My club My Team

I came home in 1999, just in time for the y2k. Having lived in Indianapolis for nearly ten years, I was most eager to spend a few years in the woods – in the silence. I did that. Three years. No electricity in a cabin I built myself. I piped water down to the place from a spring up on the hill, I hunted ginseng and I wrote in a journal.


I thought about cycling some, but not much. I endured summer thunder and winter snow…. Nobody bothered me much, and I wrote a column in a local news paper about my life in the woods.

Fifteen years consulting as a geologist and geophysicist; from California to New York, year after year…. Feeling as if my efforts were just a “stage act” – corporate obligations fulfilled…. I desperately needed meaning. I needed the stillness of the woods. And I did that three years.

I was done with the deprived life after three years and I settled into a place with cable TV and lights that came on with the flick of a switch. Not long after, It occurred to me to start riding bicycles again. And I did.

I raced in the 1980’s, but as a young man, I was hyper competitive. After 15 years consulting as a geologist, then three years in the woods, alone – cycling came back to me as a purity – a life-philosophy; a way of life.

I’ve been back racing five years now. And I have not won very many races. I will probably never win many more. And that doesn’t matter to me. I feel strong, and I feel qualified to race in my field.

There are many things that I love in my life. I love my Son most of all. I love the woods, and the memories of my life at the cabin. But my heart and soul belong to the men and women who share a passion with me for cycling.

Cycling and racing is as much a sanctuary as the woods were, those years at the cabin. I probably will never win another race. But I will train my heart out. I do this, because my brothers and sisters on wheels do the same…. They ride, sometimes with me, sometimes on their own…

While I may not be a good enough cyclist to Win the big races, I am fulfilled sharing a love with you, who ever you are.

In so far as I will do well with a pack finish, I race for all of my cycling friends – Jack most of all.

MY BIKE SHOP IS CUMBERLAND CYCLES…. Marc Travis is one of the most knowledgeable bike geeks I know. I will ride for this club, this shop and this club for as long as I can turn a crank.

Let make 2011 a great year!