- Floyd Landis isn't the next Lance Armstrong. He's the next Floyd Landis. When replacing a dynasty, you should never try to step into the dynasty's legendary shoes. Even if you surpass what the dynasty did, you can never fill those shoes, and the fans only resent it. Much better to be your own man.
- I spent a chunk of Friday and Saturday volunteering at Squadra Coppi's excellent Giro di Coppi road race. Bill Cusmano had described the course to me as "relentless." I didn't realize how serious he was until I drove the thing in a car to sweep corners on Friday. The entire 11 mile loop is going uphill, or downhill. The only flats are the brief moments atop the hills or at the bottom, where, if you drew a perfectly flat line, it would touch a single point whose slope is 0 degrees. Brutal.
- I'm simply not in shape or thin enough to compete on the Giro course, or any seriously . In fact, I saw several big guys, larger riders I recognize from my class in local crits. In crits, they are front runners, I ride with them in the top 10 or 15 of most races in our class. At the Giro, they were at, and then off the back. I noticed a few guys who ride well in crits at the front at the Giro - they are good strong all-rounders. One of next year's goals is to be more like them - a lot thinner, and stronger climbing.
- One of the great things about that race was getting to know some of my teammates better while doing the prep work. I'm constantly grateful about having joined the Coppis. It's not a huge team, but the moderate size and caliber of the people who ride with the club make it a rewarding experience. I don't mind sweeping out corners for my amici.
- I was totally unable to stick to my training plan last week. That sucked. Not riding much makes me cranky, and missing my training goals just compounds it. Amazing how racing and training becomes an obsession, and how bicycling seeps into your bones, So that when you miss a few rides it feels very unnatural.
3 comments:
Too true on the Landis/Armstrong dynasty thing.
Armstrong's legacy is inhuman dominance and unparalleled loyalty from an impossibly strong team.
Landis on the other hand has shown us unprecedented humanity and is supported by an equally loyal but far less powerful team.
I think you're right with Lance. He only shows you the human bits where there is an advantage to be gained, or where he can teach you something. There is a Nike ad running here in the U.S. showing Lance pounding up a mountainside in the rain and fog. The voiceover is "Lance Armstrong isn't a bicyclist, he's a leader." Your comment/comparison to Floyd makes me think that the Nike ad voiceover is about right. Lance does an enormous amount of charity work, he sets a real example for other athletes in that respect and also seems to be a decent enough guy, unless you get in the way of The Lance Machine - a juggernaut focused on doing big things, doing them right, and leading change. And nothing is wrong with that. He just has a fairly typical personality type for high achievers, he's totally goal oriented and driven, and that comes with costs in other areas.
Floyd obviously shares the same passion and the same drive, but he's much more of an ordinary good guy, it seems. The same Nike ad, if it centered on Floyd, would say something like, "Floyd Landis isn't a bicyclist... he's a good role model." He appears to be much more of a well rounded man than Lance.
BTW, my Briggs/Meyers personality indicator is ENTJ, which is pretty uncommmon. They call the personality type "The Field Marshall." It's characterized by a high drive to success, an ability to plan things out, to lead and to accomplish the mission. We also tend to trample others' feelings in the process.
I share this personality type with a lot of high ranking military officers, and... wait for it... Lance Armstrong.
Too bad I have exactly none of his riding talent.
All you've gotta do to become Lance is get a set of steak knives from the home shopping network and remove half your manhood.
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