Did I ever tell you guys my Vito story?

Did I ever tell you guys my Vito story? He is the back story for a scene in Chapter 10 of my book, “Bright Lights, Dark Places”. Vito owned a mountain bike store in Henderson, Nevada where I lived. One day I walked into his shop packed with every type of mountain bike imaginable. A lean guy with white hair, mustache and a warm smile approached me as I was looking around. This was Vito who didn’t just own a mountain bike shop, he lived it! I immediately caught his passion for riding and left that day with a $5000 custom built Vantana bike but more importantly the beginning of a friendship.

I began racing mountain bikes and Vito sponsored me and several other ladies. He had a way of inspiring and bringing the best out of the gals. We did many training rides together and our friendship grew. One day during a very difficult time in my life I went out for a ride in the canyons near my home when the unexpected happened. I was careening down a narrow path in the Red Valley when two guys were coming up the trail. In a split second a grabbed my disc brakes, all of them, flipping over my handle bars and hitting the ground so hard it cracked my helmet, snapped my clavicle off the left shoulder and fractured my right thumb.

After going through surgery Vito came to see me and I told him to take my bike and sell it. I was through with mountain bike riding! He looked at me with tears in his eyes and that warm comforting smile as he shook his head and left. A few months later I called Vito to find out if he had sold my bike. He said, “Come on down to the shop I want to talk to you.” When I arrived Vito led me to the back of his store and pointed to my bike sitting there all clean and shiny. A fear rose up in me because I knew that Vito didn’t sell my bike because friends don’t let friends quit. As I reasoned with him he wasn’t buying my excuses and told me that I shouldn’t let the accident stop me from riding. What really got me was when he said, “You’re a tougher woman than that!”

You know what happened next! “Let’s go riding,”Vito said with a smile across his face.  I will never forget that day when Vito loaded our bikes onto the back of his convertible Corvette and we drove out to Cottonwood, a popular place for mountain bike riders. I was trying not to appear nervous but it wasn’t working and Vito broke the tension when he reminded me how fun it was to ride. Then he told me the story when I had to go to the bathroom really bad. So I did what all mountain bike riders do in that situation; I found a bush and took care of business. In my haste I squatted behind the first bush I could find. Then I realized what I had done. “Hey can you see me?” I yelled out. Vito and Greg looked at each other, trying to refrain from laughing and yelled back, “Not at all” as my butt was exposed. That story broke the tension I got back on my bike and rode again.

So why do I tell you this story? Maybe you are in a tough place in your life and you need someone like Vito, a friend that sticks closer than a brother. You may have lost hope with people and it’s hard to be vulnerable and allow anyone to get close. I encourage you today to take a risk and let the Vito’s in this world walk with you out of your pain.