Monthly Archives: May 2015

Bromont

This entry was posted in Important Life Stories on by .

Bromont died this past weekend.   He was pretty much done with this world.  Trudi is a mess. She loved that dog to death.  I just took her to the Kansas City airport, heading off to the Tour of California.  Hopefully that will be a good distraction for her.

It is so strange how you become so dependent upon being responsible for another.  He shaped my life more than I want to admit.   I think he made many other people’s life’s better too, which isn’t an insignificant thing.

I had a deal with Bromont.  I promised to take care of him as best I could, as long as I could.  We took care of each other.  He was a pure joy to be around and a very good boy.  I’m going to miss him like crazy.

 

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Everyone wants to say a Soundbite

This entry was posted in Comments about Cycling on by .

It seems like the professional athletes in cycling are always trying to get media attention by saying something extreme to garner it.    What happened to modesty and just letting your accomplishments speak for themselves?

Case in point is an article today on Bradley Wiggins’ hour record attempt.  Bradley, Mr. Modesty himself, says he could break the hour record today and plans to ride a distance that will stand for the next 20 years.  WTF is that all about?

His exact quote is – “I’ve got 55km in my head and I think it’s realistic. And I think if I do it, it will stand for 20 years.”

He is pretty much saying that he is the best athlete in the sport currently, and the best of the next generation too, right?   Man, he thinks a lot of himself.  Maybe he forgot that Chris Boardman, a fellow Brit, rode 56.375 km back in 1996, using the superman position.  He averaged 57.7 km/h the last 6 km, which is nearly 36 mph.  ( I guess that was nearly 20 years ago too.)

I’ve never been too big on “Sir Bradley”.  I don’t understand how he could win the Olympics a couple times at 185 pounds, then win the Tour de France at 150, now currently be racing  at 172.  That is just too weird for me.  Plus, he has a potty mouth and acts out too often for my liking.

Anyway, I assume he’ll smash the hour record next month.  He probably knows his wattage output and what that translates into for an hour on the track.  I really don’t care much.

I wish these guys would just shut up and ride their bikes.  Such boldness, or more like arrogance in this case, makes me think that they know something that we all don’t.  I’ve never known if I was going to be great on any particular day.  I hoped to be, but sometimes I just didn’t show up.  I think that is the way of athletics.  When you have such a supreme confidence, enough to outright just state it, then it sounds screwy.   And in today’s world, screwy in sports doesn’t interest me so much.