Ugh, cough.
Oh man, was I ever sick this week. I felt a little off the whole time I was in California, like I was on the verge of coming down with something, and I still felt right on the brink after getting home. But it hit me hard on Thursday. 102 degree fever, chills, coughing, runny nose. Not fun. Thankfully, Adrienne's great at playing nurse and extremely tolerant of my whininess as well. And let me tell you, I sure can whine.
But against my better judgment, and the advice of Coach Jeannette, I decided to go out and do the first Banana Belt road race this morning. I'd managed to convince myself that I was mostly healthy again (I was not), and I also have a fair bit of nostalgia for those races. I've done at least one race out there every year since I started racing on the road in 2000, and this weekend was going to be my only chance this year. Plus, an old teammate of mine from Broadmark, Tyler Thompson, drove up from Southern Oregon and stayed on our pullout couch last night, and I didn't want to make him go out there alone.
All bad excuses for a bad decision. Regardless, I somehow managed to find myself in the winning break. But I really didn't have the motivation or the energy to try to win, so I decided I'd try to lead out Evan Elken in the sprint. I figured he'd pay me back with a beer sometime. But to my complete disbelief, I ended up watching as 16 year old Jacob Rathe first pulled side-by-side with Evan, then started to pull away. And he held on! I knew the kid was good, but that was amazing. Sixteen years old and outsprinting The Head. The rest of us clearly have cause to be very, very afraid as he gets older and, inevitably, faster.
On another note, I just finished re-reading Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises a couple of nights ago. It'd been a good seven years or so since I read it last, and a passage that I only vaguely remembered really jumped out at me this time. The main character, Jake Barnes, is in San Sebastian and the riders competing in the Tour du Pays Basque end up at the same hotel for a night. Somehow, the description of the riders and the sport seems so perfect, even still. Here's part of it:
But against my better judgment, and the advice of Coach Jeannette, I decided to go out and do the first Banana Belt road race this morning. I'd managed to convince myself that I was mostly healthy again (I was not), and I also have a fair bit of nostalgia for those races. I've done at least one race out there every year since I started racing on the road in 2000, and this weekend was going to be my only chance this year. Plus, an old teammate of mine from Broadmark, Tyler Thompson, drove up from Southern Oregon and stayed on our pullout couch last night, and I didn't want to make him go out there alone.
All bad excuses for a bad decision. Regardless, I somehow managed to find myself in the winning break. But I really didn't have the motivation or the energy to try to win, so I decided I'd try to lead out Evan Elken in the sprint. I figured he'd pay me back with a beer sometime. But to my complete disbelief, I ended up watching as 16 year old Jacob Rathe first pulled side-by-side with Evan, then started to pull away. And he held on! I knew the kid was good, but that was amazing. Sixteen years old and outsprinting The Head. The rest of us clearly have cause to be very, very afraid as he gets older and, inevitably, faster.
On another note, I just finished re-reading Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises a couple of nights ago. It'd been a good seven years or so since I read it last, and a passage that I only vaguely remembered really jumped out at me this time. The main character, Jake Barnes, is in San Sebastian and the riders competing in the Tour du Pays Basque end up at the same hotel for a night. Somehow, the description of the riders and the sport seems so perfect, even still. Here's part of it:
In the dining-room, at one side, there was a long table of bicycle-riders, eating with their trainers and managers. [...] They all spoke in slang at the long table and there were many private jokes and some jokes at the far end were not that were not repeated when the girls asked to hear them. [...] The bicycle-riders drank much wine, and were burned and browned by the sun. They did not take the race seriously except among themselves. They had raced among themselves so often that it did not make much difference who won. Especially in a foreign country. The money could be arranged.
posted by dougollerenshaw at 7:20 PM
8 Comments:
cough.
Jacob has a race age of 17, but he is 16 for 2 more weeks.
Ya, I remember in cx last fall. I assumed he'd take a step or two up the ladder. Little did I know that he'd take 5! Big things to come.
Get well soon Doug.
Get well soon.
Mario wants to ride to Sanremo...
i like this pic of Head better.
http://www.missingsaddle.com/photos/show/recent/page/12/photo/1180532744_84442a9d5f_bjpg
chad.
http://www.missingsaddle.com/photos/
show/recent/page/12/photo/
1180532744_84442a9d5f_bjpg
head's big head. on the ground
Doug!!!!
WOW!! Congratulations!! I haven't been in touch for such a long time! I'm so sorry, but I'm also sooooo happy that you are finally "doing it"! If you ever want to ride in the Tour du Pais Basque, I'm here and will put you up! San Sebastian is beautiful!
Write me an email, dunno if I have yours right... sonia_castanon@hotmail.com
Take care of yourself!!
Sonia
hey man,
sorry to hear that you got sick after TOC. I had that stuff during the entire rae and it was shitty.
Have you ever read "the movable feast" it has some great cycling references too, acurate and exciting
Take care
Roman
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