Monday, March 23, 2009
Off To A Bad Start
After a not so stellar performance at MSR, Lance had an even worse start to his European campaign. Video here
AROUND IN CIRCLES
This weekend Elvis, Bob, and myself(Tony), went up to the north side to ride with Joe and Sergio. After working the whole day before and getting the OK from the wife, off I went. We met up at a park by Joe's house on Kedzie and Irving Park and rode from there to Evanston where we picked up Sergio. The ride up to Evanston was filled with street lights.
The difference between up here and down by us was noticeable now. Back on the south side you rarely see other riders. Waiting at this one intersection we saw 3 riders from different teams riding by themselves. To our suprise, after seeing a couple more riders riding by themselves, and giving the polite wave only two gave us a return nod or wave. What's up with that? We are supposed to be the ones who are rude, not the other way aroud. One thing we have to remember is that we are part of the greater cycling community that comprises all riders. A simple jesture of acknowledgement shouldn't be a difficult task and doesn't make you any less of a competitor.
After Evanston, Joe got his new Garmin GPS system up and running. The only bad thing is, Joe doesn't know his left from his right. It's not a good idea when you are the leader of a train and say "turn left now!" and proceed across 2 lanes of traffic, not giving the othert riders a chance to look backwards. Hence Joe was called Dora the Explorer.
After 20 miles of slow riding we arrived at the Northbrook velodrome. The first thing that all of us noticed about the track was how smooth it was. Elvis had some drills for us which really got the heart rate and speed up. Is this a new form of training for us? Are we actually going to be coming out on Thursdays? We'll soon find out. As for me riding a fixie, I don't know.
The Garmin was ignored on the way back. We took an East West street that took us onto Greenbay Road and there to Sheridan. The ride back started out great, with our speeed getting into the 24 mph range. The whole ride felt like the wind was at our back. When we hit Evanston everything changed. It now felt like I was a bike messenger having to dodge the traffic.
All in all I enjoyed the ride. The whole experience was new and different for me.
The difference between up here and down by us was noticeable now. Back on the south side you rarely see other riders. Waiting at this one intersection we saw 3 riders from different teams riding by themselves. To our suprise, after seeing a couple more riders riding by themselves, and giving the polite wave only two gave us a return nod or wave. What's up with that? We are supposed to be the ones who are rude, not the other way aroud. One thing we have to remember is that we are part of the greater cycling community that comprises all riders. A simple jesture of acknowledgement shouldn't be a difficult task and doesn't make you any less of a competitor.
After Evanston, Joe got his new Garmin GPS system up and running. The only bad thing is, Joe doesn't know his left from his right. It's not a good idea when you are the leader of a train and say "turn left now!" and proceed across 2 lanes of traffic, not giving the othert riders a chance to look backwards. Hence Joe was called Dora the Explorer.
After 20 miles of slow riding we arrived at the Northbrook velodrome. The first thing that all of us noticed about the track was how smooth it was. Elvis had some drills for us which really got the heart rate and speed up. Is this a new form of training for us? Are we actually going to be coming out on Thursdays? We'll soon find out. As for me riding a fixie, I don't know.
The Garmin was ignored on the way back. We took an East West street that took us onto Greenbay Road and there to Sheridan. The ride back started out great, with our speeed getting into the 24 mph range. The whole ride felt like the wind was at our back. When we hit Evanston everything changed. It now felt like I was a bike messenger having to dodge the traffic.
All in all I enjoyed the ride. The whole experience was new and different for me.
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