B…O…B…K…E!
Can someone explain to me why Bob “Bobke” Roll is held in high regard?
> I am not flaming the guy but as far as I can gather, he never really went very far in
> road racing (did he actually ever finsh a TdF?), and rarely cracks the top 10 in off-
> road races.
>
> Cheers…Stuart
B…O…B…K…E!
Verily, you misapprehend the B’s ability. Yeah, he was
a lowly road racer and now he’s a lowly mtb-racer…but he rules!
He COULD finish in the top 20 of ANY race EVERY weekend of
the year. But he was hired to SUPPORT the stars of his teams in road
racing. He was known as an enforcer. He quieted whiners and screwballs.
He got winners to the finish line. He was, of course, a lowly domestique. Not even a ‘super-dom.’
But despite the fact that his job title didn’t include winning, he made the most of his career…he turned domesticity into celebrity. A goodhearted feat!
He’d never win, but he could be COUNTED on to be smart and strong and to make good things happen for his pals every race of his life. (Praise be…these things he did.) Now he does
similar things with a twist in mtb-racing.
Now he injects mtb-racing with continuous GOOD SPIRIT and bonhommie. And it’s not like he gets wasted–he’s hot on the heels of the stars ALWAYS. He doesn’t win, but he adds to the sport in every other way. He knows that speed *and* panache are what’s needed. –Jeff
****
I might as well use this little newsgroup email exchange as a segue into a review of Bobke’s new book ‘Bobke!’
Sometimes people probably think of bike racing as being boring. Well, Bobke is a character who puts an end to that notion. —Actually, he’s just a character: sometimes he writes quite colorfully about how miserable and boring the bikey life can be. But when you’re aware of the limitations of your own activity, you already are a leg up on the herd. Bobke’s book is fresh insight into a wild side of the biking herd.
It covers the ups and downs of US and Euro road racing and mt-bike racing and what it’s like being a grunt in the middle. He seems like he woulda made a good Marine. For all his wildness, he always did his duty and was a stand up guy and he respected where respect was due. As a result he got let into the inside action of both the peloton and the dirt crowd…and doesn’t hesitate to let us know what happened.
A lively, colorful ‘contempo’ styled softcover book, available (along with lots of other truly amazing hardtofind pedalophilia) thru Velo books catalog for $16.95 (1-800-234-8356).
