In defense of doing stupid things

I’ve done lots of things. Many of them less than well thought out. Some of these things I can’t say to teenagers, for fear that it will encourage them to do it themselves. The slight anonymity of a blog I think gives me just enough cover to be able to discuss some of these things.

I learned to ride a bike when I was 17. It was a tremendous feeling of independence. In the first year I dropped 30 pounds. Before long, I was doing back to back 100 mile days, and feeling fine afterwards. I started racing soon after that. I preferred time trials to road racing, but endurance was my specialty. Probably after enduring many 3 week stays in the hospital for knee bleeds the pain of a long bike ride was something to relish. One summer, after my girlfriend had moved to Austin, my parents left me at home while they went on a “business” trip to Europe. I got up at 3AM, got on the bike with some cash, tools, and a change of clothes, and hit the road to Austin- 216 miles away. Stopping at convenience stores to eat and refill my water bottle. I rolled into Austin at 9PM that day.

Think about this for a minute- a 19 year old, severe hemophiliac, long before the days of concentrate, alone, nobody knows I’ve left, nobody knows I’m coming, no insurance, no helmet,  and no fear. Things could have turned out very badly. But they didn’t. I proved to myself that I could do it. Like running a marathon- it’s great to know that you can. It’s also important to know that you never have to prove it again.