Welcome to the Kermis. It’s not a recycling, it’s a reintroduction. The idea is to repost an old article that still resonates today and see where it goes. We will endeavor not to abuse this feature.
I’ve referred to Frank’s fantastic Perfect Amount of Dumb article at least five times in my own posts. My reference is usually that I’m dumb but it’s cycling related dumb. I’ve got the dumb part covered, not the Motorcus part. I so love his unexpected title and the post, it needs to do another lap.
I was just watching Tyler Mini Phinney’s post Dubai TT interview thinking, this kid has the perfect amount of dumb to be great. He shops at the Big and Tall shop, so I like him already. And his brain is way up there, in the thin air, so he choses his words carefully, like climbers at 8,000 meters. He’s got It.
No American Cyclist has won a Monument. Abandy has won more Monuments than LeMan? Merckx forgive me for uttering that last sentence. Greg was our last best chance but this new Phinney-Carpenter hybrid might somehow, someday get on the stones, get really incensed, and prove he has the perfect amount of dumb.
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@Ron
What part of "not a recycling" don't you get? Son of a bug! We are not making the big bucks just to put it on cruise control on Friday afternoon. And it was Friday morning, actually, HST. Maybe it looked like I was bereft of ideas on a Friday but no. I may have been bereft of ideas on a Thursday. By Friday I was deep into the Kermis but really, how about that Mini Phinney? He is a strong man, no?
@Nate
National Road Race Championships (2011)
National Time Trial Championships (2011)
Amstel Gold Race ( 2011)
Brabantse Pijl (2011)
Clásica de San Sebastián (2011)
Liège-Bastogne-Liège (2011)
GP de Québec (2011)
La Flèche Wallonne (2011)
Strade Bianche (2011)
His last year with Silence Lotto. Has anyone had a run of form like that? He had the look of a super-human that year, whippet thin, aero face. If he wasn't on something illegal, I want whatever he was on.
@Gianni He was on the "I want those BMC big bucks" run apparently. Merckx I hope he has another run like that, it was a lot of fun to watch him race his balls off that year.
I thoroughly enjoy hearing the announcers pronounce Konyshev over and over. Nice name!
I also enjoy two things:
1) the history lessons of cycling I always get here
2) the ability to separate the love of watching people race bikes from the shadows that zee drugs cast.
Awesome!
I Want Those BMC Big Bucks
should be a game on The Price is Right, after you win the initial 3-up bid-off, of course.
Gianni - I live, and love, to recycle. I meant no harm. Inter-time zonal insults are not the way to begin any weekend.
Phinney. I'm still intrigued by Stage 2 of the Dubai Classic. Where did Cavendish go? How did Phinney finish 3?
Since the doping door has been opened with the previous posts: blood transfusions were LEGAL in Olympic events up until and including the 1984 games. The very games in which Alexi and a few others kicked ass cyclingwise...just to segway back to the opening paragraph about Taylor and his gene pool.
He's a physical freak by the way, who's going to win Roubaix one of these days, maybe this year.
@Ron
No worries, I was attempting humor.
I have no idea how this Kermis immediately segwayed into doping (I didn't read it that way at all @Gianni). A few of us have brought this subject up over on Assbookâ„¢ from time to time over the last few months, including myself just today. There was an article about how some of the members of the Stupid Bowl champs had been caught earlier in the year using PED's (tho no mention of what they got caught using). Their punishment? Sit on the bench for 4 games of a 20 game season. A few beers and some introspection has led me to this conclusion: I'm done caring about PED's. Our sport is doing 1000000X more to prevent it, and some are still gonna try and cheat the system, but at least we acknowledge the problem. I'm tired of the discussion.
I think I'll go off-topic by commenting on the actual article.
'. . . these are the men who flog themselves for hours on end and, when their bodies are about to break, dial it up a notch and lay it all out on the road. A smarter man would, under those circumstances, say, "You know what? This is nice, but I can also go less hard."'
A timely Kermis. Just yesterday I was trying to explain to my boss why cyclists willingly endure suffering of this sort. My explanation ended up as something of an affirmation of Rule #10. Except for recovery rides, if the adjectives "easy" or "nice" come to mind, I am compelled to go faster and harder.
The look he gave me essentially said "that's kind of dumb." Quite.