Faster Together — Part 1
I’ve commented before that cycling has many tribes. Somewhere along the line, I’ve forgotten my own wisdom on this subject.
Let me explain.
To grow in cycling, you have be willing to suffer, to make mistakes and to learn from them. I would contend in order to be a complete cyclist, you also need to be willing to teach. Cycling is indeed an individual effort played out by teams but that team needs guidance and encouragement or it will surely collapse on itself.
I’ve had the opportunity, because of the amazing cycling community in Athens, to grow in just about every aspect of this sport. Lately, it has been bending towards going flat out for as long as I can stand it. Like Greg Lemond said, “it doesn’t get easier, you just go faster.”
But when one of my MidnightTrainFromGeorgia teammates recently pulled me to one side and indicate he understood why I needed to go test myself, he also let me know how important I was to our cancer fightin’ brigade whose cycling prowess runs the gamut. Not as a hammer (or the nail!) but as Teacher, Expert, and Inspiration.
I honestly don’t know what to do with that sort of information.
Maybe it is the Pennsylvania Dutch modesty that I grew up with or something along the lines of, “pride comes before the fall” but thinking of myself as this paragon of cycling to everyone in my peloton is an odd place for me mentally.
But I’ve watched them all evolve and embrace cycling in a more total and complete way.
I’ve seen Rachel Burns have the ‘a-ha’ moment of the advantages of riding in the slipstream of pack riders barrelling through the countryside.
Last year Henry Oddi and I bested our own Day 2 at Pelotonia time by 20 minutes — not because I was stronger but because Henry really tested himself, took turns at the front and was fearless.
B. Noble Jones made the comment the other day on a section of the ride I posted here on Relive.com that he felt like a ‘real cyclist’ because he was implementing instructions myself and others had coach him to do.
So Pelotonia 2017 is going to be about finding challenges everywhere. Yes, big long crazy epics and short brutally fast group rides — but also time talking and helping make everyone better. I want to earn my hashtag #IamtheEngine.
To that end — your help is needed too. In order to fuel this effort, I can use your financial support for this year’s ride www.pelotonia.org/carabello1014
Pelotonia is all about individuals taking moon shot ideas to cure cancer and having the faith and support of a team to make it become a reality. There are drugs and therapies for my brand of cancer that literally were not around when I got sick in 2009. Why? Research- which isn’t free.
Do whatever you can. More importantly — share our story. If you or someone you love needs a morale boost, send ’em my way. Survivorship to me means paying it forward to anyone else in this awful club because we are stronger together. #onegoal
