Kevin getting stronger is one thing, overt aggression another

There was no question Kevin is on the comeback trail; this morning, heading up Kings, he was the only one that could hang with Marcus. I thought I was doing OK, but not that much OK. Behind me were Karl, Karen and JR, all riding at whatever pace they chose to, while I was riding as fast as I could, and Kevin was… having fun. But I’m pretty happy right now with a mid-27 time up Kings.

But on West Old LaHonda, Kevin’s claws came out. He insists that I rode into him, but from the video, it looks like I was riding a straight line at the start of the final sprint up to Skyline, and Kevin slammed his bars into me. I ended up riding into the drainage ditch at the edge of the road (thankfully the side facing the hill!), and as JR thought I was going to crash, I was thinking, in a big race, people come back from this sort of thing all the time. Somebody messes with them and they just ride themselves back into the fray, and that’s what I did, riding back up onto the road and just barely taking the sprint from Karl. On TV coverage of the Tour de France, you’ll see a lot of this sort of thing in the final kilometer of a stage. Bumping bars, shoulders, whatever. I’m OK with it, as long as Kevin doesn’t try to take a swing at me. Then my claws come out.






One thought on “Kevin getting stronger is one thing, overt aggression another

  1. Unless there’s soft, fluffy road to land on I’d have no stomach for road racing. Like Taylor Phinney I consider it an extreme sport. I’m fascinated people can do it, but then I like watching boxing and there’s no way I’m doing that either.

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