New Story I am working on.......

The Heart of a Champion

A chain story By Tyler Servoss

Part 1

Prologue

Like a long alpine climb, life takes many twists and turns. At age 35 he never thought he would find himself in this position. Cycling had been a passion for him for as many years as he could remember. In his teen years he would cut class in high school to put in more miles or road trip to a weekend stage race. His bedroom had been a shrine to the great riders of the past and the emerging riders of the present. Magazine pictures of a young and determined Lance Armstrong soloing to a World Championship victory in the rain in Oslo. The head lights on in the team car following behind. That was one tough rider. This was one intense sport. He had checked out Greg Lemond’s book from the school library and read all about how Greg had mapped out his racing career goals on a yellow pad when he was 17 and had achieved nearly all of them.

That’s what he wanted. Before the advent of the internet he would eagerly await the next issue of Velonews, pouring over its contents to learn of the latest exploits of his favorite riders in Europe. Doors opened. Friends were made, opportunity came and soon he was racing at a very high level. Training became an obsession, racing was like food. He had to have more. He had to push himself beyond what he had previously thought possible. He had a thirst for victory. Moving through the junior ranks the world seemed to be at his feet. There was talk of the next Lance Armstrong, the next Greg Lemond. He was dizzy, nearly drunk on the expectations for the future.

This unbridled passion spilled over into his personal life. As he was preparing to make his first trip to Europe, the Cycling Center in Belgium, life threw him a wild card. Dreams of Europe and superstardom had to be pushed aside. Family responsibilities came to the fore front. He struggled on for several more years. Stateside. Working full time, sometimes 2 or 3 jobs, training in the other small spaces and racing on a shoestring budget. Anniversaries where spent on the floor of a hotel room shared with 2 or 3 team mates. The bread money went to entry fees. Crashes, Injuries, illness, and financial struggles finally took their toll. The young dreamer’s vision of cycling greatness nearly burned out.

The bike was sold. Kit and gear given away. On with life. But the dream remained.

Fast forward 9 years. While the brash youth had given way to the more tempered and physically mature man, the fire was still present, deep within. After several years break, he had returned to riding and the occasional race. But not like before. More often than not, he had his back side handed to him by faster, more talented and committed racers. But he remained undaunted, knowing that he had once been very good.

Then a day came that changed his life forever. After a routine physical, preparing to attend a Scout camp with his son, the doctor phoned and asked him to come in for a follow up visit. Just as a precaution blood and EKG testing had been performed. The results were in and the findings had prompted the doctor’s call. Could he come in right away? Could he bring his wife? Bracing themselves for the anticipated bad news they made the short drive to the doctor’s office.

The receptionist brought the couple into a luxuriously furnished office, with mahogany and leather and a large set of book shelves containing numerous medical tomes. The gripped each other’s hands tightly as the doctor entered and began to speak. He asked if blood work had been done in the last several years. He asked about the man’s condition and fitness. It seems that one of the ventricles of the hear had an impairment and appeared to be a genetic condition from birth. Further scans where ordered, tests were run and a procedure was scheduled. The out-patient surgery was brief. Entering in through the femoral artery in the leg, and following on to the heart. The flaw was corrected and the recovery process begun. 6 weeks rest. No cardio, no elevated heart rates. Just rest. For a man who had been an endurance athlete for the better part of twenty years this was torture. Lying on the coach, watching DVD’s of the Tour De France.

After his convalescence he returned to his financial planning practice. Things had gone well in his absence and the business was flourishing. Systems he had created and training he had provided his staff with were paying off. The goal was to have the business eventually run without him. That had been the goal from the onset and it was drawing nearer day by day.