Alan Foster update - 4/14

Alan wife's sent this update Monday night after his surgery:

Hi everybody,

Sorry for taking so long on the update. The hospital does not have a strong enough wireless signal that we can pick up and We cannot use the phone in the ICU/CCU.

His surgery took 6 hours to be completed, he is still moving his limbs (which is good), but he looks rougher than he did yesterday. Tonight he was very tired and swollen.

The recovery process will be a lot more challenging than we thought. He will have two braces, one on his neck and one on his back 24/7 until the Dr. tells him he is done with them (it could take anywhere between 6 weeks to one year). He will have routine visits to the Dr.'s office until his vertebrae are fused.

We do not know yet when he is coming home, tomorrow he will probably leave the ICU if all goes well. I will keep you updated on visitation possibilities after he leaves the ICU.

Thank you for all your wonderful words and actions of support, positive thought and prayers.

Rider Down - Felt's own Alan Foster

Felt BMX Brand Manager and BMX racing legend Alan Foster was involved in a bike crash at SoCal's Sheep Hills over the weekend and is in the hospital. He did injure several vertebra but there appears to be no spinal cord damage and he is moving all limbs. He is currently scheduled for surgery on Monday morning at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana/Tustin. We will keep everybody posted as we look for Alan to make a full and speedy recovery!

Below is what Alan’s wife wrote in an email yesterday late Sun morning:

Hi everybody.

I would like to start by apologizing for the generic message, but this is the best way for me to get the message to everybody and still be able to take care of our girls and Alan.

On Saturday April 11th Alan had a bicycle crash at his local riding trails. He was taken to the Trauma center by the ambulance. Some of his BMX friends were there and helped us out. Thank you so much Mr. Miranda!

Alan has fractured 3 vertebrae and two ribs and a few other "minor" damages to his face. At this point he is coherent, moving limbs and talking with a little difficulty. The doctor said he was very lucky, it could have been much worse. He will have to have surgery on Monday or Tuesday. Today he will have a MRI done to be able to assess if there are any other internal injuries.

I would like to let you know that the girls and I are being very well cared for by wonderful local neighbors and friends. And for those of you that know me, also know that I will have no problem calling and asking for your help if I need it.

I would like to ask you to refrain from calling because the girls are always nearby when the phone rings and I don't want them to keep hearing everything. We can keep our communication via e-mail.

Thank you so much for the caring words, thoughts and actions.

MASH(in) on a TK2

NorCal based MASH, those dudes who eptipomize the collision between fixed gear core culture, art, phototography and everything great about the three have a new steed in their stable. Check out the attached TK2 pic from co-captain MASHer, Mike Martin. PS - Word is these guys are planning on riding the entire 2009 Tour of CA on their fixed gear rigs. Sick.

Doing The Right Thing

This winter Christian Vande Velde called about some getting some bikes for the Chicago-area school system and a program designed to encourage all the values brought by bike riding and reward students for their hard work. The Vande Velde's are a cycling family and know well all the positives that come from riding. CVV's pop, John, - a former Olympian and elite cyclist himself for those too young to remember - was also a major proponent of the plan. This is how John describes it:

"The program is Principal for a Day (POD). It's one of Mayor Daley's pet projects. I think it's about 8 years old and the idea is that POD is supposed to build a lasting relationship with the school. There a lot of major corporations from Chicago that participate and give thousands of dollar's back to the school(s).

"Last year was our first year with POD and we were really moved by the whole experience. We do our thing at the University of Chicago Charter school. These kids have nothing going for them except their hard work ethics in school. The curriculum calls for a school day that goes from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. because they want to keep the kids off the street. The first year the kids didn't know who Christian or Lance Armstrong were and asked us "how do you play the game of cycling?"

"At the luncheon that followed, Mayor Daley was saying how proud he was of the individuals and corporations that were donating their efforts to the cause and that the POD's have to figure out how to get the kids out of their neighborhoods and see the rest of the beautiful city of ours.

"On the way home we decided to give bikes away to the kids so they could enjoy the sport that we love. We didn't know how to choose (which children received) them so we let the principle do it. This first time the parameters were that they had to be on the honor roll and they had to have perfect attendance. I think they had 14 kids that met that standard and we put their names into a hat and picked one girl and one boy. It was quite dramatic and the entire school loved the idea and their new bikes. This March there will another standard set I have just asked them to donate more bikes."

Great work, VV's. We are proud to be associated with you and your efforts.

Ho, Ho, Ho!!!

As we finish up one most interesting and exciting year and look towards another, we wish all of you a very Happy Holiday season. One thing seems certain - it won't be dull!

(Illustration: Dave Brinton)

Cam Zink's Mavic Video

Stoked!!

From time-to-time we enter into promotional and marketing efforts with some of our friends and affiliates and in most cases what we bring to the table is a bike. Depending on the nature of the promotion, it may be a road bike, such as the Team Issue F1 we gave away with the Versus Channel and the AR frame we gave away with CyclingNews.com, or it may be a cruiser, such as the many we have given away in conjunction with the Tour of CA, Tour of MO and more. This summer we worked with our pals down at Triathlete Magazine and and gave away one of our TT/Tri models, the B12. After 3 months of build-up local Dave Davis was the lucky winner and was absolutely stoked to have his named pulled. It is particularly cool when someone gets called up and is as grateful and unassuming as Dave. It completes the circle.

Just before picking up his new ride, Dave wrote us:

"I AM SOOO STOKED! Thank you...I am HUGE Felt Fan!!! Zabriskie, Vande Velde; Taylor Phinney’s Track bike is INSANE!!! Sarah Hammer! Andy Potts! and Emma Snowsill, are Rock Stars! Awsome athletes! Killer rides!!!!"

Right on, Dave.