Tuesday’s with Dirty: You are not coasting through this one

I didn’t want to put anything up yesterday because I felt Jonny’s post about Laurent Fignon was pretty important. He is really only one of three French cyclist I could call myself a fan of. Even when he lost to Lemond, I was still a bigger fan of him than my own countryman. The other two are  Thomas Voeckler and Christophe Moreau. Voekler is pretty obvious, you just have to watch  that little guy dance all  over  the pedals and bury himself in the pain cave on every single break he makes.  Moreau is a little less obvious. Even though he is a badass rider, it’s not why I am a fan. I am a fan because every single French girl that I have ever met in her 20’s, knows who he is and wants to have his babies. Baller.

The other reason I didn’t post up yesterday was because I was worked over, completely exhausted in a pile on my couch.  It all started with reading Little Jar’s words and one little part that caught my eye.  The part about doing a century on a track bike. I have one of those hipster rides and I have never ridden it more than probably 50 miles. There was a break in the weather the next day (meaning less than 100 degrees) so I decided to see what it would feel like to not coast for 100 miles. I took it easy on myself and picked a nice long flat ride down to the booming metropolis of Coolidge. Granted it’s not the most visually stunning ride but the shoulders are wide and the road is flat. I have done this ride a few dozen times so I knew exactly where I needed to turn around to make it a century. I got to the turn around feeling pretty lousy and I am greeted by a headwind riding back the way I came. I have never been known for my fitness, but I do know how to suffer, and suffer I did. Alone in the wind with the heat from the pavement burning my feet, and no coasting. It was awesome.

Now I know that I can do it, there is no need to do it again… for a while.

Keep it dirty.