TMWC Shout Out
As we prepare for the final TMWC of 2012, I wanted to give a shout out to the pioneers.
About 10 years ago I moved out to Coto and told my friends Peter Vidmar and Don Miller, who had moved out there earlier, we should try and get a quality ride going… like we used to have with Coffee Crew.
I plotted the most stoplight free course, which turned out to be very hill heavy.
Every Tuesday at 630 sharp we left from Antonio and Meandering Trail.
Just the three of us.
Dan “Daniel Boone” McAneny (sp?) (Don’s biz partner) was the first to join us from RSM.
Soon Jim “from the gym” Bishop (that was Don’s intro) was riding over from Laguna Niguel… he’s our awesome video man with proof of the attacks, and who pushed Robot over at the light.
Somewhere, I ran into “Crooked” Steve Lind. We’d ridden all those years ago in the early Coffee Crew days and he expertly started showing us what climbing was all about while using his world class running legs. Stevie also started pulling the Ladera boys over.
Matt “TT” Ford hopped in about the same time… he couldn’t climb to save his life and was just getting back to competitive riding – we’d hammer him at will (something the new guys can’t fathom).
With Matt came Bob Kmetz… who throttled us ramping up for cyclocross way, way, way before it was cool.
Bryson Perry, an actual pro, moved to town to work with me. He’d pull a few guys up the road then drift back and tell us we could catch them, then he’d scoot back up to them and tell ’em to get a move on. True talent.
Kevin Hall, Bryson’s father-in-law, laid down roots for a few years. That brought in the era of big trash talking… oh, I miss the rudeness of it all.
I’m sure I’m out of order at this point…
Kevin “Backpack” McKenna was soon working in his morning commute and regularly forcing us to red line on the bike trail.
Phil was now riding over with Jim from the gym, and always pushing it hard over The Wall.
David Frank started coming over with Stevie and dragging a slew of guys over from Ladera – Robert and Robot and Mellow and Kent and Charlie… hammers all.
I tapped in to friends from church, and bam Scott Moncrief (our Physical Therapist) was on the ride and putting us back together when we crashed, Brad Perry and Mark Christopherson and a bunch of guys I can’t name were part of this group.
This year, we’ve seen a ton of growth… 24 guys on a cold and dark December morning is uncharted territory… Baghouse, WinTeam, and more.
Please forgive my old mind if I’ve missed you, we’ve had many wonderful riders share the roads with us.
Over the years we’ve seen our kids grow up and move away, survived cancer, struggled through a tough economy, sold houses, shared all of this from the rolling chatter box at the start of each ride.
Some folks hope there’s golf in heaven, I’ll take the Tuesday Morning World Champions.
