Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Meeting at Recreation Center

Last night the club met and we enjoyed pizza, soda and a movie thanks to Cheryl and Paul Barnett. This meeting was intended to be more of a social event. That is a theme which I would like to carry forward in all of our meetings so they all are sociable.

The movie we watched was a documentary of the Paris to Roubaix race in 1976. I have to confess I know very little about bicycle racing. My interest in road cycling is only a year old. I followed the Tour de France this year on OLN partly because of my new hobby and partly because of the significance of Lance Armstrong's chance at an unprecedented 7th victory. The race documented in the movie was very different from the Tour. Naturally the equipment was the best available in 1976 but was a far cry from the carbon frames used now. The race traveled over some of the worst roads imaginable. Two sections were cobblestone and you watched the riders taking a terrific beating from the uneven surface. Also, these roads were very dusty. The support vehicles created a huge cloud of dust that these riders road thru. I don't see how they were able to breathe. It was very much like a dusty unpaved road out in Coosa County. Imagine riding behind a convoy of pickup trucks on a dry dusty dirt road and you've got it. The one thing that seemed the same was the racers themselves.
They were all lean fit wiry men whose legs powered over the course. Pictured in the race was Eddy Merckx. He pounded out the miles with powerful pumping strokes of his legs, but this wouldn't be his race.

The committee for organizing the Criterium/Time-trial will meet next Tuesday. This will be an emphasis for your club this spring and summer. Since our club is mainly made up of recreational riders, you can look forward to organized rides like we had last year and perhaps some rides combined with outings as we can plan them. Stay tuned.