Oh Mike, don’t be so hard on yourself, any team would be lucky to have you. Oh man, now I’m just gushing. Follow @Michael_Creed on Twitter and hear life from a different perspective.
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There’s always next year. 
The air is ripe with the coulda shoulda woulda’s. Some bike racers are still chasing the form they were hoping to have a month ago, others are just wanting it all to be over, and some of us just can’t seem to get enough.
Wednesday night was the end of the Greenbelt Racing Series held each Wednesday night in Greenbelt, Maryland during the summer. I like to think of Greenbelt as our own little local fight club. Well if it were fight club, I wouldn’t be writing about it, because the first rule of fight club is…
I met this young guy brand new to bike racing at Greenbelt this past week. He was trying to figure out where to park, what the course was like, and how to race. It kinda made me laugh a little inside. It was like looking back in time 2 years ago when I started at Greenbelt as a rookie. When the guy asked me for a tip to racing the course, I just smiled and told him to “have fun”.
I have a special affection to this race for few reasons.
It was the birthplace of my obsession with bike racing. Back in 2008 fresh off my experience at the Tour de France, my buddy Gregg (the guy who runs this site) talked me into coming out for the race. I think he told me it was a good race for beginners and that “i would be fine”. I got up the courage and went out for the race. I didn’t know anyone, but Gregg introduced me to a couple of his friends. I might have met Lance Lacey and Chuck Hutch. I had no idea who these guys were, nor did I understand why Harley Davidson sponsored a bike team. After I figured out how to pin my number on (by watching Chuck use his steering wheel in his car…i still use this method) the race was off. I got dropped on the second lap and got lapped by the “C” group 3 times. With my head tucked in shame, I went over to the table to turn in my number. I probably would have quit bike racing all together, but something kept me from doing so. Which leads me to my next reason this race is so special to me…
Bagels and Nutella. Yup after each race, we are left with basket of assorted bagels and Nutella. Not sure how I made it 33 years of my life without Nutella. Some might say the hill leading to the finish is the toughest part of the race. I say it’s the bagel choice decision that needs to be made each Wednesday night. Plain or poppyseed? Or the eternal question of “half or whole”? Nothing like scooping that last bit of Nutella from the jar.
The Familes. I love seeing the moms and dads out there on lawn chairs cheering the racers. Let’s face it, bike racing isn’t always the most exciting thing in the world to watch. Especially on a Wednesday night in the heat of the summer. It’s pretty cool hanging around the juniors and hearing them trade stories about their last race. They are the ones that will keep bike racing going, so we are fortunate to have a race where they can compete and grow as racers.
My Dad. I wish my Dad had a chance to see me race my bike before he passed away. We did manage to come out to Greenbelt together last year. It was pretty cool packing up the car together and heading out. I remember he brought his camera and video camera and was pretty excited. We got out there, I took a few warm up laps, he got some cool photos, then it started pouring rain. Race cancelled. Kinda sucked, but we had a good time together talking about bike racing and continuing our relationship with sports. He has the best seat in the house right now, and I still hear him yelling at me whenever that wheel in front of me starts to slip away on that nasty hill leading to the finish.
Damn I love bike racing.
Adam
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You know when I’m super busy when you have two Michael Creed Monday’s with nothing in between. What can you do?
Yes they do. Yes they do. Follow @Michael_Creed on Twitter because he’s the bomb diggity. Word.
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