an Ode to CJ...cyclist!

I have known CJ for MANY, MANY years. We went to UMO together back in the day, I had my first ever white water rafting experience with him and his pop and after a random re-encounter some 6-8 yars ago (after he and I had gone our seperate ways, post College) we have been great friends since.

One of my favorite things in the World is cycling. I have enjoyed the activity since I was very young and have been riding in some way, shape, or form for over 30+ years (BMX, Road bikes, mountain Bikes, back to road bikes).

In my travels through the cycling landscape I have made several aquantainces, but have always wished one of my "old school friends" would have shared my enthusiasm for the sport. Here's where CJ comes in...

While CJ has spent time on the Mt. Bikes, Road biking wasn't really in his arsenal. Somehow I managed to convince him to give it a shot (let's be honest, it was self serving, I wanted a buddy to ride with). He got himself a bike frame, we built it up and voila..I had a victim...errr friend to ride with.

While initially we spent a fair amount of time on the bikes, CJ's other passion (the infernal sport of GOLF) seemed to hold the edge for "activity I would prefer to do on a Sunny day" for CJ. And right when I had gotten him to be all skinny-ish (let's face it, he's big boned, so it's a relative term) he up and moves to FL! Seems like all was lost...

Well, 2 years goes by and CJ and his lovely wife have had enough of 95 degree temps with 100% humidity and drive by shootings and decide to move back to the great state of Maine. I get him back in the fold, but the 2 years off the bike have not been kind to my good friend. I sent him to FL in fighter's form and he came back "Body by Budweiser"...what to do....

The great thing about CJ is that he'll do most anything...pain is not a hurdle that will stop him, so he jumps back into the cycling thing head first. Back to square one he goes..getting in those awful, hurtful, terrible early season base miles in the cold, crappy, wintery Maine weather. Riding with me on days where we would not feel our hands or feet for an hour AFTER the ride. Riding with me on days where we were soaked by a freezing rain mere minutes into a two hour voyage. Riding with me on days where the wind was so strong and so cold that our faces froze and our ears rang...but riding...and riding...and riding....

and all the while he keeps working at it...and he keeps getting stronger...and his "body by budweiser" slowly melts away and is replaced by the "body by bud-light" (again, he's big boned people)...and instead of just hanging on to the rides, he's leading them out....

well, I have spent many a day spinning yarns to CJ about "easy rides, easy courses and easy races". Most were 1/3 truth and 2/3rds knowing that there would be suffering, but knowing also that he could handle it...

and here we are today...3 months into the season and we have put in a ton of miles, climbed innumerable horrible climbs and rode at speeds that hurt and hurt and hurt. CJ has now raced in 7 Crit races, 3 Road Races and 1 TT. He got stronger at each Crit race and helped me to get a good finish each time, he scored his first podium in his second Road race and he survived his TT and beat MANY other racers who were on their fancy special Time trial rigs while huffing and puffing away, too stubborn to slow down. Now he is looking for more races, more miles, more suffering because he has now become a cyclist...he even got himself a fancy new bike and joined up for a real live race team and now I will no longer have to stretch the truth about the severity of a ride/ race and instead can just say..."yeah, it'll be a suffer fest, you in?" (except for maybe Concord).

Chris Jordan, Team Colavita, Cyclist....congrats man!