Hello,
I chose to write once more several months after I completed this ride. From the point of finishing I have almost completed my first year at Queen's. To say my year was amazing and wonderful would be an overstretched lie. Unfortunately on Oct 1st I had a terrible bike accident against a tree in a race for the Queen's team. Weeks later I found myself unable to read and constantly exhausted. I had to almost drop out of the semester and really struggled as a student and a person to maintain the marks and just being happy. I lay in my bed for 20 hours a day in a dark room for weeks trying to recover from my brain bleed on the frontal left lobe. As the weeks and months wore on I slowly, slowly started to see improvements and as I write this now I'm still not at 100 percent. When I tell people my story (mainly my hair cutter) they wonder why such a terrible thing would happen after such a great accomplishment. I sit there blankly and wonder why it did too. But I believe that I have been given a great gift. I hit my shoulder against the tree racing at 30km/h and came to a dead stop. I think I fractured my collarbone and my shoulder does not feel the same. I did not hit my head, I feel as though that if I would have hit my head I would not be alive or at the very least a quadriplegic. Everyday I am thankful for my health and those special individuals in my life that support me. To me, greatness and self worth does not come from success, it comes from failing and than coming back from the depths. It is there where you will truly find out who you are, what is important to you, and why you should live for tomorrow.
To say I am thankful for the support I received during my ride would not justify it in the slightest. The only reason why I made it through the very first day was because of you, the reader, my family, Peter, my friends. I truly feel like we completed this ride together and I just want everyone to know that. In my last interview I said that I was only half the kid, my family were the other half. I feel like I owe them something especially my mom and dad for giving so much, maybe it will be being just as supportive to my future kids when they have large ambitions but will most likely be taking care of them when they're unable to do it themselves.
As summer nears I have no plans but to lead a somewhat normal life. I still struggle with concussion symptoms from time to time and I am really hopeful that things will return to one hundred percent. If anyone is wondering I raced in Penn State and Yale the last two weekends with the school team ( I couldn't pass up the opportunity) the main goal of the weekends was not to crash and have fun. I trained hard and attended far to many feminine body sculpt classes in order to get in pristine condition. In my last race I came 3rd out of 70 riders and 1st in my category. I have never won a cycling event so that was really great. I am absolutely in love with the sport and am contemplating taking it much more seriously than I have in the past.
As I enter exams I am looking forward to the rest that summer brings and new beginnings. Like all experiences I've had in my life I believe there is great lessons to be learned. Thank you so much for all of the support, I really can't say that enough..If you would like to still hear my virtual voice I will probably start another blog just for my daily life and such. I actually missed writing on this thing every night!
As always, I'm excited for the future, thankful for the past and alive in the moment.
Merci,
Adam Beaudoin
