MY TWO CENTS:
I'll never forget my first day of cycle racing at the local velodrome
all those years ago (1987) at the young age of twenty. I was so excited, I could
hardly sleep the night before, just wondering what was gunna happen, etc, etc.
None of my friends were into cycling
at all, so I was very much looking
forward to finally meating people with whom I shared the wonderful passion
of cycling.
Before I finally registered to compete, I spent about a month watching
the racing at the velodrome every saturday, from a distance, with a
stopwatch, just to see how fast they were, then I busted my gut, training like a
maniac for another month, just to make sure I wouldn't make a fool of myself.
So, silly me strolls on up to velodrome on that first day with big thighs and reasonable
fitness, and manages to win two B grade races...OOOPS! Maybe that was my mistake;
daring to be a 'newbie' with good fitness.
So, the "punchline" is, the only person who spoke to me, out of the fifty or so
people that were, was the guy at the start line who had to write down my name
and take my 5 bucks. ONE PERSON SPOKE TO ME!!
I couldn't figure out what was going on. I came from teams sports, I had a lot of friends,
and I was a gregarious kinda guy, so why the cold shoulder? I drove home that
day, partly satisfied with my performance on the bike, but mostly dismayed
by the lack of warmth.
The next week I tried to strike up conversations, but
my laboured efforts were met with short replys.
After a month, nobody even bothered to tell me that the club also held
criteriums 3 times a week; I found out by accidentally over hearing someone
discussing it, then asked a guy at one of the bikes shops to find where and when.
By the end of the season there was about 3 guys who acknowleged my presence.
I didn't bother going back the next year.
Well, what a sob storey..BOO HOO!!
