Saturday, May 3, 2008

A bit sad. . .

I received a bit of news that made me feel bad on what was otherwise a really great day. One of my best friends that rides for the Wasatch Women told me that she passed a Ski Utah girl today and the Ski Utah girl shouted at her "we are going to kick your butt!"

What!? Honestly, I cannot imagine which of any of my teammates would have said this and it makes me sad to think that this person is representing us. We are an awesome team! And yes, we do kick butt a lot of the time. But trash talking? Come on, let our racing speak for itself.

I searched diligently for a team. Some of my best friends race for Porcupine, Mazda One and Wasatch Women's. But I chose Ski Utah. I chose Ski Utah because I saw lots of people from this team at every race. I also saw in them a group of cyclists that race hard, race fair and are good sports. I've seen them be good sports in winning and in losing. As an official last year I saw all of the teams in action. I saw a lot of really crappy things like dangerous racing, yelling at officials, or divas throwing temper tantrums because of something that happened during the race. I never saw any of it from Ski Utah (VMG).

Since racing for Ski Utah I've only become more and more proud to race for this team. I've been dropped off the back in races but still had teammates fly by cheering for me. I've had teammates get up early to drive me to my race when theirs wasn't for hours and I've had teammates go out and kick ass and still be good sports.

So to my good friends on other teams, I apologize. Please note that this behavior does not represent the majority of my team. And to whomever said this, the woman you shouted it to was back on her bike today for the 4th time in 6th months since recovering from a crash last year. She's struggling with extra weight and getting her fitness level back. Yes, you probably could kick her butt at this point. Aren't you proud!

6 comments:

Rio's Rider said...

Well, at least you know it wasn't ME who said it. I only wish I felt like I could kick someone's butt. But, I would never announce such information. I know I wouldn't want to hear it said to me. How rude! I hope she just misheard.
See you in the morning.

Downhilldiva said...

I can't figure out who would have said it. I can't see even the girls on our team that do kick butt on a regular basis saying it. There's no need!

SR "366" Higgins said...

Shanna, I hate to say this but... it's really surprising to hear YOU complaining about trash talking. Looking through your posts I see several where you trash BCC. You claim we try to drop you, when in fact I purposely worked WITH you to try to get back to the lead pack during Willard Bay. Also, I know for a fact they weren't trying to drop you, that was just Stan out in front and sometimes he doesn't realize he has put the pedal down, he just goes. When you take pack dynamics all personal like this, you are ascribing motives to the club that we just don't have. I hate to tell you girl, it ain't all about you. As a matter of fact, within BCC I have heard nothing but compliments and respect about your acheivements racing. I actually went looking for you at ECRR. And you say we are only interested in "beating old men and women"? "Look out or they might crash you"? That sounds like trash talk to me, and really undeserved, and totally below you. Team BCC is starting to form as racing group within BCC, but of course we don't have near the experience of Ski Utah. I would much rather have us learn from your racing experience in the spirit of cooperation, and ignore all the words that have gone before. See you at the crits, and best wishes for you and Ski Utah on your racing season. Stephen Higgins

Downhilldiva said...

Steve, I am so sorry if I offended you and the BCC in any way. As I've said in the past some of my best, lifelong friends are on the BCC. I'm sorry that I misunderstood Brent's taking off as soon as I said Hi as trying to drop me. I also appreciate you trying to pace me back up to them.

In the end it doesn't matter. I am not competing against you boys and never will be.

I've heard a lot about you guys racing and I'm glad to hear it is finally happening. The best way to learn about racing is to get out there and do it.
The best thing for me about racing is that now when I go out on a club ride I can focus on my training goals and enjoy my time with my friends.
You are right though, I did say some things about the BCC that are NOT reflective of the majority of people in the club. I am sorry if you felt those were directed at you. As I did say in my post "I'll let my racing speak for itself".

See you at the races!

SR "366" Higgins said...

Well, your roots in BCC go back way further than mine, and I've already gotten nice comments about your gracious followup. Thank you.

We are meeting at RMR at 6:15 tonight on the east side of the lot, if you want to drop by our team meeting at 6:30 we would really appreciate 5 minutes of DO's and DONT's, and maybe answer some questions. If that doesn't work for you maybe another Tuesday soon. We are all pretty comfortable with each other during our touring rides, but we are still figuring out race etiquette. Thanks in advance. :-) Stephen

Downhilldiva said...

I'll be there. I like to get there early to warm up and watch the A/B flight and try to get the butterflies out!