It's quite possible some teammates of mine will be surprised this write up is not going to be about them and their recent race of the Cuhutta 100. However, I feel this is an important one for all the racers and sponsors out there in the cycling community.
As a racerboy I have been guilty of losing sight of the joys of just riding a bike. Our kind gets so caught up in training and racing that we sometimes forget that it is supposed to be fun. You train, train, train all off season to get faster then all of a sudden you learn you have to take a month off for bilateral hernia surgery in March. March is supposed to be Base 2. Going to have to reboot and start over in April. Then when you are on your way back to the bike finally, you find your 6 year old daughter needs to have her kidney removed. First it was scheduled for June but after a 4 day weekend in the hospital it is moved to May. You are not mad at not being able to ride or train, you are just upset about the hand your family has been dealt. It drains the whole family and you are ready to throw in the towel and sell all your bikes.
Doesn't matter what the teammates say, you are slow...again and realize in the past 10 years of racing it's impossible to be fast for two years in a row. It's possible that the up and down roller coaster of training is over and you are ready to get off the ride. You think maybe it's time to polish off the old bowling ball and get the average back over 200. Or maybe finally buy that project CJ8 Scrambler you always wanted and spend your hours wrenching in the garage rather than in the basement on the trainer.
Then packages comes in the mail for your kids from the Twin Six Family. I didn't order this stuff. I didn't even tell them directly what was going on. Just FB'ed some details out to let family and close friends know what was going on.
First and most important, my kids...well any kid, love presents. My daughter Ciara carried that pink water bottle around with her all weekend. It's very important for us to keep her hydrated and that bottle could not have come at a better time because of the hot and humid weekend we had. She got so many compliments on it when we were at Ash and Abi's track meet on Saturday. The more compliments she got the more she drank out of it.
Second. Stickers go a loooong way with kids as do awesome t-shirts. Having Twin Six stuff like dad is awesome. In fact Ashton has confiscated my black T6 thermal for track season as he likes using it for warm ups during meets. Now they have more of their own Twin Six swag to wear.
Last, seeing this type of support from a sponsor took my mind well beyond training and racing. It reminded me of the friendships I have made and community I have been a part of from just riding my bikes. I spent a lot of time this weekend reflecting after all this. Reminding me that my family is also a part of the METAL family and by your actions you showed that it is really a family. You guys have by far set the standard of bringing friendship, family and pedaling bikes together.
So many thanks yous to Twin Six for the care packages they sent my kids and also for saving the soul of this cyclist. The feeling I had on my Saturday morning road ride was one I haven't had in a long time. The headwind and sunrise off the water never looked and felt so nice and all I could think of after was what I should pour into my T6 flask for later in the day.
Of all the advise I have given to others over the years along with some that has been given to me, the best two words that have always been right in front of me are now clear and understood.....
Forever Forward
