Ride or die crew?....
This past Sunday I was invited to a ride that I haven’t been on in probably over a year. I’m not so sure it was an invite as much as it was…hey ya’ll, I’m coming to your ride! I’ve traveled so much the past 10 years that, I’ve fallen out of the know for local rides. I miss my local people. I miss the Saturday and Sunday hammerfests.
Something extremely kind and generous was brought to my attention after the ride. “Chad, you kinda started this whole “next level” cycling in Charlotte.” 🤯. Very generous. However, I paused, flinched. However, If I flash back to 2002-2004, when the first training center opened, it’s partially true. “If you want to be faster, you had to go to “Chads”. Which eventually, and thankfully, became TotalCyclist. Fond memories of teams and individuals coming to one of our training centers. Getting stronger. Watching them at events perform to their very best. Opening training centers for endurance athletes was a f’ing leap of faith. it worked.
22 years later I can still visualize packed training centers. Groups and teams bringing beers in for post interval “recovery drinks”. The laughs, the tears and sometimes the puke. Yes. Puke. I made friends to some amazing people. Life long friends.
Something lately was missing. It was the people. I have missed that “cycling community vibe” that was a part of Per4mance Training, TotalCyclist, DivaCamp and now The Chad Andrews. Yesterday made that abundantly clear. Just about every person on the Sunday coffee ride had been into one of our training centers for years or just a handful of times. 22 years later, these athletes are still riding together. Maybe they forged a friendship or a marriage (yup) attending a class at the PainCave. Maybe not.
I’m eternally grateful for the Charlotte cycling community. Things have changed. We’ve gone virtual (These are REALLY good and just like the old paincave, but from your home! They start back up in August… We want to dial it in a bit more). I can’t thank you enough for all the amazing memories.
Invite me on a ride :)
Tailwinds,
Chad