RIP, Steve

Back in the summer of 2004 when I was a postdoc in Grenoble, I received an email out of the blue from an American named Steve Edwards, asking for info about cycling and the local climbing. He was coming here to climb, ride and watch the Tour that summer. The timing didn't work out for us to climb together -- I was out of town -- but it turned out that we had climbed in some of the same obscure crags in the southern CA high desert. In fact, I quickly learned that he had put up a lot of routes at those crags and that he was some kind of ultra fitness dude. We exchanged emails over the years, during which time he introduced me to the Birthday Challenge. We has been talking more about cycling than climbing (and how to do both!) recently, and in particular the Berkeley Death Ride and the Nifty Ten Fifty. He was always full of encouragement: "You should do it for sure". I had hoped he would make it out to Europe again, but then cancer struck. I watched in awe as he recovered from chemo -- his recovery amazingly involved putting up new routes and riding. It looked like he was through it. So it was a real shock to learn this morning of his death. He was an inspiration and I will miss him.