I wish to submit my name for the open seat on the NEBRA board of directors. Below is a brief candidacy statement.
I came to bike racing in 2010, when I was 35-years-old. My first race was the Mt. Washington Hillclimb late in the Summer of that year. The next Spring I soaked up as many training races as I could, in Bethel, Plainfield, Ninigret, to try to get that upgrade out of Cat 5. My goal: to race Battenkill in the Masters 35+ field; I needed to be Cat 4. Since that time, I have raced all around New England, doing almost all of our regional races; I have raced at the highest level of our domestic road racing scene, in Oregon, Arkansas, North Carolina, among many other places. I went “all in” on road racing, and I did so while being a husband, father and business owner.
Bike racing, and the cycling community more broadly, has been an integral part of my life these past 8 years. Cycling has given me and my family so much, as a competitive pursuit, in friendships, and in community. How important the racing community was in my life, was never so manifest as when I suffered a life-threatening accident in the Fall of last year. The support of our cycling community was and is simply overwhelming, as I recovered, and as I found my way back to the bike these past 6 months.
I humbly submit my candidacy for the open NEBRA board position, because bike racing has given me so much, because I desire to give back, and because I can offer insightful leadership. I offer a valuable and distinct perspective, rooted in how I came to cycling, as an adult, with family, informed by racing domestically at a high level, and informed by the importance of the cycling community, it’s charity and compassion in my time of need.