Finding Adventure

Last week, my tweep Rob posted, “Keep finding adventure in your life!” Seems so simple and for some reason it really spoke to me.

After my accident I’d read that a person may go through some personality changes with this type of injury.  Evidence is showing that I’m not immune to that.  Within a month or so, I’d found myself wanting to try new things.  Not things like new food, but things that aren’t something most people would ever find themselves doing.  For example, I decided that I desperately wanted to take flying lessons. 

Throughout my vacation, I also found myself a little more outgoing than normal.  Yes, I was still relatively quiet in a group situation, but I didn’t seem to have much trouble with starting a conversation with the complete stranger standing next to me.

Even my mom commented that I seem to be a little different the last few months, but she was unable to pinpoint what the exact difference is.

Keeping in line with my new “adventuresome” side, when my friend Deborah mentioned signing up for an event called Beat the Clock, I decided I wanted to do it too.  The signing up for the event isn’t the out of character part; it’s what the event is.  Beat the Clock is a charity event for LiveStrong held once a year at Hellyer Park Velodrome in San Jose.

Yes, you read that correctly.  A velodrome.  Meaning I’d signed up to ride on a track, something that I never had much interest in doing and if I’m being honest, a year ago I probably wouldn’t have done it.  I have no experience riding on a track and while I would be allowed to use my road bike, brakes and all, I was still insanely nervous.

So nervous that while I was being held upright and the countdown started for my first event, I thought I was going to hyperventilate.  I had done a few warm up laps to get the feel of the banking on the velodrome, but placing so much trust in this stranger not to let me fall over was difficult.  I’m pleased to announce that he didn’t drop me.

My first event proved much more strenuous than I’d anticipated.  I’d miscalculated the number of laps and based my speed on how I felt warming up.  I ripped out of the start and amped up my speed to 24 mph.  Suppose I looked strong for the first lap, but after about one and a half laps, I started to burn out even though I was only halfway through. 

The second event went much more smoothly as I paced myself and managed to keep a fairly consistent and comfortable speed of about 18.5 mph.  As I rode by my friends, one of them yelled for me to stop smiling.  Hey… I was having fun and channeling my inner Chris Horner, nothing wrong with that! 

Of course, I came in last each time, but I tried something new.  I took a lot of comfort in the fact that I was on the track at the same time as Deborah.  Really made a difference to know I had friends there with me. While I'm not certain this is an activity in which I'll partake on a regular basis, let's not forget what Davis Phinney says - "Every victory counts!"

Thanks to Deborah, John, Chris, and Emily for all of the support… and for the super cool poster!

Philly, Baby!

After an overnight train from Iminhell through Killmenow, I finally arrived in Philly around lunchtime on Friday.  Having gotten no sleep on the train (not an exaggeration in the least), I played the “stay awake” game that I know well from trips overseas.  Since I wasn’t there just to see the Philadelphia International Championships, I had a list of things that I insisted on seeing and doing so the rest of Friday and all of Saturday was filled with touristy things.

One of the things I noticed Friday evening was that I had chosen a pretty good hotel.  Not good as in nice (it was a dump!), but good in the sense that it was located in awesome proximity to the race route.  Enough so that four teams, Bissell, Jelly Belly, Team Type 1, and Pure Black Racing, were also staying in the same hotel.  In fact, I was hallmates with Bissell and rather horrified when they kept me up all night vacuuming every surface possible.

Saturday night, I finally got to meet Hélène, a tweep visiting from Canada for the race and covering it for a Canadian cycling website.  We go way back to my early days on Twitter and it was exciting finally to get to meet her.  We had a nice dinner at an Italian place (I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!) and met up briefly at the race the following day.

The Philadelphia International Championships is a race unlike any I’ve ever been to before.  Because of the set up, unless you’re a VIP, you’ll never have a good view of the riders signing in (or of the finish for that matter).  I was okay with that and headed over to Logan Square (which is actually a roundabout and not a square at all) to shoot the first laps of the race. 

Juraj Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), Tom Zirbel (Jamis-Sutter Home), and Eric Young (Bissell)

It was there that I met Scott, another tweep that I’ve acquired in the last couple of weeks (or months?).  Scott was also photographing the race so we hung out and he showed me some great places to get shots.

One such place was the feedzone where we ended up being given access to an area that was off limits to spectators.  While I’d love to think we looked official, especially since I was wearing Ted King’s socks, I think this was simply an oversight by race security, so I’m not going to complain.  While in the feedzone, we received the unfortunate news that Ted, sporting lucky #13 that day, had crashed out.  Stupid storm grate!  Boo!

My feedzone view for part of the race, sporting Ted King's socks!

United Healthcare, HTC-Highroad, and Liquigas-Cannondale speed through the feedzone

We eventually made our way up to Lemon Hill (no Manuyunk since it was too far to walk) and I was shocked to find a party.  There were vendors, people having picnics, and just a lot of fun.  As the racers approached, everyone would get up, move to the barriers, cheer their hearts out, and then return to their blankets spread out on the grassy hill after the last of the peloton raced by.

Francisco Mancebo (Realcyclist.com) chases Frank Pipp (Bissell) up Lemon Hill while the crowd cheers

As the last of the large laps ended, I headed back down to the finish line hoping to catch some action.  I wasn’t lucky in the photo department, but I did find a location from which I could actually see the sprint finish.  The guys flew by in those last laps at a speed so great that you could feel it. 

I was fairly lucky to get a good spot for the podium presentations, although Peter Sagan was a little uncooperative by holding his Liberty Bell trophy right in front of his crotch. Oh, and in case you're wondering, Peter didn't throw me his flowers this time around, but that doesn't mean I didn't try to get his attention.  Where has all of the love gone, Peter?!

Not the best position for that bell, dear Peter!

Alex Rasmussen (HTC-Columbia) was all smiles after taking the win

I would like to thank the Bissell crew member who gifted me with a couple of water bottles upon my return to the hotel.  Yes, apparently I am that awesome of a hallmate after all.  Or maybe he was trying to thank me for not complaining to hotel staff about all of the noise the team made while demonstrating the prowess of the Bissell Healthy Home Vacuum in the hotel hallway in the middle of the night.

Overall, it was a great race to experience.  And no, I haven't forgotten all about the Liberty Classic... that's a blog post for another day!

Huge thanks to Scott for showing me around the course and advising me on where to find my Mennonite soft pretzels (although Beiler’s Bakery was closed!).  Much like Saul spoiling me for life in the coffee department, the fine folks at Miller’s Twist in Reading Terminal Market have spoiled me in regards to pretzels.  Aside from pretzels, if you ever find yourself in Philly, you may want to check out The Belgian Cafe (a few blocks from the Philadelphia Museum of Art) and enjoy a sandwich Merckx style.  No joke!  Unfortunately, they didn't have waffles and spekuloos on their dinner menu.

Writer's note: I'm totally lying about Bissell being loud.  They were perfectly polite hallmates.

Next Stop... Dalton, GA

After my accident in March, my life changed.  It’s been a difficult journey filled with some highs and the lowest of lows. 

I will forever be thankful to Kathy for putting me in touch with Saul, who surprisingly became a close confidant during my recovery.  After that first phone call from him a week after my accident, I wouldn’t have predicted that he would have such a profound impact on my recovery and my outlook on life.  Honestly, I only vaguely knew who he was at the time of our initial conversation.  Imagine my surprise that after a month and half, I’d be changing my vacation plans to include a trip to Georgia to meet him.

Those who know me know that I could care less about meeting pro cyclists, current or otherwise. So yes, this was something that is completely out of character for me, but I knew that it was now or likely never. 

Once the decision was made to go to Georgia, I also decided that I wasn’t going to be public about it.  I told a few people, including my mom, mostly so that someone would know where I was.  For some reason I felt a little uncomfortable and wasn’t ready to field questions about this guy that I was going to Georgia to meet, since most of my friends wouldn’t understand my strong emotional need to meet him given that they had no idea who he was or what my relationship was to him.

I arrived in Dalton late Monday night after USPro.  The following morning was filled with me nervously prepping myself for meeting this stranger that had changed my life in unimaginable ways. 

My recently acquired lack of inhibition (thank you TBI?) lead me to give him a long hug within the first few seconds after I pulled up at his house.  For me, it was like greeting an old friend.  For him, it was probably more like the awkwardly long hug I’d promised him a month prior.

At some point, he sent a tweet and Facebook update saying that he was with me.  Shortly after, I started receiving messages of surprise from friends that had seen it and had no idea that I was meeting him.  The cat was out of the bag.  There was a picture later in the afternoon as well, followed by more shocked responses from my friends and tweeps questioning what I was doing there.

Out of respect for his privacy, I won’t rehash every detail of our day together.  However, after a relaxed lunch with his parents (wonderful people!), we got hopped up on caffeine (dude brews a mean cup of coffee and I’m spoiled for life!), he attempted to fix a scratch on my rental car (such a gentleman!), and then we drove up to Chattanooga where he showed me around the city, including, of course, a bike shop (yes, we’re both bike nerds!).  

We walked around, chatted, and pretty much just spent time getting to know each other a little better.  He was friendly, outgoing, and I think he could sense a bit of nervousness or shyness in the way I spoke and in my body language.  For the most part, I concentrated on not being the complete spaz that my friends know me to be, although I’m not certain I was successful.  Thank goodness he can carry a conversation! 

I can’t remember exactly what he said to me in our last minutes together, but I told him he was going to make me cry, which he did.  Being highly emotional on my best of days is hard enough… but this was emotionally painful.  It could have been any number of things most likely related to my brain injury or new medication; I’m not sure.  Simple fact is, I had a difficult time holding it together while we said goodbye and didn’t want to let go.  I completely lost it once I got back to my hotel room.

I hope this is a sign that we have a strong enough bond for a long friendship.

Oh, and at some point in the day, I volunteered for his Race Across America team for next year.  I don’t know if he’ll take me up on the offer of soigneur duties, but it should clear up any questions as to my current level of sanity.

Where to Start?

I’m so overwhelmed by the last couple of weeks that I don’t even know where to begin.  Logic tells me to rehash the good stuff in chronological order, but even then, I know there’s enough material for a few blog entries.  Yes, my vacation was that exciting.

I started off in Greenville, SC.  Well, not really, I started at home, but my first real destination was Greenville for USPro.  I’ve never been and since they moved the event to the first weekend of vacation, it only seemed appropriate that I make the cross-country flight out to South Carolina to see the race.

Yes, completely reasonable to fly several thousand miles to watch a bike race.  Nothing strange about that at all.

I was greeted at the airport by D’Andrea and Anita.  I’d never met Anita before, but I’ve met D’Andrea a couple of times.  Despite this, I feel like I’ve known both them forever.  It’s amazing the bonds people can form over social media and a shared love of bike racing and argyle.  Upon arrival at the hotel, I was greeted by even more people, there was alcohol involved, laughter, fun, and then some much needed sleep.

Sunday started with the South Carolina State Road Race.  Actually, that’s not true, it really started with a somewhat awkward conversation with Davis and Taylor Phinney in the hotel restaurant about a butt pillow that was given to BMC’s Chris Butler by a Diva, but I digress.

During my first full day in the South, I was floored by good old fashioned Southern hospitality when the owner of the home in front of which we set up camp at the state road race, graciously offered us the use of his bathroom throughout the day.  Really… how cool is that?  And yes, we did take him up on his offer on numerous occasions.  

The real party started Sunday evening.  It involved chalk, a rather large group of cycling fans, and Paris Mountain.  I was there to cheer on my NorCal guys so some riders who normally wouldn’t find much support so far from home got some customized art up on the hill.  Of course, photos were taken, pics were tweeted, riders were thrilled, and lives were changed forever.  Okay, maybe that last part is a bit of a stretch, but you never know.

For Max Jenkins and Chris Jones of United Healthcare 

Paul Mach and Andy Jacques-Maynes of Bissell, but I couldn't forget Ted King even though he doesn't live in NorCal, he does occasionally train here

Monday, of course was the big day - my first national championship.  After properly meeting Davis Phinney that morning and gushing ever so subtly about how much I was enjoying his book (more on that in a later blog), we headed downtown to set up for the race.

Early on, my friend, Dan, directed me to where the riders would be signing in and I would be able to get some great photos, and if I do say so myself, there was mucho success.  I went out of my way to personally wish my NorCal guys luck, by name, and got quite a few bright smiles of surprise.  Or maybe it was fear when they realized they recognized me from local NorCal races and they worried that they were being stalked.  I may never know…

Taylor Phinney seemed relaxed after a less than pleasing time trial on Saturday

One of my favorite shots - Tejay van Garderen leading a group into a turn

(Long sentence alert!)  Toward the end of the race, after a long day screaming for Ted King who coincidentally made the late break to eventually finish third overall (which we all know is the best), thanks in part, I’m sure, to my screaming, Becky’s hand knit socks, and JTKatz’s jar of Spekuloos, I was handed a press pass and practically thrown onto the course with the legitimate photographers (deep breath!).  Again, it’s that Southern hospitality rearing it’s oh so pretty head.

Because of that borrowed press pass, I was able to get shots like these:

The sprint and photo finish between George Hincapie and Matthew Busche

Ted King was thrilled with finishing on the podium... very excited for him! 

Matthew Busche was interviewed on stage as Ted King and George Hincapie shared a few comments

Going to USPro was an incredible experience and I was constantly reminded about how cool it was that an American was guaranteed to win.  What I saw of Greenville and South Carolina was beautiful even though I nearly became a puddle in the heat, which wasn’t that bad until you factored in the humidity. 

My vacation had gotten off to a most excellent beginning.

The rest of my photos can be seen here: Sign in and call ups; race and podium.