FIRST TIME 16 YEARS LATER

My heyday of racing mountain bikes was in the late 80s. I started in 1983 but it wasn't until 1988 that I felt I hit my potential. It was the year I won a silver and a bronze medal at the NORBA World Mountain Bike Championships. Five years later my friend Tom Pickett died, and it was 6 years later that Pickett's Charge was started. I was retired from racing at that time. It think all the training was getting to me and work was hard. 

I tried to race as many Picketts as  I could though, and I was always in pretty good shape. I finished 2nd and 3rd quite a few times. I had good races and always knew I had given it my best. This year though I won. Tom liked to win so I can finally give him a win that he would have appreciated. A little late but sweet none the less. I did it on a course Jim Juenger and I  designed. It was 80 % single track. It had rocks and twists. This would have been a trail Tom would have loved. I am on a role this year and I have won 4 out of the 5 races I have entered. I don't like to brag but the thing is wins are hard to come by. They should be special and mine are. This one even more so because of Tom. He started me on this road (mountain bike trail) and for that I am thankful. We finished today on a road that we used to use as one of out main routes. When I was finishing I could see Tom ahead of me showing me how to get those mountain bikes to go around corners in loose dirt. It seemed like it was just yesterday.

Don