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

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Terrible Decision

Well, my run for a top ten spot at Nationals and the rest of my cycling season are now over. As bad as that sounds, it's really a very small price for one of the worst decisions of my life. I decided to run a stop sign on my TT bike on Monday and because of that I came within inches of being crushed by a 10 wheel dump truck. I thought he had a stop sign too so I decided to roll through and it turns out he didn't. That I escaped with a lot of road rash, some bruises and a possible minor skull fracture is remarkable, even miraculous.

To everyone who has been pulling for me and rooting for me I want to apologize. In one terrible moment I have let you all down. Most of all I have let my wife down who has sacrificed as much, if not more, than I have to see me reach for this dream. It's very hard to let this dream go for the year but when I consider what could have been, I am very thankful to have the opportunity to make the decision to do so.

Kathy, the amazing woman that she is, told me last night, "You know, you still haven't brought me one of the Tundra Time Trial glass trophies home." She may have been just trying to raise my spirits but if in a month she's still supportive of this seemingly quixotic endeavor of mine and I can find a way to replace my bike, I may very well line up next February with the intention of bringing home a piece of sublimely sculpted and blown glass for her mantle.

Between now and then there's a lot of healing and regrouping that needs to take place. But if Ekimov can crash, shatter two vertibrae and break his sternum at my age and get back to training for the World Championships in September, I can see about getting back on the bike and winning again.

Thanks for reading and maybe I'll see you on the road in a couple of months.

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