David Staley

100 Mountain Miles. One Tandem Bike. Questionable Decision-Making for a Good Cause.

I’ve done a handful of strange endurance things over the years, and this one feels right on brand:

I’m riding the Leadville 100 mountain bike race — 100 miles, mostly above 10,000 feet — on a tandem bike.

A tandem.

At Leadville.

This started because I thought it would be funny, hard, and a very good story. There is a specific kind of joy I get from an adventure that is difficult enough to be meaningful and absurd enough that you can’t help but laugh while doing it.

But the more I sat with it, the more the tandem started to feel like a pretty good metaphor.

The hard stuff in life is rarely carried alone.

You get through it with people beside you. Sometimes they are helping pull the weight. Sometimes they are steadying you when things get wobbly. And sometimes they are just laughing with you in the middle of the absurdity, which somehow helps too.

I probably would have loved this ridiculous tandem idea no matter what. But because of the year we’ve had, the metaphor feels a little more meaningful than I expected.

Cancer — and leukemia specifically — has felt a lot less abstract.

In February, my best friend Logan lost his wife Molly to leukemia. She was a friend to Nicole and me — someone we had shared holidays, trips, and a lot of life with — and the mom of two young kids. She was diagnosed and gone within days. It was shocking, heartbreaking, and hard to make sense of in a way I still don’t really have words for.

Then in June, I lost my dad. He had leukemia too, and had been receiving blood transfusions for the last 18 months. Eventually, they stopped helping.

I don’t want to overstate or overdramatize my part in any of that. I’m just riding a bike.

But I am grateful to point the effort, the silliness, and the story toward something useful — and toward an organization that helps people and families dealing with cancer.

So yes, this is still a ridiculous Leadville tandem adventure.

But it also feels like a small way to honor the people we’ve lost, the people who love them, and everyone helping carry each other forward.

If you feel moved to donate, I’d be grateful. A few bucks, a laugh, a cheer, or simply appreciating the absurdity of two grown men trying to drag a tandem mountain bike over Leadville are all welcome.

Either way, I appreciate you.

— David