Just a reminder: each week and each day is a chance to start fresh on your training plan, your diet, your relationships, your life. Don't let last year's, or last week's, or yesterday's screwups own you today. Let 'em go and ride today's ride.
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Death Row Velo: because nothing says "badassss" like a 140 pound cost accountant on a bicycle racing in the Cat 5s and doing charity centuries.
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I watched the Primavera live on RAI TV on the web. Nice finish by Cavanaugh, a guy I just can't warm up to. To celebrate the return of 'real' racing, I made Pasta Primavera last night for dinner. What a great dish that is. It's a lot easier to like than Cavanaugh, and when you put it on the table it goes just as fast. The real question about this year's Milan-San Remo isn't who won, it's "who didn't crash?" O'Grady may be done for the season, Tyler Farrar seems to have busted a collarbone, and there was a lot in the coverage about crashes back in the pack.
It's good to know that even pro riders are sucky bike handlers sometimes.
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The New Performance 10% Off Coupons Are In! In this coupon, Performance touts itself as, among other things, "The Top U.S. Seller of Scattante Brand Bikes!" Since Scattante is the Performance house brand, that's like Anheuser Busch arguing that you should pick its swill over Miller's, because "Anheuser Busch is the top brewer worldwide of Budweiser beer!" It's really only a good argument for people who are susceptible to grievous logical errors.
Which based on our economy, politics, and choice of celebrities, is most people. Good call, Performance!
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Ireland earned the Six Nations title and the Grand Slam and Triple Crown on Saturday, defeating the Welsh rugby team Saturday night in Cardiff. Grand Slams - going undefeated against the Northern Hemisphere's premier national teams - aren't that common. The Triple Crown is beating all of the U.K. (and Irish) teams - Scotland, Wales, England, Ireland. The Grand Slam is throwing France and Italy into that mix. Ireland hasn't pulled it off since 1948 despite coming agonizingly close a few times. This is pretty joyful since they've been the poor cousins of Six Nations rugby for many years, despite playing an exciting, scrappy, attacking brand of rugby, a combination of grinding plus offensive flair that is compelling to watch. "Luck of the Irish" in past years has meant watching an exciting, tough squad coming very close to an undefeated season, then finding a way to scuttle the season against one of the big boys, like a tough England squad, or losing a bad game to a lousy Scotland or Wales team that find their form for 80 minutes. Wales is progressing, England struggling, and Ireland on top this year, though. It may be their last gasp for a while; this is an aging squad that relies on veterans, many of whom have 10 or 12 years of international play under their belts. International test rugby years are like dog years - few players last more than four or five years at that level. Many leave the international level still able to play well at the pro club level in their respective domestic leagues, but they don't have the ability to turn it up to "11" as they once did. This Ireland team are comparable to the old Washington Redskins' Over The Hill Gang. To see a bunch of old guys reach the pinnacle of success gives the rest of us creaking athletes some hope, and a smile. That it is the longsuffering and often-thwarted Irish team makes it that much better.
6 comments:
Just a warning note. Lousy and Scotland are never to be used in the same sentence for any reason any time.
If a full and abject apology is not forthcoming it will be claymores at dawn. You have been warned.
I did not notice how well Cavanaugh did but was definitely impressed by the way Mark Cavendish finished...
Bandobras - yeah, it'll be another brave but abject defeat for the Scots.
Anon - true dat. That's what I get for drafting posts at 3:00 AM in the middle of a fit of insomnia.
what's so wrong with cav?
Maybe it's just me, but i simply don't like him much. He just rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it's because there's nothing wrong with him. I don't know. I don't like the Osmonds either.
Hi Jim,
Irish team is no more over the hill than any of the other 6 nations. Look at England (Borthwick, Vickery, Shaw, Worsley), Wales (S Jones, M Williams, Shanklin), Scotland (Patterson, Hines), and Ireland don't look quite so old.
Hayes is the only one who really has little chance of making the next world cup. BOD, POC and ROG seem old because they've been around a long time, but all began international play at very young ages. Heaslip, Fitzgerald, Kearney and Bowe are all quite/very young and amongst the best players in the tournament this year, and all are likely to make the Lions tour this summer. I think the immediate future of Irish rugby looks pretty good.
Bernie.
PS. I am looking at the world through green tinted glasses since the Welsh match:)
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