BT Anthropology - Long
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Moderators: k9car363, alicefoeller | Reply |
2010-06-30 9:20 PM |
Master 2447 Marietta, Ga | Subject: BT Anthropology - Long A generation which ignores history has no past – and no future. — Robert A. Heinlein My kids hate history. Risking your impatience, I’ll continue with this long post. Early on, or at least in my beginning here on BT back in 2004, there were three things that provided the spark which seemed to torch the early success of Beginner Triathlete and which set me on a path that continues to add great value to my life, even to this day. First, there was the incredible content. I learned everything I needed to know about triathlon right here on BT. Information and patience abounded. I mean, how many times can a self described Cajun curmudgeon named “The Bear” answer the “Tri bike vs Road Bike” question? Well, he did for me and for many who followed. Today, the amount of information available to us has exploded. The real issue is how to make sense of it all. BT continues to do an awesome job. But, you can get content anywhere. Secondly, there was the rabid attention paid to creating an atmosphere of community. Ron, Marmadaddy and all the rest of the moderators sought to create a supportive atmosphere for everyone. They worked very hard to keep this site positive and encouraging. My hat is off to them for making the hard decisions to maintain the personality that is BT. I say all of this because I would love to see us continue that tight knit sense of community. What we do here is very hard. With jobs, family, and all the other distractions in life, we continue to devote ourselves to personal excellence and extraordinary goals. I would enjoy seeing the “inspires” ramp up, with notes of encouragement being posted in everyone’s workout blogs. It’s a self-feeding cycle of encouragement, achievement, and accomplishment. I’ll tell you one final story. It is about a guy I’ve never met, but whom I admire greatly, is a friend here named “Max”. He is a BT Veteran. One day, when we could only have 15 friends on BT, he sent out a note saying he was going to inspire a whole new group of friends. His “friends” list changed overnight, I and 14 other "veterans" were dropped and he picked a whole new group of triatletes to inspire. He said that it wasn’t personal, but that he wanted to reach out to those coming onto the sport, to be a good ambassador for the sport to a new crop of folks. I thought that was awesome and right in line with the spirit of this site. I may no longer be on Max’s friends list, but he remains on mine. Thanks for reading. |
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2010-06-30 9:31 PM in reply to: #2954774 |
Champion 19812 MA | Subject: RE: BT Anthropology - Long Great post.... I too have been here since '04 and joined the week before my first tri. I was intimidated and had questions so turned here for answers. The build up of the group of BTers watching in awe when Madcow and JeepFleep did their first IM. Back in early days we'd have 1 maybe 2 folks toeing the line for a couple IM a year. We were awed and amazed, but slowly the dream seemed more real to us that yes we could do one too maybe in the future. Max taught me how to change out tubes quickly. He had me and DK over and we were going to do something..maybe trainer ride one winter day but instead we chatted and he showed me how to change a tube then coached me through it. Living in MA we saw him often at races and he was out there encouraging everyone. One of my many favorite parts about BT when I go to a race anywhere I feel like I have friends there as BTers are everywhere. It makes racing special to have so many friends. I agree we do have a sense of community that is special here on BT. I do wonder if as many of us old timers have become very good friends but need to continue to welcome and make friends with new folks. |
2010-06-30 9:35 PM in reply to: #2954774 |
Subject: RE: BT Anthropology - Long Nicely said! And I read the whole thing |
2010-06-30 9:39 PM in reply to: #2954774 |
Master 1831 Keller Tx | Subject: RE: BT Anthropology - Long Well said. There are several great people here, with lots of really good information. We have all levels of triathletes here willing to give you what you seek. Sometimes you get some tough love, but its usually well placed, and always constructive. |
2010-06-30 9:44 PM in reply to: #2954774 |
Expert 661 Maui, Hawaii | Subject: RE: BT Anthropology - Long ^^^^what she said x2 (trigal38). I don't have any "tri friends" here at home, and my step-brother and his wife who are avid triathletes are not open (for one reason or another) to sharing information outside of "stay toward the back of the swim start." Gee thanks, fam! That said, I really appreciate this site for many of the reasons Motivated states, which is why I became a paying member. I am looking forward to recording and sharing my tri-journey here and count all of this community as my tri friends even though we have not met in person. Perhaps we will someday. I hope to be here for a long time and play to pay it forward as much as possible. |
2010-06-30 10:01 PM in reply to: #2954774 |
Coach 9167 Stairway to Seven | Subject: RE: BT Anthropology - Long I also joined roundabout 2004 with the old design...initially i did so because of the training logs. But after that I discovered the free plans and used one to complete my first tri after having back surgery. That led to another and another, including the escape from Alcatraz, hiring a coach, then becoming a coach myself...and my life is utterly chnaged since then. Thanks BT! |
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2010-07-01 3:15 AM in reply to: #2954774 |
Melon Presser 52116 | Subject: RE: BT Anthropology - Long Thank you. The two BTers who really reached out to leave inspires when I was new here were FishRCutB8 and elheffe99. They are dear friends still. Inspires have literally changed my life and in some instances saved it. For a long time I've been neglectful of inspires, but also, I used to post VERY often in the Introduce Yourself thread. You've given ME new inspiration to take those practices back up. |
2010-07-01 7:36 AM in reply to: #2954789 |
Pro 4612 MA | Subject: RE: BT Anthropology - Long KathyG - 2010-06-30 10:31 PM Great post.... I too have been here since '04 and joined the week before my first tri. I was intimidated and had questions so turned here for answers. The build up of the group of BTers watching in awe when Madcow and JeepFleep did their first IM. Back in early days we'd have 1 maybe 2 folks toeing the line for a couple IM a year. We were awed and amazed, but slowly the dream seemed more real to us that yes we could do one too maybe in the future. Max taught me how to change out tubes quickly. He had me and DK over and we were going to do something..maybe trainer ride one winter day but instead we chatted and he showed me how to change a tube then coached me through it. Living in MA we saw him often at races and he was out there encouraging everyone. One of my many favorite parts about BT when I go to a race anywhere I feel like I have friends there as BTers are everywhere. It makes racing special to have so many friends. I agree we do have a sense of community that is special here on BT. I do wonder if as many of us old timers have become very good friends but need to continue to welcome and make friends with new folks. Kathy: I don't remember why you and Emily were at his place that day, but he was to give me his extra set of LOOK pedals when I was ready for clipless. And we ended up getting the fixing flat lesson. Some update on Max: he had just settled down in his new home in AZ as of this week. He had decided not to do any more triathlons due to injuries and is saving his knees for the activity he enjoys the most - hiking. He would be there to cheer for the IMAZ folks. |
2010-07-01 7:40 AM in reply to: #2954774 |
Queen BTich 12411 , | Subject: RE: BT Anthropology - Long |
2010-07-01 7:52 AM in reply to: #2954774 |
Elite 3223 Hendersonville | Subject: RE: BT Anthropology - Long Karl, I love how you pop up every now and then! I just went back and tried to find my first log entries. I think it was about Feb. or March 2005. St. Anthony's that year was my first BT gathering, and you were there along with Coredump, Rick?..was he there??, Sue, Wendi, maybe Bostick, etc. I also remember Madcow and that other guy being the only BTers doing an IM, and they would write about it every week, to our complete amazement! I have met many of my very best friends on BT. What a blessing. I think the "Inspire Me" tool is the most unique and special feature BT has. By far. Jessica |
2010-07-01 8:32 AM in reply to: #2954774 |
Coach 10487 Boston, MA | Subject: RE: BT Anthropology - Long I am also part of the 2004 class (it seems many "cool" kids joined that year ) and on June 18th it was my 6th BT anniversary. I also found the website by chance and made my 1st post on the "old" website on the introduce yourself forum and was greeted by a few BTers. I instantly got hooked with the content, the race reports and the logs and later I had the courage to start posting on tri-talk and became part of the community. Over the years I've met a bunch of BTers (many of the "old timers") and have made great friendships. Because I've grown to appreciate BT very much, now as a coach I have tried to support it by helping other newbies with stuff like the winter cycling threads. Early in the year I took a sabbatical from posting for different reasons but among one of those is how some of that spirit/vibe that draw me to it into the 1st place has vanished to some degree. I know it is only normal for things to change and it is certainly difficult to maintain the same sense of community when the membership exploded growing dramatically. Still, I think what you just posted is a great reminder for new and not so new BTers to keep that spirit alive. I remember I used to spend at least some time of my time logged on BT to go read the updates of BTers I've never met and leave an inspire to support them. From doing that I can't even tell you how many new friends I ended up making and that was very cool. I'll try to create the habit of doing that again through the BT blogger and the "introduce yourself" forum. It would be cool if others try doing that at least once! |
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2010-07-01 8:40 AM in reply to: #2954774 |
Subject: ... This user's post has been ignored. |
2010-07-01 8:55 AM in reply to: #2954774 |
Elite 2768 Raleigh | Subject: RE: BT Anthropology - Long Karl,
Good to hear from you again... I X1000 of what he and everyone else has said about this site.
BTW here is a old pic of Motivated, me, and CAVU9 Edited by trigods 2010-07-01 8:58 AM (tri.JPG) Attachments ---------------- tri.JPG (70KB - 18 downloads) |