The day of 2 Peters
Is it silly, to constantly celebrate the oncoming warmth? this was a very, cold, long winter… and seeing sun, the flowers coming up, to be in shorts again, to go for my easy bike workout this morning and be comfortable, not a frozen andrewsicle by the end (hard russian jump day tomorrow, so today is easier than pie, today’s workout is about tomorrow, really). Flowers are up all over the place, and I will celebrate as long as I am still astounded to see them. The glacier of winter can crawl into your heart, days like today help melt it.
Today is the day of multiple Peters, Peter #1 is my inline skating friend Peter Doucet, he is a webmaster/great guy/candian inline stud, he commented on my blog yesterday, and it made me smile to see his name. I was walking to my favorite coffee shop, thinking about Peter #1, and then I ran into Peter #2, Peter #2 is Peter Ozolins, bike racer/longtime friend friend of many racing travels. He was coming back from a 2.5 hour ride, and we chatted for a bit.
Both of them are unique, in their life stories and their passions, and are worth writing about here.
Peter #1, Peter Doucet is a true free spirit, a barrel chested quebecois redhead with travel & hip music & speedskating rampaging in his veins, veins powered by a heart that must be as big as a truck tire. Peter Doucet does not come off as serious when you first meet him, at first impression he is funny, charismatic, a live wire of freedom & passion. Many talk about living free, but are too timid in their own lives to actually be free, Peter is a free soul, no question about it.
But I think because of this part of his nature, some people forget to appreciate the serious and accomplished Peter. The job he does with Peters Inline Racing Web Pages is spectacular in its scope (he updates content all the time!! can I tell you how hard that is!), he runs so many races, organizations, and other skate related stuff, (check out his bio) and on top of that, he is one of Canada’s top inline speedskaters, represents Canada at worlds year after year. Ice and inline, he skates it all. They day I realized that this niche sport of speedskating would be significantly less & somehow soulless without him, that was the day that I believe I suddenly recognized the real Peter, the bounce of the peter “whoot! whoot!” moment suddenly replaced by a serious cornerstone of the US and Candian inline scene (and world scene).
Anyway, I was thinking about Peter #1, when Peter #2 rides up, 10:30am and he is just finished with his 2.5 hour ride.
Peter #2 is Peter Ozolins (here is a link to his website) Imagine a curly blond greyhound, around 6’2” with calm blue eyes and a soft voice, and who rides a bike like he has a gravity-defying rocket strapped to his back. That is Peter O, he oozes athlete. Search for him on google, and you get pages and pages of results.
I met him when we both first started bike racing back in the dark ages of the early 90’s, back when I was 18 and he was 12. Even then, Peter could simply blow my doors off. A tremendous athletic talent, thin as an arrow, he threw his soul completely into the fires of bike racing. He lived and raced in Europe/France in his teens, and won the New York State Junior cycling championship. We all thought he was headed to be a pro, he had the tools and had made the sacrifices. He once stayed with me in Colorado during a spring cross-country racing/training trip, and was simply frighteningly strong. Even while not acclimated to the altitude, he placed 2nd in the nutcake hard Boulder Roubaix in the ferocious colorado cat III’s.
But one day later that year, speeding his bike down a steep hill on a typical everyday rainy Ithaca day, a car suddenly pulled out in front of him from a side street, as he reached for the brake levers he recounted thinking “wow, these won’t help very much”.
He broke dozens of bones, ribs, hips & arm, was in a coma, and then a wheelchair for six weeks afterward. His father told me he thought Peter was going to die. I think the next years were very hard for him, as the accident changed him in many ways. Gone was the ultra-confident cocky neo-pro, He got his college degree in photography, was a firefighter in the pacific northwest, built docks & decks on cayuga lake, but the bike called him again.
One you have touched the finish line first a few times, it becomes magnetic, addictive, and Peter has touched first place more than a few times. Fighting through the wind, clawing through the struggling swarm of the peloton, endless training days and being away from family for long stretches training in warmer climes, the bike keeps calling. I always wonder what his goals are, now that pro-hood will not happen for him, but I have always admired his drive, He is hardcore this season again, and has repeatedly ridden around Cayuga lake already this year (its about 100 miles) in rain & snow & crap, sacrificing to be fast.
So many sacrifices to be fast.
Both Peters are in their late 20’s, on that difficult cusp of full time racer vs full time career. They probably will never meet, although they have both probably raced the Chris Thater races in Binghamton on the same day. It’s too bad, they would have a lot to talk about, about determination, drive, athlete passion/poverty, about relationships & if its easier to date other athletes or not, about being on the road, about sacrificing to achieve excellence in things that will never be celebrated on the front pages of newspapers, about being unique fellows who have both chosen to take the paths that are less traveled by,
in my eyes, that makes all the difference…
Filed under: from the coffee shop
Andrew…over the past couple of years I’ve become aware of your burgeoning literary acumen…there is a depth and eloquence to your work/play that to me, feels like it is accelerating, gathering speed like an ocean wave crashing ashore. This recent article is just another example.
In my limited exposure and experience to/with TISC, I will confess I initially had you pegged as quiet and withdrawn. A strong talent, and committed skater who showed flashes of technical and tactical brilliance to be sure, but also possessed of a (post?)adolescent languor, almost sullenness.
I now realize that what I mistook for moodiness and broodiness, whas as much or more, simply the nature and character of an expert observer, immersed in thought, introspection and consideration (coincidentally, that very same assumption has often been made of me–rather than by me–by many in my younger days, and perhaps still even now).
I just wanted to let you know I have a growing admiration and respect for you–you possess keen keen insight and a writing ability to match…use that gift, hone it, and do something special with it in this lifetime, OK?
Anyway…that probably came off way heavier than it should of…could have just said “love your stuff”, right? Oh well..not my style!
Cheers for now–happy skating (finally!)…
Kevin Smith
PS - I’m trying to swing my busy evening schedule such that I’m able to attend a TISC practice once a week this year…hoping to finally do some track skating too (I’m a newly minted ‘old guy” now…a.k.a. masters skater, so fogies beware!)…Looking to have a pair of Custom ZX-5’s w/4×100 set up within 2 months, if the stars align…that should pep things up a bit!
Two Peter’s in a pod are better then none!
Great story,I’ve met the first Peter a few times, and you are right.
I’m not sure if you remember me but I raced you last year @ the NA in Minneapolis in the master 1 group, even though you were a senior still, together with that dutch skater from Ontario, I think his last name was VanWageningen (great skater).
Anyways, even though you blew me out of the water in every race, you had no problem chatting it up the whip box (hey! that rhimes), giving words of encouragement and so on, keep doing what your doing, it is contagious.
Cheers, barend.
wow… thanks everyone for the comments!! I am really touched.. I am not sure in many respects why I started this blog.. maybe its that ocean wave kevin talks about (well said! I hope its true!) or maybe its the writer I was in grad school reappearing in my life….. maybe its something illogical I can’t quite put my finger on, but hey, it is a lot of fun!!
and hey, barened, I certainly remember you! I was a master skater in that race though, not a senior, I am 34 now… a very strange age to try to “go pro” as an athlete!!
[…] . Whizzing down the Ithaca hills, sweaty and satisfied. I passed the spot where my friend Peter Ozolins had his almost life ending meeting with a car. Thankful, bum knee and all, I am so thankful to be […]