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marginnotesYears ago I ran marathons and later put my bike in the car to go ride far from home.
Back when Lance Armstrong was still on the tour de France the ride came down the road through my town. I walked over to have a look. Preceding the riders were a bunch of promotional vehicles throwing advertising trash, which people mostly picked up to take home. Then there was a police escort. Then a bunch of support vehicles. Finally, the riders came through. They were pursued by helicopters and riding at about 50 kph in a dense pack where a moment's inattention would probably lead to major bonebreaking pileup. Most seemed to be suffering. Some threw their trash high over shoulders onto the side of the road.
It looked like a pretty bad day at work and there was a lot of stage left to go. We're near the mountains, too, so they were nowhere near finished. Probably many of these guys were taking dangerous drugs to be able to hang in there. What for?
The tour de France symbolizes our working lives. A dangerous struggle sometimes, nasty conditions all the time. There's a winner take all myth but the ones who really profit are in the air conditioned cars telling other people what to do, not the ones doing the hard work. Rest assured, though. The ones in the air conditioned cars will be on the hook if anything that goes wrong is found out. They're suffering from a different kind of stress. When broadcast it all seems wonderful. When you see it up close, it looks like hell on earth.
I still ride regularly. I try to avoid driving somewhere just to ride my bike. I try to avoid riding in traffic. The roads, even in the mountains, used to be impressive. Now they have potholes in the winter and chip seal in the summer.
Back when Lance Armstrong was still on the tour de France the ride came down the road through my town. I walked over to have a look. Preceding the riders were a bunch of promotional vehicles throwing advertising trash, which people mostly picked up to take home. Then there was a police escort. Then a bunch of support vehicles. Finally, the riders came through. They were pursued by helicopters and riding at about 50 kph in a dense pack where a moment's inattention would probably lead to major bonebreaking pileup. Most seemed to be suffering. Some threw their trash high over shoulders onto the side of the road.
It looked like a pretty bad day at work and there was a lot of stage left to go. We're near the mountains, too, so they were nowhere near finished. Probably many of these guys were taking dangerous drugs to be able to hang in there. What for?
The tour de France symbolizes our working lives. A dangerous struggle sometimes, nasty conditions all the time. There's a winner take all myth but the ones who really profit are in the air conditioned cars telling other people what to do, not the ones doing the hard work. Rest assured, though. The ones in the air conditioned cars will be on the hook if anything that goes wrong is found out. They're suffering from a different kind of stress. When broadcast it all seems wonderful. When you see it up close, it looks like hell on earth.
I still ride regularly. I try to avoid driving somewhere just to ride my bike. I try to avoid riding in traffic. The roads, even in the mountains, used to be impressive. Now they have potholes in the winter and chip seal in the summer.
