One of my favorite childhood books was 'Are You My Mother?' by Doctor Seuss. For all of you who don't know the book (or don't remember it), It is about a baby bird. He falls out of his nest because he wants to find his mother (who is getting food for him), the baby bird sets out on a search to find his mother, but is pretty confused because he does not know what his mother looks like. He asks kittens, hens, dogs, and cows if they are his mother; they all say no. He calls out to cars, boats, and planes; but they don't answer. Finally he finds a thing he calls a 'snort' (which is a big tractor type thing) and is pretty frustrated because he finds out that the 'snort' is not his mother either; but to his surprise, the 'snort' picks him up and sets him back in his nest! Then his mother comes with food, and they both live happily ever after.
You all are wondering why I'm randomly sharing this (Who cares that I liked reading about a confused bird when I was little, anyway?!) just hold on because this story has much more significance then you would think! Early in the season I felt like a lost baby bird looking for it's mother, well in this case I would be a lost person with a bike looking for a new team! After riding for Team TIBCO for a year, I thought it would be good to try something new. So off I went searching for something else. For a little while I was in a state of 'what should I do?' Should I ride unattached, or should I find a new team to ride with? For Sea Otter, I guest-rode with a team, but decided to stay unattached.
What's cool is I don't consider myself 'lost' any more, I'm just on my own. Actually, I think it will be pretty nice to be myself. A whole new learning curve, that I'm eagerly awaiting. Hey, flying solo can be sorta fun, I don't have to follow a color scheme anymore when I paint my nails! Plus, just like that baby bird, I have been placed right back in my nest. My nest being the place where my racing journey began three years ago... with myself :-)
By the way, If you need extremely wonderful wheels, please give Eric a shout at Carbon Lite Racing http://www.carbonliteracing.com/Carbon_Lite_Racing/Carbon_Lite_Racing_Products.html You can also find him on Facebook. He has generously helped me out with a wheel set, he is local to Norcal, he is awesome... GIVE HIM A CALL!!!
Expect some race reports from me later this month.
