When President Clinton was in office and before the smartphone and wifi was invented, I had ended my last bike race at the Sea Otter Classic. Prior to that I had started racing as a Junior and at the collegiate level. Dropped and defeated in many ways, I hung up my cycling cleats took a break, and eventually sold all things bicycle. I moved to the other side of the world and left the sport. I surfed, gained weight and grew hair on my legs for for the first time since the 7th grade. 12 years go by and one day I take my only bike at the time, a beach cruiser out for a spin. I ride six miles and my legs are not turning the pedals over. After a few months I begin to take it out for longer rides. Soon I'm up to 30miles with no bottle. I tell myself, as soon, as I drop the first guy in a kit and a race bike, I'll get back into it. It happened on the climb up Torrey Pines, I caught and passed a rider and for the first time in years, I felt familiar even on a beach cruiser. I enter my first bike race in July of 2011 on a race bike and haven't stopped yet. .
This is about a comeback, observations, changes in the sport and a long journey back to cycling finding ways to make it as fun and fulfilling as it was when I was a kid. The cycling world has changed a lot in the last decade and as if I was in a cycling coma, I find myself back to a world so foreign now yet so simple and familiar... Brian Co
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| Age 12 1989 Davis Double Century |
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| 2012 |
