Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Required Reading

I think a lot of our problems would be solved if everybody who thinks they know how to ride a bike was forced to read The Rider, by Tim Krabbe.

Cycling is about Suffering.  Suffering, and some strategy, but mostly suffering.  The strongest riders are the ones who suffer the most, everyday.  The riders who win the race are the strongest riders who are willing to suffer, and if they don't it's because someone else suffered almost as much, but had better strategy. 

 I think that if everyone were required to read this book, we wouldn't have to have discussions about why street sprints are stupid, and why crits are to bike racing what pizza hut is to Italian food.