January 1, 2010 10:22 AM PST
well, here goes. some years back i came home from work to find my wife and kids gone along with half of everything. reason being she wasn't happy, that i worked too much and was always gone working on the road. didn't take long to find myself making assprints in a barstool. to the point i was headfirst in a bottle. in that period of time, i blew out my lower back and had surgery to repair the injury. bad depression set in. a good friend and riding buddy who did and still belongs to a certain 12 steppin group cared enough to help me out, he was a patch holder in a club that was centered around sobriety. i got cleaned up, sobered up, found myself on the bike everywhere with these guys till i finally put on the patch. that was the beginning of a new life for me, started seeing my kids on a regular basis after about a year, regained the time i lost and became a father/dad again. made up for my wrongs with my then ex-wife and we are still trying to be friends. but through it all, the constant was the bike. i could jump on and blast down the highway and clear my head. "me time" it is my therapy, my love, my life. this is only a chapter in the book, but it all reads about the same. and over the years, there was always a bike of some sort when i was low. just stands to reason, i am where i belong