My ride with Levi Leipheimer today

That's awesome, man. Must have been a great privilege!

deckard said:

I had the good fortune of going on a two hour ride with Levi Leipheimer today in Santa Rosa, CA with 9 other people. This was our reward for being the top fundraisers for the American Lung Association. Levi is one of the kindest guys out there and I enjoyed every second of the ride. As far as keeping up the whole ride.........yeah right.

Good on ya : and good on LL too.

It's great to get a chance even to just cycle beside these guys.

Great photo too.

That's awesome Buddy!! I know how hard it can be to raise money for such (great) Charities so you deserved it...

But don't stop there, tell us what it's like riding with a Guy of LL's Caliber??

I've often wondered just how by far I'd be dropped...if it was me, I'd probably see him at the start then again at the finish if he waited long enough :o

nice!!
are my eyes deceiving me, or does levi ride with a frame pump, strap and all?! brilliant!

Lets put it this way, I've ridden with a lot of guys that are awesome riders, then there's the pro riders. Levi rides up hills like I ride on flats and then some. I could never keep at a constant speed for as long as these guys do. The pros are always like there part of the bike, so fluid and constant.

deckard said:

I had the good fortune of going on a two hour ride with Levi Leipheimer today in Santa Rosa, CA with 9 other people. This was our reward for being the top fundraisers for the American Lung Association. Levi is one of the kindest guys out there and I enjoyed every second of the ride. As far as keeping up the whole ride.........yeah right.

Congratulations on your reward for being among the top fundraisers. What a great honor.

Is Levi the class act he seems to be? He comes across as an intelligent, level-headed leader. If he's all that and more, watch out for team Disco.

was the pic taken before or after the ride? you look a little tired and levi looks as fresh as a daisy (no offence meant) ive always liked levi, his diaries on cyclingnews.com are always interesting and makes you appreciate what the pros go through.

nice work on the fundraising and the reward of the massive bragging rights to your buddies 😄

Firstly, congratulations on being one of the top fund raisers for such a fantastic fund. It's great to see someone contributing to something bigger than their own back pocket.

Secondly, what a reward! It must have been a huge thrill to ride with LL, the guy is one tough cookie.

Did LL use it as a photo op. for everyone? I mean did he just put his head down and ride off in to the sunset or sit up and just coast.

Nice reward and well earned. Thanks for doing your part! 😉

Yes, I was tired as you can see, but not having a stomach does that to me as I burn calories very fast and cannot eat as fast as I burn calories sometimes (not trying to make excuses). Levi said he was going to ride for 3 more hours after we finished. Levi was great with photos and signing jerseys and other items we had.

So you're basically saying he just warmed up for the 2 hour ride he did with you, then said i'll see you in the next state.

You and the other 9 blokes should have boxed him in and kept him to a pace considered reasonable for us lowly human beings.

It looks like, thats a fairly stock standard (as much as you could say that) specialized s-works bike he's got there. No carbon bidon cages or anything extra special on it? SRM cranks, computer, HRM. Something the manufacturer happened to have lying around.

Any more photos?

deckard, if you don't mind me asking how much $$$ did you raise for the American Lung association?

<------- wishes he could raise $15,000 for the Livestrong foundation so I could catch a ride with Lance Armstrong in Austin......

I raised $2400.00 in about a 2 month period before the American Lung Association ride. This was back in May 2006. The ride was mostly for Asthma awareness, but I'm a cancer survivor and felt like doing my part. I raised money for LAF in 2004 and 2005 (LAF did a survivorship story on me, see link):

livestrong.orgcontent.aspOpen ↗

The ride with Levi is a lot more personal as it is a private ride with only 10 people, unlike the LAF rides. I was kinds of disappointed with LAF as I raised good money for LAF both years and never even had a chance to even shake Lance's hand.

deckard said:

I raised $2400.00 in about a 2 month period before the American Lung Association ride. This was back in May 2006. The ride was mostly for Asthma awareness, but I'm a cancer survivor and felt like doing my part. I raised money for LAF in 2004 and 2005 (LAF did a survivorship story on me, see link):

livestrong.orgcontent.aspOpen ↗

The ride with Levi is a lot more personal as it is a private ride with only 10 people, unlike the LAF rides. I was kinds of disappointed with LAF as I raised good money for LAF both years and never even had a chance to even shake Lance's hand.

Wow, just wow.... kudos to you Raymond. You are a hell of a tough guy for surviving that....

May I ask how does a person that doesn't have a stomach breaks down his food?

I just chew the food very well (almost into a puree) before I swallow and I eat 5 high protein smaller meals a day. My diet is about 80% organic now as preservatives, fried foods and refined sugar do not digest well. I just look at the positive now, I am in better shape and ride better now.

deckard said:

I just chew the food very well (almost into a puree) before I swallow and I eat 5 high protein smaller meals a day. My diet is about 80% organic now as preservatives, fried foods and refined sugar do not digest well. I just look at the positive now, I am in better shape and ride better now.

My wife has been on my butt forever for not chewing my food. I am basically a human vacumm when it comes to eating, and I know that if I chewed my food more, I would probably be in better shape since I would not eat as much.... 🙁

Nice job dekard.

Give yourself a big pat on the back.

Way to go Deckard, that is a heck of a story about your own battle with cancer, glad to see the ride with LL was worth it for you.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the comments.