My Blog - The Final Blog Post

Greetings Readers…

…For the last time.

I have decided to end this blog of mine. The Rise & Fall of an Athlete.

Looking back the title of the blog came so quickly to me back in 2006 when I first heard about blogging. Little did I know what blogging was going to mean to me now. Not an outlet, but something to write about on an everyday basis to the Internet world.

The Rise and Fall. Well, I have to say that there was a definite rise to my career in biking. Unknown to me at that time, my biking career was going to be more than I ever dreamed of. The Fall – well… there have been many “falls” and none I want to remind myself or you Readers about. They are there and will be there for the rest of my days.

I have biked many mountain passes in Colorado. I have traversed the winds of Wyoming. I have biked the terrains of New Mexico. I have done back to back 100 mile bike rides. I have done a century ride one day and then the next day run a Marathon. I have ridden "where the street have no name."

I started blogging on a whim not knowing what to expect nor where to go. You Readers can see my direction (or lack of) on when I first started blogging on blogger.com. I was scairt in the beginning. Meaning, I was not sure on how much to reveal to the Internet World. I was not worried about what people thought. I was worried about if my blogging was interesting.

I did not have a counter in the beginning, but later I did install a counter to my blog site. I was curious. Though I was not curious about who was visiting or how many times. And to this day – I could care less. Yet, I do like to see my blog counter go up. Who doesn’t right?

Well, it is now 2009 and now blogging has taken off more than ever. I have blogged more than ever I would have thought when I started back in 2006

I have had ideas. I have had arguments. I have had opinions. I have had disagreements. I have had followers. I have had anti-followers.

I have pissed off more Readers than you Readers know of. Yes, I have a lot of direct emails as opposed to comments on my blog site. I may comment on those who leave a comment. Then again, I really do not. Most Readers that do leave a comment are commenting on the moment not realizing the entire issue at hand, but Sam knows.

I do think I am unique. That may not be not right. But Unique. I do not say that I am right, but I do present the view of something I believe in. Readers, I am unique and I am very okay with that. You can say what you want to about my writing. About pictures of me. I am okay with that. After all you Readers are most likely seeing something that is new to you. Whereas, my faithful Readers know why I am commenting on some issue and/or comment.

You Readers have your opinions. Your comments. Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing - is it not? After all, I have voiced myself every once in a great while to a moving vehicle with such colorful language (ie: MotherFucker!), with either a smile or pissed off look on my bike. (Though, I know I am not the only person to do this and will not be the last) Later on, I remember cussing and perhaps using the middle finger was a wasted effort on my behalf - after all it is just word(s) and a finger - nothing more.

I have nothing to prove to you Readers. Yet, I do believe in “upping” you average Readers when I can. That’s my nature (or my major flaw in some Reader’s views). No one to blame nor do I have an excuse to give to you Readers.

Such as the HED rims. I paid almost two grand and I do expect people to notice. I am not the fastest rider, but I am the HED rider in South Denver area. Matter of fact, I am sure that you can ask any local Denver rider if they have saw me and my HED. rims they would know of me. After all, I know I am the only rider South of Denver to have HED rims. I got to be.

I am straying from the point of this post, sorry Readers. Thank you for listening to my rants. My surprises. My fortunes. My experiences. My issues. My problems. My Actions. My non-biking subjects. My RTD issues. My Qdoba girl. My Life.

In closing, I had no goal. I had no idea. I only had the idea to write about my life on biking and not biking. I perhaps touched a few people. I perhaps pissed off a few people. Overall, it does not matter whether or not you agree with my point of view.

Readers, I am not ending because I have run out of ideas, opinions, getting tired of blogging, can’t do it anymore, etc. I think with my picture finally getting posted another blog (minus the head shot – I guess I am that ugly) was very nice to see and sort of got me thinking to end the blogging with getting noticed and "Internet Famous". As opposed to calling it quits with no recognition. Just my way of looking and thinking about seeing and reading about me.

Damn – those HED rims do look just a nice with someone else taking a picture of me and Andrea!

I can not thing of any closing words, quotes or memories. With that said - time to bid you Readers and Faithful Readers a final farewell.

Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athlete