Doug Fletcher
The Athlete | DOUG FLETCHER
The Race | LEADVILLE TRAIL
100-MILE MOUNTAIN BIKE RACE
The Goal | $5,000 for BRIGHT HOPE SCHOOL
Meet The Athlete | DOUG FLETCHER
Doug Fletcher of Bozeman MT is an avid outdoorsman. He enjoys biking, running, camping, fishing, hunting, downhill and x-country skiing. Although he spends most his working hours behind a computer at the business he co-founded, North Star Consulting Group, he tries to spend as much time in the outdoors with his family and friends. He’s a jack of all trades athlete and couldn’t possibly pick one sport to do year-round. For Race4Equality he has chosen to do the Leadville Trail 100 Mile Mountain Bike Race.
Biking Background |
Like most of us, Doug learned as a kid how to ride a bike. His first memory of riding a bike was when he about 3 years old. His grandfather who was in the hospital over Christmas gave each grandkid a new bicycle for Christmas and had them delivered to the front lawn of the hospital. His grandfather waved from the hospital window as the grandkids rode their new bikes (with training wheels) on the sidewalk.
One of the coolest, most memorable experiences of Doug’s childhood was the experience of learning how to ride a bike. Back in the day, a bicycle was a kid’s ticket to freedom and during the summer, Doug and his friends spent every day from morning to dusk on their bikes. Riding a bike as a kid was not only fun but it was utilitarian. He carries that pure love of biking with him today as an adult.
When Doug rides his bike today, he still experiences complete freedom and joy. He says it’s a unique, blissful experience that is unmatched in any of his other athletic pursuits. “You are so much more aware of your surroundings and environment when you are on a bike. Even riding to and from work, I see things that I never see when in my car.” Doug states. When he’s mountain biking on technical single track, the experience for him is very zen-like, it’s an escape from the “real world”. He’ll mountain bike for hours and return home completely mentally recharged.
Doug loves the Bozeman trail network and feels it is truly awesome and includes many of his favorite trail rides. Thanks to GVLT’s Longest Day of Trails event each year on the summer solstice, he’s really gotten to know the Bozeman town trails well. When hitting the mountains near Bozeman, he enjoys riding the Bangtail Divide, South Cottonwood and Emerald Lake.
Training & Past Races |
Doug is not very superstitious and doesn’t have a favorite pair of socks, or shoes, or meal or any specific ritual that he follows the night or morning before a race. He follows a basic philosophy of eating, hydrating, and sleeping as well as possible in the days leading up to a big race. He’s pretty good at the first two but is a terrible sleeper the night before a major event. His mother called it being “journey proud” and still has no idea where that saying comes from.
His favorite race of all time is the Bridger Ridge Run in Bozeman MT. He’s run this 20 mile trail race 6 or 7 times over the past 15 years. It’s the hardest, most rewarding, most beautiful trail race on the planet. OK, so he might be biased, but it’s an awesome race experience. He’s been snowed on, endured 90 degree heat during this race in August. He’s also seen mountain goats and has gotten lost and wandered off-course for a half an hour. It’s always an adventure and always finishes with a smile. When he gets to the finish line after 5+ hours and sees his kids and wife cheering for him, it’s one of the most emotional experiences he’s ever experienced.
Doug’s worst race experience to date is the Treasure State Off-Road Triathlon at Hyalite Lake outside of Bozeman. This is as an Olympic distance triathlon, which typically includes a 1-mile swim, a 20-mile bike ride, and a 10K run. Doug has raced several Olympic distance races finishing the races in 2 ½ to 3 hours. Due to the difficulty and elevation of this race course, the event took him closer to 5 hours. He didn’t plan well for being on the course this long and seriously bonked – meaning he didn’t take in enough calories during the race and experienced a major energy crash. He limped through the beautiful trail run portion of the race and felt like he was running a marathon distance. This race really, really hurt and was due to his poor planning and race day execution on. He has thus learned from the experience and has done a better job of researching his races ever since then.
Why Africa |
Doug has always had an active fascination with Africa since he was a child. His grandmother subscribed to National Geographic and he read them for hours on end when he visited her while growing up. As he got older, he began reading books on Africa including Ernest Hemmingway’s novels. Another book, Don’t Let’s Go To The Dogs Tonight: An African Memoir by Alexandra Fuller, hooked him on the beauty and culture of Africa. Doug highly recommends this book if you are at all interested in Africa. He hopes to someday go to Africa but will need many months to see all of the places there he wants to visit.
The Race | LEADVILLE TRAIL 100-MILE MOUNTAIN BIKE RACE
August 14 2010 | Leadville Colorado
http://www.leadvilletrail100.com/lt100races/LeadvilleTrail100MountainBikeRace/overview.aspx
This race is Doug’s top priority this summer and the focus of his training. The Leadville 100 Mountain Bike race intrigues Doug because of the high elevation of the course. He’s never raced at this elevation before so he’s not sure how his body will react to the thin oxygen at that altitude. He’s currently logged over 100 hours of mountain biking and over 1,000 miles since beginning training this spring. Thus far in his training, he’s feeling healthy and seeing strong gains in his strength and endurance on his mountain bike.
The Leadville trail 100-mile mountain bike course is within the beautiful, high altitude mountains and valleys of Leadville, Colorado. The majority is on back-country roads with some short sections of paved road. The entire course is 9,000 feet and climbs to almost 13,000 feet.
The Goal | $5,000 FOR BRIGHT HOPE SCHOOL
Doug would like to raise $5,000 for Bright Hope School in Addis Ababa Ethiopia.
Although he feels this goal might be a stretch he still thinks it’s an achievable goal. The Bright Hope School projects are so fundamentally compelling to Doug. He truly believes that once others are exposed to the work that Race4Equality is doing in Africa, that the funds will become available. Like Race4Equality, he too believes that education is critical to fighting poverty. Without education, a developing nation will not rise from the grips of poverty. Education is the foundation of a nation’s health, economy and quality of life.
Someone whom Doug admires and knew something about nation building, Thomas Jefferson, once said, “Nothing more than education advances the prosperity, the power, and the happiness of a nation.” Doug wants to use his endurance races as a mechanism for raising funds for The Bright Hope School and its infrastructure projects.
Doug believes that people get involved in charitable endeavors to make a difference in the world. “In getting involved and helping, we connect with other humans and it gives meaning to our lives.” With Race4Equality, he believes people will see that they can make a huge difference to the education of children at the Bright Hope School in Ethiopia. By helping to educate the children of Bright Hope School, we give them the opportunity to make their world a better place. “This mission is something that we can all get excited about and want to be involved with.”
How You Can Help | DONATE, ADVOCATE, PARTICIPATE
If you prefer to donate by check, please use this pledge form.
Other ways to get involved:
- Spread awareness
- Tell friends and family
- Check on the progress of Race4Equality athletes and Bright Hope School’s fundraising progress
- Join Race4Equality’s facebook cause
- Participate in an endurance event to raise funds for Bright Hope