I'm slow and I'm okay

At the end of the Reaper Ride today (which was filmed by a man known to one of the reapers.... perhaps it will be on youtube soon), my buddy Chris and I discussed what transpired. He asked if I was able to outsprint Damian, and I answered no. Of course Damian easily came right around me about 100 yards from the Tijeras city limit sign. I was trying not to collapse from the pain in my legs and lungs and was feeling pretty good that no one else was within 200 yards of me. Somehow Chris was surprised by this because, as he said, sprinting is my best bike racing skill. Damian's greatest strength is climbing, but he's so talented that his weakness dwarfs my strength.

Chris, a fine climber himself, feels discouraged that despite his best training efforts, he'll never be as fast as Damian. So far it hasn't caused him to give up the sport, but this attitude troubles me. As long as I'm getting better and approaching my ability limits, I feel pretty good regardless of the number of better riders. Maybe I'll someday beat Damian (so far I'm 0 for 3 in mano a mano sprints), but probably not. I'll never be a world-class bike racer, but I just love to ride and race.

My boss occasionally comes to my office to look over the code we're working on. He makes changes to the code and runs it before I understand what he's doing/done. He searches the code and types the changes brilliantly fast, and then he's out the door to work on some other project. Then I spend the next 30-60 minutes trying to figure out what he did. I used to think I was pretty good at altering computer codes.

There's a place for bike racers like me (category 3, right now), and I hope that there will be a permanent job for me at the end of my temporary one. Not a superstar, not a genius, just another guy with a little talent and some skills that God gave me. What drives me is to honor Him with the way I use His gifts.

Next race: Sept 23 in East Mountains. Next day at work: tomorrow.