PB 2.0

So, lets try this one more time...seven years later!

A little background on who I am 

My name is Michael Watkins and I'm a cyclist...check that...I'm a cycling para-athlete, a para cyclist. It has taken me a long, long time to come to grips with that reality, but that is what I am. I have ridden and raced bicycles for over 40 years. You can say it's kinda my thing, it is what I love to do and it often defines who I am, where I go on vacation, who I hang out with and what I watch on TV. We are a very small portion of society, cyclist, there are tons of people who ride bikes, but not all of them are cyclists. Of that small piece of society a smaller sliver of that piece is where I fit into the picture, a para cyclist. 

I have a disease called Charcot Marie Tooth Disease (CMT),  a hereditary peripheral neuropathy, which in laymen's terms is a hereditary nerve disease in my arms, hands, legs and feet. When you have CMT, your nerves lose almost all of their ability to transmit signals from the brain to the muscles in your limbs which in most cases (like mine) leads to severe muscle weakness and atrophy. CMT has mostly affected my legs and feet, but in the past 4 - 5 years I have staring to have symptoms in my hands and my legs have gotten noticeably weaker...not exactly great news if you consider yourself a cyclist, I mean a para cyclist!

Back in the day

In 2015 I finally took my Brother's advice and signed up to race a race he had completed 6 times, The Leadville Trail 100 MTB. If you are not familiar with the LT100 it takes place in Leadville, CO and  is the most famous ultra distance mountain bike race in the world, and considered by many to be the most difficult single day MTB race in the world with a peak elevation of 12,500' above sea level and racers climb a total of 12,600' vertically, all of which must be completed in under 12 hours if you want to earn the prestigious finisher's belt buckle.

I decided to use my training and racing as a platform to help raise awareness for CMT, as it is known as "the most common disease no one has ever heard of", with 1 in 2500 people being affected, and to also raise funds for research through the Hereditary Neuropathy Foundation (HNF) and Team CMT and maybe show someone else living with CMT that having this disease doesn't mean you can't push yourself  and accomplish more than you thought you ever could. 

After 8 months and thousands of miles of training and a ton of help and encouragement from friends, family and total strangers I crossed the finish line in 11 hours, 30 minutes and 14 seconds and got my buckle! 

The look on my son's face !!

The hard earned finisher's belt buckle

                                                                                 

You've done it before...just do it again

Fast forward seven years and I get a call from my brother and Leadville resident Tyler, "We should do Leadville next year...me, you, Brian and Randy - who had both completed it in 2013, Jon, Chris (who completed it with me in 2015) and Buddy...all of us...several of us have done it before but we have never done it together...we're not getting any younger, we should do it!!" I would be lying if I said I was immediately all in, as matter of fact I was thinking "hell no, I do not have the time to train with my current job, I am way weaker than I was in 2015 and I will also be just a couple of weeks shy of 56 years old on race day in mid-August" so I gave him the ole "I dunno, let me think about it" and we hung up. Later that evening I mention it to my wife Heather completely thinking she would nod in agreement but instead she cut me off mid sentence and said "do it". I tried to continue down my list of reasons/excuses why I didn't think it was a good idea and she said "you've done it once...just do it again. You've got it in you, you can train, get strong and finish it...do it.

I wasn't sure if she was encouraging me or shaming me at this point but one thing was clear, I was going to do Leadville again, if I was selected in the lottery, and she was going to behind me every step of the way, just like 2015! This year I registered in the newly created Para Athletes category and was selected to compete and I cannot wait to see how I stack up against people like me that don't have all of the advantages of the other racers.

I couldn't have done it without my wife Heather's encouragement and help

Just like old times

In the years since my first time at Leadville I have ridden or raced in some big events wearing my Team CMT kit just to fly the colors but I haven't used those races as fundraising platforms...but Leadville is a special race in a special place and I'm doing it with a group of special friends and family. That race  holds a special place in my and my family's heart, and like I said the day I finished it in 2015, today is both the worst day and the best day I've ever had on a bike, and I expect PB 2.0 to be no different - Google the periodic table for that one.

With that said, I have teamed up with the great people at the Heredity Neuropathy Foundation again this year to help fund research for a cure for CMT, please visit them at hnf-cure.org to have a look around and see the great things they are doing.

If you are interested in donating to the HNF on my behalf, please click the link below, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Also, all donations are tax deductible.

https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=hnf&id=110&cfifid=75

Hopefully many of you that are reading this are people that I've ridden with at one time or another or maybe we ride together a lot, or perhaps you just know me from Facebook or are Ambassadors for some of the same brands as myself, either way, now you know a little about that guy with the skinny legs at or near the back of the pack...you know, the para cyclist.