FEELINGS ABOUT ELECTION

I try not to make this blog something it is not, like a political forum for example. I am not going to talk about politics per say. This is about a boy growing up in the 50's and 60's and being part of what happened yesterday. 

My Dad was from Kentucky, he left just before WW II and moved to Montana. He spent a summer there and then joined the Army. He ended up fighting his way across Europe, being in the middle of the Battle of the Bulge. He survived. He told me a few days before he died that in the darkest moments of the War he told himself he would go home, get married and have three boys (I have two brothers). He told me he would raise these boys to be free of prejudice, though my mom may have had more to do with this than him, he did all of that.

After the War he became a long distance truck driver. He moved house hold goods. I was able to travel with him during the summers. It seemed that when it was my turn we headed south, "The Deep South". Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, Florida, Texas. These are the places I saw in the early to mid 60's. 

I was living in California at the time. My schools were all brand new and 99% white. The neighborhoods were new. Most of us had Dad's who were veterans. California had the best home loans for vets. I think my parents payed $79 down and $79 a month. 

Even though we lived in a world of white we learned in school and at home that everyone was the same, and never to judge or treat someone different just because of the color of their skin.

In the deep South it wasn't like that. They had white only signs everywhere. I was outraged. I was 13 and I was telling my Dad that we shouldn't eat, or buy anything at places like that. He pointed out to me that it was like that everywhere. He was right, but I was still outraged. I felt betrayed by my country. I had learned in school that were all created equal. I learned that we fought a civil war to end slavery. Yet in the 60's the South was a affront to everything I had learned and believed in. 

I was in Yosemite National Park the day Martin Luther King was assassinated. I was camping with my little brother, Dave. The news spread through the campground mouth to mouth. I am not sure how long it took me to get over that. How could I be living in this country where something like that could happen. 

I love the United States. I love the things we do here, what we stand for, and what we can become. After yesterday I am proud of the United States also. I am proud to be an American.  We have a lot to be thankful for. We have come a long way from those summer days I spent in the south. I am no longer outraged, I am just proud. 

Thanks for listening. 

Don Leet

PDX CROSS WEEKLY SLIDE SHOW

Instead of a photo I am giving you a link some very special photos of Portland Cyclo cross. Pdxcross  is a web page dedicated to Portland Cross. It is the essence of what Brad Ross has created. Bicycle racing that is both challenging and fun. Racing that has moments of pain and joy. Please click on this link and you will see what I mean. This is not the usual site that has photos of each racer from each category. I look at those also and it is great to be able to see yourself and your friends every weekend racing. This is different. It is art. Barton Park is where we had our last race at. Really we barely in a park at all. We race in a  gravel pit. If you look at the pdxcross, though, the gravel pit becomes a playground for cyclists. Enough said now just click on pdxcross and see for yourself.

I saw another great thing on Sunday. There was boy, around 3 years old, who just learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. His Dad was out racing and he was doing what the big kids were doing, going through mud puddles, making tight corners etc. It isn't clear to me if he was trying to be like us (the big kids) or we are trying to be like him. Probably the latter.

Now to something serious. It is election day today. This is not a political announcement just a sigh of relief that the election will be over.   I will have a bigger and happier sigh if the election goes my way. That hasn't happened very often in my life. 

See you on the trails or at the races.

Don Leet

CYCLO-CROSS TEAM SPORT ?

Most bike racers are on a team of some sort, we are on the Sunnyside Team. The main thing about the Sunnyside Team is to stay on the Sunnyside, just like the song. We have some roadies, quite a few mountain bikers and a lot of Cross racers. This is a photo of some of the team. You can see that they are all smiling. They are a few minutes from race and they know they will be having some serious fun. Serious because they will all be going all out. Some to win, some to place and others just to race well. Most of them were cheering me on just an hour before this photo was taken. It is pretty cool to be racing around and having lots and lots of people yelling "GO DON!" I always do my share in yelling for the other groups. In fact every Monday I wake up thinking I have a cold. My throat is always sore from yelling and not the cold, thankfully. I love having a lot of women on our team. I also like having men and anyone else. We have a few new teamies this year, and a couple that are out for the year. Matt Fox just moved from Portland to teach at Bend High School. He actually bought a house in Bend last month. The reason he is on our team is when he lived in Portland he kept noticing the Sunnyside Team. Not only did we race but we actually acted like a team. Cheered for each other, hung out together, warmed up together etc. We try to park close, put up a communal tent, we even have heaters to stay warm. We share trainers, food and even equipment. Last week at the Astoria race a bunch of us rented a house together. It cost me $25 for a night. How good is that. I got to talk to Serena and her boyfriend Ben. It was cool to get to know my new teammates. This is what being on a team means to me. It is more important than results, equipment or anything. It is about a shared passion, helping out, being part of something bigger. Our store supports our teammates so they can race well. I yell and cheer so they know someone out there cares. They yell for me.
If you are not on a team find one, but find a fun one. One where they put friendship first, one where they ride together, one where they go to the Cross Crusade the funnest bike racing in the world.
Thanks to Wade for supplying me with this great photo. See you on the trail or at the races.

RELEARNING HOW TO RACE

My first bike race was in 1966. I was on the cross-country running team at my high school and we decided it would be fun to do a bike race. I think there were 10 or 15 of us. I finished 3rd. I was ahead of lot of the faster runners. That was when I became a true cyclist. I have been doing this along time is the point. The last few years I have concentrated on cross. It is short, sweet, lots of competition and fun. When I got to the oldest age group (that was 45 +) I was one of the fastest racers in the group. Mark Schwyhart and I battled it for a few years. Then  came a few years when I raced by myself, behind the fastest and ahead of the slower (I guess that pretty well explains everyone). Last year, and even more this year it has been different. We still have a couple of really fast guys in the group, Steve Yenne and John Wilson, but then there are a group of 10 or so that stay together for a long time. This is what is different for me. Learning how to attack, surge pass and be ahead at the corners, take advantage of mistakes etc. At Rainier I learned the hard way. Two guys passed me at the finish line. I did not finish the job when I had the chance. That was a learning experience. This last weekend I just kept attacking. It took me all the way to finish line to know I had my place. I was 4th on Saturday and 5th on Sunday, both good races. I have some new confidence to go harder, attack when the others seem not ready. It will be a challenge at every race to be in the top 5, with the goal to do even better. We will see how it goes. It is more fun to race with stronger riders close. The best thing is we are all friends and like to see each other do well and improve. Three more cross crusades to go. How good is that.

Don

THE SAME RACE?

 
 

Yes these photos are taken at the same race. On the left is Mike Schindler from our Sunnyside Team and on the right is the "kiddie race" Both in Rainier, both photos of kids going hard. That one kid is on a skuut type bike, it has no pedals. He is keeping up with the pedal bike no problem though. I am not sure if anyone keeps track who wins or not, from my perspective I don't think the concept of winning or loosing isn't really on the minds of these kids. They are just going hard, with a lot of adults running around and yelling. Kind of like the adult race really. In the mens "A"race there are maybe 5 guys who start who really have a chance at winning, the rest well they go hard for an hour in order to finish in the top 10, 20 maybe not last. They are all faster than me, but winning isn't really the reason they are there. They are there to do there best.

That brings me to me. I was 7th last week. Not a stellar race for me if you look at the placing. I have done better for sure. However it was a great race for me anyway. I had a slow start. No somebody did not crash me out, no my chain did not come off, no I did not get stuck in traffic. My legs said enough is enough and they went on strike. I must of been close to 15th or 20th when we left the pavement. After one lap I was ready to throw in the towel. I don't through in towels though. Third lap I was back in the top 10 4th lap I was 5th, 5th lap I was catching 4th, I was giving it everything I had,"Gie it lauldie", in Scots. I then got passed by two friends with 100 meters to go, back to 7th it was. I don't like getting passed at the finish, but still I managed to be competitive and almost get to my best finish of the year. Being in the 50+ category brings with it humility and understanding. I think we need to think more like the kids in the kiddie race. Go out there, go hard, have fun and let a bunch of adults run around and yell at us.  Maybe when I get older they will have a new category for us. We would start with the kids. Some of us would be on walkers or skuuts, some would have real bikes, a bunch of adults would still be yelling and we would be tired when we were done. No telling what the future will bring.

Don

100 CROSS CRUSADE RACES

Today in Wilsonville I raced my 100th (aprox) Cross Crusade race. I am counting some races that were not technically part of the Cross Crusade series. These would be Nationals in Portland, and the GP races. For me they are all Cross Crusade races because of the feeling. It may have something to do with Brad Ross and crew. Something about bike racing being fun, and we are all friends out there. Today was not my best race. I had a slow start and immediately lost track of what place I was in. I was battling with Ron Strasser (the nicest man in bike racing), when he flatted. Now I had no idea what was going to motivate me. I was really tired of passing these strong Master B racers who couldn't go around corners. They are hard to pass, believe me. I buckled down and did my last two laps trying to pass as many as I could. I finished and I was asked How did you do Don?. I don't know, I said. I really had no idea what place I finished. Then someone said you must of been top 5 maybe 3rd or 4th. I thought cool. If I could have what I thought was a bad race and be in the top 5 I would be well chuffed (Scottish for pleased). 

I looked at my result but no not top 5 but 39th. Well that was a mistake for sure. I went and found the appropriate official (Candy Murray) who I have know since before time or at least since 1980. She says "Don the problem is there are TOO MANY RACERS". I am thinking whose fault is that. Well it is Candy's fault, and Mike's fault and all the members of OBRA's fault. It is Brad's fault it is my fault. What business do I have racing. Isn't 100 races enough. Maybe I could stay home and leave room for the younger riders. Here we were in some unfinished  housing development in Wilsonville, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and there are over 1000 of us riding around some gravel pits, crummy grass tracks,and bumpy dirt hills. The reason there are too many of us is because we all belong to this organization that thinks bike racing is fun. How cool is that , that there are too many of us. There were too many in my race. I had to start passing the slower group in front of me in 1/2 a lap. Should I complain, no I should rejoice. I do rejoice. The more I pass the more racers are having fun. 

Candy will fix my problem tomorrow. I do not worry. If it was a USA cycling race I doubt it would ever be fixed. Candy will spend the time tomorrow looking at the lap sheets see I went through 6 times and put my name in either 3rd or 4th. She won't be happy not having the results out at 6:30 on race day, but she will spend the time to get it right. I won't have to worry. Our officials take care of the riders. The ones that pay them. They are working for us to make sure we have a fair race, a safe race and a fun race. Because of that I will return next week and race # 101. Lets continue to have Too many racers. Maybe the results won't be perfect, maybe we won't have time to preride the course, but we will see more smiling faces, and as long as we all remember that this is for fun we will figure it out. See you next week.

Don

PS Candy got my results corrected at 9:15 pm on the day of the race. Awesome!

NO PHOTO

I lost my camera yesterday so I have no photo today. Kind of a bummer. I use the camera to come up with a subject to blog about. I guess I am doing that now, lack of camera is my subject. 

Yesterday was a classic cyclo-cross day. Rain, cool temps and lots of friends. There were over 1200 racers in Portland yesterday. Lots of Sunnyside kit around. 

We have a new member of our team. His name in Matt Fox. He moved over here this fall to teach computer technology courses at Bend High. His girlfriend, Ruth, moved over last year to teach at Pilot Butte Middle School. Both are thrilled to be living on the Sunnyside of the mountains. 

Matt joined our team from observation. He has been doing cyclo-cross for a few years now. He noticed this team from Bend, with bright yellow kit, that attended most of the cross races. That wasn't all he noticed though. Unlike some teams it looked to him that we were all friends. In fact we are . We try to car pool together, warm up together. We are team. I explained to Matt that these were not just friends of Sunnyside Sports. The team is run by team members, not by me or anyone else that works at Sunnyside Sports. 

It is great to have a new team member who appreciates what we are. 

We have another new team member also. Her name is Serena Bishop. Yesterday she was busy running the Portland Marathon. Her time was 3 hours and 15 minutes. Pretty impressive. 

Yesterday was also the return of our women. There were four out there racing and Serena came out to watch (after her Marathon). Two of our teammates are out for the season. Joanne is pregnant, and Veronica is recovering from ankle surgery. They will be back. 

I hope to find my camera, but if I don't I will have to get a new one. I like to have a photo to my mind working.

Don