Whelp, I promised a couple more posts about being
#last This one is almost too pure to share. So, I swept the Novice Youth race at Mohican yesterday. This 11-mile course was no joke. Anyway, early on, I met Cole. He is eight years old and was riding last. I asked him if it would be okay if we rode together. He said sure. I did an early check-in with him, as I often do with kids who may be in over their heads, just to see if he knew what was coming. I told him that, at this pace, we’d take a couple hours. Was he okay with this? He said “if I can just finish, a lot of people will be proud of me.” Ok, buddy, let’s do this. As we rode, he slipped at least half a dozen times, going down on the mud and dirt. But he always picked himself back up and motored in. We talked about dinosaurs and baseball (he is eight). We walked the steep sections. He told me about a song he learned in school - “I won’t quit even when it gets tough.” He said that song is useful in times like this. We stopped to drink and eat. He told me, a few times, “this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” In the last mile or so, i could see how tired he was. Sweaty, muddy, beat-up, but still positive, still trying. He said “I don’t care if I’m first, second, third, or fourth. Or last. I just want to finish.” Two hours and twenty minutes after we started, we pulled into the finishing chute together. The roar from the crowd was louder than I’ve ever heard, as they watched little Cole come over the line
#last. I couldn’t stop the smile or the and my eyes might have gotten a little moist. Cole gets it. We don’t all win, but we can all be our best. Even if that means being
#last .
#kidsonbikes #mtbracing #mtblife
