There are a couple of things on my mind that I have been meaning to post.
Yes, this pic is from velonews.com and I yanked it. But it is significant. The fact is, Lance is back. Is that important? Well, maybe not to you, but it is to me. At the Naval Academy, plebes (freshmen) are required to be able to speak intelligently about 3 newspaper articles per day. Upperclassmen would drill them on the state of the economy, the election, forest fires in morocco, whatever. But sport was always the most interesting. Is it possible for the Titans to continue this streak? Do the phillies really deserve the world championship? Is Lance still going to be competitive? Well, in short answer, I believe that answer is an emphatic yes. He is arguably one of the most complete sportsman ever. Yes, he won the tour 7 times. Most riders do not even understand how important the tour is. Some racers dont even understand how important the tour is. While eddy merckx was a bad ass, Lance won the tour in an environment rife with doping. And he won clean. He is a freak of nature and a great champion. I dont care if you dont like him as a person, I dont care if you dont like his story, I dont care if you hate postal. The facts are facts: he won 7 times and never failed a test.
So why would he risk everything, his entire legacy (and literally millions of dollars) to race again? That answer is simple, he knows how to train his body and he knows that cheaters are being caught. He is not in his prime. He is not the 31 year old machine he once was. But, he's still a machine and he's still the best that ever was. Now that the cheaters are routinely being caught and ex-communicated, Lance knows that he can compete on the highest level.
I am so excited that this great champion is racing again. He's doing it for a greater purpose than any other champion (to promote his cancer survivorship efforts with LAF.org) and stands the most to lose. Jordan came back and sucked. Ali got beat. Lance wont get beat. He'll win and he'll light people up enroute to victory. And thats exciting. Way more entertaining than fwd rates, spot rates, and nominal vs real rates.
Lastly, as the Obama nation paraded the streets of Berkeley last night, I came to a serious realization. Not many people here are willing to hold themselves accountable for their own actions. I was driving on a main street at about 35 mph and there were supporters just running out in the streets in front of cars demanding they stop. What kind of place is this where people has 0 regard for their own safety? I mean, if I happen to be on I-5, I wouldnt run out in the middle of it to tell someone I loved Obama. Thats just me.
And why do people here find it necessary to start every sentence with "so?" Seriously, every person from Berkeley is unable to carry a conversation without using uptalk (seriously annoying cyclical roller coaster of tone) with a flaming disregard for the english language (think valley girl here). Add in the disgusting use of "so" at least 3 times in a sentence and you have identified 88% of the spoken communication devices here. PAINFUL. I would love to see the AirBoss dress down some of these people for lack of comm-brevity on the radio at the carrier.
Brenner, you'll do fine here.
Lastly, big shout out to Craddock Sr for farming out his lady in the name of free socks! Really? Maybe just buy some socks next time. Unless she's cool with the onslaught that you will endure for the next couple of months! Find the contents/purpose of this discussion here:
pezcyclingnews.com or just look at this pic:
