They’re all different, but not really
September 19, 2015 § 8 Comments
Rolling out of Redondo this morning I was talking to this dude. “What’s your name?” I asked.
“Roberto,” he said, then he paused. “I pay you.”
I loves me a blog subscriber! Instead of insulting him as I’d planned, I patted him on the back, asked about his wife and children, and exchanged pleasantries. “Another day, another Donut, same old, same old.”
“No,” he said. “The rides, they are all different.”
“They are?”
“Yes,” he said. “You just have to do them enough to find out the differences.”
I tried to count how many times I’d done the Donut Ride. “After five hundred times, this still seems like a ride where one guy climbs up to the top faster than anyone else.”
“But it is a different guy, eh?”
“Yeah. Sometimes it’s Stathis, sometimes it’s Sakellariadis, sometimes it’s the Greek, sometimes it’s Wily, sometimes it’s Dr. Swerve.”
“You see?”
I looked around, but didn’t: the Greek was down for the count after slamming into the front of the guy behind him on the NPR. “Hmmm,” I thought to myself. “Maybe this really will be different.”
Without Wily to attack from the gun and make everyone chase until they vomit and quit, it was leisurely. Hoofixerman scampered away with Roberto the German with the Spanish Name, then later Rico went, and eventually the pack started to chase. We all came back together at Terranea, but no one was tired.
An Airgas Safeway pro from from Santa Barbara had rolled out with us, and notice therof was duly taken. Surfer started surging in Portuguese Bend, and some new skinny kid from Norcal named Sean began taking digs, and Les Deux Frenchies began stretching the rope.
I cowered and hid, trying as best I could to tuck behind Jules. At age 16 he’s one of the top prospects in America, and recently added three more national track titles to his sagging trophy shelf. Jules began dropping pretty much everyone on the switchbacks when he was 13 and hasn’t let up since.
We hit the bottom of the Switchbacks with a massive pack of about thirty riders, testament to how slow it had been–this point of the ride rarely has more than ten riders in the lead group. The down side to a slow start is that once the climb starts, it goes very fast.
Surfer Dan ramped it up, and then the Airgas-Safeway pro hit the front. The group immediately snapped in half, and after a couple of minutes there were only eight riders left, Les Deux Frenchies, Derek, Surfer Dan, Norcal, Strava Junior, and Jules. We got to the top of the Switchbacks and Airgas was gassed; he hadn’t known that the ride continued up the wall to the radar domes. Course knowledge is key …
Surfer Dan took the bit and charged up the wall. We all hung on. Frenchy Sr. kept pulling through, but everyone else hunkered down and rubbed their rosary beads. For me this was all miraculous. Not being a climber, and not being very fast, and not being very smart, it was shocking to think that I’d survived so much misery so far with so much cruel, pitiless talent. Before I knew it, the final curve was in sight.
No chance at a sprunt.
No chance with an attack.
So I jumped, shook free, and eased off the gas, hoping to latch onto whomever came by.
As luck would have it, the bad kind, Jules rocketed up the right-hand gutter. I could have easily gotten his wheel if I’d been on a motorcycle. Otherwise, no bueno.
Frenchy Sr. and Derek came by, then caught and dropped Jules. I looked back and the broken pieces were strewn way out behind me. I crossed the imaginary finish line marking the end of the imaginary race, and thought about all the beer I hadn’t drunk in order to reach this imaginary level of success.
“Roberto was right,” I thought. “They are all different.” Followed by “Shit, I’m thirsty.”
END
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Tagged: big orange cycling, bike accident, bike accident lawyer, bike injury lawyer, derek, Donut Ride, dumb group ride stories, jules gilliam, les deux frenchies, seth davidson attorney, seth davidson bike accident attorney, seth davidson bike injury attorney, seth davidson bike injury lawyer, seth davidson bike lawyer, seth davidson lawyer, strava junior, surfer dan, trump national, velo club la grange
Cycling in the South Bay 
They’re all different. You can find my rides on Strava, and our Sunday Shop Rides are always different. The differences are both glaring and subtle. What I’ve learned is that you must pay attention, lest you miss some detail, or a wheel slowing or moving over, etc. etc. It’s like a life lesson learned on 2 wheels: Pay attention.
Only yoy can turn a mundane ride into a compelling read, with lines like this:
“At age 16 he’s one of the top prospects in America, and recently added three more national track titles to his sagging trophy shelf.”
“I could have easily gotten his wheel if I’d been on a motorcycle”
“I crossed the imaginary finish line marking the end of the imaginary race, and thought about all the beer I hadn’t drunk in order to reach this imaginary level of success.”
Thanks, Serge!
Once upon a time, in the distant past, a kindly old cycling zen-master said:
“The ride is in you”.
Kindly? Nuh-uh. Old? Uh-huh. Zen-master? Like Ten Zent?
Seems that Stathis’ son/twin brother/dad is at Worlds, doing the TT.
http://www.uci.ch/road/ucievents/2015-road-uci-road-world-championships/111129015/widgets/entries-start-lists-results-172311/?utm_content=bufferbed65&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
(coincidence, or do all Greeks share that last name?)
Men elite category.
It’s his vanishing twin.