Ray Porter

I just heard that Ray Porter passed away.

I didn't know Ray well but I met him twice at the TNGA. As a TNGA finisher, he's part of a tight-knit brother-and-sisterhood. He rode in 2011 when that tropical storm rolled through and put an early end to it, but then came back and finished in 2012. I guess I should mention that he rode the Tour Divide too, squarely placing him in the "substantially harder than me" category, any day of the week.

Ray rode for Oak Cliff Cycles in Dallas, TX, where my folks live, and where I've actually ridden quite a bit. It's funny, when he first emailed me about the 2011 TNGA, I was in Dallas and had just gotten back from riding at Big Cedar with my Dad. It turned out that Ray'd been there that same day and we must have passed each other in the parking lot, I heading out while he was coming back in. It seemed like an impossibly small world and we both got a good laugh out of it.

I've been out of the loop for a while, but earlier this year I did hear that he'd fallen ill. It was a surprise to hear that he passed though. Apparently he'd contracted some fairly aggressive bile duct cancer. Terrible news to hear, but I can only imagine how much more terrible for family and close friends.

From what I saw though, he really lived at the end there. Really lived!

May I.

May we all.