LIVERMORE — Matt White talked to his dad the whole time he trained for the upcoming Dempsey Challenge on Sunday. Even though the 25-year-old Livermore Falls man lost his beloved father less than two weeks ago, the late Livermore man wasn’t far from his son’s heart — literally.

White brought Alan Libby’s ashes along for the Sunday afternoon training ride with his dad’s Dempsey Challenge team, Fitness Fanatics.

“I was really struggling going up this one hill and was like, ‘Come on Dad. Geez. If you’re going to make me do this, then the least you could do is give me a little push,'” White said. “I can definitely feel his presence in and around me since it happened.”

The 47-year-old bicyclist died after falling from his bike Sept. 11 while training for the Dempsey Challenge. Libby was training on Lake Shore Drive with other members of his team when he experienced a medical problem and fell from his bike.

White stepped up to the plate, picked up the torch and plans to peddle his late dad’s bike across the 50-mile finish line next week. But it’s not just about keeping his dad’s memory alive for White and his family. It’s more about completing a dream envisioned by Libby back in the spring when he decided to train for the fall bicycle event.

“If I can in a way help him complete this race and get his bike across the finish, then that’s what I want to do,” White said. “He was just one of those guys. Just one of the most selfless people I know.”

White and his family are all joining their father’s cause, from walking in the Saturday event to riding in the Sunday event to volunteering at checkpoints. So far, between what their father already raised in pledges and what’s been raised since his death, the family will be bringing more than $1,600 to the cause, according to Libby’s wife, Renda.

That brings the total of Team Fitness Fanatics to nearly $4,300.

“Where do I begin?” Renda Libby asked. “I’m just so proud. It meant a lot to him (Alan) when he could give a piece of himself to something. His heart was bigger than you could ever imagine.”

Libby said that her husband, an avid recreational bicyclist, decided to join the Dempsey Challenge as a way to raise money for a good cause, while getting into shape. In a matter of months, Alan Libby dropped more than 40 pounds, raised money in pledges and found himself reaching for new heights.

“He’s got to be one proud dad looking down on all of them tonight,” Libby said.

Of course, Renda Libby and some of her late husband’s teammates agree — he could have reached for a new bike at the same time. Libby laughed along with Sue Biliouris, a registered nurse on Alan’s team who tried to save his life, about how Alan refused to trade in his heavy mountain bike for a lightweight road bike like the rest of his teammates rode.

“It was like he was driving a tank,” Biliouris chuckled as she remembered her late friend, fellow cyclist and teammate. “

Biliouris said Alan Libby’s death has brought their team closer together in recent weeks. Having his son join their ranks for the first time Sunday afternoon forged those bonds that much stronger.

She said the group ended their ride gathered around a picnic table at Roy’s on Route 4 sharing stories about their beloved friend who was forever last in the pack. Biliouris laughed about how Libby would always bring up the rear on the ride, often joking with people that passed along the way that he was the last in line.

“I want people to know how great he was, how important Dempsey was to him and how important it is to our team. (Alan’s family) is taking an awful situation and making a positive out of it,” Biliouris said.