Monday, October 6, 2008

Thoughts ..... Gifts

I have received a lot of gifts from my many years of bike racing and it has always been important for me to recognize, appreciate and give thanks for all that I have received. It seems important to be thankful for good health and a certain amount of success in racing. My long association with Advantage/Bike Tech Racing has certainly been a great pleasure. The relationship/friendships that I have enjoyed with my teammates, training partners, and racers from around the region are absolutely priceless. The riding, racing and the vacations that we have shared have been a very important part of my life.

Enough of the emotional stuff and on to a very tangible gift that I recently received. Going into the Leadville 100 this year I took my bike into the shop for its annual check up and the guys pretty much told me that both sets of my race wheel were shot. The wheels are the good Specialized that came with the bike and the Cane Creeks that I’ve depended on for years – actually took Troy Meyeraan to Leadville 12 years ago – fine wheels. I can’t remember either set of wheels ever letting me down. But, the boys at the shop said that failure was close at hand, just around the corner over the next log, or was it - these wheels are shot….





So, I put out a call and got several interesting responses. Always ready to help, Rob Walters, suggested that I talk to our old friend Mark Stevenson about some wheels from Jeff Kerkove. With Mark being so crazy about 29” wheels I thought he might have some quality 26ers that that he might be willing to sell. Here comes the gift part. Mark had some good old wheels that he wasn’t using and he just gave them to me. What a deal.



The giving continues – at Chequamegon this year my great training partner, Kathleen Porter received a 9 – speed Scram cassette (I got another camelback – geesh) and she ahh ah she gave it to me. Nice –

But we aren’t done yet. I got a pair of S Works tires from the shop – and you guessed it – Brent didn’t charge me for the fine rubber.

A lot of gifts. A lot to be thankful for….

John

3 comments:

  1. christmas in october! you can't beat that!

    how's the shoulder and ribs?

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  2. During the time - including the Leadville Trail 100 race - that I was without a set of race wheels Mike Johnson came to my rescue and let me use a set of his good wheels.
    Once more I need to express my appreciation for a very generous gift - a gift of friendship and some mighty fine wheels too.
    John

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  3. What you have given to many as a racer, cyclist and training partner - Your gifts indeed - well paid forward.

    A very nice post -

    Kat

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