So goes the lyrics to one of my favorite songs, Champion by Kanye West.

I got this anon comment from someone -“My girlfriend was/still is ultra hot looking, but it took her winning national championships before she was on the cover of magazines. How times have changed…all you gotta do is be a hottie and win a few local crits.” – in response to my Bicycling Magazine post. Did it get under my skin initially? Abso-fucking-lutely! Did it make me feel small and unaccomplished? Maybe a little… I can be a thin skinned titty baby sometimes. I’m working on it, what can I say? But then I got to thinking…

When I first started riding, what was the one final thing that pushed me “over the edge” and onto a bike? What was my tipping point? And then it hit me how my life has come full circle, in a way, considering the Bicycling Magazine article.

Dotsie Bausch. She was my tipping point. And who was responsible for making me aware of her? Bicycling Magazine. I read a short article on her in which she talked about her struggles in life with drugs and eating disorders. Her candid admissions allowed me to see through the hot mess that was my life; it gave me some small seedling of hope that I could have a different and better existence, like she seemed to have. I reached out to her and I was hugely surprised when she responded to my emails with a phone call and spent a bit of time talking to me. Here was this beautiful, accomplished, bad ass woman taking some time out of her busy life to chat to a total stranger. She ended up coaching me online for a few months, we lost touch after a while, as I was still sorting out my life but I never forgot her kindness.

When I finally left the mentally and physically abusive relationship I had been in since the age of 20, the first thing I did was throw myself at the bike. It was and still is my deliverance from a life empty of love, happiness, and real meaning. The joy I feel just hearing my cleats clip into the pedals everyday is immeasurable. The fact that even though I am not a thoroughbred race machine, in the sense that I didn’t grow up racing or really do anything all that athletic in my younger years, yet am still progressing and finding my way in this sport is all the more cause for celebration in my eyes. Cycling is an interesting sport; it is not for the weak willed or weak minded, having some exceptional physical capabilities of course helps, but is not the final determining factor in how well you will do. It’s not always the strongest who wins; sometimes it’s the most crafty, the most patient, the most bloody stubborn one who gets the top spot. Cycling, when you break it down, is a game of probability and it always keeps you hoping through the worst odds that you will prevail. Everyone’s victories are different but taste just as sweet.

So to you Mr. Anon, thank you. Thank you for pointing out how times have changed. That can only be a good thing concerning this sport. Like I was inspired by Dotsie, maybe some girl out there will look at me and say “I can do that!” Everyone has to start somewhere, ya know? And huge respect to your girlfriend, Mr. Anon, for blazing the trail for the rest of us.

Singing my song,
Lizzer

p.s. To Dotsie, if she happens to see this- Thank you. I’ve never had the nerve to introduce myself when we’ve raced together but I owe you big time.