Meow…

I’d like to preface my next post with this warning:
I only post bike-related drama here not because I care about it, but because A) I find it amusing that people care about this stuff so much, and B) in a lame attempt to get more blog traffic.

You’ve been warned.

In the midst of my scramble to prep for the upcoming first mountain bike race of the season (both physically and equipment-wise), I’ve been reminded again of the wide variety of attitudes that sometimes accompany people who race bikes.

Since the Trinity group ride has somewhat fallen apart from the weekend worlds grandeur that it was previously, I’ve been fortunate enough to be allowed in to a couple of the Saturday rides with my previous team, Marx-Bensdorf. I didn’t leave the team on bad terms or anything, I just quit road racing, and they’re a road-exclusive team. The rides are never any sort of team strategy session… quite to the contrary. The couple of times I’ve joined in to the M-B group instead of the group of tri-guys who ride at the same time is because of the confrontational and ass-kicking nature of the roadie ride vs. the “work hard & together” nature of the tri-guys’ ride… it’s mostly the cat 2 & 3 men doing their best to one up each other while everyone else tries not to get dropped. It’s been a great opportunity to break up the interval training monotony and get some intense training with a good group of friends.

Rewind to last weekend…

Several of the women who were there asked if I were going to join back.
“No, I’m still focusing on mountain bike racing.”

They also asked if I planned on road racing at all this year.
“Probably one or two of the local ones… a practice crit and maybe something else if the schedule works out. Boss’s orders & all.”

Apparently, this didn’t sit well with someone, because this morning, I got an email from the team manager saying that since I was “competition,” that the women didn’t want me back on the group ride.

Really?!  Maybe I should kick Amanda Carey out of my pre-race ride plans for Cohutta and Syllamo. I wouldn’t want her to figure out that she’s still a crap-ton stronger than me and will likely kick my ass again this year.

I digress…

I guess it’s back to interval training on Saturdays until the Trinity ride (hopefully) wakes up again.

 

12 thoughts on “Meow…

  1. Gotta love going on a road ride (not your preferred
    discipline) and fuckin’ their shit up. I think it’s
    great! I wouldn’t even act like it phased me. Ride to the
    ride, honch that shit, stay zipped up the whole time,
    never let them see you breathing hard, then at the
    end of the ride thank them for some good tempo
    and ride off nonchalantly.

  2. The thing that makes this extra silly is, once the ride speed kicks up, I hardly see the other (and my “other” I mean 3) women- they are either dropped or sitting in the back while I mix it up with the guys. Like I said- I really don’t care, I just find it amusing that I’m so focused on trying to make myself an awesome mountain biker, and suddenly the town roadies find me to be a threat. Frankly, I’m flattered.

  3. roadie chicks are the drama-est drama queens of all.. I am constantly amazed at some the chit I see and hear about

  4. Those dum-dums are just envious ‘cuz you’re stronger and have cooler hair. Screw ’em.

  5. Keep your chin up. Road racing coagulates the most politically retarded group of individual agendas EVER. I used to be fast and the faster you get the more the political drama picks up. Even Pro Tour teams and the UCI act like idiots. Triathlon may be full of “triath-holes” but, damn, my life is so much less stressful since I quit road racing.

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