This is what our living room looks like. We have no garage or any other place to set up our “bike shop”, so my mom has let us take over the living room in our rental house. In my opinion, it looks a lot better than a regular living room anyways. What kind of mother would allow this? A mother who wants her children to follow their dreams and is willing to make sacrifices. We moved to another province just so that my brother and I could ride our bikes more often and be closer to the major spots. Sure it helps that BC is a beautiful, we don’t have to shovel snow every day in the winter, and we have lots of family close to us, but that’s still a major commitment.
Just this morning, my dad I talked about my plans after high school and he wanted to make sure that he wasn’t “pushing” me to follow my dreams of racing instead of going to university after high school. Who would ever want to go to university if they could ride their bike for a living? I realize that the journey to the World Cup won’t always be easy or comfortable and there will be times, probably while I’m sleeping on somebody’s couch, where I think that university would be the easier path. In those moments, I’ll just think of myself sitting behind a desk in a hot stuffy room with 300 other youngsters listening to a teacher in the perfect riding conditions and that should kick me back into the right way of mind. Reminding me of that just shows how much my parents care and how much they’re supporting me on my journey.
