Dreams, Sacrifice and Getting to Sea Otter

April 16, 2011 Hanging with the Otter while awaiting race results.

Pursuing dreams often involves sacrifice.  Bicycling, like any hobby (and most forms of exercise) isn’t cheap.  I take pride that I have worked hard all of my life, earning my degree, working hard as a teenager at fast food jobs to help me get through college, buying my own vehicles and paying for my own home. But being the good guy, the one everyone can depend on, has its sacrifice. While I was working hard and caring for my family, I always put my dreams and often some of my basic needs aside for all of them.

Without the help of members of my family and the cycling community there is no way I could pursue my dream but even with such help we still run incredibly tight on money with me being the sole-supporter of my family. And so with our family situation, finding a way to get me to Sea Otter wasn’t easy.   

So there we were, still painfully short on funds and as the trip approached, we had some unexpected family expenses come up.  Suddenly we didn’t have enough money for gas or the groceries needed to pack for the trip or for the family members I had to leave behind. So we had to get creative and look at what really matters. A lot of it came down to STUFF vs. LIFE.

We held a last minute yard sale the weekend before Sea Otter to help bridge the gap.  It was a little bit sad because I had to sell keepsake items.  Even more painful than having to sell my motorcycle a couple of months ago, I had to let go of my vintage Vectrex gaming console. I was the original owner of the system bought when I was a child in 1986. I still loved that game system and had so many fond memories of it. However I also realized that I am exchanging old dreams that are just sitting and taking up space in the garage, for new dreams. 

Right before the trip my wife went into extreme baking mode to conserve costs on the trip and to give me a typical diet going into the race.  Since I rarely eat out I didn’t want to flood my body with restaurant food.  (Or pay their prices!)  She baked a lot of chicken, cobbler, and as a parting gift of love for me she created a new recipe -a Peanut Butter Cream Crumble (heavenly creation)- so I could get easy protein or carbs on the go.  I spent hours packing snacks, drinks, utensils and the like so that we could avoid eating out whenever possible.

With my dad going to Sea Otter as well, we were able to share a hotel room and split the cost of the bill.  We also minimized the costs further by only staying two nights. As we were planning the trip we needed to fundraise so we sold some older items on craigslist to pay the registration fees. It seemed like we were giving up so much but my wife viewed it as a spiritual cleansing and potlatch; maybe a hold-over from her Native American heritage. 

In the end the sacrifices were worth it.  Racing at Sea Otter, with its rewards and challenges (to be talked about in a future blog), was more than worth trading in the old dreams.  I feel especially good about being able to engage in a hobby that is both physically and mentally rewarding.  As I get older I am staying in great health (so I can continue to care for my family) and I feel good about myself and my positive contributions to the cycling community. 

The only problem is that it is only mid-April and I already feel like I have achieved my major goals for the year: racing at Sea Otter and getting enough races in to upgrade to a Cat 4.

Time to start dreaming of what the next step will be...

...and figuring out what I could possibly have left to sell to get there.