" Nurse, this is my Grandson. He is the athlete of the family".
Is what I hear moments after walking into the KGH room where my 75 plus year old Grandad is in hospital after having a stroke. 20 years ago here is my Grandad the quiet Scottish Engineer from Glasgow and past Scottish Tennis and Badminton Champion who was as I look back now on his death bed . And he was more worried about telling his nurse who his grandson was.
I had been near Barriere BC property caretaking when received word of my Grandad having a stroke and had spent 5 plus hours getting down to Vancouver. And what to this day twenty years on stands out the most is what he said to the nurse when he saw me his oldest grandson arrive - " Nurse, this is my Grandson. He is the athlete of the family".
Before that day sure I had been involved in sports- ski racing, triathlon, running, and mountain biking. Dabbled in MTB Observed trials and flailing at trying to ride the shore. But compared to my brother I didn't have the trophies and such to show for the effort. I was just out riding and trying new things just living the life and not thinking was being an athlete because at that time was considered the measure as far as I knew and it has taken a long time to grasp what he was saying. 96% of the medals from podium finishes I earned came after he passed.
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He came to one race as far as I know the Royal Lepage English Bay Triathlon around 1990 to see me race. And on that hot summer day see his oldest grandson race hard and finish but put himself in the medical tent due to overheating and dehydration to the point of two degrees away from a hospital visit. How after finally released he insisted on getting his grandson home and figured out how to fit my tri bike in his Mercedes Benz trunk. He wouldn't hear of letting his grandson ride home.
For years he never said anything about what I was doing was to be considered special or different then what thought was normal. He asked how I was and just quietly encouraged in his own way what I did through his choices of Christmas and Birthday presents. He was the one who gave me my first real pair of mtb shoes way back when we used toe clips and straps like the Specialized Mountain one's. And talked about Track and Field when he found out I was doing it at the boarding school.
" Nurse, this is my Grandson. He is the athlete of the family"
To bad I was still trying to get a grasp of myself and sort were I was in the world to figure out what he said. That contrary to what the messages given that one doesn't need race results and medals to be an athlete. That there are people in the world who are athletes who are just as fine with their only statement of being an athlete is the most ski descents of a peak or the most rides in one year of a certain trail.
That just riding as much as I did and the lifestyle was leading and still do made me an athlete. I just didn’t understand yet that medals on the wall aren’t what makes one an athlete.
Recently while thinking of how the exams last Fall of 2021 played out and their results had me thinking. Wondering how I felt about doing any races in the future. As the reality of the long term physical and mental fall out from being hit had been revealed with a lot of not so good mental moments thinking about it. And while doing this thinking suddenly recalled what my Grandad had said years ago. And maybe now it makes more sense then it did then. Maybe am more ready and in a better mental frame of mind to understand it.
https://backcountrymagazine.com/stories/traslin-family-traditions/
And to add further thought to this is B.C.'s legendary Traslin brothers who years after leaving mountain bike racing and Ski Mountaineer Racing are still pushing it with their own athletic challenges. That possibly Triple Crowns, more peak bagging, and what ever things I can come up with are potentially the way to go starting this year. To focus way less on racing and work with the issues I have to manage now.
Have had a few ideas this year so far that will be more along those lines adding to what did last year. Add in with our local MTB club try to come up with a couple of different things in the realm of fun like an old school downhill race. Though this year am putting more focus and effort on non racing challenges primarily. Because as my Grandad that day in VGH observed in his own way medals don't make you an athlete. I just wish I had been able to grasp 20 plus years ago what he said before now.
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