- Sunday's stage of the Giro was inspiring racing. Danilo DiLuca, who was poised to lose the maglia rosa, didn't. He attacked hard on the final climb of the day, sailing up in it in the last ten minutes. How tough was the climb? Stage winner Ricardo Rico and his Saunier Duval teammate, super domestique Leonardo Piepoli, were going so slow that the tifosi were able to walk next to them. DiLuca had been around 5 minutes back but attacked and made up a few minutes near the end, looking less than exhausted when he finished.
- You know you're a cyclist when: your wife says, "your legs look like they are deformed. You have these big thighs, and it looks like a dog took a couple bites out of them near the bottom by your knees." I'm not sure whether she thinks dog-bitten legs are attractive or not but I am pretty sure it's a sign all the training is working. I get compliments from time to time, so at least some girls must like dog-bitten legs... As for the function, I was pretty gassed on the Sunday team ride, but managed to bridge up maybe a quarter mile or more to a breakaway by working hard with one other rider, taking some mid-30 pulls on the Clara Barton. This was hard because the faster group on Clara Barton tends to go at a reasonable fast race pace. How good a bridge move was it? In Dana's words, "I looked back and wondered, 'where the hell did you come from'?" So for deformed, misshapen, dog-bitten and fatigued legs, they work pretty well.
5 comments:
I got a sideways compliment yesterday from one of the students I tutor. At least I think it was a compliment, it implied I look a bit like I train.
"What sport do you play?"
"Cycling, and it's nothing like play."
"Oh, I though it would be rubgy or something."
My immediate thought was "I may have a thick head, but I don't have a thick neck."
She told me a lot of the boys at her high school shave their legs because of the strapping they need for their ankles.
I retorted that they were probably all gay because if you need an ankle strapped you shave that ankle. If you shave more than that you're going for "the look".
Attempting to achieve "the look" is a sure sign that you're moving along the continuum away from hairy manly man, towards metro-sexual. But you must always remember that you've paid your ticket all the way to the final stop... coming out.
Big Mike
I don't know about that whole thing about leg shaving more than you need to. Personally, I prefer to pick only gravel and shredded skin out of my road rash.
Plus hair shorts look silly.
Oh, I definitely shave everything from the ankle bone up to almost the budgie smugglers (but much higher than hairy shorts).
I'm just suspiscious of guys who only need to shave one ankle but choose to shave both legs (and sometimes arms and back).
Big Mike
I can't ride w/o shaving, it just doesn't feel right.
As far as the Giro, I watched the suffering on the big screen hi def - I TVO'd it - this evening, and I literally got sick watching the efforts the climbers put out. I have a long climb from my house for any ride I take, and to think of these guys riding an 18% grade made me ill. Ive ridden short bursts that steep, but several miles is off the charts. Super-human efforts to be applauded. No wonder the sprinters bow out when the climbing gets this nasty.
Yeah, when DiLuca put on the compact crank and a 29 tooth big cog in back, I realized that these climbs ain't no joke. Crazy.
Post a Comment