The Return to the Ring

As today started, the joy of knowing I was going to be on my bike fueled me with energy. It made breakfast a little better and getting out of bed easier. There was absolutely no anxiety to return to something that essentially "left me for dead." 

So as I started my ride, it was like someone turned on a light switch in my brain. Creativity and thoughts were pouring out. Had I not been enjoying my time on the road so much, it would have been a perfect opportunity to sit in the sun and journal everything that came to mind. 

This has always been a blog about cycling and will continue to be. Some of the postings have been dry and very orientated around the details of the subject at hand. Today is a day for growth and change. The window coverings are going to be pulled back and people are going to be able to see a little further into my world. 

The past eight days have been extremely difficult for me, from a wide angle the experience as a whole was uncharted territory for me. From racing to waking up in CAT Scan to laying in bed for a week and moving around like a crippled old man. A lesson was to be learned from this experience. 

Most people would never understand why someone would get back on the proverbial horse after a mishap like this. But I don't. This is life. During our lifetime's we will all have hardship, we will all have a "crash", we will have to learn how to recover, cope and improve for the future. My incident may be a lot more physically involved, but the emotional aspect is all the same. The human spirit must persevere! If we don't get back on the horse, we will always wonder "why?" and "what if?"

So today I remounted the horse and didn't look back. Personally, when I started racing as a Category 4, one of my biggest long term goals was to race in Europe. Now this goal and dream has come to fruition. The years of work, sacrifice and hardship have been worth it. I am not letting a mishap get in the way of the overall goal of racing well here. So I will push on. 


There is no doubt that cycling is the most difficult and taxing sport in the world. There is no other activity that requires this much devotion, suffering and perseverance. It is completely incomparable to other activities. It stands alone as its own animal. Thankfully in this gladiator-esque sport, I have unbelievable support. Nothing would be possible without the support of my family, my girlfriend, my close friends, and the cycling community as a whole. The messages, conversations and phone calls over the last eight days have helped me get through the recovery process. Focusing on the good things can be a harder task than expected when walking to the bathroom is a taxing task. So thank you everyone for being there for me.


As the week starts, I hope to get back up to speed for a big race Sunday in Cholet. The legs may not be there, but being back in the peloton will help dump some gas on the fire of motivation. The ride today was a great success, I was not shaky on the bike at all, and emotionally felt ok riding as well. The only negatives were some inflexibility in my hamstring, hip flexor and IT band. Hopefully after a few days of stretching, foam rolling and massage these can be remedied and we will be good as new!

As always, thanks for reading and stay tuned for updates!