Ride and smile every darn day!

January 9, 2016

As you most likely have heard a dearly beloved person has left the world as we know it and moved on to the unknown.  Kelly Smith was an inspiration to all of us bicyclers he came into contact with.  He was the face, legs, and heart of Omaha bicycling.  He seemed to be a force of nature, a bicycling demigod.  As my uncle put it, he had a great talent for making everyone feel like he or she was his best friend.  He was a warm, generous soul.  Most any bicycler who has participated in a charity ride in the vicinity of Omaha will have one or more fond memories of interactions with Kelly. 

The last memorable interaction I have was on the Jim Johnston memorial ride last summer. 

Rich and I had stopped to see if we could offer assistance to an attractive female bicycler.  Rich gallantly removed her flattened tyre tube and was contemplating the cause of the airlessness when our hero and inspiration Kelly arrived.  Whilst procuring the tyre, he shrewdly noted, “Beauty and two beasts!”

 

You brought smiles to so many faces and new energy to so many tired legs! 

Although I didn’t know him well, I did feel like I was his long-lost best friend. 

The amount of miles he rode on a regular basis seemed virtually supernatural to me.  He made my modest bicycling habits seem sedate, unambitious, and reasonable (which they are).

I would try to say more about Kelly, but there are a lot more people out there who can say it a lot better than I.   There are hundreds or thousands of great stories about this wonderful soul.  Many of them are shared on The Kelly Smith Memorial Facebook page.

Let’s ride and smile!