Community Though Suffering

I've been busy as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest lately but I wanted to get a post up. I've got a bunch of stuff on my mind and some on my hard drive to share.

First off, there was a fundraiser on Sunday night for Kelley Kalafatich. I know some of you don't know who KK is so I'll 'splain. Kelley is an old time River Guide who has worked around the world on some of the most challenging rivers and in some of the most remote locations. She was one of the first women to work on the Zambezi river in Africa. She was also on the first descent of the Blue Nile and was the stunt double for Meryl Streep on The River Wild. Those include her professional resume but what is more important is that she is one of the kindest, most humble gentle generous people that you'll ever meet. She is the kind of person that once you've met her, you wont forget her.

There is a blog setup for daily updates on her but the story is that she has a rare disease called transverse mylitis

So the fundraiser went really really well. I don't know if there was an official tally on the money raised but it was over 20,000. There were more than 200 people stuffed into the Sierra Nevada House all of whom have been touched by Kelley in some way.

It was great to see such a strong response from our community. I am sad that we are all in one place for that reason but it is still great to see it.

That brings me to something else that's been on my mind; Suffering. As cyclists we have an unusual relationship with suffering. We seek out opportunities to test ourselves in the face of adversity whether it is getting to the top of a big hill faster than last time or winning a sprint in out of a charging pack or just going as far as possible in one day. If we don't get out and do this often enough some of us get antsy and some of us get downright grumpy which is a form of suffering in its own right. So we keep coming back for more suffering.

Back in July when many of us gathered at the Velo Loco Annual meeting I was thinking that the next round of Jerseys should say something like "community through suffering" on them. I am curious what you all think of that.

So that leads me to the last thing, at the party on Sunday, there was a confirmed Anderson sighting. That's right Tommy AND Terry were at the party. Terry is rockin' a sweet new hair do and has a funky zipper on her scalp and looks stronger than Mario Cipolini on a six pack of Red Bull. Tommy is hanging super tough after taking a long hard pull for his family. Sounds like they both have some work left to do so send some good thoughts their way. I think we'll be seeing them at the bakery soon.

So I've got to run but I wanted to share a super cool blog that I'll be adding to the blog roll soon. Go check it out.
Please comment below. And if any of you are interested in doing some posts shoot me an email and I'll set you up as an author for this blog.