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Boyle senior will cycle for Lindsey Wilson College

May 08, 2008|MIKE MARSEE

Blake Walker thought his chance to compete in college might have passed him by - until a phone call from an old coach changed everything.

Walker's old coach is now his new coach, and he is the man responsible for the Boyle County senior joining the cycling team at Lindsey Wilson College.

"I definitely think if he wasn't there, I wouldn't be in the position I was in," Walker said.

Walker became active in competitive mountain biking in 2005, but he cut back his schedule last year.

But he recently signed with Lindsey Wilson thanks to his connection with David Grigsby, whom he retained as a personal coach a couple of years ago.

Grigsby, who founded an Internet-based coaching service, everybodysbikecoach.com, and who owns a London bike shop, was hired in January as coach at Lindsey Wilson, and soon after that he called Walker's father, Mark, to start recruiting Walker.

"He was wanting me to be there," Walker said.

And it didn't take long for Walker to conclude that's where he wanted to be. He said until the call came from Grigsby, his best-case scenario for riding in college was probably to join a lesser program as a walk-on, but now he will be part of a nationally recognized program that has made a mark in national competitions.

Walker said he knows he has work to do to get back in shape.

"It's going to be a ton of work to get to the fitness level where I'm competitive with everybody else," he said. "Athletically, I haven't proven myself to have any kind of prowess in the past year or so, but (Grigsby) told me when he was coaching me he saw my work ethic."

Walker, who is receiving a combination of athletic and academic scholarships, said he will room with Boyle classmate and good friend John Anderson, who recently signed to run track and cross country at Lindsey Wilson, and he is eager to get back into competitive cycling.

"All this talk about it has kind of got me revved up about the whole cycling thing," he said.

Walker said he "spent a lot of time off the bike" over a period of about a year but never completely gave up on competing in college.

"It's always been in the back of my mind, thinking about racing in college since I was 12 years old," he said.

Walker said he has always had "a love-hate relationship" with cycling, and he said he didn't want to resign himself to a competitive cutback or giving up the sport altogether.

"It would be like trying to kick any other habit," he said. "It's a very unique community, and I've always thought I fit in really well."

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