just gotta say..it’s quite a thing, this team that is growing… it is humbling….. from getting resumes from pro riders from all over the world (not so unusual apparently if you talk to elite or pro team managers) to having to respond hopefully somewhat diplomatically to riders that are both realistic and unrealistic in their expectations (“…i was third in the local crit..” or “… I received 25 UCI points last year…”)… man. Wow. I mean, c’mon. When RideClean said “hey we are going pro..” the floodgates kinda opened. and we are just a little team .. albeit one with (hopefully) a big heart.
being in the position of having to help evaluate a roster for a professional cycling team is both baffling and humbling. thank goodness there are wiser heads than mine that are adding their thoughts to the effort. if you consider the advice/input rendered from T the Serbian Mafia, Carney the Old Man of the Track, as well as Lovedawg the Wise and the likes of Snake and Hammy and the ever true BB, how could the team go wrong?
then again — when faced with prospective riders that run the gamut from former Tour de France winners now disgraced…. to ex-Discovery Channel and High Road/Columbia riders that come to us and say “this is a good thing. I am clean – – lets go race some bikes….. got an internal anti-doping program at RideClean? good. i’ll piss in any cup and bleed happily for you…” (thank you JD) — how can you not stop and say to yourself … lets DO this thing..and lets do it proper
don’t even start with me. i can hear the comments already… and that path is well trodden.. “you should do THIS..” or “you should do THAT…” and “we need to go to THIS race”. can’t even tell you how many times someone has asked me “does RideClean have a Twitter account?” gimme a fucking break…no it doesn’t. and i don’t know — maybe it will someday?? right now it’s just growing organically, to use a trite phrase, so…. it is what it is…
my wife has a saying she is fond of and i think it is especially applicable here; “Everything will be OK in the end. If it’s not OK… it’s not the end.”
well i just wanted to say it looks OK so far from where i’m sitting. and it is most certainly not yet the end….
my thoughts? as an old friend once told me … you can lead a horse to water but you cant make them drink because YOU are thirsty.
well my friends, i think there are some thirsty people out there.
RideClean, bitches.
m
Do you have any spoke cards?
Good luck my friend. Here is hoping that all ends well for you, and the team, and I for one will be cheering you on.
allez!
Stay thirsty, my friends.
I used to do ok on the Around the Mountain ride, can I race with you??
I pulled for you in El Tour one year. In fact I melted your face. Can I be on the team?
I love the new look to the blog. And I support RideClean!
Opus
Oops I guess no photos allowed in the comments… I was trying for this one:
http://tinyurl.com/2d95cze
You guys have already won Marty…..happy for you, hell of a lot to be proud of already.
Gotta be like going to one of the kids school plays when they were younger, all that work and effort to still be a mess, yet still humbling and amazing. M, the proud papa,,,jus sayin….
Pam is still a get climber,can she ride for you?
You know what you should do?…
In all seriousness though, I just hope to one day see a group of nine RideClean-clad guys (each with a little DC logon on their kit) pedaling up the Pyrenees during the month of July. Best of luck!
Still say they should just disband WADA and let ’em run what they brung. Best way to keep everyone honest.
…non sequitur:‘fuck the braves – go giants’…
…we now resume w/ our regular blogging…
Picksburgh Stillers fan, yinz. Only baseball I care about is the class A Hagerstown Suns. But I hope your team does good just the same.
…thanks, joe & w/ the ‘9ers @ 0-5, i’m gonna enjoy the post season as long as this run lasts…hoping the sf giants can bring the ‘world series’ back to town…
blitzenhammer. that’s rad as hell, mart.
(ladle out the tears, snake. your next chamois gonna be made by depends. fuckin’ tennis balls on the end of your handlebars. diabetes socks ‘n shit. hustlin’ mid-pack with an empty cafeteria tray. yo’ momma hair so short, her cornbraids look like stitches.)
Marty – fuckin spot on.
BGW- That’s bullshit. Bobby Cox is prob on his way to your house for that slander. Grab an autograph for me when he gets there. He’s 69, but he’s gonna make you 68 and owe you one, then never call you back. Long live Joe Montana…and Shape ups, or whatever shit helps pay the bills for him.
…bg_cyclist…hey, now…i didn’t slander ’em, i just said “fuck ’em”…
…truth be told, bobby cox is not only a classy guy, i was touched to watch his farewell press conference…man’s been in the game a long time & he’s always been one of ‘the’ managers…
…i also thought it was classy of the ‘giants’ to stop their on-field celebration long enough to line up (sorta) & doff their caps in tribute to the man as he left the playing field for the final time…
…tough row to hoe, comin’ up with the ‘phillies’ but “go giants“…