Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Yesterday and Today

One of my favorite parts of my day is the 10-20mins after i get dressed at work. I grab a big bowl of cereal and a Vitamin Energy drink (the caffeine version of Vitamin Water) and i sit at my desk, eat and check email along with some of the other sites i check daily (or hourly).

The past two weeks I've been taking the super short route to work (6.5 miles), partly because its been so freaking cold in the morning (today: 6 degrees), partly because I'm tired and lazy in the AM, and lastly because I'm doing longer rides in the evenings now. Not sure whats better, two moderate distance rides (15-20miles) or a short and a bit longer than moderate (6.5 + 30 miles).

I've been watching Pro cycling since for the past 9 years. I know that Lance won his first tour 10 years ago and i watched as he won #'s 2-7. It was very exciting as each tour got increasingly faster with stronger attacks, longer breakaways, and more dominant wins (from every winner). So up till the past two years, this was all i knew. The past couple of years have been very important for cycling, with 90% of the top 15 finishers during Lance's heyday being caught, implicated, or investigated for doping, the creation of a "dope-free" squad (Garmin-Chipotle), the slowest tour in 10 years (2008), and a no-tolerance attitude from the cycling community, "a change is a'coming". Or its already happened, but it doesn't leave me without doubt. Childhood hero's crushed by deceit. Who can you root for?

Its been proven the continental scene isn't impervious to idiots like Ivan Stevic and Kayle Leogrande either, and I'm sure there are more out there.

I had a good ride last night after fixing my bike. I dropped off the car at my wife's school at 7 and set out to do 30 (really its a 27 mile route...but whatever, i try hard not to be OCD). It was super cold and pitch black, and the first 10 into the wind, but somehow i still enjoyed it. I was actually disappointed no one honked at me until about 4 miles from home a giant SUV blared its horn in anger. nice!

This morning i got a pat on the back at the convenience store from some stranger that "is a cyclist too", he called me a brave soul for venturing out into the frigid cold. that was a nice encounter, few and far between.

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