Thoughts from the podium
Last week, I picked up a trophy and climbed onto the top step of a podium, having won the overall B-division of the Bryan Park Training Series.
The success I enjoyed this summer was totally unexpected, and I don’t mean for that to be false modesty. I have documentation of how rubbish I was just a year ago:
The BPTS has been described to me as one of the better weekly crit races in the Mid-Atlantic, and I don’t doubt it. Every week all sorts of people in Richmond turn out to cheer and race in the punishing Virginia humidity.
The first few races, I just rode behind the familiar wheels and butts of people I recognized from weekend group rides. I was happy to blend into the pack like a wallflower. “Don’t wreck and don’t get dropped,” were my primary thoughts.
Those aforementioned wheels and butts gradually became friendly faces. (I’d heard cycling is a snotty sport, one which attracts those whose heads reside up their own butts. That has not been my experience. Competitive cyclists’ hobby involves a lot of self-immolation, and misery loves company, I guess.)
Before long, I landed on a team. If you want an idea of what life’s like on the Richmond Bicycle Studio|Sweet Spot Cycling team, just know that post-race tacos at En Su Boca are just as much a part of our ethos as launching ill-fated attacks. I have found my people.
I won’t lie and say that I always believed I could be a legitimate Fast Bike Racer™ and win races and wear a leader’s jersey and not get dropped at Carytown Bicycle Co.’s Sunday group ride. I kept at it because I love the feeling of having to dig deep to summon the strength to turn the pedals over just a little bit harder, I love starting my weekends with a double-shot of espresso and a hard ride, and I love feeling a part of this community within my city. Most days we’re all just normal people, but on Tuesdays, we change into spandex and congregate to ride in circles as fast as possible, like we’re the world’s worst league of superheroes. Cycling was a literal form of escapism for me while touring, and now racing has become my escape from the mundanity everyday life can sometimes bring.
Overall, this year was about graduating from starry-eyed newbie to someone who kind of sometimes knows what he’s doing. It’s still bonkers to me that I won. Next year I’ll be upgraded to the next category and will almost certainly get smashed by countless riders who are faster than I all summer long AND I’M ALREADY STOKED FOR IT.
