Funny really in that sometimes I feel like a fraud. Always have done, dunno why; I suppose I hate fraud's and it is something I always try not to be. The one thing I like about life if you need to talk the talk and sometimes walk the walk. I rode well today, I pushed the bike in searing heat and rode a good 45 odd miles with my riding buddy 'Ad's'.
Everything came together today. I had a sports massage over the weekend, prepped well and had a nice ride over the distance. I like to think of myself as a one way rider going south as I got the train home. Is it me or does North always seem uphill?
The funny thing about cycling is that it really is simple shit. A frame, two wheels, cranks and a chain and your energy. As bikes evolve and get lighter, you have to start to pay credit to the old legends such as Eddy Merckx who rode the Tour on Steel bikes with steel wheels etc. Crazy. But I am not Eddy, I am just me, a simple guy who is loving being back in control on the saddle, riding out the thoughts of the day and the aches and pains that come and go over a distance. Cycling reminds me of being a kid with nothing to worry about.
Arriving home, Ad's and I stopped for food at the Mud Dock cafe; Bristol, a local cycling haunt that has kept the tea cake ethic but is much bigger. I went to the loo and on the wall facing me was a huge poster of the equally loved and loathed Lance Armstrong. He once said 'it aint about the bike.' Too true - though it flipping helps. Personally, I fucking love Lance Armstrong but then I am a big kid at heart and I still want to be him. Have a look at this - 'the look' - possibly the greatest moment in cycle racing I have ever seen. Armstrong has since claimed he did not look back at Ulrich, but for me, it was the way Armstrong let the stage play out like game of chess and killed it when needed by lulling the leaders into a false frame of mind by riding with the peloton for a bulk of the stage. Awesome. Oh to ride like that and to look like that.
Jumpers for goalposts and all that....here is the route we took. Not quite route 66 but a touch of the coast never the less.
2 comments:
That youtube video link is has "WIN" written all over it. Truly awesome.
North is definitely harder. I used to ride to Brighton from Croydon and almost always got the train back.
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