Lady, you can't cheat at bingo.If you could, I would, but you can't.
I won because I was lucky -
lucky to wind up in a town full of losers!
The above quote, one of my favorites, from the otherwise rickety little 1991 Indy film Highway 61.
I had a bad race today and it had nothing to do with luck. I went into the race unprepared, things went well initially with the hole shot and some lead time, then went all to hell pretty quickly. I was tired and riding badly, bumping into things. It was a combination of mental lethargy and physical fatigue, nothing felt right. Eventually it caught up with me, I flatted. The flat fix took eons and I was out of my race.
I did finish in the end, but not at all well.
Flats don't happen because of bad luck, neither do bad legs, and neither do flat fixes that take ten minutes for that matter. I clipped the side of my tire on a sharp rock because I was lacking in skill, the skill not to clip my tire on a sharp rock. I was not riding well technically because I lacked the mental alertness to do so since I hadn't slept enough. Not bad luck, just life. It's not like I lost sleep because a meteor came crashing through my bedroom ceiling. The sharp rocks didn't appear out of the ether either (those two words look kinda funny sitting next to each other).
In the the open areas where I could have put the hammer down there were no hammers to be found, this because I had ridden too much all week and not rested. My legs never came back after the Orchard Assault and I never really gave them a chance to. Not bad luck, stupidity.
When I did flat I was unprepared. My tube was strapped tightly to my saddle rails, difficult to remove, all covered in mud like it was. My Co2 injector was lost in a separate pocket from my cartridge. I hadn't changed a flat on the Superfly SS in the field and I was slow. Not bad luck either.
Rob Stine, Stephen Humphreys and Kurt Schmid finished ahead of me today not because they were lucky and I was unlucky. They finished ahead of me because they rode their bikes faster and better than me in every way. Big congratulations for Rob on his first Elite EFTA win, you're the man Rob.
This clarification on the matter of luck was inspired by a discussion over on Gewilli's Blog about Tom Boonen's "Lucky Win" at Paris Roubaix this year. Of course Rob, Stephen, and Kurt probably didn't celebrate their podium appearances by going out on a booze and cocaine binge. Not that it would be any of our business if they did. But that's a rant for another day.
Oh, if you want something like a race report, that's over here today.
-t
I had a bad race today and it had nothing to do with luck. I went into the race unprepared, things went well initially with the hole shot and some lead time, then went all to hell pretty quickly. I was tired and riding badly, bumping into things. It was a combination of mental lethargy and physical fatigue, nothing felt right. Eventually it caught up with me, I flatted. The flat fix took eons and I was out of my race.
I did finish in the end, but not at all well.
Flats don't happen because of bad luck, neither do bad legs, and neither do flat fixes that take ten minutes for that matter. I clipped the side of my tire on a sharp rock because I was lacking in skill, the skill not to clip my tire on a sharp rock. I was not riding well technically because I lacked the mental alertness to do so since I hadn't slept enough. Not bad luck, just life. It's not like I lost sleep because a meteor came crashing through my bedroom ceiling. The sharp rocks didn't appear out of the ether either (those two words look kinda funny sitting next to each other).
In the the open areas where I could have put the hammer down there were no hammers to be found, this because I had ridden too much all week and not rested. My legs never came back after the Orchard Assault and I never really gave them a chance to. Not bad luck, stupidity.
When I did flat I was unprepared. My tube was strapped tightly to my saddle rails, difficult to remove, all covered in mud like it was. My Co2 injector was lost in a separate pocket from my cartridge. I hadn't changed a flat on the Superfly SS in the field and I was slow. Not bad luck either.
Rob Stine, Stephen Humphreys and Kurt Schmid finished ahead of me today not because they were lucky and I was unlucky. They finished ahead of me because they rode their bikes faster and better than me in every way. Big congratulations for Rob on his first Elite EFTA win, you're the man Rob.
This clarification on the matter of luck was inspired by a discussion over on Gewilli's Blog about Tom Boonen's "Lucky Win" at Paris Roubaix this year. Of course Rob, Stephen, and Kurt probably didn't celebrate their podium appearances by going out on a booze and cocaine binge. Not that it would be any of our business if they did. But that's a rant for another day.
Oh, if you want something like a race report, that's over here today.
-t
4 comments:
I'm always happy to read someone's race report about how they sucked. Makes me feel better about how I suck. Not that I am comparing you to me - that would be like apples to oranges . . . . we're both fruits (not in the politically incorrect sense, just different - you're much, much faster [I can tell just by reading] than I and I am rambling) . . . . live and learn I guess.
I don't like bingo.
Cheers.
ouch..sausage legs must hurt
'tis better to have raced and sucked than to have not raced and sucked.
You should track down an old Hellbender song called "Unsolicited Anthem for the Portland Hipsters." It leads off with that quote.
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