Yesterday’s post got me thinking about how it is so easy to judge a book by its cover. And about how in cycling, it is so important to not allow yourself to do just that.

It got me thinking of the Iceman Cometh MTB race back in 2003. I had won the race 3 times already, but the competition was better with Ryder Hesjedal coming there. I had pretty good form and thought I had a good shot at winning again. The race is held in Traverse City MI, in November, so it wasn’t that unusual that it snowed a bunch the night before, and morning of the race. Enough that they had to postpone the start a couple hours. By the time we started there was maybe 6 inches of snow on the ground. The race is a point to point race, pretty straight forward, with not that much climbing.

When the Pros finally started, we were riding through fresh snow with no tracks. It was all good until we started getting to the parts with short sand pits. They were buried beneath the snow and completely unmarked. I got ahead by a few hundred meters a couple times by myself and then I would hit deep sand and come to a complete stop and have to dismount and run until I found solid footing. In the meantime, the big group that was still together would come blowing by. Towards the end of the race, I put in a big dig and thought I’d made the winning move. But, no, just a few minutes later I was not moving again in deep, snow buried, sand. Before I remounted my bike, Ryder came blowing past me going fast. By the time I got moving again, Ryder was 300 meters ahead. I got caught by another group and then got twisted up in sand once again. I lost all motivation. I realized that the finish wasn’t far enough away to make up the lost ground.

Anyway, I was riding along somewhere in the top 10, when this guy wearing Levi’s catches me from behind. I’d seen the guy at the start, but didn’t realize he was still in our group. When he went by, I completely lost my shit and about 1/2 my speed. I couldn’t believe a guy in jeans was beating me in a race I’d thought I was going to win.

So, I was riding along slowly into the camp ground, where the race finishes, and just a U-turn ahead of me is Ryder. I was super surprised because I had assumed he had won.

We weren’t in contention, so neither of us were going at any pace. When I rolled across the line I asked Ryder what happened and he told me exactly my story. He was ahead and kept hitting deep sand, that he couldn’t see, and finally got so frustrated he just bagged it. And then he said something about the guy wearing jeans and how that was the last straw.

It is incredible how similar our days were. And our mentality. Winning was the only place that mattered. And it wasn’t happening that day.

I guess the moral of this story is that when everything seems to be going badly for you, you have to assume and hope that it is going just as badly for everyone else. And don’t let someone’s clothing choice dictate your opinion of yourself. I don’t anymore.

When I’m in a race like that now, muddy, treacherous, I check out a guy’s tires first to see if he has something on that is going to allow him to be competitive. If not, I dis-regard him. If so, I make sure I see how he pedals, from behind, to see if he has something that is going to make him competitive. That is usually all I have to do. Of course, there are exceptions to these two things, but this covers about 85% of the people I don’t know personally. And if they pass these two observations, then they are on my radar screen and it doesn’t matter if they are wearing speedos, in the snow. That is all because of the guy in the jeans.

Here's the photo. Dave Walker it is. The internet is amazing. I guess I didn't notice him because I wasn't going in the direction of the course most of the time. Thanks Kentaro Inoue for finding this photo.

The start, I’m on the left. Tristan, a couple guys behind me, won the race. I don’t see the guy with jeans, that is even more depressing.

2003 Iceman-Brent Bookwalter, now BMC honch, on far left with Russ Tiles far right.

A light bulb went on after I rehashed the race over and over again. (Nice photo that Keith Walberg took last night at after dinner coffee.)

I’ve always liked Floyd. I think he is a pretty genuine guy. Upbeat, fun. I almost missed the start of the race the night before the Pro Criterium Championships one year because I ran into Floyd in the coffeeshop before the race and we lost track of time talking about the Tour and him switching to Phonak. I obviously don’t approve of lots of shit the guy has done, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t enjoy having a beer with him and catching up.

I was up in Idyllwild, CA a few week ago and should have made an effort to track him down. I’m sure if I could have, it would have been a most interesting time. Next time I’m up there I’m going to make it a point of trying to catch up with him. Idyllwild isn’t that big of a town, so it couldn’t be that hard.

Anyway, I saw this article last night about how WADA’s current director general said that the allegations that were made by Floyd, that the UCI and the Swiss Lab that tested Lance were corrupt and were bribed, could be true. It is pretty unbelievable the guy would say that. He must have some information that isn’t public.

I haven’t been following the Floyd thing that closely. Maybe nothing new has happened, so I’m up to date. But this is new news. Important news. The UCI, etc. is so fucked up. I can understand weird stuff happening under the radar. Times change and thus, the environment surrounding things that were once overlooked and now aren’t accepted, is much different. But when you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar, don’t lie. You don’t necessarily have to blab your guts out, but you look so stupid and so much more dishonest/corrupt if you lie.

I’d like to know where that lawsuit that the UCI is filing against Floyd is right now. Supposedly it was filed months ago, but the last I heard, Floyd couldn’t find any lawsuit filed against him. Another good rule, don’t make a threat when you have no intention of following up on the threat. If you make a threat, be sure you have the goods to enforce it.

Floyd is now going to try to get into driving race cars. He might have a talent in that, he was incredible good handling his bike on and off-road. I’m not sure what it is about guys that win the Tour wanting to drive race cars? I don’t have much desire to do that, but I never even raced the Tour. I wouldn’t mind riding a really fast motorcycle though. From the video, Floyd looks like he is in training to be a Nascar driver!

Below is a long interview with Floyd. It is pretty interesting. I saw it a while ago. He doesn’t sound like he is making shit up. It all sounds pretty true, but I think time will have to sort most of that out. If you have a little time, maybe just watch it for a bit.

Anyway, it is going to be interesting how the UCI responds to this statement by the David Howman,the director general of WADA. Maybe it going to upset them and then they are going to have to do something really rash, like threaten him with a lawsuit. Scary, scary.

Floyd being Floyd in San Fransico. Tim Johnson is the guy in the Saturn jersey to Floyd's left.