Racing Union

almost all of us are passionate about cycling, but often for entirely different reasons. some people feel that cycling provides a healthy and convenient outlet for exercise. others use it to channel stress from busy lives into more useful exertion. some use it to simplify their lives, accomplishing on a bike what many use a car for. and some just like pedaling as fast as their little legs will take them; trying to go a little faster or a little longer.

it’s interesting to read about sporting heroes, but at a certain point, it can be difficult to really identify with their accomplishments. they are impressive in a herculean way, but their feats can seem distant and unattainable. on the other hand, there are a lot of ordinary people capable of extraordinary things. they may be friends or neighbors or co-workers, and doing something new or offering a fresh perspective on something old.

amateur sports can offer the chance for people to produce stunning and transformative results. their feats may not be as impressive as a 52 minute 40k TT in an absolute sense. however, for those people, the struggle to achieve a particular goal, or balance a passion for cycling with work, family and other obligations can be equally heroic.

so here begins some examples. Sim Green will be our first contributor. in a subsequent post, you’ll find out more about Sim and how he is attempting to balance work and family and school and cycling. Sim is a very good choice as he used to live and race in our district. he was a mountain bike and road racer who lived in Warrenton, Virginia for a few years. he raced with Whole Wheel Velo Club and Evolution, and through hard wark and perseverence, he has slowly ascended into competition at the national level in France. oh, and he is one of the nicer guys you’ll run into over a bike. Sim is living in the south of France and will be racing in 2006 with the Castelsarasin Bouygues Telecom Team. we’ll try to get updates periodically and will post them.

We’re actively looking for more voices. If you’re interested in contributing through blogging or maintaining a diary, please contact us at info@racingunion.org