The Dog hit the dirt (and the road and the gravel beside the road) a couple of weeks ago at La Vuelta de Bisbee. He says he doesn’t know if the wheel collapsed first causing him to fall, or if it was a result of the crash. Neosporin, fresh bandages, and sleep on your stomach my friend.
This installment of the podcast is full of Tour of Georgia talk, local racing that wasn’t, Rasta chimes in, a non-plussed girlfriend, how to train when you have other things going on- including getting older and much, much more. Its a long one- you’ll need a long car ride, bike ride or lots of laundry to fold to get through it.
The search for quality can take you to strange places, like this jersey. This may be the best jersey ever- and it may be the worst jersey ever- simultaneously.
I will attempt to explain. A component of quality is authenticity, and within authenticity there is truth. This kit is so unconsciously and unapologetically ugly it has claimed its own right to use every primary color, fade them into each other in random regions of the jersey then top it off with a pac-man inspired font.
Forget Aqua & Sapone’s zebra stripes, Polti’s ‘frog in a blender’ & Rock Racing’s Oakland Raiders meet various colors of slime- this jersey is badder than them all. The authenticity and truth of this kit is that it has no air about it.
If the cyclist who responded to the master when asked why he rode by saying, “I ride my bicycle to ride my bicycle’, were a kit would be it. This jersey makes no apologies for itself, it just is.
By the way- the Twojohnspodcast can again be seen on a jersey.
The mustache makes an appearance at the head of the field during the Springboro RR - last of the Ohio Valley Spring Series.
The race was neutralized then cancelled on lap 2 of 6 after a nasty crash where a rider went head on into a tow truck. It was not life threatening, but he was transported to hospital on a back board with a neck collar.
Second Guessing the Manager.
Why didn’t Trent Lowe follow Sivtsov on Brasstown, was it tactics from the team car? Why did Rebellin and
Schleck’s managers have them play out the finale of Liege the way they did knowing the chances are pretty high Valverde would dust the duo in the sprint? Why did Lefevere have Bortolami and Tafi wait for Museeuw in the 1996 Roubaix, only to force those two to sit up for Johan in the finale? What was Tadej Valjavec’s DS thinking when we had him ride they way he did for Salvodelli on Stage 19 of the 2005 Giro finishing in Sestriere? And why did Bob Boone do the double switch in the 8th inning to put in a right handed batter that bats .156 against a left handed sinker ball pitcher with 2 runners in scoring position in the eastern time zone when the batter played two night games in a row and this is a day game? Of course that’s not going to work!
The two sports share the subtlety that once a move is made, it cannot be remedied. Runs are scored and matches are burnt. The tooth paste does not go back into the tube very easily… and fans get to talk to other fans about it for years to come.
A few more photos from Georgia here. We’ll do a full post-mortem on the next podcast.
A Mike and the Bike mannequin tribute to yours truly at the expo booth.
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