A great unknown awaits the young men, bound by a common entity of steel, flesh and passion rolled together. Do they contemplate the future, or are they so encapsulated in the here and now that anything beyond the finish line seems like it could only be for old people? Have they any inkling which path they will take, or be guided towards? Maybe the only thing on their mind is just how badass their eyewear is.
What ambition burns within, do they believe they will be, or even seek to be, a cycling superstar; which of them knows it? Maybe ambition isn’t considered, not part of the equation. The simple act of pedalling a bicycle may remain one of joy, of freedom, or become a mistress so harsh that she is eventually despised, and thrown aside, banished to but a bitter memory of a time better forgotten. Who will be remembered, and who will even want to remember?
When a pastime becomes a job a certain element, that of detachment, is lost forever. Making your passion your profession is fraught with risk, and the balance of work/play becomes ever more critical to cultivating satisfaction within, lest you be eternally damned to harming the very thing once loved more than anything else. Keeping things Casually Deliberate is a failsafe, a safety net below the trapeze on which the real world swings precariously.
Stay passionate. Rock cool shit and ride your bike like it’s your lover. Everything will be alright.
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@Buck Rogers
Why don't you invite her out on a V-rated club run and watch her sorry ass being dropped on the first overpass.
@Barracuda
Yeah; it's a side-mount off the roof rack on the support vehicle. Those guys have a different n+1 problem than we do...
@Buck Rogers
Err, you do realize, I hope, that the race being a draft-legal event means it's done on road bikes and effectively becomes a 40km crit between a hard swim and a hard run? Most likely it wasn't her case, but for elite athletes the cycling leg of a triathlon is raced hard. Not that I'm disagreeing with your main point, but it just shows both of you love a sport and have no clue how hard the other one is.Most endurance sports, when raced to your limit, are hard. Dare I say it, the difference in difficulty is not huge. It's just that with cycling the difference between giving up and going on is a bit more pronounced, and you have less of a choice about the timing - and thanks to the draft effect of a pack, we can survive for longer with athletes stronger than us.
@extra special and bitter
No, it's mainly because he was a COTHO. Even in the tri world he wasn't much loved.
The whole 'hate on triathtes' is becoming like the helmet/not helmet discussion.
@girl
Oh come on... there are two valid sides to the helmet debate.
@tessar
Yes and here's a non-draft event.
Spot the difference.
I hear that at the World 70.3 Championships last month it was like the Tour Peleton.
@tessar
HEY Man!!! Stop bringing any reason to my ranting on Triathletes! Geeesh. Soon he'll be asking us all to read the word-thingies that go with the pictures on these pages.
@tessar But I do have to say that you mentioned Triathletes (Triwads--like that one) in the same paragraph as criteriums. Now that sounds like a wheelbuilders DREAM right there. Nothing like late 30's-to-mid-40's Triwads to drop $1,000's of dollars on shit they have no real knowledge of b/c they "read" in Triathlete" or "Bicycling" Magazine that it would save them 3 seconds in their next race, which always seems to be only against themselves. Besides the amazing Pro Triwads, it seems most Triwads are late-30's-to-early-40's people who are trying to have a last gasp at being an "Athlete" My buddy, who was in that class and realized it, always would chant "Swim-Bike-Run...We're good at none" during his Tri's. That that fucker!
@Buck Rogers
"Swim-Bike-Run...We're good at none"
Now that there is funny!!