Why I ride

My teammates have posted some stuff on Facebook on why they ride.....some good responses. At the time I was at a loss for words, let alone a non-facebook using cat.
Last weekend gave me some perspective as to why I ride.
I attended the ProXCT race up in Dripping Springs, TX and watching the top pro's in action was amazing. I new they were fast by how bad I got smoked last year racing against some of them, but the action up front is REAL fast.
This isn't the reason I ride though. Don't get me wrong, I love to kit up and suffer for a couple hours racing like a lot of you, but sometimes watching things unfold back in the pack can inspire.
I watched my rider (I was crewing all weekend) race with torn ligaments in his shoulder, because if he didn't at least finish in the top 15, the state title was lost.
I watched as guys and gals alike suffered in the 97 degree heat, pushing on because they too, just love to ride. One of the ladies was from Alaska.....where she hasn't seen anything above 60 degrees for months.
I ended up handing out a lot of water bottles in the nuetral feed area to total strangers, who were so grateful that they would still say "thanks" even in the heat of the battle.
Spending 2 days at the race venue, enjoying the scenes from a different angle was a great experience. Oh, I really missed being out there with them, but sometimes it takes days like these to remind me why I ride.
Now I need to get out there and race! The last of the parts are all ordered for the Niner, so it should only be a couple more weeks.