Long Time Coming

Sooooooo…It has been quite some time since I last bored you with mindless acts of random bantering and senseless acts of blogging Thom Foolery. Where to begin, huh.

So I am a believer in things happening for a specific reason. I don't always agree with the end results to said reason, but none the less, it is what God has planned for you. My last "job" at a bike shop ended on a really crappy note and at first I felt guilty about it, but looking back now…I am glad it happened and wouldn't change a thing.

I am in a much better place and I feel like a huge burden has been lifted off me both physically and mentally. You don't realize how a negative environment affects your every breath. Your every thought. Change was needed and it came like a summer thunderstorm.

I am now the general manager at The Hub and Scott has been wonderful to me. He understands how a business should be run and allows me to do the things that I feel will help the shop move forward. I also am reunited with trace from the other shop. It is just as it was, but better-er. Now, I am not perfect by any means, and I still have so much to learn, but it is nice to know that the person who hired you to do a job trusts you and has faith in your decisions and treats you as an equal, not an outsider. He is not just my boss, but I consider him a true friend. I know that if something happened to me, he would be there; that is a great feeling. Ok, enough with the mushy garb.

So, I have also decided to officially retire from the racing scene this year. After my leg opening, knee

My last official race, and I had a blast!

damaging crash at Bakers, I decided that enough was enough. It has been really nice to just go out and ride. Now I still throw in a hill day or two for kicks and giggles (alright, not giggles), but man it feels really good to ride for the sake of riding. Still competitive…oh I will never lose that, but it will just be on a different stage.

Now I certainly didn't decided to quit racing because of losing my edge. In fact I turned in 4 more laps after my injury and were very fast times. I am proud of my record as a mtb racer. I have great memories of being on the Trek/Gary Fisher 29er Crew and am grateful to have met some great people along the way. I accomplished all of the goals including winning the 12hrs of Cranky Monkey twice (once in the duo male open and once with my 2nd wife Liz in the duo co-ed category). I had three top 5 finishes

(3rd, 4th and 5th at Sugar Hill). 7th at the 24 hours of Big Bear and too many to list top 5's in others. So it has been a good run. The best part is I still get to ride with those people on a daily basis now.

My new position also allows me some extra time to show other riders from out of state the joys of Patapsco and gettin' dirty. Yes, that is a dual suspension Trigger I am riding…shhhhhh.

So it has been a great year so far and the future looks good for a change, real good.