In late 2012 I was in a hard fought night-time mountain bike race and had clawed my way to first place. I had a decent, but not huge, lead and figured I could take the race as it was approaching the end. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a strong wind came up and died as quickly as it started. The wind was just enough to knock down a big oak tree. I heard the tree falling but didn't know where it was as first off, it was night, but also that it was concealed by thick brush.
That falling oak tree fell on top of me, while I was racing, and fractured a vertebra. In 24 years of racing, I finished every single race, without exception, and that night, that finally came to an end. Two fellow racers were very supportive of me and I wanted to commemorate them. Eddie, the guy on the left was there that night but in a different class. Monkey Boy (so named as he wears a monkey costume at the Halloween race) saw the tree fall and watched my light as it got close to the falling tree. He was next to me in seconds.
The first thing I said was, "Monkey Boy, I have to finish." He said that I wouldn't be finishing that night and he was certainly correct. It took a long time to heal and even approaching a year later, I'm still not where I was last year. I'll be back but it's going to take some additional time and training. I thought that a shirt made seemed appropriate as this event fades into a good race story.
