Tuesday, May 10, 2011

loss

I don't know where to begin.  First of all I have been busy with a new job, racing, and... well that's about it.  So I apologize for not keeping up with what is going on.  I could probably do about three or four posts on Gilbert, who couldn't?  I was a fan before, and I am just beside myself impressed with his Classics season.  That is what cycling needs, a rider who can dominate and does it with style -a lot of style.  If only I could borrow just a little???

The Giro is ongoing and was struck with tragedy when Wouter Weylandt crashed on a descent in Stage 3 and was killed.  Everyday life is mostly taken for granted, go to work, eat, sleep, and rinse and repeat.  Does one ever know that this day will be their last?  Wouter got out of bed for the last time to race his bike in one of the most prestigious races...did he know?  Last year he woke up for Stage 3 of the Giro and went to bed that nigh with a stage win.  I believe that you never know, it is a part of life and as we all know it is unpredictable.

Losing someone in a sport that you follow or that you partake in, hits home, it's as if you know the person because you have a connection.  It also forces you to remember or relive a loss in your own life.  It is coming up on two years ago that we lost Matt Edmonds and Christa Voss.  I was not close to either one of them, but I knew them from racing and riding bikes.  They are an example of two people I would have never had touch my life if it were not for the common thread of the bicycle.  Christa, Matt, and Wouter all leave a void in the lives of the people that knew them.  They leave family and friends behind.  Like I said I did not know them very well, but I am left with an emptiness, if only because they are no longer part of my life.

I wish I had some words of wisdom or some insight that I could share with you, but all I can think about are the people that are close to me and those who are just acquaintances, and how I do not want to lose any them.  Give your people a hug and tell them how you feel about them.  Tell them that you love them. 

I hope that I can get my life back in order here with the job, riding, life, etc... so that I can crank out some Giro recaps and maybe tell a few stories every now and then.  Thank you for reading, I do appreciate it -it makes me feel kinda' important.