Photo courtesy of Columbus Blue Jackets
Rick Nash is used to crowds of cheering fans.
As captain of the Columbus Blue Jackets and a member of Canada’s gold-medal-winning Olympic ice hockey team, he plays before packed arenas on a regular basis.
But this wasn’t something he expected during Pelotonia 2009.
“One of the great things was all the people who came out and cheered along the side of the roads,” Rick said. “They had barbeques set up and were cheering everyone on. That was inspirational to me, one of the coolest things I’ve seen.”
Rick will be back to ride in Pelotonia 2010 – and this time he plans to go the distance, 102 miles from Columbus to Athens, past thousands of cheering fans.
“I stopped at 50 miles last year,” he said. “Training camp was starting soon and I didn’t want to show up all tight and with pulled muscles.”
He's a little blurry, but that because he was riding so fast
OK, we’ll cut Rick a little slack – last year’s ride was only his second ever on a road bike and there’s a rumor going around (which I just started – and you can help spread) that he tried to put extra hip and knee pads in his bike shorts – and a visor on his helmet.
“It had been like 10 years since I’d been on a bike at all,” he said of his BMX bike days growing up in Canada.
But that doesn’t mean Rick’s not familiar with turning the pedals.
“We ride the stationary bike every day, so that was an advantage,” he said of the training regimen of hockey players, who also warm up before games with 20 or 30 minutes on the stationary bike.
This year, Rick has been riding on the roads, both in Columbus and Toronto, where he lives part of the year – and said he has learned about all the different types of equipment and clothing the sport requires. “I went into it blind and went to the local bike shop outside Toronto to get set up,” he said. “I didn’t know anything about clip-ins, but I got clip-ins and bike shorts; I got all the equipment.”
He recently had his “you know you’re a bike rider” moment during a ride near Hilliard.
“I got a flat – and I’m not a very good mechanic,” said Rick, who discovered he didn’t actually have all the equipment he needed. He was missing a pump, which makes it pretty hard to fix a flat – even for an NHL star.
“There was a guy cutting his lawn and he helped out, he had a pump,” said Rick, adding the guy didn’t know who he was. “I guess he’ll never know unless he reads this.”
That's Rick on the L during Pelotonia 2009
Rick – who was awarded the NHL’s Foundation Player Award in 2009 for his charitable work – said his involvement with Pelotonia began shortly before last year’s ride.
“Living in Columbus, you heard about it and saw posters and billboards everywhere and at the airport,” he said. “I try to involve myself in charities … and this is something so important, cancer research, because cancer has touched everyone in some way.”
It touched his family a little more than 10 years ago when his grandmother, Reene McClymont, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is the rock of the family, the one who organizes family gatherings and keeps everyone in line.
“I wasn’t old enough to fully understand everything that was going on, but I remember that when it hit it was devastating to my mom and my aunt and uncle,” Rick said. “And I remember the day when they gave her the all clear and said she beat it.”
Rick will be riding in Pelotonia once again with buddies Gary Marcinick, Matt Conklin and Matt Krebs as part of the 61’s Pedal Bike Kids peloton. BTW: Gary, you haven’t signed up yet – let’s stop procrastinating and go online and get going!
“I’ve been involved with a lot of charity events and this one is first class and run so professionally, especially for the first year,” he said. “And it’s fun to do something like this with your buddies.”
Here are Rick and his buddies showing off their best sides
Speaking of his buddies, Rick recently had the chance to reunite for the first time with the other members of Canada’s 2010 Olympic gold-medal-winning team, at a charity event in Edmonton.
“We had to play (with our NHL teams) two days after we won it, so there was no time to celebrate or digest it all,” he said of the incredible tournament – and action-packed, gold-medal game against the United States.
And even now that he has had time to digest what happened, it’s still hard to put into words what it meant to get the gold.
“It’s pretty much impossible to explain,” Rick said. “This feeling of country that everyone had, that the whole country had, that we won the gold medal in our game in our country in the Olympics. It’s something I’ll never forget.”
10 things about Rick…
Favorite ride
Around Columbus
Dream ride
Scotland
Current Pelotonia bike
A Giant road bike
Dream bike
I’m not sure yet
Favorite movie
Shawshank Redemption
Favorite band/singer
Green Day
Favorite TV show
Seinfeld
Favorite book
Life Behind the Bench
Favorite athlete
Peyton Manning
Favorite post-ride meal
Steak and potatoes
The Rider 