Something Bailey Pruitt once said...

I haven't written anything these last few days despite some good training and definite improvement. My first attempt at running was less than stellar; Two minutes in and I had to stop from the pain.

The good news is that I hit the road again today and made a half mile in about 6.5 minutes before having to abort but I recovered soon after. I'll try again in a few days...

Not sure why I haven't been motivated to blog. Saw something today that freaked me out quite a bit. This is the post I put up on another site:

While on my way to work I came upon one of those scenes that makes us cringe moreso because we're cyclicts. 9w, between the south Lake entrance and the new deli a crowd was gathered mid road.

I first saw the massive circa 70's Queen Mary of a Lincoln parked/beached half out into the roadway like some awful bloated cruise liner, the elderly driver leaning on the open door.

I slowed already knowing what I was going to see. I started to get that sick feeling down in my gut hoping against hope I would see an upright rider crying over his damaged bike.

The rider, wearing team kit lay in the middle of the twin double yellow lines not moving, cradled and bunched up like an infant doubled over in pain. I pulled over and spotted his bike half under that obnoxious box of a car whose front end sticks out so far as to prohibit any cautious look sees when entering a right angle turn.

The rider finally moved picking up his head for a moment then laying it back down while holding his left arm with his right keeping it close to his body. I figure at least a snapped collar bone.

I wanted to get out of the car and ask if he needed someone to hold onto his bike but the police were just arriving and there were so many people already there I didn't want to add to the spectacle.

I know what happened. I/we/you put ourselves in that situation countless times. My crash into a Deer was partly attributable to the same action. I plow down Hook and past that deli at speeds in excess of 40 and I have often, no always thought about the consequences of a driver pulling out of that driveway just North of the Deli.

Well it was apparent that is exactly what happened here. The rider, on a Tri bike was likely going at speed. The driver pulls out looking for a CAR and doesn't see the cyclist, REMEMBER THE AWARENESS AD? That hit home for me!

The result is almost a foregone conlusion....

WE MUST become better at being defensive on the roads. There are more and more cyclists and more and more apathy amongst drivers coupled with all the attention grabbing devices we have made "indispensible" to our lives. Did I tell you about the texting teen I encountered on my way home from David's Sprint ride on Thursday? He swerved into the cones at the school in Nyack while typing ! I chased the piece of $%#^ but couldn't get the plate.

Be careful and wary and defensive out there. It has IMHO become a real batlleground......."


Much of what we do as endurance athletes and bike racers is a dedicated but solitary effort. Despite our passion for a sport that is at once rewarding and merciless it tests our will power constantly. There has to be more to this than just the health aspects...

After my short run I dropped down onto the bed tapping the remote looking for something fun but mindless to watch while I vegged out. I was feeling ab it down despite having an improved run, I just want the healing done. Call it coincidence, serendipity, kismet whatever, "Mystery, Alaska" was just beginning. A hockey movie, right?

Just surface trappings. Its a movie about love. The love for and of a passion that in this story takes the form of an unlikely sport played on ice with bent sticks. And more than that, there is a love between the guys who share the passion and the people that support them.

There's a great scene in the movie where the Bailey Pruitt character shouts out in court in regards to one of the Saturday game players, "He skates to SKATE! He plays to play! He don't make a million dollars he LOVES the game of Hockey!"

What's great about the movie is that its really not about hockey. Its about love and if you love something you either give yourself over to it completely or not at all. that's how I see it anyway...

I can't see how anyone gets into bike racing or Triathlon to the degree some of us do without loving it. Without a burning passion for it, a passion to keep pushing despite setbacks, injury and failure.

And how much must my Wife love me to deal with all that comes with a husband so obsessed? The worry everytime I go out, the anxiety everytime I race. Having to deal with injuries of the body and soul... To forgive all the time spent elsewhere to train and race?

The Pogues, maybe the greatest band EVER said it best. "I love you till the end."

That's why we get back up and that's why she stays with me and puts up with all of it. Yeah, its hokey and corny but I do love it. I love the wind in my face and the fresh rain falling from a sun-filled sky while just coasting along. I love the pack pushing me along wrapped up tight in its arms until the moment I falter. I love the hours of training, running, swimming and most of all cycling.

And yeah, I love my wife not just because she puts up with my amatuer fantasy racing silliness but because she cheers for me when I race and smiles for me when I'm dirty and tired and hurting and comforts me when I'm injured or down. There is no love without passion. I ride to ride, I race to race....

I know that poor guy I saw down on the ground this morning will get back up and get back on that bike soon enough. We take what is thrown at us and keep on going... Its a love thing.

Jim061 is home and on the long road to mending...

"He skates to skate..." Baily Pruitt

Eric J