Trauma Cycle
“I like to speak in metaphor, there’s nothing wrong with that,” Greg Abbott believes. “In fact, there’s a lot right with it.”
This is an apt philosophy for someone who spends the majority of his waking hours riding a bicycle, but going nowhere in particular. Greg Abbott came to the District nearly eight years ago and put down roots here because, well, “it’s not home. As long as it’s not where I grew up, it’s fine.”
Greg Abbott, trying to hide his years of pain.
Greg’s reluctance to stick around his hometown may have to do with his early years there. A natural athlete, Greg was springboard diving competitively in northeast Connecticut (The NECTa) by age nine. By age eleven, he had progressed to 10 meter platform synchronized diving with his diving partner, Eric. Greg and Eric dove together for three years, even making it to the Junior Olympics where they placed 10th out of 33 pairs. Greg had a very promising diving career ahead of him, but it all came to a halt one January day: that was the day Greg found out Eric had a rare neurological disorder and would soon be unable to dive.
“I knew right then and there that I would never dive again, I just couldn’t do it without Eric. But everyone around me, including Eric, tried to convince me to go it alone. I went to one meet without him and never after that.”
Devastated by losing his beloved diving, and helpless to watch his friend and diving partner slowly lose control over his limbs, Greg entered his sophomore year of high school resolved to put all of his pain behind him and carve out of new identity for himself, away from diving and away from The NECTa.
“I guess that’s what coming to DC and taking up cycling was all about. I’ll never be able to erase the person I was, and that’s ok, maybe I shouldn’t. But I also know that ship has sailed, the grains of sand are moving quickly, and these winds they are a-changin.”
Though Greg has never been able to achieve the same kind of success with his cycling that he did with diving, he’s ok with that too. “After all I’ve been through, it’s really nice to just get on my bike and ride solo. I think I’ve needed that.”
And maybe that’s exactly what DC needs too.
