Sunshine and Light

Transitions

There's a DVD out called "Transitions". It's basically about the 2004 cyclocross season, focused mostly in the Northeast and using Adam Myerson as the pivot point of the story. My favorites in the movie are Ryan Trebon and Barry Wicks. In addition to being crazy talented, they just make me giggle. They're just goofy 20-something guys, a group that I seem to have a soft-spot for. And Adam was having a bummer year of illness and results he wasn't happy with, so I walked away from watching it wanting to make the poor guy whatever the vegan version of chicken noodle soup is. Oh yeah, and the cross footage rocks.

So for a really long time, I was startled at how many guys I knew hated the video. Then I realized...ooooohhhh, they're used to being the complainers not the listeners. Everyone of them complained that Adam was bitching too much. Really? That's funny because after 5 years of hanging out at cross races, I have to say that there are very few cyclocrossers that I haven't heard wailing away about how their season is going, the bad luck, the %&*# who cut them off, how they're going to retire (bike racers are required to retire at least once a season), health issues, the joy of juggling real life with racing, etc.

A favorite, extreme (real life) example of racing angst was Pit Boy at the 2001 cyclo-cross nationals in Baltimore. It had been a crappy nationals for Chris, we'd been dating a month, I didn't know about things like trying to find the second pit with his pit bike, and he had gotten some bad starts, got a flat near the pit I wasn't in, etc. When I saw him walking across the field with the flat tire, I knew that it was going to be a long ride home. While we were standing close to the pit, dejectedly gathering up all of our stuff, we heard a commotion in the pit. There was a young guy and an older man. The man was holding the younger guy's bike, and not letting him re-enter the race. The younger guy (early 20s?) was having (literally) a screaming fit. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!" He was trying to jerk the bike away, and finally the older guy walked away from pit, with the bike in hand, and Pit Boy threw himself on the ground, pounding it with his fists. The crowd stood their with their mouths hanging open. Talk about catharsis! I have no idea who the guy was, and I wonder if he looks back on his outburst and cringes. I hope so. But Pit Boy, we love you man. You're still good for a laugh 5 years later. And you certainly took some pressure off of a tense situation.

Labels: Movies

posted by MyHusbandRules @ 8:07 AM