Bob Roll, “The List” & Every Day Bike Riding

Monday afternoon my Google alerts started to go a little crazy. Ping. Ding. Ping. Ping went the email notification on my computer. What was up? Well, all kinds of craziness in pro cycling that you’ve all seen by now. Ivan Basso and Discovery part ways. Operacion Puerto is raising its ugly head again. Tour directors allegedly decided that anyone on “the list” cannot compete. What? What? And What? I feel like a little déjà vu and I’m not talking about Denzel’s movie out on DVD. And, today, I see that there is talk of suing any rider on the Operation Puerto list to get DNA samples.

As a fan of pro cycling, I am just frustrated. I want to be excited about the Giro and Le Tour and all the others. But, this is just another straw in this camel's back. I want a clean sport, very clean....but this is all a little much, in my little opinion. Now, I know my friend Joe is going to be disappointed because I'm not listening to all the facts, but I'm a fan and I don't do all the research, like most fans. I'm just frustrated. I want to enjoy the pro side of the sport we all love, but I'm feeling a little discouraged by it right now.

So, what do I do? Call Bob Roll and talk with him about all of this. Ok, actually I just ranted at him; he’s so kind and nice that he let me do it while he’s running some errands on a beautiful spring day. His theory on the whole mess?

“It’s impossible to make sense out of it all.
The sooner they figure it all out the better.
Maybe we are on the list. You and me.” - Bobke

Basically, that makes as much scientific sense to me about all of this as anything else right about now. So, I decided something right then and there. Although I don’t do it enough, I love riding my bike. I’m not on anyone’s list (although thanks for the thought, Bob!) and I’m good with that. I’m not on the OP list, I’m not on any team list and I certainly wouldn’t be on anyone’s list that was thinking of putting together a long ride.

Me? I just do my own ‘tour’ by riding my bike around my neighborhood and see how people are coming with their yards this spring, see who has the best flowers early in the season and wave at some fellow bike riders. I’m not going to worry about what’s going on in pro cycling because it is frustrating and gets me discouraged about the racing aspect of cycling. I'm not a racer so I’m going to do my own thing - Bike riding for the every day person. It’s very enjoyable and why we all started to ride in the first place (at least most of us, anyway).

I’d encourage everyone to go out and ‘tour’ your own neighborhoods this spring and remember why we love riding our bikes so much. It will be a global Tour de Neighborhood. That's what I'm going to do.