The Race Of Half Truths and Innuendo

During the spring and summer, when I fall victim to watching road racing on TV (because it's the only game in town), there is at some point a time trial, to which I tolerate and sometimes get into, but am not a huge fan... of course time trials are much better than the prologue time trial (I'm doing gagging gestures, but you can't see it- unless you are outside my window peeping at me, which is a tad strange if you ask me. Anyway, I always feel like there was something I should have done, could have done, and would have had more fun doing than watching dudes race all out through some town for 5k or whatever, just to establish a leader.

Now a real time trial I can get slightly more into. It's longer, often means something, at times can be pretty exciting and even decide a race. I do wish they just used their regular race bikes though, seem like it would be more "real." But that's just my opinion. At some point within the time trial Paul Sherwen or Phil Ligget will of course bust out "the race of truth" line. Which is true, it's man against man, leaving it all out there on the road, just them and the clock, etc., etc., blah, blah, blah, I get it. Except that in Pro cycling that "truth" is often blurred by the lies of doping, but that's another blog post, on another blog, by someone more knowledgeable than some half wit mountain biker.

I bring this up mainly because I could not get that damn saying out of my mind as I rode on the trainer today. I decided to get warmed up and then just hammer at, or just below threshold for 35 minutes or so, then cool down. Sort of time trial like. Except shorter, so it was more like a prologue, UG!! I hate prologues. But we've established that, so let's move on...

The ride was time trial like. It burned a bit, and felt good. But I kept thinking of that damn phrase "race of truth." And I thought, if they say a Pro racing a time trial for cash money is doing the "race of truth," what do you call a middle aged, mid pack mountain biker riding on the stationary for an hour? I nixed "stupid," just 'cause that's too easy, and decided that the these rides for me should be called "the race of half truths and innuendo." Wordy, I know, but I still like it. I think I will keep it.

I also plan to do a mountain bike TT or two this spring and summer up here in Michigan. The first is The Yankee Springs Time Trial. This I CAN be a fan of because it's 20 miles, on dirt. Joy! I like the idea of the MTB TT due to the fact that me ever getting into the single track first is like watching a midget and a horse race. As you can probably guess, I am not the horse.

I finally got my new camera today, after searching the Net for weeks. The Cannon s95. Pretty stoked. Hope to get out for a ski or a least a hike with it this weekend. Lots of added manual features that I need to get familiar with before ride season. I went with the s95 because it has a nice selection of auto and manual features and a pretty good low light rep. Sort of like a DSLR for someone like me who doesn't want a big ass DSLR, or have to worry about manual settings ALL the time. But like they say "a picture is worth a 1,000 words," so I guess we'll just see about that.

I was supposed to have some info on some bike related sweetness that was due to be in at my shop this week, but has not appeared yet. Curse you vial UPS man. Curse you. I fart in your general direction.

Later.