|
|
anon BILLET
I
am both glad and saddened that the latest round
of banishments have finally taken out the last
of the tainted, old-guard champions.
Just the other
weekend at breakfast when the theory was
advanced that FL had just "left his patch on
too long"......and that got him caught......the
very idea that a patch put on for any
period of time struck me as wrong. By the way,
so did the idea of rehydrating via a needle.
I
would like to believe there is hope that the new
champions will ride clean...regardless of the
improvements that medical science adds to the
science of cheating.
I think all of us
ride, train, eat, sleep , dream, grunt, laugh,
scream, then ride and eat some more......trying
to find the very limit of our physical abilities
every day.........just for the joy that being on
a bike brings each of us on that day.
For me, riding is
about exploring my limitations and expanding
my limits. It's about beating the last version
of myself. It's' about facing fear and then
finding something new to be afraid of. It's
about absorbing pain and putting it on the other
guy's face.....and then helping him/her
finishing the ride.
That would be the
long version of...: Yup, they're tossers, all
of 'em.
|
Billet from the
Bike....
Fallen Heroes
Circuit Race
COLD!!! Brutal cold, even saw some flurries.
I raced the 3 race first at noon. Nearly 40 riders.
Surprisingly strong attackers in the race. My
original intent was to sit in and just race, saving
my best for the 1-2-3 race. That didn't happen as it
was "get in or get out" from the gun. We dropped
guys right and left. I made some attacks trying to
get some strong riders away from the group and
nearly got popped once as three more attacks went
one after the other. One
Ohio Velo guy got off on the last 1/2 of the
final lap. I got caught behind two guys who stopped
sprinting and had to move to the outside and lost
momentum. Should have had picked a better wheel.
The 1-2-3 race was
stupid fast off the gun. Texas RH had 8 or 9 guys of
the 20 or so racing. These were all very strong
riders, killing anyone out there. Jude had a nasty
barricade crash. From where I was, it looked like he
hit his head on the pavement, and there was no one
nearby, so I doubled back to check on him. He was
OK, except for a nice road rash and torn uniform in
a couple of spots. Fortunately no head injuries.
Darrin
Billet from the Bike By various contributors
The Clark Forest 35+
race went well. I was able to get into the lead break with 5, yes 5 Papa
John's guys, two Pedal the Planets and a couple of Tortugas. There were 9 or
10 PJs in the 35+ race.
The PJs nailed it off the line full out. Every time
one of them got tired and came off the front, two would come through the
group and attack, trying to shake everyone else off. It was definitely
working as several guys got left behind. I was hurting after awhile as I had
to close the gap 7 or 8 times in the first 15 minutes of racing. The PJs
then tried to force everyone into doing too much work, so they could get an
even bigger advantage. After letting a group get a small gap, I would sprint
out and bridge, making sure no one was with me from PJs. After too many
bridges, chases and even a couple of attacks, I got gapped then blocked as
two PJs and a Tortuga went away. I tried three times to get to them and just
blew. I couldn't get any help and had to rest in the second group. Later, I
and the two Pedal the Planet guys tried to get another group off, but the
PJs just kept plugging every effort.
Eventually the main bunch caught us and then
Spanbauer and several more PJs took control of the entire road. As expected,
McShane was there in the back and pushed his way to the front for the
sprint. JT and Mandrola and Spanbauer blocked me and when I tried to come
around, McShane squeezed through and we nearly took each other out. He won
the bunch sprint and I had to sit up and watch. I can't wait until we get
some numbers in the races, so we can use our own team tactics. You can't be
mad, but with the PJs having nearly 1/2 the riders in the race it is a bit
frustrating.
Darrin
2006
MS150 RIDE SUCCESS
Wow!
what a weekend of riding, it was so nice to see everyone hanging out
with this "festival style" fund raising ride (as well as meet some
of our Masters Teammates). Thanks for participating in this event
and helping raise money to find a cure. Although the final $ count
and top 10 fund raising Teams presentation after the ride Saturday
did not count the donations
from sat morning at the event (our current amt. it 1,780.00, which
Greg and Debbie alone nearly raised that amount), I will be getting
a count from Whitney to include what was turned in at the event, so
I will get our accurate totals posted ASAP. We still have 30 days to
fund raise and turn in $ so if you still have donations its not too
late to turn them in!!
**Remember $500 raised, you get a MS150 jersey!
All of our Team riders, Mechanics, Support crew are absolutely
instrumental in the presence of "Team Schellers" and the family
atmosphere we have at every level of our groups as well as
participation on this and other rides.
What a really great event and I can not thank everyone enough for
doing their part in making this such a huge success!
Ciao for now!
Gene
 
Thanks
to all the SIMRT teammates who participated in the MS 150 this
weekend, both on and off the bike. It was a very well organized
bike tour and very enjoyable in which to participate. The route was
terrific and included many very good roads. Hospitality before,
during and after the rides was very complete, including more food
and drink than you can imagine.
Scheller's had a huge impact on the ride, with its various teams and
their riders, plus mechanics available to everyone before, during
and after the rides. The only problems were Darrin's two flats,
which were not his fault, and the brief shower that we encountered
this morning. We should make the McShanes and Rob Bush honorary
members of our team, as they were instrumental in our return trip
this morning. Mike was the captain of his Jewish Hospital team, and
after riding with his team yesterday, he and Leslie were rested
enough today to make their tandem just hum right along today.
Again, this was a terrific event, and everyone's participation is
appreciated.
Skip
|
|
