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June 22, 2005

Riding with Lance

BP told me a few days ago that LA is the 9th-highest-paid athlete in the U.S. right now. Pretty good for a guy from a sport like cycling. It's not, y'know, football, y'know. Not exactly a sport that anyone's ever going to call The American Sport.

Anyhow. Sprezza2ra blogs about her spinning class, adorned with Lance posters. Everybody's sposta be imagining that they're riding the Tour. Yep.

And me, I'm cranking up every week, getting in the best shape I can before the Tour (which, for those few of you who don't know, is July 2-24, covered every day on OLN, if you want to watch), because I know that once the Tour starts, I'll be glued to the tube every morning from 8:30 to 11:30, watching OLN's excellent coverage. (Warning to colleagues and grad students: don't even try to call or email during those hours, because I'll be on another planet!) And then in the afternoons, I'll be on my bike, sailing around central New York. Not actually imagining that I'm Lance or even that I'm riding with him. But definitely jazzed by watching all that exciting cycling in the morning. Hence the need to be in good shape by July 2, because I know I will BELONG to cycling for three weeks in July.

I'm just as full of Lance-o-mania as the next cyclist. I admire the guy immensely. I was one of his detractors in his early days as a pro: I thought he was a blowhard who couldn't deliver. Turns out that yes, he's a blowhard, an egotist—but he was sick. So I've eaten crow, and now I'm an admirer of what he has worked to overcome, and I'm also simply an admirer of what an incredible cyclist he is. I read a piece a few years ago about some testing that was done on him at the University of Texas: the guy has superhuman lung capacity, for one thing.

And when I read this piece, I have huge empathy. A Category 5 racer is somebody who's not a pro but who's a very serious competitive cyclist. And the thrill of just catching Lance must have been enormous. He says it took him 8 miles, and he's not kidding. I remember one time about 10 years ago when I was younger, lighter, and in better shape: I worked to catch a Cat 5 cyclist friend of mine whom I spotted about a mile ahead of me. It took me and Martha five miles of all-out cycling, drafting each other, to catch the guy.

And then getting to talk with Lance on the ride back into NYC: yeah, a rush. Seriously.

Posted by senioritis at June 22, 2005 04:53 PM

Comments

I just wanted to let you know that I think it is supa cool that you are such a nut for cycling. I think everyone should have that one cool-ass nearly-OCD drive for something physical. :)

I won't bother ya during the Tour, but I'll be thinkin about ya.

Posted by: madeline at June 22, 2005 09:46 PM

I was also not a big fan of Lance at first, but I think he has matured a lot since those early days. (I guess I have, too!)

Posted by: Jon at June 23, 2005 11:38 AM