reflection

yeah, so now that I've got that whiney ass bitchin' shit outta my system.......

Grand Tours are such monumental affairs. Ya never know what you're getting yourself into, thare's just no way to predict it......unless of course you've got a trunk full of December plasma and a crate of EPO with a side of Cortison and a shot of HGH on the side plus the testosterone chaser.....you just never really know how it's all gonna go down.

Well, sort of. I'm pretty predictable. I always seem to crack on day three, just look at the historical record, I always lead the slum train on the third day of a grand tour. I hemorage time like Basso does blood in Spain, it gets pretty ugly. My first Tour, '02-ish, my legs turned blue on Stage 3, it was kinda scary, I DNS'ed stage 4. The meltdown into WV on the singlespeed in '05, that was bonkalicious. This year, the mind couldn't grasp what the body had to do across Torrey, packed it in, threw in that fucking towel, I fell apart, serious meltdown. After that shameful performance, of course I lost that jersey. I wasn't worthy to the tradition and honor.

So it goes.

And now, we eat wings and drink beer and evaluate and reformulate from here. 'Cuz that's where we're at, and we can only move on from the here and now. TT up King's Gap tomorrow eve, hope to go sub 14 on the 40:15, 13:30 would be sweet. I have my doubts, quick spin and a chill soak of the legs in the Letort, we'll see if there's a Giro bounce. I'm guessing that it's more mental then anything. Then the Stoopid 50 on the fixie in two-ish weeks, sights are set.

But boy, I just wanna say a big

THANK YOU!

to everybody involved in making il Giro happen. From the organization, which I can't even begin to wrap my head around. What's it take to put together a 3 day shuttle mission for 25 bike nuts? I can barely handle a Meeshow point to point without pulling my hair out, how much time goes into figuring out the logistics? The venues, the routes, the food.....lots and lots and lots of behind the scenes shit going on. Mucho gracias Marteen', you rock, Fooftown rocks!

il peloton rocks! By nature, I'm somewhat reserved, minding my own and enjoying self sufficiency. To be a part of such an event is always something special. The communal, group effort is amazing. It's awesome to see how well people can treat each other, day in day out. Is it because of the shared suffering, the single minded goal to just get thru it?

My take is that we're all there for something similar, but personally defined. And we all generally get out of it what we think we might be looking for. Sure, there's some chasing of the result, obviously since we're a bunch of bike racing fools, but we're all there searching for the same thing, basically. I can't really describe it with my meager wordsmithing skillz. But I believe that everybody who takes part in such an event, takes home something that they were looking for. Maybe not every piece to the puzzle, but there's enough there to fill in the gaps and get a grasp of the big picture. From the personal battles against revolting bodies, to the unloading of the trailer, to cooking dinner and dish duty, to chillin' round the stump, river bathing, doing the breakfast dilly and that final bag brigade to get the trailer rolling on to our next rendezvous. Everybody always willing to lend a hand, to give up a bite to eat, a swig of soda or beer or whiskey, "I can't finish this, you want it, don't wanna throw it out" good time communal vibe.

Thinking beyond yourself, well beyond yourself.

And then, turning that broad focus 110% internal as the clock ticks and you begin digging out that fresh addition to the pain cave. We all share the effort and live thru each other's stories at the end of the day. We race, and race hard, and talk shit and everybody knows that the trashtalk may as well be spoken into the mirror, cuz all you're doing is trying to smooth over that chink in your armor. That gap you didn't know existed, that was only exposed, poked, prodded and exploited just a short while ago. We all have those chinks, and those who expose yours, know that you'll be back another day to repay that favor.

It's, like, a circular thing, man.

Pics are up on the smug, mostly party and chillin' and some scenic stuff, couple shots of trail from the last stage across Torrey. Unfortunately, wasn't qwik enough on the draw for our Rockstar Hall of Fame redneck neighbors, nothing like a good stumbling group hug-n-fall, did see some flashes pop though......imagine visual documentation will surface eventually.

peace, and thanks again.