How it Started
How it's Going
I started this whole adventure in 1979. My dad drove me and my Mongoose out to Bonzai, a BMX track at the intersection of 270 and 70. It was built on the back lot of Central Hardware. I won my very first moto, which was as much of a surprise to me as it was to anyone else. I was a 12 year old comic book nerd who liked riding BMX bikes with my friends. As so many stories go, one thing led to another and suddenly I'm 57 and still racing bikes.
Obviously, there has been a ton of water under that bridge. Lots of ups and downs. More than my fair share of successes. A lot more failures. A few big injuries. But, like it or not, it's made me who I am. I've benefited from luck as much as I've benefited from hard work. Right now, I'm reaping the greatest rewards of a charmed life. My kids are wonderful people and great athletes. My wife and family are into cycling and the bike business well past anything I could have ever imagined.
I don't compete at the front of the races anymore. I had planned on stopping 3 years ago because of that, but then Eli started racing and it just seemed like a really stupid idea to quit. His interest in racing reignited my own. Funny, now I love racing more than I have in 25 years.
I certainly don't have another 45 years in me. No way. Like everyone, I have health problems that don't make this very difficult sport any easier. No excuses, I'm just going to try to enjoy racing as much as possible. Maybe I can pass on some of what I've learned to the amazing new group of kids and youngsters who've started racing NICA and the other cycle sports.
Onward and upward. Never grow up. Never grow old. (ok, maybe old)
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