Warnings.

After Alan's death and hearing of other fit people keeling over with heart issues at young ages (including the recent Leadville 100 guy), this Velo News story scares the crap out of me.  Seems like a warning for all of us riders.  But is it rational?

Cycling to Extremes
http://velonews.competitor.com/cycling-extremes
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I passed by a cyclist the other day who was chatting with some pedestrians and all I heard was "I should get a jersey that says: <I ride, therefore I crash> ".  Yikes.  Isn't that a little defeatist?
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I've locked my bike up at BART for more than 20 years with a U-lock.  I should shut up, but the bike seems protected.  Yes, I had one bike stolen out of a box where the wankers used the lock to force open with leverage and break the door of one of those boxes.  Physics in action.  But the lock held up.  Well, this pic shows one such lock at the rack the other day.  Not from my bike, thank goodness.  But so much for these locks.  Warning:  wankers can cut them too.

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Well, now that I've probably scared you, I want to enlighten you with stories of friends who really accomplished something special.  First, there's Eric, who finished the Paris-Brest-Paris ride, which he called "An act of cycling devotion".  How true.  If you don't know what it is, look it up.  Here is a great piece from Strava:  http://stories.strava.com/parisbrestparis  .  Or read part of Eric's account:

One moment stands out for me. Late one night, passing though a pretty little town, an elderly lady was walking down the street. As we passed by, she leaned on her cane, looked up, and quietly said "Bravo". It encapsulated the spirit of the event for me. It felt like each of us was playing a part in a huge public demonstration of devotion... to cycling, to France, to ordinary people attempting extraordinary feats, to history and tradition.

Chapeau.

Courtesy of Strava

And then there's Cyndi.  A local road and mt. biker, she signed up for and rode a good bit of the Leadville 100 mt. bike race recently.   She'll ride with the guys often; keeping up is no problem.  A real powerhouse and a very friendly outgoing one at that.  Nothing holds her back and it's always with a smile!  Except apparently high elevation.  No, she didn't finish.  But her account will make you shake your head and give her a pass.  At about 65 miles and 12,000 feet, as she was pushing her bike passing guys puking on the side of the trail due to elevation sickness, she found out she missed the cutoff by 15 minutes.  Shit.  All that work for nothing?  Not really.  She's still a better rider than most of us.  And with some time to acclimate, she'll come back and kick this race in the hiney.  I know she will.  That's the warning from this story!  She went, she tried, and unfortunately couldn't do it.  But she put it all out there and shared it with her strava buddies and made no excuses.  What a great competitor.

Bonne chance prochaine fois!!