A member of the extended Cycling House Family died on January 5th.  Ben Parsons was a Montana Legend, Firefighter, and Inspirational Figure in the Montana Community.  Click here for more details on the specifics.

Ben loved blog-posts and race reports.  He always was the first to talk with me about something I put on montanacyclocross.com.  He’d email or text me wanting more information about a race or event.  He told me one time that he liked the blog because it made Montana Bike Racing feel like one big crew.  From 2006 – 2012 we had a solid crew racing road, mountain, and cyclocross.  No one was pro yet, and no one really had discovered what their specific interests were.  Every weekend was a battle.  Parsons, Curry, Frykman, Proctor, Herzig, Tack, Mully, Groves, Hahn, Jensen, Shryock, Butterfield, Seeley, Besseti, AA, Lussier, Morgan, Wehyrich, Gonzalez, Martin, Grant, Toby, OG, Halpin, Nelson, Greenburg.  It didn’t really matter if it was road, mtb, or cx.  There were battles between cities, teams, and individuals.  Parsons loved this more then anyone.  He battled everyone, even on the road bike, he went for it.

I really enjoyed reading this post from skintrack.com.  I left like the folks in the skimo community got to experience what we had seen 10 years ago in the bike racing scene.  Ben respected his competition more then anyone, but he was a competitor.  I feel like that was never more apparent then on the bike.  It always took him a long time to get fit on the bike.  He loved to do it the right way.  He’d ski all winter, then transition with no break into the riding season.  He’d spin his legs like crazy and wait for the fitness to build and build.  In the early years March/April/May road racing was the time to beat up on him.  Then by late May/June/July all that spinning would translate into an unstoppable force on the trail.  He’d glide up long climbs and there was just no answer from anyone.

More recent he became a Butte 100 all star.  Parsons/Curry/Butterfield were the Montana Representatives who had to battle Tinker Juarez every year.  He loved that race, he and loved representing the MT all stars.  He won the race twice.

I haven’t been able to keep up with him in a long time.  Even getting lapped a bunch at races recently.  However, I always felt connected to him through that time of coming up in Montana Bike Racing.  I don’t need inspiration to bike race, I love the sport.  Honestly, he wouldn’t want it any other way.  He’d probably want me to skip the race and get into the mountains.  However, my relationship and memories with Ben were formed through competing and the camaraderie and respect created from those races.  I look forward to more battles with Montanans, to honor Benny.  #spiritbear #bennyup

– Shaun Radley

Parsons Report on the 2012 Boogie at Blacktail

Photo by John Sieber Photography