Bike Racer Characters
One of the cool things about bike racing is the amazing people you bump into. I hope every rider gets such chances to see the nifty personalities that cycling helps create. If you want a real laff riot, check out the comic CAT 3 sometime. They’re still out there.
What hilarious sendups of all the essential biker types! Here’s a few
I that recall…
*The guy who has ridden too much.* –I did the grueling Hardscrabble 100 in Colorado one year where this guy was in the front pack but he seemed different from the others. He was real tan and skinny and rode real nicely. Pro style among supertourists is easy to spot. But he had a faraway look. Too much wind.
And sure enough it really seemed like he didn’t know what ride he was on. He was just on another ride. I think he got a lift to the start and was basically placed on his bike. He seemed like a Terminal Cat 3 w/ 200 road races under his belt. He was eager.
Happy to ride at any pace. Very calm and smiling. Someone picked it up a lot and he was just ‘OK, let’s go!’ He didn’t get the slightest bit more intense. Just fluid’n’smooth. And oblivious. I found out that he and his buddy, who was also a character, were going to ride back afterward. Do a double. (The buddy was older, a little chubby, with earring. He’d done the Hawaiian Ironman 10 times.
A gritty character also. But less of a Road Rider, more the tropical air that some trigeeks affect.)
Another memorable character is *The Singer*. The last singer I knew was a chubby young Cat 2 field-sprinter. On long training rides this guy rode no-handed and sang. Or whistled.
And guys like this haven’t even seen Breaking Away. To win field sprints, you have to be willing to sing. Well, that’s one style anyway. The other singer I knew was happy to sing at any other public occasion as well.
Just walking down the street. More of an operatic style. He was also Cat2 and rode indy internatl and lots of madisons and tandem match sprints.
I suspect the madisons were what pushed him into singing.
I saw a funny character the other day, *the Handicapper*. –A bike racer went for a little jog. He couldn’t hardly walk the next two days, great pain, limping, had to go backwards downstairs. A week later I see this guy get back from a WALK—he had to lay down, his legs were so sore and tired from the walk. The rest of the day he was always laying down, legs tapped. He thought it was funny too. He used to be able to walk and jog like a normal person. Now he can only ride, for everything else he’s a handicapper. I recall during the big Coors Classic stage race that I spectated at and knew some racers at that when I went to the racer’s dorm that all the racers took the elevator up even a couple flights of stairs. They hated stairs.
They didn’t like walking much either. Maybe they were just tired, but maybe it just goes to show you gotta make sure you stay balanced in these hobbies.
