Nancy,

It has been a year, and I still miss her just as much. Nancy was my best friend, my closest buddy here in New York; she was the person who I talked to almost every day. She was always ready to listen and share life’s daily dramas.

It is winter 2003, and I was out riding in the park last night. It was cold and snowy, and a little lonely. It has been over a year since I have seen Nancy, and I can’t believe how much I still miss her. The park is not the same without her. I used to ride with her several nights a week, we would motivate each other to get out there and train. I have found that without her there, it is much harder to get on my bike and ride. At first it was just because riding my bike reminded me so much of her, and it would make me profoundly sad; but now it is just that there is still a great big hole in my life that no one else can fill.

I met Nancy on the bike. I met her in the cold winter into spring riding in the park. I think that was, maybe in 1999? I didn’t get to know her right away; at first it was just Nancy sightings. I had been racing for a number of years already, and here was a new girl on a bike, riding in the park at night, doing the night ride. I knew right away that she was gutsy and persistent. It took some courage to do the night ride, which had a reputation of being very hard, and a little treacherous. As I learned by and by, Nancy had courage. By the time I met her, Nancy was already on the Bike Renaissance squad.

I got to know Nancy better later in the year. I think it was a day in late spring when I was riding in the park in the evening. It was late enough in the spring that it was still light out, and I was able to only wear arm warmers instead of a heavy winter jacket. I remember having some sort of allergic reaction to something, because my arms had turned blotchy and they itched. I was commenting about this to a small group of women that I was riding with, including Nancy. Nancy immediately mentioned that she had some sort of cream that might help; she had gotten it from her father not long before and no longer needed it. It was so matter of fact the way Nancy offered to help that it impressed me immediately. She gave me her address and said that she would leave it downstairs with her doorman. Here was someone who I barely knew, and this was New York(!), and she was so generous, with a willingness to help someone that she hardly knew! It may not seem like much, but this was Nancy’s spirit in life: she was generous with her time, her heart, with her things. Nancy was able to see goodness, and that is where she put her energy.

I don’t even remember how it happened that we became friends after that. We just naturally clicked. Before long, she and I would talk almost every day, about life’s little things. Mostly we talked about people in the bike racing community; because racing and training sometimes took up almost twenty hours of our weeks, there was usually plenty to talk about. As I got to know Nancy, I also learned about her devotion to her faith (this was something that also impressed me immediately about her; it is not often in these times to find someone so faithful). I found it inspiring. I had a great deal of respect for her for not only being so faithful, but also for following her passions in life while maintaining her beliefs. I learned more about her family and her other friends, accompanying Nancy to a few Jewish events on the Upper West Side.

I met Nancy’s mom, Suri, when Nancy and I went to Colorado for the weekend. She drove us to the airport. I remember remarking to Nancy that her mother looked so young and pretty and also how lucky she was to have a mother that would do that for her. Nancy always spoke well of her parents; she may not have told them everything that happened in her day to day life, but she had tremendous respect for them, and it was so apparent that she came from such a loving family.