Update! The fundraiser will continue until I finish the race! YEAH! Donate right below:

Friends - Old, New and As Yet Undiscovered:

Today marks two weeks before I start out on my Next Big Adventure: Racing Tour Divide! The Tour Divide Grand Départ is Friday, June 10th, starting in Banff, Alberta, Canada. The route takes us challengers south through Canada, into the United States traversing, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico - finally ending at a small border crossing known as Antelope Wells. 2,750 miles. 200,000 feet of elevation gain. There is no longer off road mountain bike route in the world.

The route itself is comprised of old forest roads, mining roads and 4x4 tracks - some very much forgotten and overgrown, following the meandering line of the Continental Divide and crossing this divide some thirty times! This year seems particularly arduous as the record snowfalls in the Rockies have left many of these passes absolutely covered in snow! My fledgling mountaineering skills (most of them the armchair variety) may need to be practiced.

I am not a professional cyclist, only an amateur at best. I have no sponsors. I fell in love with cycling hard, finding the pure, wonderful and simple bicycle an intensely powerful vehicle for wonderful social change and amazing adventures. My life has surely been enriched 100x just from that first thrifted Schwinn I picked up at a thrift store and that one day I wondered if I could ride it from Denver to Boulder (I could!). Now I look where I am: having cycled in 9 countries on three different continents, learning, growing, experiencing.

Although I will be attempting to make a best personal time through the 2750+ miles of the route, my race will be one of personal discovery and growth. These types of experiences are what fuel my creative fire as an artist. I have long ago figured out that the most important thing to me is the journey and experience of life struggles and adventures. These are the bright flashes of fireworks in the dark sky of my life.

I mean, this is serious. For the past six months, I have undertaken an almost monk-like existence; training upwards of 400 miles per week riding the incredible local state parks outside my doorstep in Denver, CO, dialing in gear that will survive the 3-4 weeks I plan on being on the route self-supported (there's no one en-route to help you if you're in trouble) and pouring over the reams of maps and guidebooks that attempt to describe the route. All this, while still trying to keep my responsibilities in running the tiny little business whose genesis I started in my dorm room some twelve years ago - and still giving most all of the intellectual property away with an open source license.

I have given up so much, time with friends especially whom I miss so much and who I feel I have personally almost abandoned. I feel as if I'm living in an entirely different country, homesick for the life I once knew, but knowing I have a deep desire to accomplish something much, much larger than myself. I have given up my art studio of 3+ years and most everything I own that can be sold is for sale.

The bike is packed with the gear I need. I am in the most intense shape of my entire life - ten pounds (at least!) have been shed from my already svelte frame. Tickets have been booked to get to Canada to start the race. I have depleted every single source of funds I have - even, sadly, maxing out credit cards, which I loathe to do. I'm almost there. I am so close.

My last worry and fear is not the route ahead of me, but again is cash. Cash to simply eat while on the route. I'm scared that I will run out of money somewhere without enough eat my next meal. A weird feeling! I will summit a snowy pass with abandon, aplomb and style - nary a second thought to the dangers and hardships, but what would happen if I can't pick up something edible at the gas station on the other side? I sincerely don't know. A sad reason to bail on such a race and try to thumb it home. I won't let that happen. 

I've tried my very best to be as self-sufficient as possible, but I could really use a little help.

So, I'm once again asking for help in the form of a D.I.Y. Fundraiser. It's neither fancy or large. It is what it is. Some days, training leaves me drained of all energy or if I over do it, I become sick with a bug of some sort that's hard to shake off. This is what I can put together in the small slice of time I have between all my other major responsibilities.

Knowing a lot of people need a little help in this rough world and what I'm trying to accomplish is, in a way, quite frivolous in of itself, I also want to help a local organization myself called U.S.E.D. (Underground Syringe Exchange of Denver). It's a tough sell, but I believe in what they're doing, I've seen people who've benefited and some of those people I call my friends. I also believe that everyone needs a little help and no one is a lost cause, not even a (potential) drug addict.

There's autobiographical reasons I chose to support this organization - too personal to get into, but for someone that's has been building the endurance to not only ride a bike, but race a bike - and race a bike over difficult terrain - to be in the highest form of physical health in my life, I want to also help someone that's hitting rock bottom. It's that simple. So this time, I'm giving 25% of what people donate directly to U.S.E.D., who will do nothing with the money except buy the supplies they need - there's no bureaucratic weirdness that goes on like in some non-profits - they are also totally D.I.Y. That's another reason I think I dig them and their mission. They help. They ask no questions. People's lives have been improved.

I've already raised almost $200 towards this organization which they've received. I'd love to give them a little more.

Two weeks away. I am extremely excepted and exceptionally frightened about the start of this race. Tomorrow, I'll be rising before the sun and starting my Last Big Practice Ride: four days in the Colorado Rockies to test my endurance, my emotions and my simple bicycle one more time, before I pack it all up for Canada. Won't you help me with my Last Big Push?

Justin Simoni, May 26th, 2011

If You Donate, You'll Be Entered To Win Some of My Art

I don't have much. But,

I have a collection of some hand-pull screen prints I've been compiling, that I've made throughout the years. I'll draw up one lucky person from the group of wonderful people that donated something to help me race the Tour Divide and they'll get the whole lot of it. They're easy to send, easy for you to store and easy enough for you to hang up and move about when you move about your busy life.

Everyone that I have an address for that has donated? I'll give you each a postcard along the way. It may be at the start in Banff, It may be from a forgotten town somewhere in Wyoming. Who knows. It's a small thank you from me to you.

I'm going to send as many as possible, but here's just a few to show you what's up:

Joy/Sadness, Three-Color Screenprint 16" x 20"

Acceptance/Disgust, Four-Color Screenprint 16" x 20"

CMPLCTD, Screen Print ~ 8' x 10" , Series #1 100 prints on Bristol Board

(and many, many more...)