Meet Otter

Last week I got a giant package in the mail. Not only did it hang off of my front porch, but it also contained the Giant bicycle that I'll be riding across the country this summer. My excitement couldn't be contained inside a box 10 times its size. Opening it up was like Christmas on crack. 4 easy steps and 30 minutes later and the beauty was assembled. My friend Kylie even loaned me a bike trainer, so I don't have to wait for the roads to clear to ride it, although with the bipolar MT weather back up in the 40s and 50s I may not be waiting much longer.

The giant surprise waiting at my front door. 

At the suggestion of Kyser, a camp friend and donor, I immediately put the naming rights of the bike up for "auction" on Facebook. I honestly didn't think anything would come of it, but figured why not try out a clever fundraising approach. To my surprise, the bids steadily rose as the hours went on, garnering some rather entertaining offers:

$100 and a case of empty PBRs...

$110 and a care package in New Mexico...

$115 Justin Timberlake...     ?

See the resemblance?

When the clock wore down, the winning bid amounted to $140. The winner? My wily friend Eric Ott, who conspired with two other buddies to pool their money and win the auction. I should have included some stipulations in my official auction rules against this, but alas, my shiny new bike's name is now Eric Ott, or Otter for short. The two actually have a few things in common -

They are both loud (color for the bike, personality for Ott).

They both enjoy covering a lot of distance (Ott accompanied me on my first 30+ mile mountain bike ride in the Rattlesnake)

And I guess we'll just have to wait and see if my bike can chug a beer as fast as Ott can.