Rumors!

ATTENTION READERS OF GLIDERBISON BLOG!
GOOD NEWS!

A few months ago, I posted a story entitled Why We Race. I wrote it less than an hour after getting pulled from the criterium at the Joe Martin Stage Race; I went straight to my computer and typed for an hour in a passionate frenzy (sweaty, still wearing my bibs, and nearly bonking). Well, several of you read that piece, and some of you even liked what you read. Three people, entirely independently, recommended that I submit Why We Race to a publication, or a contest, or something. To you three, thank you for the encouragement -- I hope you'll be happy to learn that this month's VeloNews features my story on it's back page, newly retitled "Roll with the Hunted." I have yet to get my hot little hands on a copy of my own (I just checked two bike shops and and they were already sold out), but I'm reasonably certain this isn't just a rumor.


The idea of submitting my "work" to a magazine hadn't occurred to me. First off, I really don't think of myself as a writer; I'm just a blogger. Bloggers don't get published in magazines -- they post stuff about nachos, or Legos, or weimaraners, or whatever the hell they want. Second, odd as it may seem, I post things on my blog for myself every bit as much as I do for you, my readers. That might sound selfish, but it's true. Blogging is what keeps me sane, and helps me cope with the stresses of racing, and the accompanying lifestyle. Like any creative endeavor, I do get some satisfaction from sculpting a good post; however, I also I see blogging as part of my responsibility. Racing is a necessarily selfish endeavor, and the better you want to get, the more selfish you must become. I somehow feel that by recording my experiences and sharing them with the internet, I can better justify this selfishness, and assuage the guilt I feel for leading such an (at times) narrow, focused life. My hope is that other people, especially my friends and family, can read my blog and better understand what I'm doing, or how I'm feeling, or why I'm even racing bikes in the first place.

The fact that VeloNews felt my story would resonate with the larger racing community is as flattering as it is rewarding. Thanks to Ben Delaney at VeloNews, and for everyone who reads Gliderbison -- you are without a doubt what keeps me racing.