Last weekend Matt (my husband) and I
did the local 50 mile Test of Endurance mountain bike race. This race is put on
by Mike Ripley, a man who seems to be able to successfully pull off six jobs at
one time. He is a father of three wonderful girls; husband to a lovely wife;
has created Team Dirt, a community based mountain bike race team that includes
everyone from beginning mountain bikers to pro racers; he runs mudslinger
events, which puts on five awesome mountain bike races every year, and he is a
member of the OBRA board, helping to run cycling events and advise on cycling
issues all over Oregon and the US. This man is at the very heart of the cycling
community in Oregon and his work is nationally renowned.
Before the| race Mike spoke to all
the racers giving us the directions we would need to complete the 50 mile race.
Then he took a moment to tell us about another racer in our Oregon cycling
community. Mat Barton was racing in the Portland short track series when he hit
a series of bumps and was thrown from his bike. The crash left him paralyzed
from the chest down. A surgery had already been done, but doctors felt the
damage would be permanent. Mike went on to tell us that a fund had been set up
to help cover Mat's medical costs. In one day the fund had raised $29,000, but
the goal was $50,000. Mike had t-shirts for sale and all the proceeds would be
going to Mat's medical expenses.
It occurred to me as we all stood
there together, that we are more than a group of mountain bikers meeting here
today to race one another. We are a group of friends, and training partners. We
will all take turns during a race to push each other to race better, faster,
ride a better line, try harder and to inspire one another. And when one of us
goes down, we gather around that person to fill whatever needs arise.
Mike left us all with this simple
message before we rolled out to start the race, "Take care of each other
out there." These are probably the words every racer should carry with
them on and off the race course. These are the words that make a community.
Throughout my life I have been lucky
to live in community after community of people who take care of each other out
there. I was born in White Rock, Nova Scotia which is perhaps the dictionary definition
of a community. White Rock has approximately 500 residents, each living in
their own little home on an acre or more. There is a church, a hall, a general
store and a mill (the last two are now sadly closed). But it is the people who
still make White Rock a very special place.
I grew up in on a road with three
houses, ours was the middle. The doors to all three houses were always open to
the neighbours, I don't remember anyone knocking. Often as kids we could choose
where to eat supper by who was having what. In this environment I was
essentially the youngest sister of seven children, and I had three moms and
dads. If my mother was baking and she was short an egg or a cup of milk it was
no problem to run next door and get the needed ingredient. When Mom finished
baking, she would send me back to the neighbours house with a plate of cookies.
This saved us a trip to town, and they got some baked goods. It also made
it ok for them to borrow from our family when they needed something. I would argue that it is small
gestures like this that lie at the heart of every community. A need arises,
help is asked and help is given. From this stems the trust and strength that
comes from knowing you are not alone.
When I left White Rock, I moved to
Fredericton, NB, where I had to find a new community. As a young adult we get
to choose our next community if we move away from home. It took time, but I
started to find more and more young people who loved to ride bikes, nature and
music. We shared meals together, rode bikes all day and played music at night.
With time and support from my new community I began to take cycling more and
more seriously. An opportunity eventually arose for me to join a mountain bike
race team that would travel around to the US national series. Generously, all
of my travel expenses and equipment would be covered. I just needed enough
money for food and lodging for the summer.
I had only one small problem, as a
student I had no money, in fact I had only accumulated debt since starting
university. So now what? I wrestled with the problem but saw no solution. I had
a great opportunity but I couldn't take it.
Until my friend Norm Seibrasse just
gave me a check for $800. And then my friend Diane LeClerc began the Wolf
Foundation and began asking all of her friends, family and even her entire choir
if they would help me live my crazy dream to become a mountain bike racer. My
brother soon got an email from Diane. He was overseas on his Naval Ship the HMCS Montreal at the
time. He soon did a fundraiser for me, shaving his head, and riding a stationary bike for 24 hours.
He sent me a check for $1500. My community sent me across Canada and the US to
race the Canada Cup and the NORBA series that year. I was not just sponsored by
Dried Plums and Harpoon Beer, but the Canadian Navy, the Fredericton Community
Choir, Andrew Arsenault's Dental Practice, The Radical Edge, Rhino Bike Works, all my friends and family and all of
Diane's friends and family.
I won a Canada Cup that year and I
realized during the race that it was no longer just my win. On the hills I
could feel my community pushing me up the hills, believing more than I
did that I could go fast enough. It took all of my friends building crazy
trails for me to ride, teaching me how to ride the crazy trails. It took Ben
Moody and Rhino Bike Works fixing my bike race after race so it could work like
new again. In that race I felt immense gratitude to many people, and I believe
it is the strength of that gratitude that won the race that day. The race was
not won by me but rather my whole community.
Susan Fenzl is a member of this
community. Susan was my doctor in Fredericton, NB, seeing me through my first
pregnancy with Ava. She is the mother of two beautiful children and an amazing
cyclist. When Susan was diagnosed with breast cancer she was on her bike almost
every day, despite her chemo treatments. She beat breast cancer and kept on
riding her bike. When Susan was diagnosed with liver cancer four years ago it
sent shock and saddness through our community. But Susan is not only calm and
kind, she is tough, strong and determined.
It did not take long for word to
spread to Catharine Pendrel, who at that time was winning world cups in cross
country mountain biking. Catharine grew up just outside of Fredericton in
Harvey, another wonderful Maritime rural community. Born to two loving and
supportive parents (Johanna Bertin and Bruce Pendrel) and brother Geoff, a
member of the Canadian National Downhill Mountain Bike Team, Catharine quickly
rose up through the ranks of the mountain bike world. She is now an inspiration
for many people, but Susan always held Catharine and the rest of the Luna Chixs
Mountain Bike Race Team in high regard. Luna Chix have been raising money for
breast cancer for years and this, along with the fact that Catharine was a member of our community obviously made the Luna Chix a special team in
particular for Susan.
Soon a package arrived in the mail
for Susan from Catharine containing an entire Luna Chix Team cycling clothing
kit, and photos signed by all of the team members. Included was an invitation
to meet the team at the Mt. St. Anne World Championships, just seven hours away
from Fredericton.
In the months that followed Susan
underwent many surgeries. The cancer had spread throughout her body. Our
friends who were doctors helped us understand how serious Susans cancer was. It
was unclear how long Susan had to live. But when World Championships arrived
about 6 months later, Susan was there to meet Team Luna and Catharine Pendrel.
Last year Catharine became World
Champion. This year she will be compete for the gold medal at the Olympics.
Susan will be watching her compete from her home in Fredericton, still strong
and beautiful and cycling. Catharine will be riding with much more than her own
strength, but with the strength of her entire community behind her - and trust
me, it is a huge community that has a lot of gratitude for not just an amazing
athlete, but a really amazing person.
Communities give us strength and I
think I may be getting close to understanding how it works, so let me tell you
my theory so far:
You often need help in this life
just to get by, to be happy, to chase your goals. When you need help you can
ask for help. Your community will help you. This will fill you up inside and
give you the strength you need to do whatever it is you need to do. When you do
it, you will realize you did not do it alone. Your community was with you the
whole time. This will make you feel so grateful you won't know what to do with
yourself. So when someone asks you for help, you are going to want like nothing
else to help them - and right there is the power of gratitude - it just keeps
on growing.
So in the words of Mike Ripley,
"Take care of eachother out there". Because you just don't know how
far that can take you.
Donations to Mat Barton:
***** A Note to those who may still
be reading****
I wrote the first draft of this in
my car after racing Picketts Charge in Bend. Anna was sleeping in the car and I
was writing this in my journal and listening to the car radio. Matt took the
two older kids to pizza further towards town. I was to go pick them up when
Anna awoke. After finishing my entry I tried to turn the car on only to
discover the battery had died. I tried calling CAA on Matt's new cell phone but
Matt had the CAA card so they informed me I was out of luck. I went into the
coffee shop to ask for help. No one working there had jumper cables, but I
noticed a man wearing a Bend Fire and Rescue uniform. So I asked him if he
could help jump my car. He brought over his fancy truck and got my car going in
no time. Dave Howe reminded me that our community is not limited to who we
know. It extends to anyone we meet who may be able to help us or us them. Dave
told me the story behind Pickett’s Charge, named after a man who was one of the key members of the cycling community. He organized
a criterium around a subdivision he designed and built. Sadly, he died of cancer some years ago. They organized Pickett’s
Charge soon after he died in his honour, and I am sure his spirit lives on as all of us racers fly around that race course having the time of our lives. Thanks Dave for entering my community,
because of you I was able to quickly find Matt and the kids downtown Bend and
get to the Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers concert with plenty of time. I believe this is a good way to
end this blog.
www.nickibluhm.com
Thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment