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Hanging Out With The Trinity
Try This at Home
\r\nBut Wear a Helmet
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\r\nBy Pete Vordenberg
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\r\nWe are up to no good. There is Eli Brown, which tells you something right off, and me, which doesn’t help our score and there is Dave Chamberlain, which pretty much completes the trinity.
\r\nTo Dave’s credit when the idea was hatched he kept saying, “what?” and Eli would tell him and he’d say, “wait, what?”
\r\n“Dave,” say’s Eli, “I’m going to tow you and Pete on long boards behind my bike.”
\r\n“What?” said Dave.
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\r\nWe had just returned to Concord, NH from a Regional Elite Group training camp in Lake Placid. I was the USST coach for the camp, Eli Brown was a regional coach and Dave Chamberlain was one of the Elite racers attending. The camp had ended that morning with a three-hour rollerski near Saranac Lake. There was a beautiful twisting descent/ascent on the route that we skied several times. I don’t know how fast we got going on the descent but it was fun cruising around the corners fast and low in a tuck.
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\r\nWe drove from Lake Placid to Eli’s home in Concord. We then had to return the Fischer van to Fischer, which left us with some spare time as well as needing a way to get back to Eli’s house.
\r\nEli proposed we tow each other on skateboards.
\r\nWhat, said Dave.
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\r\nWe tied two lines off the back of the bike’s seat so that Dave and I were like two tandem water-skiers. We are no Andy Newell but all of us ride skateboards so as Eli started peddling we felt confident and comfortable carving the asphalt wake behind him.
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\r\nThe bike had a cyclometer and so we could keep track of our speed. On the up hills Eli would pump hard on the bike while Dave and I urged him on, on the down hills we cruised along trying to keep our carves in sync so as not to run into each other. All the while Eli would be yelling out our speed… 19… 22…
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\r\nOur route narrowed from a road onto a bike path and I had to choke up on the rope to get ahead of Dave right behind Eli so that all three of us could fit on the narrow path.
\r\nThe path climbed up over a road and Dave and I yelled for Eli as the ascent got steeper. We crested the top and began the descent. On one side there was a tall chain link fence on the other a wooden fence. Eli pressed on… 17… 19…
\r\nThe nose of my board was inches from Eli’s back wheel, Dave was only inches behind me and then around 20 mph as the soft carving trucks of my board started to want to carve I said, “Eli, Eli, Eli,” and then there was chaos.
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\r\nEli and Dave claim to have some recollection of the wreck itself. Eli says he saw Dave fly past us against the wooden fence and to the ground. Dave say’s he sort of had a moment where he knew the gig was up. Though I was a participant and in fact precipitated the wreck it all happened too fast and I was really only witness to the aftermath. Dave who had been last in line ended up first in line sitting on the pavement. Eli was in the push-up position on the ground behind Dave and I was tied for last with Eli’s bike.
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\r\nIt is great to be 14 again. I remember in junior high Ricky Colepit as he lay in the grass whining about his arm while me and Eddie kept ridding around having a great time. Ricky had run his skateboard off the sidewalk and broke his arm on a sprinkler head. When he convinced us it really was broken we had to call Ricky’s mom from a 7-11.
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\r\nWell this time we had to call Eli’s wife Joann to come get us. The bike’s back wheel was seriously taco’ed. Dave could hardly walk because his calf and hip were so stiff from the impact with the fence, we were all cut up and asphalt-abraded and Eli Brown’s wrist really hurt, in fact was looking kind of funny.
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\r\nThere we sat three 28… or 32 year olds waiting for mom.
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\r\nI started thinking about how lucky we were none of us bonked a noggin, and then I thought back to our rollerski earlier in the day, flying down that hill, me with no helmet on, and thinking how fast this wreck just happened. Beside me Eli Brown is looking pale cradling his broken wrist and Dave is bleeding all over from a wound in his elbow and he is looking mad, thinking probably, what? And I am the best off, only a little skin lost and I am thinking that for sure I’m going to keep doing these things, but from now on I’m wearing a helmet, I mean you just don’t know, especially at my age – just 14 and with so much to look forward to.
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Dave, Pete and Eli...The Trinity...
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\r\nTeam Today is a non-profit organization run by, and for, the athletes of the US Cross-country team. The USST is run on a shoestring budget, and our increasing success at the international level is making for increasing demand on our ever-limited resources. To find out how you can join Team Today, visit www.teamtoday.org, or contact Andrew Johnson bode1978@yahoo.com, or Pete Vordenberg pvordenberg@ussa.org. With your assistance, we will be THE BEST IN THE WORLD!
Written By: petevDate Posted: 7/14/2004Number of Views: 311
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