The slow one...

Find it so funny that I seem to get comments all the time that I have become slow and that is why I have moved to the 100 milers.  This weekends comment came directly from Don as I was about to get on the podium for 4th place overall just 45 seconds outside of the race win.  Maybe it is true, I am slow, or maybe it is the fact that there are other races out there that can offer a better product??  I myself am up to the new scene.  I am on my 13th season doing exactly the same courses over and over again in WORS.  You can argue that races have come and gone but you cannot argue that each venue has the exact same feel to it.  Not saying it is bad, but change is good.  Why is Brian Matter out at the Transylvania Epic right now?   Why are the USProXCT races almost extinct and all the 100 milers and stages races selling out in minutes when registration opens?  I feel it is because the Olympic format coming down from UCI is not what most riders want!  We want the travel to be less than the total time riding our bikes, we want to go out for an adventure for the day and forget our day jobs and the stress it brings!  Yes most of us have day jobs USA Cycling.

We also race cause it is a bond that holds most of our friend circles together.  That is the point of team Adventure 212.  We are all getting older, some have kids, some just enjoy life, but all of us love to ride bikes and hang out.  The race is nothing more than an excuse for us to get together and make fun of each other and our competitors.  Don once described the team as "The best Team money can buy."  I hate to inform him that he is absolutely incorrect, you can never buy a team that is as close knit as ours.  We are the benchmark for every team to follow.  Yes the team is spoiled and Michelle and I take care of them like they are our kids but we would have it no other way.  We want the team to travel together, eat together, stay together, etc... If you are not doing that then what is the point of a team??  Just to say you won the team category??  I cannot even tell you who placed in that last year!!  If that is your purpose then you do not have a team, you have created an organized buying group to annoy everyone in and out of the industry with your requests for cheap or free product!

So anyway, cheers to getting old and slow.  I welcome it cause I know that my team will always be there to offer some good laughs and fun for many years to come.