Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Wednesday, July 23, 2003

Wow

This year's big story at the Tour de France was supposed to be whether Lance could win 5 in a row. Lined up against him was the deepest field of challengers he had faced over the period of his domination of the "Super Bowl" of cycling. Included in those serious challengers were two Americans, Tyler Hamilton and Levi Leipheimer. Some were even talking about an American sweep of the podium. All of that changed when a Kelme rider unclipped going around a corner at 30 mph 500 m from the end of stage 1. Almost all of the big names were involved in the crash, including Lance, Tyler and Levi. While Lance escaped unharmed, Tyler and Levi weren't so lucky. Levi broke one of his "sit" bones and had to abandon. Tyler broke his collarbone in two places and looked like he would also step out of the race.

This is where the story gets interesting. Tyler had trained for the Tour all year long. Eight other men had trained to support him over that same time. The team had pinned its hopes on him and now he was injured, badly. While it may not seem that a collarbone is that big a deal in a sport were you use your legs for most of the work, you have to anchor your body against something. That something is the bike itself and you have to hang on tight, especially going uphill. A broken collarbone makes that pretty painful. So the news conference got called to announce Tyler's abandonment. Funny thing though. Neither Tyler or his team manger, former Tour winner Bjarne Riis, could actually say the words. It was too hard, there was too much that had been put into this. So they released the results of the medical exam and said they'd leave it until tomorrow.

Were they serious? No one believed that Tyler was going to start stage two until he rolled up to the start line heavily taped with extra padding on his handlebar. "We'll see how it goes," he said. In interviews he explained that he had to prove to himself that he couldn't finish. He couldn't just go home. He felt he owed too much to the team. He did finish. He finished stage three and four and on and on. It was incredible. To see him climbing the Alps with the best cyclists in the world and holding his own was, as Paul Sherwin might put it, "absolutely unbelievable."

Today the story became legend. Tyler won stage 16 of the Tour and improved his standing to 6th place overall. He won on a breakaway. Solo. A long flyer. Over 100 km. Its the most phenomenal thing I've ever seen anyone do on a bicycle. He held off the best cyclists in the world for over 60 miles to take his first stage victory in the tour. What an incredible inspiration. When asked he replied, "I'm just doing my job." "This victory belongs to the team who has worked so hard for me." Wow. Just unbelievable. Parents out there, show your kids this guy. Not the Kobe Bryants or Derek Jeters or Terrell Owens' or other overpaid primadonnas and criminals. Show them Tyler Hamilton. Show them his character. Teach them his attitude. Tyler is a humble man who refused to give up. Who stuck out the pain because he refused to give up on his dreams and, as I'm sure he'd say, the dreams of the eight men around him. Because of his example two other members of his team have won stages this year in the tour. Looking at his dedication, they refused to give up no matter how badly it hurt. Because of his soldiering on, the team leads to the teams classification in the Tour by a whopping 9 minutes and not one of his teammates has dropped out of the three week long bike race that eats the fittest men in the world for breakfast.

I will always admire Lance for his comeback and his dedication to his sport. It has taught me about the power of a dream and what can be redeemed from the ashes of a broken life. Now, as a rider and as a person, I am finding that I want to learn from Tyler. I want to be more like him: humble, dedicated and selfless. Just as concerned about the dreams of others as I am about my own dreams. We're built about the same, 5'8" and around 140 lbs. I hope I can have the character he has shown in how I live my life and how I ride my bike.

Tyler, thanks for being you.

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Monday, July 21, 2003

Twofer

This weekend I won my second gold medal of this year's Georgia Games, this time in the mountain biking catagory. It's funny how things work out at times. I got my mountain bike as a training alternative when the weather was too cold for a road ride or I needed some variety in the off-season. From that, things progressed to deciding the use the GAP series races as training races due to a lack of local training races and an inability to get to the Thursday Night Hammer Rides in Griffin. On my goals sheet, I listed finishing top ten in the series standings as a goal. After the first race, where I finished 8th, that looked to be a reasonable goal. Since then I've not finished out of the top five (excluding the one DNF at Windridge) and I've won the last two races in the series. I'm now the gold medal winner and the series leader after seven races.

Holding the medal in my hand was really cool and really humbling at the same time. I have never won an athletic award. Ever. Certainly not a championship. To be holding a Georgia Games Championship gold medal won in a mountain biking race was about as unlikely a thing that I could have imagined back in December when I started this year's training. I was planning to go for the gold in the Time Trial but I never figured I'd be a good enough rider technically to win on the dirt.

I've hung the medal on the wall in our TV/Bible Study room next to a verse my wife has painted on the wall. It's from Habbakuk 1:5. It reads, "Get ready to be amazed, for I will do such things that you would not believe, even if you were told!" The medal hangs like an exclamation mark for all to see and believe.

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Monday, July 14, 2003

Two in the Win Column

I've finally managed to breakthrough I've been training for and it does feel good. I took out the top honors in the last two races I've ridden in. The first was a MTB race up in Gainesville at the Ag Center. After my typical slower than most start, I found my rhythm and began to power through the course. By the beginning of the second lap I had caught most of the leaders and by the second climb I had dropped them all. I soloed to a 1'30" win over the second place rider. No flat tires this time. It felt great to get my first MTB win and to get past the mechanicals that have been plaguing me.

Saturday I went out to the Georgia State Games for an attempt to win the Cat V time trial race and get a gold medal. The win at Union City was a good precursor but I wanted this win a lot worse. I had a stronger field to contend with and the course was a lot flatter. That meant that my not exactly areo bike would put me at a disadvantage against more guys with better gear. The funny thing though was that i never felt the usual nerves I get before a race. I got the adrenaline rush right after registration but once I got past that I was calm and determined. When I left the start house I leg my legs find their rhythm and then turned on the gas slowly. At the top of the first little hill I spiked my heart rate at 187 and then let it settle to 180. I went all out for the next five miles. At the end of 18 minutes, I had caught my minute man and won the gold. I didn't find out until yesterday but I was pretty calm until then. I knew I had ridden to the best of my ability. In fact, I had set a personal record speed of 25.4 mph and my legs had felt better than they ever have at a time trial.

This weekend I'll go for a gold medal at the State Games MTB championships at Dauset Trails. I don't think anyone in the series has had back-to-back wins so I'm trying for a lot here but I'm pretty motivated. Here's to hoping for no mechanicals and good legs. Those and a little luck and I'll be on the podium for sure, maybe in the top spot.

Thanks for reading.

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