By Matt Nicholson

During my seventh season of racing bicycle motocross, I was lucky enough to be joined by my then-fiancée, Zabrina.

Before I share how educational that season was for me, let me share some of the past week with you.

Recently, the redevelopment commission voted to support the Tuskegee Airmen sculptures project that will be located at Freeman Field. This will be an addition to the Eagle Scout project from a few years ago. Thank you, Tim Molinari, for your passion for this project. It isn’t finished yet, but I believe you will continue to work toward completion.

Later the same day, the city council introduced the ordinance related to the proposed annexation on Seymour’s southeast side. Now that the ordinances have been introduced, the public hearing can be set for later this year in October. After the public hearings, the council will vote on the ordinances in December. At that time with a passing vote, we enter into a remonstrance period.

As I do the day after each council meeting, I spend a little time at one of our local radio stations. Second meeting of the month means I will visit Becky Schepman and the Cool Bus crew at 96.3. As always, thanks to our local station owners for allowing me to come talk about what is going on in our great city.

This week, I spent some time with the planning and zoning department. We took a chance to visit some of our troubled spots as well as take a look at some new projects that are coming down the pipeline. We also chatted about how other communities are handling various problems.

While we have a solid system of ordinances in place and a good understanding of how to get those ordinances enforced, we are always looking at ways to improve.

Now back to that seventh season of BMX. Zabrina decided she wanted to join me racing the year before we got married. The six seasons I had raced before that, I spent my time hitting the various jumps and turns with the same systematic approach: Pedal fast and try to hit each obstacle the same way until you do it perfectly. Well, at least what I thought was the perfect way to be fast.

When she started racing, I would do gate practice with her and would take laps in a new way. Being six years newer to the sport than I was, she didn’t have all of the speed that I had developed over my head start. This was a great chance for me to really start working on my skills in all kinds of new ways.

Everyone has a foot they naturally put forward when hitting a jump. For me, it was always the right until this season. During this season, I put a lot of effort into using my left when riding with Zabrina. As it became more natural, I was able to use either foot and in turn take that extra half a pedal before jumps.

I am sure some of you are wondering what this has to do with serving as mayor. It is pretty simple, really. I learned that summer to slow down and get a better understanding of the course. I learned that putting in that extra effort to develop skills that aren’t natural is worth every painstaking second.

Roman poet Ovid said, “Everything comes gradually and at its appointed hour.” I could have learned many of these lessons any time during my 15-year race career, but the fact that they came alongside Zabrina during that seventh season makes them that much more special.