The Special Kid
Sorry about the un-PC title, but it is the theme of this blog. Saturday I went out for a ride. I was meeting up with Dave W and Mike C on MB. Since I road from Antioch, and they came from thhe Center Club, we met up about 40 minutes into my ride. Dave and Mike are both IM finishers. Dave did IM Lake Placid in 2004 while Mike C did Moo in 2005. Dave is the only one of us signed up for an IM this year. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Dave has been busy producing TV shows this Spring and hasn’t started training yet. This was his first ride out in a while.
I latched onto the ride and said hi. With that, we seemed to be moving to slow. I picked it up. I knew Mike could come with me, but Dave was a question mark. Mike, being nicer than me, stayed with Dave. We were going with the wind as far as I could tell so I wanted to keep moving. Dave was obviously struggling, so Mike and I would double back to get him. We got to Route 50, Dave mentioned how he was toasted and was going back. He also stated, “This is sad. This is where I usually consider the warm-up to end and now I am toasted.” Mike said he would turn around with him. At that point Dave remarked, “I feel like the special kid.”
So, off I went to finish riding. Throughout the ride I couldn’t get Dave’s comment out of my head. At some point no matter when we bike, each of us is the special kid. Sometimes we bonk, have had a particularly hard training week, or just ride with people that are faster, we will all be the “special kid” eventually. So, next time you are out on a friendly ride and someone cannot keep up, remember someday you might be the special kid on your ride. Thus take care to be nice and not leave the poor guy or gal behind.