"One Last Race"

Well, by the time this gets posted it will be Friday. Everyone will be pulling on race day jerseys, nerves will be sinking in and there is nothing quite like hearing “mount your Schwinn bicycles” and Straight No Chaser sing Back Home Again in Indiana as the pace laps start.

I was lucky enough to start the race for Cru Cycling last year, a position I was initially going to fill again this year. Unfortunately though, you will not see me out in the track today. I’ve been waffling back and forth all year, going between focusing solely on collegiate nationals to attempting to do both. However, the decision was removed from my hands when I ended up having a cyst removed from my wrist joint two weeks ago. The doctor said I could probably race, but it soon became clear that my wrist was not going to support me jumping on the bike and even if it did I could possibly injure it severely enough to ruin nationals. My teammates have been amazingly supportive through this whole process and I owe them more than I can quantify.

I may not be out on the track today, but I will be in the pit putting my coaching certification and race experience to use, and I could not ask for a better group of girls to coach on race day.  However, there are a lot of people who have made Little 500 what it has been for me.

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Little 500. Without it I probably never would have started riding competitively or found a place within college. Little 500 gave me friends, it gave me community and it gave me something to work for. That being said, there are a few teams who deserve more than just a general thanks from me:

Thank you so much to Wing It Cycling for helping me to fall in love with riding, thank you for your support and friendship my freshman year. I had so much fun racing that year and the top ten finish is something I still cherish today.  Tom, you remain one of the most influential people on my cycling career and I owe you more than I could ever repay in terms of knowledge and support.

Thank you to Cru Cycling for taking me in and helping me renew my faith. Thank you for walking with me during my long months of physical therapy for my knee and thank you for continuing that journey with me for three years. I could not ask for a better group of women to call teammates.

Thank you to Melanzana for letting us into your team and life these past years. In particular I owe Dana, Christine and Rose for your kindness. I can't express how awesome it is to see how much our teams have grown stronger because of each other. 

Thank you to all the riders, men and women, who became my friends. I have had more fun on the track in the last few months than I can ever hope to have again. I love watching the friendships that form on the track between people of all different skill levels. They say Little 500 is the great equalizer and I could not agree more in terms of the connections it creates.

To those of you who are not graduating this year, cherish these months. It’s hard work, and sometimes it seems like it is not worth it, but I would not give up my four years on the track for anything. Support your teammates, and know that they would travel through hell and back again for you. In turn, encourage the teams around you. Little 500 may pit you against each other but some of my best moments in college have been because of other teams and the friends I made during track practice.

I guess what I am trying to say in the end, is thank you. Today was the last day at the track and as I looked around I realized how much of myself I discovered because of Little 500, and how far I had come from that scared freshman during rookie week. 

See you on race day and Godspeed.