Life of db

Trek’s President, John Burke, on Lance’s Retirement 2.0

 #4 on his favorite memories:

The Fall. It’s the 2003 Tour De France and Lance is leading the race. But not by much. It is a mountain stage in the Pyrenees and I am in a conference room at Trek watching with 20 people when he gets tangled up with a musette bag and hits the pavement. As he got up and tried to get back on the bike everyone in the room was out of their seats. I will never forget this. I said “Sit down and watch the legend grow.” Sure enough he gets back on the bike and catches up to the pack and then just buries the group. What most people don’t know is that during the crash he cracked the rear chainstay on the bike and didn’t notice. He kept the bike in the same gear for the rest of the climb. That bike is hanging in the lobby at Trek and I smile every time I walk by it.

Sick momento. Sick crash (video of the actual crash). Sick recovery.

There is no greater champion than Lance. Call it Retirement 2.0, or whatever you will, but he isn’t so much retired as he is switching careers from cycling to full time cancer fighting. Livestrong, kids.

Admittedly, I love Livestrong garb, but this spin bike is pretty legit even without my bias.
Buy the limited edition ripper for $1700, and $1000 of it will be donated to your (and my) favorite cause.  

You know you/I want it… it’s just plain sexy. 

I know I already preached the idea on twitter last-night, but I feel it deserves to be put in the spotlight again.

I’ve been donating whole blood for about 3 years, and for the last few months I’ve been donating plasma on a weekly basis, and beyond getting a free meal out of it (huge), it’s 1. Easy, and 2. Quite rewarding.

As I came back to Ottawa this past week, I had really been looking forward to becoming a regular platelets donor because of the key role it plays in the lives of cancer patients. Unfortunately for this round my platelet count was “too low” and not in the higher-end range they’re looking for from donors (the good news is that the count fluctuates, and I hold hope that I can donate later still). In the meantime, I’ve joined OneMatch - the most direct way to be called to action. Step up and save a life by being included in a database to match you up as a stem cell and/or bone marrow donor. You may not ever get matched up to be a donor (the matching is more difficult than at eHarmony, apparently), but my goodness, if you ever do - try and tell me that won’t be a most humbling experience.

Here’s the other thing - when the manager of the Ottawa clinic called me to talk about my count, she mentioned that she appreciated my eagerness to commit to regular donations, and that CBS (Canadian Blood Services) often have a difficult time engaging the youth of our generation and attaining lifetime donors.

And there’s the importance of it all..
While it may be the part role of CBS to attract new donors and spread the awareness for their our cause, nobody is going to do it as effectively as we, the youth, can. There comes a time when one must stand behind a brand or a cause, and endorse what s/he believes in. Stand up and get actively involved in something you are proud to stand behind.

Whether it be donating whole blood every 56 days at your school, or at a permanent clinic, or giving a weekly/bi-weekly donation of plasma/platelets; as they say best, it’s in you to give.

On a side note, Livestrong is starting an absolutely awesome campaign dubbed Unity, and TOMS are the shoes that everyone should be wearing.

It doesn’t take much to spread words that are worth spreading, and when it’s worth it, it doesn’t feel like work. See what you can do, chah? What causes do you hold dear?

Thanks for being you,
Dylan