birthday

you may not be aware, or interested, but today is a special someone's birthday. who, you ask? jerry maren. what? you don't know jerry? maybe this will jog your memory...

jerry is one of the, very literally, few living cast members of the wizard of oz. he is 88 today. believe it or not, the movie was made in 1939! coincidentally enough, not a whole lot of people from that movie are still kickin around. if you have never seen it, shame on you. happy bday jmar. keep on keepin' on home boy.

i am still skittery about my race a couple nights ago. it was milan-san remo in italy (one of the longest and most prestigious one-day races in europe) and i was in a 2 man break with ale-jet petacchi. he was in those disgustingly heinous yellow-magnesium-soled dmt's.

using superb tactical prowess, i got on his wheel with about 1k to go and sat there for about 600m. mind-games you speedy iti-greaseball. at the 400m mark, i jumped. i knew it was far, but i figured the element of surprise as well as my ability to ride a wicked intense tempo rather than a sprint against petacchi would be my only chance to raise my arms in glory. so i jump and put the hammer down. i could hear his gears delaying a couple seconds while he tried to shift down.

after getting a quick gap on him, he gradually started to close. then he really started to pick up steam. turning myself inside out, i could feel him zooming up on my left side, surging towards the line. i threw my bike so hard that my shoulders felt like they were popping out of their sockets. the photo finish revealed what i had only imagined in my wildest dreams, no pun intended. ale-airbus came across the line inches behind my front wheel. what followed was the largest sense of exultation and joy that i had ever known. screaming at the top of my lungs, i pumped my fists in the air and celebrated like a true champion. i shook petacchi's hand and gave him a brief, manly, euro-trash hug, and was all smiles from then on.

then i woke up. and i realized what i was put on this earth to do....to inform the public about pointless birthdays of celebrities who nobody knows. and be a bike racer on the side.

ride lots.

ale-stava