Touring - David Michael Anthony

You guys need to check out this guys website (http://www.davidmichaelanthony.com/index.cfm)! A quote from his site "MY name is David Michael Anthony and I am training for the 2004 OLYMPICS Bicycle Road Racing, Bicycle Road Time Trials and Velodrome Sprint Cycling.

I have been training in an EXTREME and UNORTHODOX MANNER. I am pulling Over 1,000 lbs behind my bicycle though the Bigest/steepest Mountians I can Find. I have traveled over 40,000 miles and through all 49 States with this load. "

http://www.davidmichaelanthony.com/image_display.cfm?image=196

wowzer.

Certainly an impressive feat of endurance, but not exactly the training program for a 1k sprint or a 25k time trial.

If this guy is serious about winning world class races, he should be using the most scientific training techniques, not simply yomping across the county. I wouldn't expect Maurice Green to train for a 100m sprint by lugging a heavy rucksac across the USA.
A US coach once said, you dont train to get fit, you get fit to train.

There is a role for resistance training for cycling. Cycling with bricks in your pannier is an accepted method of fitness training (but not one that many racers use).

Yes, it would be quite a feat for somebody to pull that load, BUT... Think of the bike!

I am surprised a bike can handle that kind of load for any amount of time/distance.

Somethings got to give.

Going uphill is one thing, but think about going DOWNHILL in the mountains with a 1,000 pound trailer behind you. No way! You would be doing cheerios as you went over the side of the mountain. Of course, it would be neat to see that, but 'Oh My God".

Something stinks here. This has to be a spoof.

I can see why he need the discbrakes!!! Impressive trailer.

He must be very serious about his plan or there is something wrong somewhere???:D :D :D

Good luck to the guy. :)

Originally posted by mike


Something stinks here. This has to be a spoof.

While I can appreciate Mike's skepticism, I don't think someone would go this far, creating a rather extensive website, with many quite credible looking photos documenting his travels. Just browse around his site from the Homepage and judge for yourselves.

http://www.davidmichaelanthony.com/index.cfm

I just found out he will be riding in the SLC critcal mass tomarro night, im thinking about going just to see his setup :)

from his site: 2-15 02.. Today's milage is 41,013 pulling over 1000lbs...849 Flat tires.....
I am in PARK city UTAH...LOOK for me during 2002 Olympics on Parleys Canyon Pass InterState 80...I will pull 1500 lbs UP and OVER 10 X

Joe:
you got my attention now 849 flat tires, geeze I am headed to this guys site now the courisosty is killing me here thanks for the heads up
Catfish

Hey Joe-

Did you get to take a look at this guy's setup? If so, I'm waiting for the pictures! Did you get a chance to talk to him too?

Koffee

A twenty tooth chain ring!

This guy is nuts.

Does he really plan to get into the olympics?

I think he is just plain crazy.

Of course most folks said the same of Emil Zatopek (http://www.runningpast.com/emil_zatopek.htm)and his training methods, and he proved much of the conventional wisdom or the day about training wrong.



"Why should I practice running slow? I already know how to run slow. I want to learn to run fast. Everyone said, 'Emil, you are a fool!' But when I first won the European Championship, they said: 'Emil, you are a genius!'"

--Emil Zatopek on Interval Training




"He does everything wrong but win."

-- Larry Snyder, Ohio State track coach, about Emil Zatopek's contorted style of running


More Zatopek Quotes (http://www.10ktruth.com/the_quotes/emil.htm)

I use a very similar training method. I too ride with a large amount of unnecesary weight. However, I don't keep it in a trailer, I pack it tightly underneath my skin, mostly around my belly.

I find it interesting that his webpage says that he will compete in a range of events at the 2004 olympics. I'm sure he'll find that he will only compete in those events if he meets the criteria and is chosen in the team.

Originally posted by MediaCreations
I pack it tightly underneath my skin, mostly around my belly. :roflmao:

Hey! I resemble that remark!

I think this guy took a blow to the head when he hurt his back (the Mountain Bike article (http://www.mountainbike.com/bread/burbank/bbk_20020731-3648.shtml)). Is there an explanation as to why he never actually makes the Olympic team?

Originally posted by Rotifer
I think this guy took a blow to the head when he hurt his back (the Mountain Bike article (http://www.mountainbike.com/bread/burbank/bbk_20020731-3648.shtml)). Is there an explanation as to why he never actually makes the Olympic team?
Well, it's all the IOC's fault. They haven't added the "pull six times your body weight up the side of a bloody mountain" cycling event yet. :D

John

No darn wonde his bike is able to handle the stress... it's a schwinn :)
Doug
proud owner of a 1988ish schwinn :)

I wonder how many chains he's popped! What kind of components can handle
that kind of stress?

Originally posted by beowoulfe
I wonder how many chains he's popped! What kind of components can handle
that kind of stress? KMC chains the rest is advertised on his site.

Have you seen the legs on this guy! Makes me want to cycle around North America just to get legs like that! I must commend him on his charity work; fighting hunger is a noble cause.

Is there really hunger in America?

"Hunger Facts
Hunger hurts! Hunger respects no boundaries and never takes a vacation. No matter what type of human suffering you wish to end...no matter what hopes you have for your brother or sister or neighbor...you cannot educate, jobtrain or heal a hungry person or family. Visit these expert links to learn more about hunger in the U.S. Remember, 100% of your pledge supports local and national hunger relief agencies in your community and all across America! Register today! "
David Michael Anthony

Originally posted by Gordon P
Is there really hunger in America?
I don't think there is hunger if you're talking about starvation and distended bellies like you see in the photos of some third-world countries (and I've travelled quite a bit of the US including several inner cities). However, there are an awful lot of kids, especially, who never get enough to eat and many who are poorly nourished because what they do get is empty calories. In the latter category we're not just talking about the poor, either. You'd be surprised how many American kids from two-income upper-middle-class families live almost entirely on empty calories because their parents are too busy with their own lives to put real food in front of the kid. One popular brand of instant, microwavable, tasty, empty calories blatantly targets parents who leave their young children at home unattended -- "the meals are so easy to cook in the microwave your kids can serve themselves." Then we wonder why those kids grow up to be little monsters that attack bicyclists from the safety of a schoolbus... Ooops, you got me wound up, again. ;)

Anyway, yes, there is poverty and real hunger in America but nothing like I've seen in Asia with my own eyes and like you often see in Africa and S. America on the tube.

It's not just inner-city kids that go hungry either. In fact, in many cases it's the rural poor who really fall through the cracks in the social safety net because when hard times hit a rural community the support agencies usually aren't staffed (or even present at all) to deal with the situation. For example, the nearest unemployment office may be a hundred miles away, you have to apply in person, and often those who are hitting bottom are already without transporation.

In many (but by no means all) cases the parents actively thwart government and charitable agencies trying to help their own kids. It's not unusual for parents in the inner city to sell the foodstamps that are supposed to feed their kids so they can buy crack cocaine for themselves. In the country the same situation isn't unusual, but there the drugs of choice are usually alcohol and tobacco.

I once worked with a woman who had been a mail carrier in some LA slums. She said she dreaded the day government checks came out because on every block she'd be accosted by guys trying to wheedle her into handing them the welfare check instead of taking it to their house where their wives were watching for it.

Probably the thing that does save a lot of kids is mandatory schooling. Even terrible, selfish, crack-addicted, etc. parents usually pack their little ones off to school because it gets them out of the way. Once in school there are responsible adults around that usually spot and act on the worst cases of neglect.

John

Thanks John for taking the time to answer my question and to be honest it was in jest. That’s my humanitarian black humour. The city I am living in is considered to be the poverty capital of Canada and we have a socialist provincial government in power and a social safety net! So I see this on a regular basses. I once participated on a nutritional survey of Afghan refugees in Pakistan and we found a 35% malnutrition rate with children under the age of 5. That level was considered normal! It would be interesting to do a nutritional survey in some of North America’s inner-city children to see what the norm is. David Michael Anthony is helping to bring attention to this problem and I hold people like him in very high regard.

I kind of figured your question was in jest, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to get on my soap box ;)

John

D'ya think that this might just be a nifty albeit wacky way to get perrenial sponsorship?

All of this is easy.
He's a fraud.
Maybe he did ride part or all of the bit.
But he's not an engineer, the back injury business is made up, all the stories are fraudulent.
I can't believe how this guy has taken so many people without someone figuring out the truth.
I feel bad for all the sponsors and people who have given this guy money.
Anyone who chooses to dig into this will find out for themselves.

through all 49 States with this load.

Did Vermont finally secede???

Huh, I commute through all 1 state to get to work!

:D

Jay

Phony
Phony
Phony

Probably hanging out in the Bahamas with all the money he collected.

Well, the 2004 olympics in Greece is coming up and I"m absolutely positive if he makes it to the Olympics (I'm also pretty sure by now, the people going to the olympics know they're going or at least know their status as a olympian or an alternate), we'll see something on NBC or whoeever is covering the olympics. (God, I hope it's not NBC...) This is exactly what broadcasters love to flood their programming with anything but the sporting events so they can appeal to the couch potatoes of America and everybody goes ooooh and ahhhh.

Jay

If you see him on NBC
-it will either be on Cops or America's Most Wanted.

Well,
he didn't make NBC but he did make the newspaper.
His final act was to cheat one last person.


Saturday, July 23, 2005

CHP says Corona man killed fleeing accident scene on 55

By SALVADOR HERNANDEZ
The Orange County Register

SANTA ANA – A suspected hit-and-run driver running across the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway early Friday morning didn't get far. He was struck by another hit-and- run driver, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The dead man was identified by the Orange County coroner's office as David Anthony, 39, of Corona.

Investigators believe Anthony was involved in a two-car accident about 2:14 a.m. while driving north on the freeway.

Attempting to flee, Anthony ran across the freeway and down the northbound MacArthur Boulevard onramp, where he was hit, said CHP Officer Chris Johnson. The vehicle drove away, leaving the man lying on the onramp.

Anthony was hit a second time by another vehicle as he lay on the ground, Johnson said.

The driver of that vehicle tried to swerve to avoid hitting Anthony, Johnson said.

Unlike the first driver, this one stopped and waited for officers to arrive.

Anthony was pronounced dead at the scene. Police have not determined whether he was alive when he was hit by the second car.

Wow, fast forward about 6 years. I met this guy while he was riding through Utah and he ended up staying with us for a few days back in February of 2002. I worked for Specialized at the time and he needed some help so we provided some gear so he could be back on the road. He was odd but seemed ......normal enough. I have been wondering what happened to him. Looks like he died!
It's odd to have seen so much press about him at the time and them he seems to have fallen off the earth until I saw this post from 2005 with the article on his death. What was he doing between 2002 and July 23, 2005 (the day he died). I cannot find anything about his being a scammer other than Jocko's post. Who did he scam? his rides etc. Nothing. Strange.

Hate to add to a zombie thread, but I did see this guy in Orange County in 2002. I read an article about him in Adventure Cycling, and then a couple weeks later we saw him on the road! He was winching himself and that massive trailer up a hill. It was a wide road and he was on the other side, so we didn't get to talk to him.

I'm pretty sure that article is not about him. While there isn't much about him on the web anymore, there are at least a few pages dating past 2005 talking about him training for the 2008 Olympics. I doubt he's ever made a team, but it would be interesting to see what he's been up to.

He's still being used for endorsement by Easton and is spoken of in the present tense on the site. However, the link to his personal site is broken. Is he dead or is he alive? 'Tis a mystery.

http://www.eastonbike.com/PRODUCTS/WHEELS/wheel_riders-anthony.html

The zombie thread lives on!
I found a little more that might add evidence that the guy who did a hit-and-run and then was killed in a hit-and-run while running from his hit-and-run (confusing, no?) was indeed, our bicycle riding, 1500 lb. trailer toting mystery man.

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jul/24/local/me-rbriefs24

This article lists his complete name as David Michael Anthony. I still consider it weird that after all the publicity, funraising (claimed) etc. that surrounded this guy that
there isn't more about him i.e. obit, memorial etc.

... memories ...

I saw him cranking up parleys canyon a few days (weeks?) after posting this 8 years ago... He looked like he was in a personal hell and not enjoying the ride.

Dr, welcome to BikeForums, your avatar looks familiar, do you ride city creek often?

Greetings Joe. I live in the Avenues and head into City Creek or the Shoreline often. The avatar is during a horendous hailstorm on Boulder Muntain under a space blanket with my wife. We seem to end up under space blankets in Southern Utah dodging lightning a lot!
I just sent the thread to Dave Iltis (Cycling Utah). Back in Feb of 2002 Dave called me while I was at work to tell me about this crazy trailer totin guy, named David Michael Anthony coming into town and that the guy needed help. At the time (February of 2002) I was running Specialized Bicycles facility in SLC. I called David Michael Anthony (3 first names!) and he came by the factory and we set him up with all kinds of good stuff to keep his jouney going and he ended up spending nights with us before moving on up Parleys Canyon . My impression - he was a pretty nice guy but there was definitely something odd about him that was hard to nail down. We trusted him, we were working and he was hanging around our house and all was OK. I had a little party at our house when he left and with great fanfare, he started down the avenues, couldn't stop the trailer and crashed! We ended up towing his trailer to South Temple, where he hooked it back up to the bike and was off. The end?

I have a feeling, this is NOT the end of this story. So much more to be told? Let me know if Dave does anything more with this story, such an odd one.

We should ride together some day, I live right at the bottom of City Creek canyon. I'm sure our paths have crossed in the past. Cya around.