Biking legend lives on
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Chester Chet Warman of Killington died last year in a biking accident in Utah. On Saturday, his friends will ride along Route 100 in his memory and raise money for road bikes for underprivileged children. Photo provided |
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By Cristina Kumka Staff Writer - Published: July 16, 2009
PITTSFIELD If there was something you didn't know about biking, Killington's Chester "Chet" Warman would have taught it to you, and friends say he wouldn't have thought twice about it.
At 6 a.m. Saturday, the Killington biking legend's legacy of being an inspiration on two wheels and off will culminate in the first official Peak Warman Memorial ride, a 151-mile road-biking expedition that will take participants over two, four or six mountains of their choice along Route 100.
Warman, a 64-year-old avid cyclist, died in a solo biking accident in Utah in October. Fellow racers and friends from the Killington and Pittsfield region remember him as a man with a big personality and even bigger skill.
Among those many qualities, Warman's greatest was a concern for the underprivileged and the underserved in society, according to friend Chris Mitchell of Boston, who was with him on one of Warman's last rides before his death.
"He wanted equality among people on every level in a way that if any of today's political candidates professed, I would vote for them in a minute," Mitchell wrote in an e-mail shortly after Warman's passing.
"If you looked into his eyes when he was smiling, you could still see the wonder, innocence and glimmer of a 5-year-old child."
So instead of teaching children about biking in memory of Chet, his friends decided it would be best to give bikes away instead, to see the inspired glimmer in the eyes of others.
A portion of the entry fees from Saturday's race will go toward The Chet Warman Memorial Foundation Bike Award scholarship, a fund set up to provide youngsters between the ages of 13 and 18 who can't afford a bike with wheels of their own.
"We're giving any child a bike each year," Mitchell said.
Warman's sister, Nancy McLean of Connecticut, pondered over essays she received after setting up the fund earlier this year and will announce this year's winner at this weekend's race.
"Our hope is that he or she will not only be given the opportunity to compete, but will also be inspired to follow in Chet's footsteps by giving back to others," McLean wrote on the scholarship application.
To Killington's Kip Dalury, awarding the bike and inspiring others to love Warman's favorite sport on the same day when many were riding in the memory of a 30-time Killington Stage Race champion seemed fitting.
Warman was a die-hard racer, co-founder of the Killington/Pico Cycling Club, volunteer and cat-lover.
"He was a small guy with a big heart," said Dalury, Warman's friend and longtime neighbor.
"He was an accomplished racer without the ideal body type
he overcame that with willpower and strength physically and mentally."
Later in life, Warman was inspired to do what he loved all over again when he began keeping up with new friends who now put on races in memory of him.
Pittsfield's Joe Desena, Mitchell, Connecticut's Bruce Saxton and others flock to the small mountain community of Pittsfield each year to pedal and ponder life without their fellow rider and endurance enthusiast.
"He was passionate about what he believed and authentic in ways you don't often find today," Mitchell wrote. "Chet's views and opinions were not out of a book or dogmatic
he lived 64 years and was more pine tree than deciduous."
For more information on Saturday's race beginning in Pittsfield and spanning Route 100 to Route 73 West, go to peakraces.com and click on the "Warman" tab or e-mail Chris Mitchell at maltomitch@yahoo.com. Mitchell can also be reached at (617) 686-7265.
cristina.kumka@rutlandherald.com
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