Rode over to JB tonight and did a couple hours of good tempo riding. It had been quite a while, maybe a year, since I had gone over there to ride. It really is a nice ride with a couple flatter sections and four good rollers each lap.
I'd been riding for a while and all over a sudden Shoemaker comes powering by me. I kept going at my pace. He seemed to ease up on the flat and I rolled past and opened up a gap. I'm guessing he did it on purpose because 3/4 of a lap later here he comes motoring by again. A little later, I roll by again. This time he didn't wait as long to go by and he kept on going. Fine by me. I wasn't that excited to play back and forth with him. I just wanted to ride steady and be a part of some interval game.
A strange thing happened on the way over to the park. I came across this guy off his bike. He had this old Univega 10-speed that had gotten its chain wedged between the rear dropout and the smallest cog. He freed the chain after a minute or so. The odd thing is his tire was also coming off the front wheel. He started trying to pry the tire back on the wheel. I stopped him, pulled out my tire lever and began to put the tire back on. The really weird thing is that the inner tube didn't go all the way around the wheel. Where the tire had come off, the tube doubled back on itself so that something close to only half the tire had tube, While I was trying to get the tire on he was mumbling that it wasn't flat but just needed air. I really wonder if the guy was drunk. Why would he even start riding if the tire had no air to begin with, especially with tube as farked up as it was. After I got the tire most of the way on he said "maybe I can kind of ride back home like this". I followed him a little bit. He was wobbly. Maybe because of the tire, I don't know. But, after a couple hundred feet he got close to the edge of the pavement. Instead of just putting his foot down he reached out his hand and caught himself of the fence. Even then he didn't put down his foot. He tried to push off and get going. That failed miserably. He lost balance and fell into the fence, conveniently ripping the right brake lever off the handle bar. He then got a phone call on his cell. The situation was too weird for me and I went on my way.
News Item of the Day: Giro d'Italia race leader Paolo Savoldelli lost time to his rivals on Thursday's 194-km 17th stage but was happy to cling on to the race leader's pink jersey. Savoldelli finished seventh, one minute and 48 seconds behind stage winner Ivan Basso and lost 42 seconds to Jose Rujano of Venezuela and Italian compatriot Gilberto Simoni, twice a Giro winner. He now leads Simoni by 58 seconds, with Rujano third at 1:24. Italy's Danilo Di Luca finished 16th on the stage and slipped from second to fourth overall, 1:36 behind Savoldelli.
"It was a hard stage and I couldn't go with Simoni when he accelerated but I'm pleased I didn't lose too much time," said Savoldelli, Giro winner in 2002. "I'm not a great climber but I think I'm defending my lead quite well. I started the Giro hoping for a top-five placing, so I have to happy with my performance." Savoldelli has a chance gaining ground in Friday's 34-km individual time trial from Chieri to Turin but could suffer again on Saturday's 190-km mountain stage to Sestriere. "In theory I should be able to gain something in the time trial and then I'll try to defend whatever lead I have on Saturday," he said. The Italian added: "All I can do is give it everything and accept what happens."
I'd been riding for a while and all over a sudden Shoemaker comes powering by me. I kept going at my pace. He seemed to ease up on the flat and I rolled past and opened up a gap. I'm guessing he did it on purpose because 3/4 of a lap later here he comes motoring by again. A little later, I roll by again. This time he didn't wait as long to go by and he kept on going. Fine by me. I wasn't that excited to play back and forth with him. I just wanted to ride steady and be a part of some interval game.
A strange thing happened on the way over to the park. I came across this guy off his bike. He had this old Univega 10-speed that had gotten its chain wedged between the rear dropout and the smallest cog. He freed the chain after a minute or so. The odd thing is his tire was also coming off the front wheel. He started trying to pry the tire back on the wheel. I stopped him, pulled out my tire lever and began to put the tire back on. The really weird thing is that the inner tube didn't go all the way around the wheel. Where the tire had come off, the tube doubled back on itself so that something close to only half the tire had tube, While I was trying to get the tire on he was mumbling that it wasn't flat but just needed air. I really wonder if the guy was drunk. Why would he even start riding if the tire had no air to begin with, especially with tube as farked up as it was. After I got the tire most of the way on he said "maybe I can kind of ride back home like this". I followed him a little bit. He was wobbly. Maybe because of the tire, I don't know. But, after a couple hundred feet he got close to the edge of the pavement. Instead of just putting his foot down he reached out his hand and caught himself of the fence. Even then he didn't put down his foot. He tried to push off and get going. That failed miserably. He lost balance and fell into the fence, conveniently ripping the right brake lever off the handle bar. He then got a phone call on his cell. The situation was too weird for me and I went on my way.
News Item of the Day: Giro d'Italia race leader Paolo Savoldelli lost time to his rivals on Thursday's 194-km 17th stage but was happy to cling on to the race leader's pink jersey. Savoldelli finished seventh, one minute and 48 seconds behind stage winner Ivan Basso and lost 42 seconds to Jose Rujano of Venezuela and Italian compatriot Gilberto Simoni, twice a Giro winner. He now leads Simoni by 58 seconds, with Rujano third at 1:24. Italy's Danilo Di Luca finished 16th on the stage and slipped from second to fourth overall, 1:36 behind Savoldelli.
"It was a hard stage and I couldn't go with Simoni when he accelerated but I'm pleased I didn't lose too much time," said Savoldelli, Giro winner in 2002. "I'm not a great climber but I think I'm defending my lead quite well. I started the Giro hoping for a top-five placing, so I have to happy with my performance." Savoldelli has a chance gaining ground in Friday's 34-km individual time trial from Chieri to Turin but could suffer again on Saturday's 190-km mountain stage to Sestriere. "In theory I should be able to gain something in the time trial and then I'll try to defend whatever lead I have on Saturday," he said. The Italian added: "All I can do is give it everything and accept what happens."
1 Comments:
Baby, that Univega story sounded too weird for me from the first sentence. I'm all for helping a soul (esp. non-local racer, of course!), but sometimes you have to look the other way and pray for the best. ;)
Post a Comment
<< Home