[Dirt]

I’ll be there Friday and Saturday!

[Dirt]

That was right before dude try to run over the Trailer with his pick-up truck. Thanks for posting, dkel!

[Dirt]

Huge thanks to everyone who participated and contributed! It took all of us to make that ride a success. We would have all died a horrible death without RobL and Kathy at the resupply stops!

We raised over $4000 for GRASP and that is amazing!

[Dirt]

@jrenaut 120098 wrote:

I’m interested. I’m in the middle of trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up and this is a really cool opportunity. How the heck does anyone come into this after Dirt, though?

I’ve heard that comment a bunch of times over the last week or so. Everyone has a different approach to doing outreach and working with people. The basics concepts are the same, but how each of us does a job like this is completely different. Something like the PAL Ambassador program benefits from having new and different voices added to the mix. If you’re new to this kind of work, there are AWESOME people to help you find that voice and what works best for you. I’m one of those people, if you want. I’m available to help the transition as much or as little as needed to make this successful.

It is fun. It is challenging. It is rewarding beyond what you can imagine. It is best way I know to improve safety for everyone on the streets of Arlington.

[Dirt]

Lots of new information in the Facebook Event. Go out and read if you have some time.

https://www.facebook.com/events/426712224172627/

[Dirt]

Hey folks. You completely have dcv to thank (or blame) for this ride happening. I’ve had neither the time, nor the resources to put my normal amount of energy into making this ride happen. Thank you for your patience! Thank you Vin for making it happen.

This is the ride event on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/426712224172627/ It is public, so you should be able to read the description even if you’re not a Facebook member.

This is not a formal charity ride or any kind of sponsored event. It is just a bunch of people getting together to go for a very odd bike ride. This is a self-supported ride! There are water stops at different convenience stores and drinking fountains. You need to be self sufficient on this ride.

I give people the opportunity to donate to an amazing charity. If you do this ride, I ask that you please donate. It means a lot to me.

Incomplete list of things that are impossible about this ride:

• Climbing: 12,000 feet of climbing in one ride is always difficult. Doing that much climbing broken down into short, steep climbs is 2x as challenging
• Navigation: 108 miles and almost 500 turns. Modern GPS units fail to navigate this ride. Only one person knows the route by heart.
• Leading a large group of people on this is impossible — People at the back of the group may be 2 turns behind the people at the front of the group.
• It is going to be HOT
• Did I mention the climbing?

List of things that will make this possible:

• Ride for the group, not for yourself. I know that is a big ask for a ride this challenging.
• Have strong riders riding in the middle of the pack — If you’ve got legs and lungs, we need you to to help as glue for this ride
• Communicate — We’ll try to keep the ride together as a group. Open communication will help a lot.
• Quick water stops. We need to keep these stops as short as possible…. stops of longer than 10 minutes make it very hard keep people’s legs going!

Last year’s Kill Bill ride group was big at 25. This year looks like we’re going to almost double that. I’m not in as good of shape as I was last year, so we’ve got 7 different ride leaders who are going to guide a section of the ride. This makes it so that no-one has to learn the whole ride. Be good to these people. The guidance they provide will be the only thing that gets you to the finish line.

Lots of people start Kill Bill without the intention of finishing it. There are easy ways to shorten the ride to 50k or 100k. That is good and bad. Nice that you can easily cut the ride short. It stinks if you’re hurting and we’re riding right past your house at the half-way point.

Thanks for reading. Sorry about the long post. There’s a lot to know in order to do this ride.

Pete

[Dirt]

I’m going with Stages. The new gravel bike will have one. Probably the Salsa will have one too.

[Dirt]

I regularly ride the W&OD at all hours. Deer are the biggest danger that I’ve encountered.

[Dirt]

@scoot 119084 wrote:

Friday afternoon in the office… time for some limericks:
Definitely leaning toward the morbid here. I suppose it’s tough to be light-hearted while conveying the proper message though…

Morbid plays well if people are smiling and laughing when they deliver it.

Thanks Scoot! You are awesome.

[Dirt]

@Dirt 119038 wrote:

I’m a fluffy, pink hamster.

And a pretty princess too.

[Dirt]

I’m a fluffy, pink hamster.

[Dirt]

Bwahahahaha! PERFECT! “Pucker” doesn’t really make sense though.

[Dirt]

Don’t be a stinker
Use your blinker

++++++++++++++++

Model safety
Show your kids
Exactly what
Good driving is.

+++++++++++++++

Be Sweet
Keep away 3 feet

++++++++++++++++

Put down the phone
Just leave it alone
And we can all
Get Safely home

[Dirt]

I’ll have a huge golf umbrella that people can huddle under if it rains. It’ll be fun!

[Dirt]

If you’ve got some time on your ride home, swing by and hang out for a while! We’d love to see you!

[Author]

Replies