How People Handle Pain and the Spirit of MTBer's

So,...you see that guy right there???......Yeah that one,.......the one in the middle. What an interesting character, ......yeah that Ray Adams guy. You see,... he came to the Terror of Teaberry,.....and well,.... he didn't do too well,.... at least not according to the results. You see,... I got this call in the middle of the race, like I always do, to pick up someone, somewhere, for some common reason, whether it be a broken bike, a lightweight tire that was ripped to shreds, or the worst case scenario, an injury. This time, it was for someone who took a fall and injured a wrist. Now thinkin' it was Harlan, who damaged his wrist in the summer race, I was really lookin' forward to a long ride back and the passively aggressive lecture on how the trails were great but should not be included in on a race,....Martin shares this opinion,..... we'll just have to agree to disagree. To my surprise, I didn't find the IF clown suit upon arrival, but what I did find was a VisitPa rider, sitting on the ground, with a contrasting wavy forearm attempting to parallel a bumper of an overly sympathetic radio man's SUV. Okay, so what?. Well I pick up Ray, the VisitPa guy, after taking a trip to the bushes to supposedly pee, but to actually keep from passing out from the image of bent and broken bones, durably laminated in my head,....and well,.... the EMT has got Ray's arm rapped and immobilized. So I eventually join my friend in Pennsylvania in the big red truck,.....and well,... Ray starts up conversation,....pleasant, positive conversation. He starts by complementing the trails, and as you know, I kinda' appreciate that. But then, the spirit of mountain biking begins. Because,....and I know I shouldn't start a sentence with that word, he begins complementing the person he was riding with for the majority of the race.....yeah,.... that guy right there,....the guy to the left in the pic up above. You see,...that's Kyle. He's one of those Harrisonburg boys. You know them,....... he's one of those crazy, skilled, intelligent, outgoing, Mo' Fo's that put on the infamous Tour de' Burg,.....a tour I completed for six years in a row, hence the reason for the big compliments. As the story goes, through all his pain, Ray was talking about how impressed he was with Kyle dropping him in the rocks and how brilliantly he rode through the infamous Mackey. But then there is more....
You see, when I get back to the lot, I've got to tell the story, once again,...like I always do,... and one of the recipients of this story is Kyle,....the guy on the left. Well,....it seems Kyle was also impressed with Ray, and made sure I knew how hard he tried to keep up with the guy with a now wavy wrist. Yes, it seems Ray was kicking Kyle's booty for the first 20 miles. Now maybe,... just maybe,... you start to get it. A few shared beers around the previous night's campfire, the spirit of friendly competition,and you start to realize, it's not so much about your place upon the plywood, but maybe, just maybe, it's the shared fascination with the fluidity of motion through some of the hardest fucking trails out there. It doesn't matter whether you are the first two people to experience Pedro, the drunkin' finish chute guy, or the last. You simply share that common knowledge of motion at a particular place, pace, and time. I'm sorry, I don't really have a concluding comment, sentence, or thought, just another story, of a low key, extremely underrated race. But if you ever joined the cupcakes at one of their campfires, you would know,...as the Mule would say,.....yeah that guy right there,....the guy on the right,..... "It's all good".