I know most of ya'll aren't into cycling, but hear me out on this one.
I was covering the 18th Annual Tour d'Trails (cycling race) this past Saturday and had the opportunity to meet a very special young man from near Paris, Texas. (The race was in my hometown of Winnsboro.) I had been out on the course following some hot shoes (Chris Powers, Flower Mound and Brian Wyrick, Quitman-the county seat where my paper is), but when I came in, I started talking to this young man. Well, truth be told, he walked over to me and struck up a conversation about how he had been out riding and had won 5th in the 20 mile race. He was beaming.
The tour organizers tell me he rides every year. He told me he had gotten up at 4:30 Saturday morning to make the 80 mile trek from Arthur City (near Paris) to Winnsboro. He didn't want to miss the 9:00 start time.
I asked him to pose for the photo below with the winners of the 20 mile race. He couldn't believe he was getting to take his photo with the winners. That's him in the foreground.
Maybe you can see what bad shape his bike is in. He said someone gave it to him. The saddle was taped. The tires were bald. His helmet was worn down to the foam. He didn't have gloves. His shoes were just barely holding together. The Pilot Club members who put on the race say they've never seen him in any jersey other than the one he had on Saturday morning. His bike shorts were torn and tattered. There were threads everywhere.
But none of this mattered to this rider. He had come in 5th in the 20 mile race and he was watching the "people that go really fast" come in from the 40 and 60 mile races. The pride in his eyes was bright enough to light Texas Stadium at midnight. He was also going to the city park to get his free bar-b-que sandwich, drink and chips before heading home in his really beat up truck.
The people standing around waiting on riders, friends, spouse, children, etc and I watched this youngster ... I say youngster ... he's probably in his 30's and decided that anyone this excited about cycling should have better gear.
The Dallas area riders are going to put a care package together and send it down here. One guy had a saddle. Another had lots of extra jersies. They were going to find some gloves and other neat stuff.
The Winnsboro area riders are going to put a bike together. One guy told me he has been riding for 23 years and has more gear/equipment than he'll ever use.
I have a friend who works at the Texoma Cycling Center in Wichita Falls ... where I got my bike. I'm going to ask him for some stuff, too.
I have the young man's name, address and phone number, so we'll be sure to find him when everything's put together. The Winnsboro guys and I will load everything up and take it to him personally.
We are all blessed and have a lot more than this kid. It's only right that we share our good fortunes.
As long as he wants to ride in the Winnsboro race, his $25.00 entry fee will be covered and we'll top his gas tank for the trip home. That's already been arranged.
RhumChum has a contact at the Paris Newspaper and we're going to put out some feelers in Arthur City to get the kid's story. I'm going to do a feature on the effort to get him some new equipment because, Lord knows, we need GOOD stories/news like this.
So...my reason for posting is this: If you have any men's medium biking jerseys or some biking shorts ... or a helmet .... or anything cycling-related that you're not using anymore and would like to give to our new friend, box it all up and send it to me
Terry Mathews
208 E. Myrtle
Winnsboro, Texas 75494
Or send a small donation and we'll pick up some good stuff for him.
And you'll help us trick this kid out like a "real" rider. It won't matter to him that the gear's not all new. He'll be proud to have it, I promise.
Just make sure to include your name and address so he can write you a thank you note (I'm going to help him with this part of the project.) and I can send you a hard copy of the edition with his story.
It feels good to do good.
Thank you.
Your phriend,
ETPH
