Chipps encourages you to seek out and praise your heroes. However, they might not be the people you first think of.
Doesn’t the saying go ‘Never meet your heroes’? Is that because you’ll get to meet them and discover that they’re just normal, boring folks like you and me? Or worse, just unruly, drunken bums who simply fail to live up to the lofty ideas you have of them from their public personas.
That’s a flawed argument. I think that you should always meet your heroes. But, before you do, you need to think about who your heroes actually are. It’s likely you’ll have met them already.
We all have a list of people we admire. Sometimes they’re musicians, cyclists or sports stars, authors or artists. Are they really your heroes? Or just personalities you like, and artists you respect. If we look hard, while those may be admirable folks with crazy talents, your real heroes might be closer to home than you think.
One definition states that a hero is “a person who is admired by many people for doing something brave or good” and that would cover many of the downhill racers or cross-continent adventurers who currently excite the cycling world. But know that your heroes are your heroes alone and only you get to determine what qualifications they need. They may not necessarily be everyone (or anyone) else’s heroes, or even heroic by classical standards, but they can still be someone who inspires you.
They can be older friends, or younger enthusiasts new to cycling who have dedication and passion far in excess of your modest ambitions. Or they might include those careful, quiet artisans who work for their own driven interests, regardless of adulation. Or they may be hoofing great racing heroes. If they inspire you, then they’re heroes.
I’ve been lucky enough to meet many well-known people in the cycling world and count some of them as good friends. I know that they deeply value their supporters and the attention they get. Often, that’s mostly why they get paid. We could be chatting at an event when a young fan approaches and instantly their focus diverts 100% to this young enthusiast. Photos are taken, T-shirts are signed and a deep impression is made. For every Martyn Ashton, there is a young Danny MacAskill who looks up to him. And Martyn himself remembers meeting the great Hans Rey for the first time. A public hero may never know whose future life they might be influencing, but they respect the power that’s given to them.
Your heroes, though, can be far closer to home. And, importantly – or even tragically – they might not know just how much they have inspired you, or anyone for that matter. This is why they need to be reminded that the things they do are appreciated by a wider world. Even if that world just has you in it.
I’ve always tried to make time to see what makes my friends tick, especially older ones. They’re often riders who have found a way to stay strong and fast in later life; balancing dull old life stuff while keeping that young rider spark alive. When they’ve popped round for a cuppa, no matter what else I had going on, I’d down tools for as long as it took to enjoy that time with them. We’re too quick, these days, to settle for fleeting chats in passing and remote, Facebook likes.
Make time to talk. Make time to ride with friends. Make time to appreciate your own local heroes. They might be briefly embarrassed by the attention, but it’ll help them understand that they matter in your particular world, for reasons completely down to you.
And accept those random invitations to ride, too. You never know… you, in turn, might be someone’s hero.