It is funny how I hate being hot, then just a couple of days later, hate being cold.  I did that flip-flop the past couple days, being overheated in Tulsa, then yesterday getting caught it a storm and riding in the rain for over an hour at a little below 60.  Normally that wouldn’t have been that cold, but I guess I must have gotten used to, somewhat, the heat, because I was nearly shivering.

I’d rather be hot than cold.  Dealing with being real cold is difficult.  I think cold and heat effects our bodies seriously.  The after effects of each is semi-long term.

I wrote this article 9 years ago.  It was about the coldest I’ve ever been.  I still stick by it.

I’ve been asked a bunch what was the coldest I’ve ever been at a race. The ice dip at the UCICross race in KC (description below) wasn’t that cold. I was putting out an enormous amount of heat, riding so hard, so my hands got frozen solid, but my core was OK.

During the Tour of Bisbee, back in the 80’s when I was riding for Levis, it rained the whole 90 mile road race. The last hour it started sleeting. Roy Knickman and myself ended up finishing 1-2 in the stage and overall. When we finished, we sat huddled in the corner of a local bar, wrapped in wool blankets shivering for an hour. That was really cold.

But, the all time coldest I’ve ever been, by far, is when Outside Magazine came to the Sea Otter Classic to take a photo of me for an article they were doing.

We raced the “dirt” criterium at the raceway in the early afternoon Saturday. It was a flowing mass of mud. When I finished, the photographer from Outside, came and introduced himself. He said that I had the “look” he wanted right then. I was covered head to toe with mud. I said let’s do the shoot then. He said he needed the light at sunset, so I was supposed to meet him in 3 hours at the top of the hill at the race track.

I went back to the hotel, cleaned up and waited. I came back near sunset and rode around the crit. course for a few minutes to get “the look”. Then I rode up to the top of the hill to meet the gang. It was the photographer, his camera assistant guy, and a couple girls holding big light mattress things.

Anyway, the photographer said I didn’t have enough of the mud look, so asked the girls to get some fresh mud to enhance my look. That was the start of one of the worse hours of my life. Me standing there at the top of the Laguna Seca Race track having new mud and water throw on me every few minutes. It was in the upper 40’s and the wind was blowing about 20mph. I was completely done after 30 minutes, but the guy keep shooting more film. I finally gave the guy a five minute deadline. He told the girls that I was drying out. When the girl came over to spray me with water, she apologized. She said, “I’m freezing myself and I’m wearing a down coat.” I was shaking uncontrollably.

The second I got released, I went back to hotel, sat in a super hot bath for at least an hour. I never got warm again the rest of the weekend.  I slept with a 12 inch layer of blankets on me that night and was still cold. The photo was the perfect Outside shot. Rider standing with a sun halo. He got his shot, but it ruined my weekend. It was a frozen smile for sure. And it was the coldest I’ve ever been.

Tucker got to meet Harley yesterday. Harley is really old, but is still happy.

Yesterday I was eating at the Angry Minnow, down in Hayward.  It is a micro brewery on the south edge of town.

We were sitting outside, in the back, and a  guy with a cycling t-shirt comes walking out to leave. He is maybe in his early 50’s, fit looking, longish hair pulled back into a ponytail.

He says hi and I ask him if he’s up to ride.  He says to ride and kayak.  He asks me if I ride and I say yes, I race.  He says he doesn’t race, sort of acts like racing is something to avoid, but he love to ride.

I think our conversation is over, but he then says that he met up with Jens Voigt recently at a bike shop.  I think Jens is leading a big ride sometime soon up here somewhere.

I was surprised by this since he seemed so against racing just 30 seconds earlier.  I told him that Jens is a character for sure, but I’m not all that big on him.  I wasn’t trying to be confrontational, I was just being honest.

The guy goes agro.  He gets red in the face and says something like Jens rode 17 Tours and asks me if I had ever even the Tour once.  I wish I would have said yes and would have loved to see his reaction.  I did ride the MTB Tour de France VTT, so technically, I wouldn’t be completely fibbing.

Anyway, the guy is super loud and pretty mad.  I say that in all those Tours, Jens says he never personally saw any doping in the sport.  That is what my issue with him is.  Everyone is staring now.

Jens isn’t a dumb guy.  Racing 17 Tours, he had to have personally witnessed a ton of doping.  Just watching the races from inside out or more probable, seeing it firsthand off the bike.  I wrote a post about this a while ago.

Jens said he was going to retire after cycling and let his bike have cobwebs grow on it and be a typical family man.  He has done the exact opposite.  He is travelling the world globally, being a spokesman for the sport. From Australia to the Tour of California, Jens is the color guy for the sport.  He has his own line of cycling apparel, branded “Shutup legs”.

Like I said in the other post, I know Jens has to do a ton of interviews and is expected to say pertinent things, but no one forced him to saying he never witnessed any doping in cycling. That is ridiculous and makes him not credible.  And cycling needs a credible spokesperson right now. Here’s a link to a Jens interview that Tyler Hamilton calls “a joke”.  It shows some of Jens’ less funny side.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/q-and-a-jens-voigt-on-his-career-a-final-season-anti-doping-and-the-98-tour-samples/Anyway, I didn’t mean to piss the dude off.  He was pissed, in more ways than one, so that maybe explains his reaction.  Sportsfans surely like their idols.  Add a little beer to the mix and nearly all words are fightin’ words.

Tucker lost all his baby teeth, but still seems to chew some when left alone, thus the kennel in the van.