Oy vey...SRAM Red 11 with hydraulics. Just what people need, more false confidence in their ability. "Oh, I've got hydraulic brakes. I can stop on a dime. Why would I need to learn to modulate?"
And it seems the Omega Pharma-Quick Step-Joe's Crab Shack-Conrad's Shoe and Hat Repair scheme to get Petacchi on board to lead out Cavendish has failed.
Go figure? Two things though...
1) What must be going thru the minds of the other guys on the team? Cav is such a whinger, and trusts the team so little to help him win, that the bosses at OPQSJCBCSHR tried to sneak around UCI rules to bring in a ringer? I would have "cramping issues" @ 3km to go on every sprint stage. F Cav...
2) And if the 'retirement' ruse would have worked, it would have created precedent for other riders to jump from team to team...willy nilly.
Good on the UCI for reaching down and finding their huevos for once...
The ride was quicker last night, but there was a special kind of stupid in the air...all the way around. Cars doing dumb stuff, triathletes doing dumber stuff, and people riding beyond their ability level, thus creating dumb stuff.
Finally, after the tri dudes tried to kill the group for the third or fourth time, Il Prof and I patrolled the front for about 3 minutes, and let them get up the road. Out of sight, out of mind. It was for the benefit of the group, believe me.
There was other stupidity on the ride, and words said, but I just attribute it to the "ability level" rule, and brain fade due to lack of oxygen.
I really liked when aerobar boy, who couldn't ride a straight line if one held a gun to his head, got aggro with me for passing him, even though he...
A) Got on the front, on a downhill, and slowed the group down
B) Was waaaay over his head
C) Came left about 5 feet as I passed (I never deviated...)
D) WAS IN HIS FUCKING AEROBARS!!!!!!! (Yes, I yelled that part!)
Sorry man, that was your fault, and yours alone. When guys who admit that they have group ride issues think someone is a squirrel, that person is a squirrel, period!
Anyway...it was still a good, fun, big group ride. The sun was out, the wind was light, and I got to motorpace a semi at 60-70kmh for a good while. Had we (the truck and I) caught the light in South Congaree, the group would have never seen me again. Man, I love that vacuum behind a big truck...
Gotta get the day started...
Namaste...
No comments:
Post a Comment