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Share Meet Fat Cyclist, Elden Nelson, and Hear About His Contributions and Passions to a Sport We All Can't Live Without, and Find Out What Keeps Him Going.
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Meet Fat Cyclist, Elden Nelson, and Hear About His Contributions and Passions to a Sport We All Can't Live Without, and Find Out What Keeps Him Going.
Tune in here to this episode of Grits, Guts, and Determination, The Leadville Race Series Podcast, a leading authority for all things Leadville! Host Cole Chlouber, son of race founder Ken Chlouber, takes us on a story-telling journey of the 38-year rich history of this race. We learn all the tips, tricks, and stories from the Leadville community members! Joining us today is Elden “Fatty” Nelson.
Elden’s story of his health journey and all of his accomplishments since have shown his own grits, guts and determination. Elden put on thirty to forty pounds in his early thirties after moving to a high stress job, his wife having a mastectomy, two young twin girls and then having Bell's palsy himself. He then started a blog called the Fat Cyclist just for his friends and to have some accountability in losing weight. Microsoft put it on their homepage and then his readers went from a handful to more than a couple hundred thousand. He loved telling stories, sharing the difficult path he was in and making jokes. He wrote more than a dozen years on the blog, and then wrote two books called “Comedian Mastermind” and “The Great Fatsby.” He has stopped writing since because he enjoys hearing other people’s stories now more than telling his own. He is now co-hosting a podcast called “Leadville- the 100 Mile Mountain Bike Race Podcast.” With more than 20 years of doing the Leadville Mountain Bike Race, Elden shares his tips on the race and hears from other experts on the podcast. Elden’s slowest time in the race was eleven hours and thirty minutes, while his fastest speed time was eight hours and twelve minutes. He said the biggest piece of advice that helped him the most in Leadville was hearing, “It is an eating contest disguised as a race.” After he started fueling his body with a hundred calorie snacks and drinks every half hour, that’s when his time dropped. Elden says that Leadville hasn’t changed his riding, but instead made his riding. He says the race is challenging, but not impossible, and if you work at it and reach into yourself, anyone can do it.
In this episode, Elden shares the meaning behind his nickname, his start to the Leadville race, the Fat Cyclist blog and why he quit it, his books, his goals and stats in riding, why he switched to a single speed bike, the LT100 mountain bike podcast, his passion about Leadville, his wife’s riding, bike hardware and stories about riding.
The main theme in Elden’s story is that he continues to ride and not quit. Even when he put on weight, lost his first wife to cancer and had a bike crash, he continues to persevere. Elden’s biggest advice is to laugh at your demons. Everyone has them and in racing, they especially talk when you are tired. He says to be prepared for them, don’t listen to them and to keep going. It is now Elden’s twenty-third year competing in Leadville and he says he will keep continuing to race as long as he can!
Thanks for tuning in! Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe, and we hope to see you on the line next summer!
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By Cole ChlouberTune in here to this episode of Grits, Guts, and Determination, The Leadville Race Series Podcast, a leading authority for all things Leadville! Host Cole Chlouber, son of race founder Ken Chlouber, takes us on a story-telling journey of the 38-year rich history of this race. We learn all the tips, tricks, and stories from the Leadville community members! Joining us today is Elden “Fatty” Nelson.
Elden’s story of his health journey and all of his accomplishments since have shown his own grits, guts and determination. Elden put on thirty to forty pounds in his early thirties after moving to a high stress job, his wife having a mastectomy, two young twin girls and then having Bell's palsy himself. He then started a blog called the Fat Cyclist just for his friends and to have some accountability in losing weight. Microsoft put it on their homepage and then his readers went from a handful to more than a couple hundred thousand. He loved telling stories, sharing the difficult path he was in and making jokes. He wrote more than a dozen years on the blog, and then wrote two books called “Comedian Mastermind” and “The Great Fatsby.” He has stopped writing since because he enjoys hearing other people’s stories now more than telling his own. He is now co-hosting a podcast called “Leadville- the 100 Mile Mountain Bike Race Podcast.” With more than 20 years of doing the Leadville Mountain Bike Race, Elden shares his tips on the race and hears from other experts on the podcast. Elden’s slowest time in the race was eleven hours and thirty minutes, while his fastest speed time was eight hours and twelve minutes. He said the biggest piece of advice that helped him the most in Leadville was hearing, “It is an eating contest disguised as a race.” After he started fueling his body with a hundred calorie snacks and drinks every half hour, that’s when his time dropped. Elden says that Leadville hasn’t changed his riding, but instead made his riding. He says the race is challenging, but not impossible, and if you work at it and reach into yourself, anyone can do it.
In this episode, Elden shares the meaning behind his nickname, his start to the Leadville race, the Fat Cyclist blog and why he quit it, his books, his goals and stats in riding, why he switched to a single speed bike, the LT100 mountain bike podcast, his passion about Leadville, his wife’s riding, bike hardware and stories about riding.
The main theme in Elden’s story is that he continues to ride and not quit. Even when he put on weight, lost his first wife to cancer and had a bike crash, he continues to persevere. Elden’s biggest advice is to laugh at your demons. Everyone has them and in racing, they especially talk when you are tired. He says to be prepared for them, don’t listen to them and to keep going. It is now Elden’s twenty-third year competing in Leadville and he says he will keep continuing to race as long as he can!
Thanks for tuning in! Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe, and we hope to see you on the line next summer!