Category Archives: Personal stuff

Why we’ll never be OK with anything Lance says

Personal stuff

This was my response to someone’s disappointment in a private on-line group about Lance’s latest revelation that he’d likely cheat again, given the same circumstances.

Not sure exactly what we’re looking for that we’re not getting. My guess is that, right now, Lance will answer just about any question asked, but this “thing” for some reason has become so personal that anything he says doesn’t matter because it wasn’t you or me asking the question. And if he gave us a truthful answer we wouldn’t believe it because we didn’t like the answer he gave to someone else’s question.


I think Lance was so good at winning that, in the afterlife, the game is fixed so he can only lose. I get that. But let’s admit what it is. Punishment for taking the caricature of “my way or the highway” Texan just a bit too far. Tell him up-front the deck’s stacked and nothing he says will reduce his lifetime ban, and then act surprised that he doesn’t say whatever it is you want him to say.

The guy’s a jerk, he deserves to be sued and lose a fortune to Emma and Betsy, but the rest of us deserve what and for why? Asher jokes about awesome, but let’s face it, it was. That’s what everyone wanted. Lance and Bruyneel didn’t create the demand, they fed it. The ‘Tour was in shambles and the French couldn’t provide a sheriff (Verinque being taken down by the Festina affair). Timing was perfect.

Stage racing is, for all intents and purposes, a staged play. It has opening, middle and closing acts, with great effort made to pace the drama appropriately. But the actors sucked. Until Bruyneel took over as Director and Lance took the lead role. Floyd was the understudy but showed up drunk when he had his chance. Lance came back to try and restore order but was too old & feeble, and the director’s vision was clouded by hubris.

So now we take out our frustration on the guy who who made the play a hit. Lance isn’t happy because his name isn’t in lights anymore. We’re not happy because the play doesn’t have a script anymore and we won’t admit the real issue is that we don’t have a King.

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Hi, I’m Mike, I suck at technical Mountain Biking

Personal stuff, Ride reports (not Tu/Th), Shop news
You can see Steve coming up fast on the guy rockin' it on the technical descent through the rocks. You're thinking yeah, that guy better move out of the way or Steve's going to run him over! Team Chain Reaction schooling the world! Yeah!
You can see Steve coming up fast on the guy rockin’ it on the technical descent through the rocks. You’re thinking yeah, that guy better move out of the way or Steve’s going to run him over! Team Chain Reaction schooling the world! Yeah!

No, this is not the first step in a 13-step program, because that would imply I’m going to get better. Ain’t going to happen. I just can’t suspend my disbelief, the idea that I can ride over rocky terrain and not crash and burn and maybe look like a human tumbleweed rolling down the hill.

Well, um, sure, like that's gonna happen. I was hoping to get a more-impressive photo, before Steve unclipped. This might not be his area to shine, but trust me, I suck even more.
Well, um, sure, like that’s gonna happen. I was hoping to get a more-impressive photo, before Steve unclipped. This might not be his area to shine, but trust me, I suck even more.

It’s not as if my brother Steve was a lot better. But I think he sucked less, and that’s a good thing. He’s at least getting out on a mountain bike fairly often, but obviously in very different terrain than what we experienced today.

Obviously, we didn’t travel all the way to Arizona to do two short mountain bike rides! This was the “fun” part of a 3 day program called the IBD Summit, one of those things where you get together with a bunch of the best dealers across the country (70 shops represented) and a lot of distributors (they outnumbered us 2 to 1) and discuss what can be done to make cycling better for everyone. We’re facing some significant issues in this industry, with the number of brick & mortar bicycle retailers dropping fast, especially in more-rural areas. What people are noticing is that bicycle retailers are actually part of the infrastructure that enables cycling, and that areas without many shops are in decline, participation-wise. Why? Because not everything can be done on-line, like fix a flat, make a bike fit better and ride more comfortably, even help choosing the right type of bike for a given area.

The message to the industry is that it’s not fair that the brick & mortar retailers get charged more than the on-line players (we do, this is honestly true!) and it’s especially not fair that our end of the business ends up incurring the costs and time of dealing with warranty issues that arise, regardless of where purchased. Things may finally change for the better.

But enough of that. Enjoy making fun of my incompetence, and yes, it really could be that the purpose of my life is to serve as a warning to others. As in, if your technical mountain biking skills are like mine, when you get out on the trail, you don’t want any witnesses.  –Mike–

 

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