SORRY! I JUST DON’T GET IT…

I just don’t get it… I don’t mean not riding. I understand why I’ve not ridden since last week. I’ve let too many loose ends, errands, and other commitments get in the way. It has kept me off my Fuji. I get that.

What I don’t get is the glee with which so many “fans” of cycling seem to get from Lance Armstrong’s run of bad luck in this year’s Tour. Maybe I’ve come late to the party or something.

Maybe somehow battling cancer that nearly took his life and returning to competitive ANYTHING is cause for happiness at seeing him flat on the pave. Or maybe, seeing LiveStrong grow into a global force fighting cancer is such a dastardly enterprise that we should all jump for joy when he catches a clip and rolls a tire and does an impersonation of an Olympic luge athlete. Yeah, good for you Armstrong, you really deserved that 60 kilometer per hour slide on your backside. Maybe it’s that, as a famous professional athlete, he actually seems to provide for the children that he sires. Surely that calls for derision piled upon derision. I guess winning 7 Tours de France makes you eligible for and open to receiving hostility. Maybe the fact that all these “fans” seem to want him to turn up guilty of doping despite years of ongoing clean drug screens can be somehow stretched into the malice that seems to come his way during this 2010 Tour.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I know he isn’t walking on water and that he has his flaws. We all do. My last vestiges of trust in a public official/personality were smashed into smithereens by John Edwards so I’m not trying look at Armstrong with rose tinted glasses. I understand pulling against him from a competitive perspective just like I pull against the Yankees or the Islanders, or, hell the Netherlands. Well, actually, I didn’t pull against the Netherlands – I don’t care for soccer so I didn’t/don’t/won’t care if Spain won or the Netherlands won although

being the home of Penelope Cruz should give Spain some bonus  points from my perspective. I get that! But, hey, I don’t wish the other teams ill. I just want them to lose. I don’t wish Contador bad will although I’d love to see Levi or Andy take top honors at this year’s tour.

I just don’t get the animosity toward Armstrong… Here’s something else I don’t get. Why aren’t there any Fuji bikes being ridden in the tour? If there are, where are they? (Whew, what a segue…This somehow doesn’t seem to rise to the level of a major concern. I’m just curious. Hey, Fuji, where the heck are you?)

So, anyway, I was very happy to see L.A. riding strong today. I liked that he was still up with the leaders although he and most everyone else fell to the withering pace of Contador and Schleck. It was good to see that 38 year old man out distancing the Yellow Jersey, who cracked badly today. Oh yeah, all you naysayers getting down on Levi saying he can’t climb might want to review those tapes tonight.

Enough of my min-rant. I’m off to this month’s BICYCLEHAYWOODNC Advocacy Council meeting and then it is prep time for heading to the Low Country of S.C. where the Navigator and I are going to enjoy some fine Shrimp ‘n Grits this weekend.

I’m looking forward to turning over the wheels on a few miles down in Dave Moulton country. If anybody needs to see a Fuji being ridden, don’t look at the tour – come on down to the Low Country. I know at least one will be getting is some time!

Bro Dave and a Salsa Fargo… Don’t they look good together?

 

Oh yeah, good luck to Bro Dave out on the west coast on landing the Salsa Fargo today. He should be testing it out just about now as I post…

Until later,

- Zeke