2 Months

Two months from today is the FireCracker 50 up in Breckenridge. In some ways it is just another race for me in a season of 15-20 races. In other ways it is going to be a special event. When I decided to dedicate my race season to raise awareness about global warming/humans environmental impact I knew I needed a keystone event, an event people could rally behind and focus on. While I spend a great deal of time racing most people don't appreciate the efforts and don't have the time to focus their attention on a season of racing.

The FireCracker 50 is a unique event, very long by mountain bike standards, an event that requires extra focus and effort to succeed in compared to a "normal" 2 hour race. If I race great the 50 will take 5 hours, and could easily take 6 hours to complete. In some ways the extra effort required to ride well on July 4th is not unlike the extra effort we all need to put in to help reduce human’s impact on the environment. We all need to focus our attention on details to win the race. For the FireCracker 50 that has involved me spending more time on building endurance this year (4-6 hour rides as opposed to 3-4 hour rides), more time focused on hydration and food on long rides, more time riding on the mountain bike to be use to the bike. Parallel to that is what we can do to reduce our environmental footprint. Spending more time sorting through our trash to make sure everything that can be recycled is, spending more time and focus on the products we use and companies we buy from to ensure we support companies that support environmental awareness. For example I have switched food products during rides from Powerbar to Clif products because of Clif's environmental stewardship.

It's the little changes, the attention to details that will help the environment and help me finish the FireCracker 50 well. I have 2 months to dig in and focus on the race; I ask each of you to spend the next 2 months focusing on the details related to your environmental impact. Take a little extra time to protect the planet.