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Name:
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Gary
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Hometown:
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The
wilds of the East Texas Big Thicket
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Bike:
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2001 Trek Fuel 80 (the Love of my life)
2003 Trek Fuel 80 (back-up bike)
Trek 1000 road bike
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Favorite Local Trail:
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The Ant Hills
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Racing Class and Category:
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Beginner 40-45
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Racing Team:
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Westside Bicycles/Team Smack
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Bikes in the Garage:
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“Fuelie,”
“Fuelita,” and “The Evil One”
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Cycling Hero:
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Nick (racing god)
Possum (racing and trailwork god)
Sking (trailwork god)
Sporkie (hillclimbing god)
Buff (website god)
Trail-bob (duct tape god)
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Favorite Genre of Music:
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Contemporary Rock
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Favorite Sport to participate
in when not Cycling:
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Trailwork at the Ant Hills, Search and Rescue at the Ant Hills,
Rock climbing, Mountaineering, Backpacking,
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Why I got into Mountain Biking:
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I started riding my old rigid Trek 830 on the paved trails at
Terry
Hershey
Park
in December of 2001.
That led to me trying the dirt trails east of
Wilcrest on the north side of the bayou.
One night, I discovered the real stuff south of
the bayou. After
finding that the trails stopped just east of the Bowl, I
became infatuated with finding a way to Beltway 8.
On that night, I became a mountain biker and a
trail gnome. Actually,
the only reason I ride my bike is because it gives me a
reason to do trail work.
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Where I met Team Smack:
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After Ant Hills East was almost complete, I ran into two guys who
were out walking the new trails.
One of the guys was wearing camo pants, and they
were both ugly as hell.
I thought I heard banjos playing, and the thought
ran through my head that I was in big trouble now.
They introduced themselves as Possum and Sking,
and told me about GHORBA and Team Smack.
Since then, I have had a wonderful time riding,
doing trail work, and participating on this website.
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Why
do I race: |
As I rode the Ant Hills, I
realized that I was almost as fast as some of the Team
Smack racer bois. I
figured I needed to give it a shot, just to see how I
would do. Nick
and Possum gave me encouragement and answered my stupid
questions about racing, so here I am, looking forward to
the next race. What
I have discovered by racing is that the mountain bike
community is a great bunch of people.
The folks of Team Smack and Team West Side
Schwinn have been very supportive and friendly.
I love it! |
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Favorite
Race Story: |
At
my first race (
Huntsville
, B4 class, Fall 2002), I
got a terrible start.
I found myself in the bottom third of the 45
riders in my class.
I was frustrated and angry, and somehow the
emotions and adrenaline put my mind into this “racing
zone.” After
entering the singletrack, I started blowing past the
other riders like they were sitting still.
I passed at least 25 B4s, about 20 B3s, a dozen
B2s, and a few B1s.
In the end, I finished 5th out of the
45 B4 riders. This
was also my good bud Trail-Bob’s first race, and he
took 7th in the B4 class.
We were pretty stoked that both of us made the
top-ten in our first race. |
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Other
Comment: |
Favorite
quotes… Some are mine, some aren’t.
“Far
better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious
triumphs, to be the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood.
Far better is it to be the man who strives
valiantly, even though checkered by failure, who, when
he fails, to at least fail while daring greatly, than to
rank with those poor timid spirits who neither enjoy nor
suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that
knows neither victory nor defeat.”
“In
life, it’s not the pot of gold at the end of the
rainbow that’s important; it’s the rainbow.”
“It’s
not having what you want, it’s wanting what you’ve
got.”
“Yes,
my dear friends, it turns out that life is just one big
friggin' joke. As such, we all need to start looking for
the punch lines.”
“Don’t
go where the path may lead, but go where there is no
path, and leave a trail.”
(Use sparingly and cautiously, please) |
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Rider
Profile