X-Men Cycling

Yesterday, I did the UTCX race #4 out in the Corner Canyon area of Draper. It brought back memories of the Dark Ages of Utah Cyclocross, the mid to late 90′s, as this was one of the early venues when Utah CX just started to take off. I did the singlespeed class again, and felt much more in the race that last week in Heber; got the holeshot, then latched on to Jesse Gordon and another guy who came around me at the top of the road climb. My bike handling allowed me to stay with those 2 guys for most of the first lap, and I felt like I was racing again. The weather at the start was good, even though there was a storm threatening. The weather started moving in with 2 laps to go. Shortly after finishing my race, and while the Elites and Masters A groups were on the start line, the sky opened up with a torrent of cold rain and hail. As these 2 fields of the last racers of the day came up the hill on their first lap, riders were grimacing with pain from the pace and the weather. MY old friend T-Mac, Terry McGinnis, surely would have been smiling. I’m guessing that was right about the time of day that T-Mac passed away, and ended his long struggle with cancer. I heard the news later that night. Below are some photos I dug up from the archives of when T-Mac and I were team mates on the X-Men. We did a road trip to the Elko, Nevada, 4th of July criterium, listening to Van Halen the whole way in T-Mac’s Nissan Maxima. He got on the podium in the masters race, slugged a bottle of water and then jumped in the Pro/1/2 race, and helped me get in the winning break, all the while smiling when the others were grimacing.

T-Mac Terry McGinnis smiling with pain. Photo by Eric Schramm.

The harder the race was, the more T-Mac liked it. And he sure liked that Eddy Merckx. Photo by Eric Schramm.

T-Mac on the wheel of another Utah legend, Rich Vroom. T-Mac knew how to pick a wheel. Photo by Eric Schramm.

Brother, we are going to miss you. As hard as your struggle has been, you never stopped smiling through the pain. You made the bell lap, and it’s all downhill pedaling with a tailwind to the finish line. Zip up that jersey and get ready to raise your arms.