Wednesday, May 02, 2007

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.

3 comments:

Tim Jackson said...

Amen Sister Donna!

Yes, a global Tour DAY Neighborhood is good. I ride and race because I love to ride and race. I love watching my pro/am boys race and win. I even like watching the big guns go at it in the big races- knowing some are even doped. Here's my 10 second rant; all sports have dopers, not just cycling. Baseball is full of doers and yet the stands are still full and hot dogs still sell. People like to watch the game and root for their team. I do the same thing.

Here's to racing! Here's to riding around the neighborhood on a warm spring day. Here's to riding your bike!

And for the record... I'm pretty sure Bob's on a list of some kind (but I probably am too).

Donna T. said...

Tour Day Neighborhood. I love it!!!

And yes...Here's to Riding Your Bike!

T-Guy J said...

Abridged version (from my blog) of the four reasons why I still love pro-cycling

1) Saul Raisin

2) Pound and McQuaid will be out of power soon

3) Teams starting to be more responsible when it comes to riders

4) Still super-competitive and incredibly interesting

If Pro Cycling goes in the pooper, I converting to track cycling. Go Theo Vos.

-T-Guy J