A Brief History...

Hey Everyone,

This is my first blog post…ever! I have always wanted to start a blog but just never got around to it. Obviously that is not the case anymore…woot! The purpose for this blog is to keep track of my adventures as a cyclist. There is so much that happens to you when you are a competitive athlete and I find that my brain becomes over loaded with stories and experiences and the best way for me to remember them all is to write them down. But this is not just for me. This is for the people who know and support me, as a way of keeping them informed and updated on my cycling. This is for those who don’t know me but are interested in reading about an exciting part of my life. Finally, this is for everyone who wants to know what it is like to be a normal person with big dreams… a person who has goals that require hard work and perseverance to achieve, a person who is trying to balance life, love, work, and a passion for racing. It can be done, I am living proof. So I invite anyone and everyone to take this journey with me. I can’t promise that will you always like what I have to say, but I can promise that I always be true to myself. I can’t promise that I am the best or most informed when it comes to this sport, but I can promise that I will share with you what I learn. I can’t promise that it is always going to be a smooth ride, but I can promise it will be an exciting one. So please, feel free to comment, laugh, cry, and yell! I welcome it all. Here is to the journey that starts right now…

Danielle and Biking: A Brief History Part 1,

I love to ride my bike. Let me just reiterate, I love to ride my bike. This whole thing has really been a whirl wind romance. And no one is more shocked then I. Cycling was first introduced to me in the summer of 2008. I had just moved to Bishop California where I was seeking peace and solace. I was licking fresh wounds left by a couple of soul crushing years in the Bay Area and I wanted nothing more then to climb rocks and breathe the fresh mountain air. What happened next was a series of events that would not only change my life for the better and help shape me as a woman, but also help me realize an inner strength I never knew I had.

Brian was my next door neighbor and the kindest most sincere person I had ever met. While I would love to tell the story of us (it is a great one), this is a cycling blog and I do not want to waver too much from that. He is highly relevant in this story though, because he is the person who not only helped me realize my love for cycling but he was also my first teacher, trainer, and mentor in this sport. My bike history before Brian is shoddy at best. I did not grow up always riding bikes or even liking them much. And if you had asked me even one day before I met Brian if I would ever consider racing a bike, I would have been really confused by the question. I hadn’t even ridden one in over a year. The first bike I ever owned as an adult was a really crappy, way too small for me, though I thought it was cool, purple Huffy that I got around on for a time in San Francisco until it was stolen from me outside the climbing gym. It was the first time I had felt a deep sense of loss towards a material possession before and it shocked me that I so upset. Like I said, I wasn’t that into biking or anything but it felt like a personal attack. Before Brian, I had no clue that you had to know how to change a tire or even own a pump for that matter. And I thought an Allen Wrench was something that IKEA had invented for putting together bedside tables and stuff. I am truly amazed when I think about my previous biking experience. I took that Huffy all over San Francisco even over the Golden Gate Bridge multiple times, and I never got a flat, EVER! I laugh out loud when I think about the absurd luckiness of that. Needless to say, it was a giant wake up call when I realized these machines require more then a little maintenance (which I also found out only deepens your intense love for them…more on that to come later).

The first time I walked into Brian’s work shed I was awe-struck by how many bikes he had. I thought it was actually a little superfluous and bizarre that someone would need so much of the same thing, (oh, how I sometimes I miss being that naïve). He let me take his CX bike out, and I remember that day like it was yesterday. That feeling of getting back on a bike after a long hiatus… it felt new, fun, and exciting, and while I wasn’t exactly hooked just yet, I new that this was somehow going to be a part of my future. I realized it was something that Brian and I could do together and that brought us closer as a couple. The first group road ride I ever went on was with our local bike shop (shout out to the peeps at Aerohead Cycles!). I rode the CX bike again, had my running shoes on, and was oblivious to the idea of a chamois. I remember being mesmerized by all of the initial clicking that happened after each complete stop. I actually felt a little smug, thinking I had the better system because all I had to do was step off the pedal. I wouldn’t be bothered or hindered by such restraints (oh, how I sometimes I miss being that naïve).

By the time a few months passed I was riding frequently and I had retracted my previous thoughts that clipless pedals were a hindrance. I was learning more and more about cycling as a sport and when I realized that people raced and competed on bikes, it wasn’t long before I wanted a road bike of my own. Since there was no way I was ever going to spend more then $500.00 on a bike (again! I sometimes I miss being that naïve), Brian found out about this local guy who sold used bikes and took me to take a look at them. The moment I saw her I knew it was love. The blue 1985 Steel Gios was coming home with me. While it was not a technically superior bike by any means, I loved everything about it…even the down tube shifters. The Gios taught me how to ride and helped me discover a passion for cycling that I never expected. It wasn’t long though, before I started to realize that while my bike was pretty, it was not efficient. And if I was going to race, (which I already decided I was going to) I would need something a little more…ready… i.e. lighter. That’s when I purchased the BMC Streetfire SSW, which over time took on the name Beauty. I will not compare these bikes because there is no way you can, at least in my mind. They were two bikes that came into my life at the perfect time and both took me to different places. The BMC though, marked the change in me from a bike rider to a bike racer and I haven’t looked back since…

So, here is the history of my cycling up to the point I started racing. I am finding that I can write and write and write so it is probably best to break it down into separate posts so that your eyes and my fingers can take a bit of a break. There is still so much more to get you caught up to present day. But fret not! I will leave no stone unturned on this journey. And I will make sure that we end up on the same page. See you back very soon!