09/27/2025
People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Some leave quietly, others leave a lasting impression, not always by what they do, but by what they say. Whoever said “words don’t hurt” was lying. Words can cut deep, but they can also heal, motivate, and transform.
Back in 2006, I was at an altitude camp with what’s now EF Education, preparing for the very first Tour of California. A few days into camp, I absolutely cracked on a brutal 45-minute climb. I pulled over, stopped, and threw in the towel. The rest of the group kept riding, rightfully so. The team car, driven by Allen Lim, stopped behind me. He didn’t get out, didn’t offer help. He just sat there, almost like he knew something was about to unfold.
That’s when Mike Creed, the guy in this photo, turned around. He casually rolled back to where I sat, head down over the bars, thinking, this sport isn’t for me, it’s too damn hard. Mike leaned in and whispered just a few words:
“I know it’s hard. I know it sucks. But it’s the only way.”
Even typing that gives me chills. Somehow, that was exactly what I needed. I dragged my broken self back onto the bike and finished the ride.
Later that year, I went on to win Slipstream’s very first pro race at the Tour of the Gila, the same Slipstream that would become EF Education. Their first NRC win? That was mine.
I’ll always be grateful for Mike for turning around when no one else did, for giving me tough love at the exact right moment. And I’m grateful to Lim and the team, for not babying me, but for letting me fight through it. That moment in 2006 shaped the rest of my career. Check out the last pic of the epic win!
