Back to It.

Well...back to racing, beginning this Sunday we tackle the fabled and feisty Koppenburg course out in Superior, CO. Think an hour to an hour and a half of your worst nightmare...fast, fast descending, a massive, broiling peloton, dirt and gravel roads, and the Koppenburg climb...gnarled, rutted dirt and body strewn chaos. Really, it's just like that.

Anyway, I'm stressing about racing on Sunday...sure I'll do okay, even if that means last place, though I doubt I'll end up carrying the lantern rouge. We of Team Strong Heart and we, as cyclists, are a passionate group. Yes, we have the fire that drives us to spend much, much time on our bikes, at the gym, on the roads, away from home, across the country, etc. But there's so much more.

My orthodoxy is my training. My practice and my celebration is the race shared, won and lost with comrades. Our battles are fought in office parks, on city streets, on Route 66, across Kansas and 13 other states, on the trails, in the morning when our closest are still sleeping, done before most people even get to their second cup of crappy drip coffee. I've crossed many finish lines in life, actual and metaphorical. Racing has brought me there and maybe it has (or will) bring you.

Cycling and racing for the past decade has drawn amazing perspective in my life. I've seen some wonderful and terrible things racing my bike and riding with friends. We've even lost a few of our closest friends to the sport, gone away doing just what they wanted. I pray I'm that lucky. I was reminded just yesterday that even a bike brand can be painfully and wonderfully associated with those who've come...and gone. Thinking of you and your Bianchi Greg.

We are tied to this sport, irrevocably so in my case, because many of us know that the true finish line is always just ahead, sometimes out of reach and sometimes right in the palm of our hands. I get out there and beat myself up every single day for the kids at Camp Odayin, for my own health, for my loved ones (new and old) and for all of you who care enough to read this silly blog. I've fought and won, but lost more times than won. And that's made all the difference in my itty-bitty world.

See you at the start line and always, keep the rubber side down.

Tim