Written by: Mike Buckner
In the summer of 2012 my addiction to cycling was growing rapidly and I became heavily addicted to a weekend group ride out of Dublin. It was about this time that I had met Neil Wengerd on one of the rides. A friendship that has lasted for almost a decade started because of a very simple thing. We loved to ride bikes and consistently showed up every weekend to hammer at the front of a group to go as fast as we could. After a few months of bragging that we were “always on the front” we began discussions that ultimately lead to the start of Headwind Cycling. I wish I could remember how things with the team came together but it happened so fast I can’t recall the details. We had others who joined and they were just as excited as Neil and I. It just seemed so simple back then. We just wanted a team and we wanted to race.
Fast forward to 2019 and things with the team are fantastic but a a bit more complex. With sponsors, four times the number of riders, and a consistently growing list of goals there are more moving parts. As I sit here and write this post, I can’t help but reflect on how our team has grown yet still remained simple because it’s driven by the one goal we started with back in 2012. That goal has been and will always will be to ride bikes, get more people on bikes and have a blast doing it. Even with growth and changes that goal remains constant in everything we do.
Since 2012 the cycling scene here in Ohio has evolved drastically. Our team that was formed to compete in the OSRS (anyone remember that?) and dominate the road races That’s a difficult goal now mainly because there aren’t many true road races to dominate. There are a few here and there but that format of racing is almost extinct. We’ve evolved and will continue to do so.
To aid in our evolution, Neil and I have met a number of times with notebooks open, active pens and dates circled on calendars to plan our teams future. It’s felt very peculiar to take something that just kind of happened and come up with strategic goals, plans and a long term direction. It wasn’t until recently when, while on the trainer in my pain cave, I listened to The Gravel Lot Podcast’s interview with Ryan Gamm of Red Kit Coaching that I really thought about the importance of our plan. It was that moment where I realized people like Ryan, his support system, our team and many others have the opportunity to help shape the evolution of our cycling community. It ties back to our very simple start back in 2012 and that very simple goal of riding bikes, getting more people on bikes and having a blast while doing it.
2019 is going to be a wild year for the team Neil and I started years ago. We’ve already announced our March 9th gravel race, Batin’ the Shark, which will be our first foray into conducting a race and this week we will be announcing our new riders for 2019 on our social media accounts. Many of these riders are Cat2 racers. We want to grow in this space so we can have a Columbus based team competing against the large regional teams in the 1/2/3 road races. We also have a strong desire to create a club to provide growth platform for entry level cycling in our community.
Combine the gravel race, premium level road racing and a club to develop riders and that’s the plan we feel can deliver on very simple goal of riding bikes, getting more people on bikes and having a blast while doing it.
So, make sure you click like, give us a follow, or share our story as we continue to develop something that started from a simple friendship, which formed a simple team who’s goal is very simple.
