Unfortunately as most of you know today is the funeral of Jonathan Dechau. He was hit from behind by a car while riding his bike. I didn’t know Dechau (that’s what we called him, too many Jon’s out there) that well, but when he rode for CRCA/Dash-Renaissance I got to race against him on a semi-regular basis. I hated his team founded by Eric “Kyoo” Minn for being so goddamn good. It was hard however, to even begin to dislike Dechau. His cheeks were always rosy, he had a big smile and always rode hard. He was definitely the hard man in the peloton.
Because he was from upstate New York, us city snobs would call him a redneck whenever he did not know of a certain type of cuisine, or large event going on in the city. He would shake his head and give a smirk, but any type of teasing was hard because he was simply a very nice guy.
Jon was one of my best friends in cycling. I met him for the first time in 1992 when I was 17 and he was one of the strongest riders in the Genesee Valley Cycling Club. I was intimidated by his shiny equipment and blazing fast times. Everybody looked up to him, for good reason.
We traveled together to seemingly hundreds of races around the Northeast, Midwest and California. My bike racing girlfriend (now wife) would also join us as 4 or 5 of us would pile into his car to get to the next race or for a training ride the hills of Canandaigua Lake.
Friendships are formed in moments like this. Now my wife and I are left sharing stories and memories in an effort to process and greave this great tragedy.
He was a great friend of mine, he made us all better people and I will forever miss him.
I raced for years with Jon, sometimes on the same team and sometimes against him. I would say he definitely made me a better person – even after his passing. He was a role model for me even though he was younger than I. His general positive attitude, work ethic and manner in which he treated others is something I still strive for to this day – many years after I have stopped travelling around the country racing bicycles. Sometimes I find myself in a situation and think “how would Dechau handle this??”