It didn't take my dad long to find the picture, but I didn't hide it well either.
He keep hammering me with questions, but I would always just side-step them.
There was no reason to tell him my goals when he would just shoot them down.

School was no different, many of my classmates were at that race and
watched me fail miserably; I became the laughing stock of the entire school.
In a school full of future farmers with no goals or ambitions,
I had found myself at the bottom of the high school totem pole.

All I could hold onto of my dream was a picture and my rusty Schwinn.
And it stayed that way until I graduated high school two years later.
I still went out and "trained" everyday but each day that pasted,
it felt like I wasn't getting anywhere closer to where I wanted to be.

It was then I made the biggest decision of my life.
I was tired of always being laughed at and mocked.
So I finally stood up for myself and did something about it.

Knowing my parents would have never approved of my decision,
I left them this note on my bed as I packed up my things and left.



I know it was cruel but I was 18 and didn't like the life I was about to live.
So with just $13 dollars to my name I hit the open road with my Schwinn.
I had never felt so empowered and scared at the same time.
Leaving everything I had ever known behind for what?

The chance to be myself, to be different, to be a cyclist.