In the spring Nancy took me with her to a race in northern California. She got a free plane ticket for me. We went out to the Sonoma area for the weekend and raced the Graton Road Race and the Santa Rosa crit. It was so much fun. Aubin loaned us bike boxes and Kelly packed our bikes for us in New York. We were up half the night getting ready to leave, cabbing bikes between Nancy and our apartments. We put them together ourselves in California and raced! It was sunny and wonderful. We met up with Matt Koschara from Navigators at the race and Nancy and he agreed to start a new coaching program for her. She was so excited and I was very happy for her. She always liked to plan ahead and she and Matt really got along well and were a good coach/rider combination.

Nancy always worked harder than everyone else in some ways, because she was a kosher racer. It’s hard to arrange bike racing around the Jewish Sabbath rules, but Nancy always did. Her commitment to her faith never ceased to amaze me. At first I was puzzled—why did she not turn the TV on some mornings when I knew she liked hearing the weather first thing? What would happen if she was in the car on Friday after the sun set? What was the deal with the money on Saturdays? I didn’t understand at first, but gradually I saw more and I began to understand and appreciate the beauty of her Sabbath.

On the plane out to California we had a conversation about life that really affected me, and in retrospect it was a conversation that was very important in our friendship. We spoke of how important it is, in life, to figure things out for yourself. We both agreed that this is one of the main purposes in life, to strive for self-knowledge, and to learn to understand yourself, through your own efforts and G-d’s. We talked about how easy it was to get to depend on others too much for your own happiness, and how confusing that can make things. Nancy figured things out for herself more than almost any other person I’ve known. She was so independent and she did things her own way. She was consistent in her faith, her habits, and her beliefs.

Later that spring Nancy decided to leave Renaissance and join the Psoas team. There were just too many strong personalities on our team at the time and Nancy decided she was a better racing fit with Randy’s team. At the time, I told Nancy I understood, and I did, but I was very upset about her leaving and I missed her a lot because I didn’t really see her much for a few months. Late that summer though, we did go to a race together in Pennsylvania (the Tour de Toona in Altoona). It was a hard race for me and I was miserable all weekend. Nancy and Tara tried to cheer me up and encouraged me not to quit bike racing. One thing I really valued in Nancy was her honesty. She would say it like she saw it. She was always the smartest bike racer. She knew who to watch in a race, what to do and where to do it. She would tell me when I was not being smart and I knew she was looking out for me. Honesty is an essential quality in a friend. She told me where I was going wrong in my racing habits, and she was right. She really helped me out that way.

We ended up getting stuck in traffic coming back from that race in Pennsylvania. It took us so long to get back to New York City. I think we were on the road for more than twelve hours. We were exhausted and just glad we had each other for company. When we got near the George Washington Bridge Nancy was driving. We saw all this traffic ahead and Nancy just said no way! She whipped off the freeway and executed all these crazy turns and twists. At one point we drove down a dirt path going apparently nowhere. She had no idea where exactly she was going but somehow she got us back out on the freeway right at the entrance to the bridge! It was so great and we were both laughing because it was almost impossible that it could have worked out but somehow it did.

I didn’t see Nancy much the winter of 2000/2001. But once the racing season started again we saw each other at the races again. She was very happy the summer of 2001. She had made some wonderful friends in Spain on the island of Majorca, and she seemed very happy. She had a new job that was more challenging and where she was better appreciated. We raced together on several occasions. One of the best was the spring race at Bear Mountain, in Harriman State Park. Nancy and I didn’t make it into the “break” of lead riders, but we were in a small “chase” group. We were with this woman who was breathing loudly, and had awful form. Nancy said to me “We have to get rid of her.” I thought she must have been a really good sprinter if Nancy wanted to get rid of her before the finish. So, together we worked, constantly attacking and eventually wearing this woman out until we dropped her. Then it was a sprint to the finish for Nancy and me. She blew past me but then looked back and I was able to come around her again (it was a downhill finish and I’m at least twenty pounds heavier than she is). We laughed at that, and it felt so good to have a friend like Nancy, someone to ride with, to push each other to be the best we could be. We laughed and laughed. Racing—such a silly thing. But if Nancy hadn’t decided we should “drop” that other person, we never would have raced the race as fast as we did, and that’s the whole point in the end, giving it your best shot.