#128: R.I.P. 2002-2007
Today, I realised that after many years of mediorce riding & racing, I am back to where I left off. I moved to Chattanooga in the spring of 2002 coming off a good Cat IV season in Maryland. I was the Cat IV RR District 20 / Maryland state champ and was in the mix on nearly every race. I was getting ready to upgrade…
Moving to Chattanooga meant that I not only moved, but changed job role to one of a traveling engineer. Along the way, I became a better engineer, substantially improved my salary, traveled a bunch (400+ days in Estonia!), and generally got away from the sport… although I didn’t fully stay away, I continued to race when I could and racked up bad results for most of the period 2002-2005 especially. 2006 and 2007 were better and better, but mostly still rebuilding years.. So here I am now in Memphis for over a year, back in a plant role at back where I left off. My traveling life meant the first four years were a spiral of worsening fitness…it took two years to tunnel back out. I am glad to be back…unfortunately I am seven years older… but it is not too late. I am still only 32. I am riding a better bike than I had in 2001 and have much more experience in training / racing. So, R.I.P. 2002-2007. It’s on.
