Hello Crew!~
I just wanted to remind everybody with enough advance warning that we have three of our five most important races quickly approaching! These include the following:
I just wanted to remind everybody with enough advance warning that we have three of our five most important races quickly approaching! These include the following:
April 15 raccoon mt road race
May 5 highland rim stage race
May 25 Edgar Soto Memorial Stage Race
We also have smaller racers just about every weekend from now until the end of the year. These include a KY/IN Series race in Louisville this coming weekend in Louisville and a KY/IN Series Circuit race in Lexington, April 21.
We also have smaller racers just about every weekend from now until the end of the year. These include a KY/IN Series race in Louisville this coming weekend in Louisville and a KY/IN Series Circuit race in Lexington, April 21.
team races: Cumberland Cycles Races
We also have a very significant century tour coming up soon in Chattanooga called the 3-state 3 mountain challenge:
May 5 - 3-State 3-Mountain
RECENT RIDES AND RACES
The team ride consisted of about 20 riders last Tuesday, with eighteen finishing pretty much together. Mr. Eric Barnett, from Lexington (Team Pedal Power) joined us for our ride and it was nice having him along! The pace was fast, but everybody stayed pretty much together with Adam and Jeff C. at or off the front much of the time! It is hard to believe how strong everybody is getting!
DOGWOOD WINTER
Remember- Marc still has winter riding cloths on the racks down at the shop! Please don't stop riding just because it's gotten a little cooler! Go on out and buy some winter gear - wear it for a week or so and put it away for next fall and winter!
Winter clothing down at the shop is 25% off!
ALWAYS
Support Cumberland Cycles!!!!!!! Cumberland Cycles - Bike and Skate Shop, Somerset, Kentucky. Please do anything you can to support our shop!
RECENT RIDES AND RACES
The team ride consisted of about 20 riders last Tuesday, with eighteen finishing pretty much together. Mr. Eric Barnett, from Lexington (Team Pedal Power) joined us for our ride and it was nice having him along! The pace was fast, but everybody stayed pretty much together with Adam and Jeff C. at or off the front much of the time! It is hard to believe how strong everybody is getting!
DOGWOOD WINTER
Remember- Marc still has winter riding cloths on the racks down at the shop! Please don't stop riding just because it's gotten a little cooler! Go on out and buy some winter gear - wear it for a week or so and put it away for next fall and winter!
Winter clothing down at the shop is 25% off!
ALWAYS
Support Cumberland Cycles!!!!!!! Cumberland Cycles - Bike and Skate Shop, Somerset, Kentucky. Please do anything you can to support our shop!
ON A PERSONAL NOTE:
I would like to take a moment and share some personal information with you all. This month, April, will mark the 19th anniversary of my retirement from bicycle racing! Prior to this year (2007) the last time I raced was in April of 1989! I had not raced nor even ridden a bike (to speak of) for 19 years!
The first of April also marks my seventh month back on a bicycle! I spent those 19 years in between being a geologist and raising my Son! I don't regret it at all! But I am really glad to have rediscovered my passion for cycling.
I know that a lot of our club members believe that some people are naturally better athletes than others are. Some also believe that I may be one of those rare physical specimens. While I do believe that some people can be more naturally gifted than others, I do not believe that I am any more gifted than anybody else! I simply do not believe it. What I do have is an understanding that to get fast on a bike, simply requires passion and dedication. I am not even that dedicated! I just love riding my bike so the miles are easy for me (at least for now).
It is never easy racing bikes. While there are many many very valuable aspects to bike racing and training, there are times it is brutally difficult. Training in the coldest days of winter.... trying to survive an all out attack in a race.... crashing. It is a path filled with heartache, physical pain and disappointment, but it is also one of the most fulfilling paths I have every known.
I say all of this because I wanted you to know, I do not see my self as particularly gifted. I see myself as passionate. This passion leads me to train when others would not. It leads me to do something with regard to my cycling goals every single day of my life (during the last seven months). My day may call for rest... or it may call for hard intervals. It always requires me to eat right and rest. Even though I hate to train in the cold and rain, I know that this is what is necessary to do what I want to do! I realize that cycling is not always pleasant. I also know that I am required to take my beatings and floggings as they come.... and stand strong even though I feel humiliated and discouraged. This is what makes me stronger, and not because I am anything but an average, normal athlete.
I think it is almost exactly how my artist friend Peggy paints the way she does. It is a matter of keeping the brush moving, even when I don't feel like it and being focused not on what I have on the canvas at any given time but what I hope to put there. A perfect metaphor.... Even the best artists begin with a completely blank canvas!
I would like to take a moment and share some personal information with you all. This month, April, will mark the 19th anniversary of my retirement from bicycle racing! Prior to this year (2007) the last time I raced was in April of 1989! I had not raced nor even ridden a bike (to speak of) for 19 years!
The first of April also marks my seventh month back on a bicycle! I spent those 19 years in between being a geologist and raising my Son! I don't regret it at all! But I am really glad to have rediscovered my passion for cycling.
I know that a lot of our club members believe that some people are naturally better athletes than others are. Some also believe that I may be one of those rare physical specimens. While I do believe that some people can be more naturally gifted than others, I do not believe that I am any more gifted than anybody else! I simply do not believe it. What I do have is an understanding that to get fast on a bike, simply requires passion and dedication. I am not even that dedicated! I just love riding my bike so the miles are easy for me (at least for now).
It is never easy racing bikes. While there are many many very valuable aspects to bike racing and training, there are times it is brutally difficult. Training in the coldest days of winter.... trying to survive an all out attack in a race.... crashing. It is a path filled with heartache, physical pain and disappointment, but it is also one of the most fulfilling paths I have every known.
I say all of this because I wanted you to know, I do not see my self as particularly gifted. I see myself as passionate. This passion leads me to train when others would not. It leads me to do something with regard to my cycling goals every single day of my life (during the last seven months). My day may call for rest... or it may call for hard intervals. It always requires me to eat right and rest. Even though I hate to train in the cold and rain, I know that this is what is necessary to do what I want to do! I realize that cycling is not always pleasant. I also know that I am required to take my beatings and floggings as they come.... and stand strong even though I feel humiliated and discouraged. This is what makes me stronger, and not because I am anything but an average, normal athlete.
I think it is almost exactly how my artist friend Peggy paints the way she does. It is a matter of keeping the brush moving, even when I don't feel like it and being focused not on what I have on the canvas at any given time but what I hope to put there. A perfect metaphor.... Even the best artists begin with a completely blank canvas!
It is easy to train when we feel good and feel like riding... it is when it is cold and wet and dreary - yet we still get out and train - we become very strong. When we show up to races or rides knowing that we are going to get beaten or dropped, yet will still show up! This is when we earn our rites to succeed.
I see so much of this in our club - in our team - in our Crew! And I am proud of what is happening here.
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