waiting to be a dramatic last minute donation, I appreciate it but please make sure to get your donation in before Thursday morning. Currently because of your very generous support, I have helped raise over $2,100 dollars. Not too shabby but still shy of my goal. If you've been meaning to head over to my donation site, http://philly09.livestrong.org/frost, and splash down a few bucks, now is the time. I certainly appreciate it and as I've been saying all along, it is truly a worthy cause that I'm sure has directly touched each of our lives.

Last night I got a nice ride in with the C group at Pedal Power. We got in about 25 miles and considering the crazy heat and some weird stomach cramps, I felt pretty good. 100 miles is going to be epic, but I'm feeling pretty confident. The long term forecast is saying that by Sunday the heat wave should break so that's good. Everything is lining up nicely.

Last Sunday night, Clint and fellow Frost Philly Fatty member Jen Scharbach, held their joint fundraising event and it was a total blast not to mention success. They had a raffle/party at a local Mystic restaurant, Angie's Pizza. The Ramble Hoots played till one in the morning and with all the prizes they had to give away they raised over $1400 in one night. Kudos to them.

So there it is, the journey is almost complete. We started months ago without any stamina, no bike, and no real idea as to what I was getting into. Fast forward to today, I have much better stamina, I own a bike but still probably have no idea what I'm getting into. Well, I'll let you know come Monday. There will be pictures and I'm sure plenty of stories so stay tuned. And again, last chance to donate. You've officially been asked so please take this opportunity to help fight against this vicious disease that I know has touched your life in some way. Thanks for the support, I won't let you down come Sunday.

New Contest to Benefit LIVESTRONG

Now is the time, less than 2 weeks till race day. The time to donate is quickly running out. Luckily for all you fellow procrastinators out there, good things come to those who wait.

In an effort to reach my goal of $3000.00, I am pulling out all the stops and having one last fundraising extravaganza. Alright, it's less like an extravaganza and more like a raffle, but it's still fun and you could win a great prize all while helping fight cancer.

The Prize.

A Complete Custom Alpha Cornhole Set from CornholeU.com. Those of you who know me well, know that I own CornholeU.com, but that's beside the point. Look at this beauty.










This set includes the custom painted boards in your choice of color, a set of matching bags, and shipping in the continental US. A value, if purchased at CornholeU.com of over $200.00! If you win and you're out of the US, we'll figure something out.

Don't yet know what Cornhole is? Not too worry, the short of it is, it's like horse shoes but played with corn filled bags and wooden boards with holes in them. For a more in depth view into what you've been missing, check out CornholeU.com. And what a better way to get into the "sport" than to win a custom set.

To be entered to win all you have to do is donate to my LIVESTRONG page anytime between NOW and August 20th. (Better sooner rather than later)

For every $5.00 that you donate you get one entry into the drawing. Donate 50 bucks and you just got 10 entries my friend. I like those odds. Ten bucks = 2 entries...you get the idea.

So hop to it. Winners will be selected using random.org and will be announced on Monday August 24th...could be your lucky day. Plus, you're fighting cancer at the same time. It's a win/win.

Speaking of win/win I almost forgot. Even if you don't win, (even though you probably will) everyone who donates between now and August 20th will get a $10.00 off coupon good at CornholeU.com. Giving 5 to get 10, it's like free money.

Thanks for your help, I can't do it without you.

Hartford 5k Scramble

Tonight Becky and I headed to Hartford with her friend from teaching, Erica, to run the 5K scramble event. It's a great run. Instead of just your run of the mill 5K road race, this run take place on a variety of terrain right along the CT river. Some pavement, some mud, some gravel and some grass. Their were over 600 runners and for good reason. Not only was the course cool and different, after the race was over, there was free beer, hot dogs, burritos, and more. They had a great band, and did I mention this was all outside on a beautiful evening along the river in downtown.

The race itself was a little tough. I hadn't run on surfaces like that in a bit, it was about 95% humidity and I sweat out about 3 gallons of fluids. The crowds were pretty heavy on the little trails, but all in all it was a blast. I finished in 132 place with a time of 26:14 or a pace of about 8:20 a mile. I was pretty happy with it considering the heat/humidity and the enormous Mexican lunch a had a few hours earlier. Becky came in right around 30 minutes which is pretty par for the course for her, and like I said, the best part was winding down after the race with the band, food and scenery. Not a bad way to spend a Thursday night after work. The new job I'm loving by the way, thanks for asking.

I've got a long way to till I'm ready for the NYC marathon, but every run counts.

More Camping and a little more riding

This past weekend we headed out to do some more camping. I was hanging out with my brothers a couple months ago and in passing it was mentioned how much fun it would be to go camping for the weekend sometime. Now, if that conversation had just been between my brothers and myself, it probably would have ended there, but lucky for us Becky was in the conversation and that woman can get things done. Instead of a "Ya, that sounds like fun, we'll have to do that sometime..." it turned into an email that was like "OK, I got a campsite for the weekend of the 26-27th, who's in charge of bringing what?", and like that we actually had something planned.

Chad's wife Heather is pregnant with baby numero tres, and was perfectly fine, spending her time sans children and husband at the spa, so she didn't join us this trip. So that meant that Chad and his two boys, Luke and Boden were going to be there, Clint was coming down from Beantown to spend sometime in the great outdoors and then there was Becky and I. Then in a great last minute twist, Becky invited her Dad Larry, who had been chilling home alone for the past two weeks with his wife out of town and her brother Eric. We had quite the crew and we had quite the weekend. We all, Chad, Clint, Larry and I, brought our bikes with the hopes of getting a ride in. Chad and Larry brought kayaks, and I of course brought cornhole so we were set.

Friday night we got there in time to set up camp, get a great fire going, and cook dinner, chili cheese dogs, over the fire. Some of my favorite times camping have just been hanging out around the campfire and Friday night was no let down. We had a great time laughing and talking and just relaxing outdoors, nothing much better. We were just starting to think about turning in for the night, when it starting to rain, which made the choice easy. We scrambled to throw everything, and I mean everything, under the picnic table and we all headed to our respective tents. We were then treated to a spectacular lighting show in our tents and it rained like crazy. Our tent held up though, kept us dry and by the time we woke up, the rain had stopped and it was a beautiful Saturday. We walked down to the lakes beach and hung out there for a bit, the boys, Luke and Bo getting some fishing practice in. Then we had some lunch, and headed out for a kayak around the lake. We were short one kayak so I wound up towing Eric around on a little inflatable tube. It was hilarious. The kayak I was using was crazy old, had no rudder and no hull shape which meant I had n real way to control the boat. It was so bad that after awhile, we gave Eric a paddle and from the tube in back he became my rudder. Not the most graceful kayak excursion ever, but we made it back in one piece.

After that, it was time for some cornhole. I successfully created 3 more cornhole addicts in Chad, Clint and Eric. Chad and Eric were on the same team and dominated. I was hoping that it was beginners luck at first, but they both were star cornholers. It took like 5 games before Clint and I finally won one. We had a blast.

Then Luke started tugging on my arm to go bike riding. Now, here's a kid who's just turned six and for his birthday Chad and Heather got him a sweet six speed Trek mountain bike. Lots of kids his age are still rocking training wheels and he speeds around on this "Big Boy" bike like he's been doing it for years. He's awesome. We rode around the campground for a pretty long time. It was cool to see how well he can ride a bike. His balance is great, he's fast and he loves it. He kept saying how much fun he was having. It was great, not much beats the enthusiasm of a kid doing something he loves. It was finally time to pull back into our site for dinner but not before Luke made me promise that we'd ride some more "first" thing in the morning. I happily obliged.

After another night of good campfire food (cheese quesadillas with peppers, onions and cilantro) and some adult beverages, we hit the sack. It rained again during the night. Becky and I again fared well in our tent, staying totally dry, but this time some of our camping compatriots weren't as lucky. I think Clint, Eric and Larry were a little more damp than they would've liked but we all survived. As planned, within about 40 seconds of me being awake, I found myself riding bikes with Luke. It was a refreshing way to wake up for sure. It was cool to be riding around like a kid, with a kid. In all this training, and the lead up to this 100 mile race, it's easy to forget how to just ride a bike around for the sake of riding a bike. Riding around with Luke, going somewhere, but yet nowhere in particular was a blast. Before we knew it though, it was time to pack up and head home.

It was a great weekend and many thanks go out to Becky for making it all happen. If you want to see some pics of the weekend, including Luke on his bike, click here. Becky uploaded the photos to the Internet but not my computer so I don't have any to post in this post as of now. If I do later I'll update it.

So that was the weekend. Now it's Monday morning and I start my new job today. I can't wait, I'm very excited for the possibilities that T-Mobile has to offer. I'll be training Radio Shack employees on how to sell T-Mobile. It's the same industry that I was in before and I'm doing Training just like I love to do. As an added bonus, Radio Shack is Lance's new team partner for 2010, very cool. Hopefully I can score a Radio Shack/LIVESTRONG jersey somewhere down the line. I'll keep you posted.

Cali and another good group ride...

Back from vacay and much to report.

First of all Becky and I had a great time in sunny California. We got back around midnight last night and were needless to say, whooped. Our trip started in San Fransisco where Becky has family so we got to see her Grandma, Aunts and Uncles and cousins. After one night in San Fran, we motored in our rented Jeep Wrangler to Santa Cruz for a couple nights in a nice little beach house. Becky's Aunt Laura happens to also live Santa Cruz and she also rides bikes. Jackpot. Not only were we able to beach it up, I was able to get the grand tour of Santa Cruz via two bike rides. One was about 25 miles and one was about 30, both were awesome and both were a tad on the hilly side. Not a lot of flat in Santa Cruz in turns out.

Laura Bontrager, me and her friend Stephanie before our first ride.


Laura's bike was made for a Team Discovery member a few years back. When he left the team she inherited a sweet ride, and yes that's me lifting it up with my pinkie fingers.

I was able to use Laura's husband Keith's bike which was pretty sweet. Full carbon frame, carbon cranks, carbon handlebars and great components. The saddle was better than I was used to as well. Turns out I have a pretty cushy, probably pretty heavy stock seat. Keith rides a pretty slim and hard, nearly weightless I'm sure, saddle. After two rides my butt bone was pretty tender. I brought my own pedals and shoes so I had to get Keith's pedals off. It took me a minute and some help from Laura to get them off but then we we good to roll. Our pre-ride breakfast was homemade organic oatmeal pancakes and the best coffee I've ever had. Laura then took us around Santa Cruz. The scenery and pit stops for wild blackberries were a couple of the highlights. Just riding around a different town is cool enough but Santa Cruz is beautiful. Having a local who knows her way around town is great too. Both rides were great and I can't thank Laura enough. Also, many thanks to Keith for letting me use his bike while he was out of town.

After Santa Cruz we headed to Yosemite for the rest of the trip. We camped, hiked, swam, cooked over the fire pit, took pictures and generally had an awesome time. If you haven't been, I definitely recommend it. I can't even describe the scenery. It's all so very impressive and it was great to see. Can't wait to go back one day.
Back in CT today, I headed out to the Pedal Power Monday night ride. I set out with the A/B group. We head out together but sooner rather than later the A group kicks it up a notch and leaves the B's behind. I'm naturally one of the B's left behind. I have ridden with the B group once before and tonight was another good one. We got in 30 miles averaging about 17.9 mph. A couple tough hills peppered in made it interesting and towards to end I found myself in a group that was breaking away from the rest. There was about six of us, about half the B's, and these guys started cranking. I was working pretty hard not to get dropped. At one point I was near my max and suddenly there was a pretty long, very visible hill right in front of us. I was just about to break when I noticed that we were taking a right hand turn right before the hill, total lifesaver. I didn't get dropped and soon we were pulling back into the shop. Just to prove that I'm a good Noncyclist, as I pulled up to a couple of the guys after the ride, we started talking and I forgot about riding.

Wait for it...

I totally fell over still clipped in. Here I am pulling up to talk about what a great ride we just had, and before I know it I'm on the ground. Real slick Mav. It happens so fast yet so slow. You can't lose focus for a second, I'm just glad I was back on my own bike, not Keith's. The guys, who I was really just meeting, were nice enough and did the whole, "Everyone topples over clipped in once in a while". Whatever, good for the ego to get slammed down like that from time to time. After helping me up, we did introduce ourselves, and talked about our good ride. Maybe next time it won't end with me on the ground.