Get Out and Ride!

I've been riding a bike for as long as I can remember. I have many fond memories of riding my Big Wheel, learning how to ride without training wheels, riding to friends houses, building bigger and bigger ramps to jump on my BMX bike....I got my first 10 speed at age 10 and that was probably the point of no return.

I did my first long ride in high school when I rode 66 miles with the Senior Outing Club that was run by my physics teacher. That was an epic day. 66 miles on a mountain bike. I had a blast though and then started riding said mountain bike 20-30 miles a day 4-5 times a week that summer. Then college came and well, cycling, school and Baltimore did not always seem compatible. I kept my bike as a means of transportation but my recreational interests turned more to climbing, caving, backpacking, and kayaking. It wasn't until after college that I got back into cycling beyond the level of getting from point A to point B. I found myself living in Colorado and working at Rocky Mountain National Park. The roads were a little intimidating for road riding, but I turned to mountain biking. I had a blast. I wasn't very good at it and somewhere in the basement archives at ESPN, there may still be a small section of video of me tentatively riding down a section of the Slickrock Trail in Moab without enough momentum to carry me through the sandy section at the bottom. It swallowed my front wheel and right in front of the ESPN cameraman, I endo'd in rather spectacular fashion.

Eventually I found myself back in the Mid-Atlantic teaching at a small boarding school in Northern Maryland. The roads there made me long for a road bike. I ended up purchasing a Trek 5200 and began my return to road riding. The students were interested in cycling and convinced me to start a cycling program at the school. The Athletic Director was so against the idea, but the Head of School liked it, so the program happened. The A.D. and I used to get in arguments over whether or cycling was a sport. He tried to convince me that his baseball players got a better workout than the kids in my program. Yes, I suppose running 90 feet between bases is a better aerobic workout than riding a bike for 25 miles. Whatever. I had decided early on that I was not going to last too long at that school or in that particular area given that it had a very active KKK community.

Two years later, I found myself back in New England. I took a job at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Western Massachusetts. Eight years later, I'm still there. And yes, we have a mountain biking program and a road program here. My first year here, I tore my MCL while skiing during March break. I ignored it of course until I had to help teach a mountain biking class and I couldn't ride. It took forever to heal and I missed the entire summer for riding. It hurt a lot to ride my bike. What I didn't realize at the time was that my Trek never really fit me right and my position on the bike was aggravating the knee. I ended up having my knee scoped in August of 1999 and by then, I had put on a ton of weight. I just got really depressed from not being active and then one night while I was sitting on my couch feeling sorry for myself , I saw an ad in Bicycling magazine for a fundraising ride from Seattle to Washington D.C. the next summer. I decided at that moment that I was going to do that and I had 7 months to get myself in shape. It was just what I needed. At 5'5" and 180+ pounds, it was going to take everything I had to be ready in time. I started going to the gym everyday and doing an hour of cardio followed by some lifting. In February, I was dragged to a spinning class at a local health club and the events of that night changed my cycling life forever. The class was run by Bob Perry, the owner of Bicycles Unlimited in Greenfield, MA. He was nuts. (Still is) At the end of the class, my cleat was stuck in the pedal and I don't remember what was wrong, but he took my shoe back to his shop to fix whatever was wrong and I was supposed to stop by the next day to pick it up. Long story not as long as it could be, we started talking about my upcoming bike ride and the discomfort that I was having with my Trek. To his credit, he tried everything to make this bike work for me. It just wasn't meant to be. Finally, in April 2000, I ordered a new Kestrel frame with Campy Record components. Bob built it up for me and when I got on it, it fit like no other bike I had ever been on. I rode the bike 3300 miles across the country without a single adjustment in position from that first moment of riding it. It was perfect.

When I returned in August, I resumed riding with the group out of Bicycles Unlimited. By this time, I had lost a lot of weight and was riding stronger than I had ever been before. I learned to mountain bike (for real) that fall. I fell so much during the first few weeks. I could not stay upright! As it turned out, my mountain bike was too big for me and once Bicycle Bob hooked me up with a properly sized full suspension K2 Razorback, life was grand. I spent more time on the bike and lots less time on the ground. However, it was in fact too late to avoid earning the nickname of "Homer." You see, just before I would fall, I always let out a "D'oh!" Oh well. :) Over the years, I kept riding (both road and mountain) improving and finally in 2003, I went to my first Cat 4 road race - the Adelphia Gran Prix. I finished 3rd. I've probably done over 125 races since then. I still ride with the folks at Bicycles Unlimited when my training allows it. Currently I am a Cat 2 and I race for Team International Bike/NERAC now with a group of incredible women (and guys too - I just haven't met many of them yet!). It's so much fun. I can't seem to get enough of it. If you haven't done it lately, GET OUT AND RIDE A BIKE!!!