Big Daddy Dan Killingsworth has been working hard at stepping up his game in racing and riding over the past few seasons. Let's face it, progression is tough and the incremental improvements are sometimes tough to see from the inside. Today we talked Dan into riding in the snow in 20degree temps. Tough conditions to begin with, then with the fact that some tough-guys showed up we still talked Dan into a Lehigh-Sals-Lehigh loop. At one point he thought he might split, but we talked him into staying on, and he did so bergrudgingly and admirably (considering he had on a pretty tall gear on his SS). At the furthest point for our extra loop at Sals, he decided to bail and we remarked how good it was that he hung in for that long with the pace and conditions.
Getting back to my car after 4 hours of riding I found the following note from Dan on my car. He wrote "completely empty" with shaky hands. This is not a ripping on Dan -- rather, it is a reminder to me how cool this sport is. Here we had 6 racers with a collecive 80+ years of racing experience all riding at their limit, and Dan busting his ass to hang in there. Dan went really deep and passed all the bail-outs knowing he was getting in deeper. You could see his confidence grow through the ride until he know it was time to call uncle.
We have all been there, and will continue to go that deep for the pure passion of it. Rock on mountain biking and the art of suffering. Madly. (and nice job, Dan!)
Here is Matt Morrison's data from the ride:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/21628276
