I think we can agree, this years Tour has been a little nuts so far. What with Cav's crash in stage 1 (in his hometown, no less), to just, well, everything. I know, I know. It's The Tour. We expect people to be nervous the first few days, and for some of the riders to go down. And ya know, yesterday was no real exception. Sorry Tejay, but crashes fucking happen. Does it suck that Froome is out of The Tour this year? Yeah, you bet. But it also sucked back in 2012 when Frank Schleck, Cancellara, and Tony Martin withdrew. And do we really need to relive anything from the 2011 Tour, with its plethora of crashes (remember Vino fracturing his femur?), spills (Horner, Boonen, and Wiggo), and flat out freak accidents? Let's not, shall we?
Here's the thing: shit happens. Especially in The Tour. Why does this shit happen? Because it's The Tour. De France. The grandest of the grand tours. It's sole goal is to make you suffer. To forge the steel of your soul in the fire of pain and suffering. So yeah, there's gonna be cobblestones. Did it rain on stage 5? Yes. Can the ASO predict rain a year in advance? Really? Are you kidding me with this? Yes, it's gonna make the stage that much more dangerous and scary. And yeah, you guys are humans and feel people emotions. But the thing is, that doesn't mean that you're not racing the Tour de France. You don't wanna be there? I'll sell a kidney (maybe yours!) to be there instead. You came knowing it was going to be tough. And it's only gonna get tougher. We haven't even gotten into the fucking mountains yet.
The thing is, this isn't your first Tour! Remember in 2012 when you won the white jersey and finished 5th overall? What about in 2013, an admittedly bad year for you, when you still finished 34th out of 181? You know The Tour is tough. At least it's not snow, like the Giro d'Italia has been known to race through.
Look, I know. The rain sucks. Cobbles suck. You're pissed, because now you're sitting 2:11 back from yellow, against a guy who can climb and TT. A guy who, I have to admit, up until yesterday, I was prepared to write off as a top 10, at best. So what? So is every other guy who's looking to wear yellow when you guys arrive in Paris. Know what this means? Attacks. Lots of them. It means you and the rest of the GC guys attack the shit out of the Nibali, and try to break his legs off. Maybe he'll hang on for dear life, like Tommy Voeckler did back in 2011 for a little over a week. But the thing is, between you, Contador, Porte, Talansky, Valverde, and Costa, somebody should be able to go out there and make Nibali suffer. Preferably a lot. Alliances form between teams with a GC guy.
As much as I may like him, don't be Cadel. Don't be a conservative nice guy. Be willing to put it all out on the line, because if you're not willing to try, you're guaranteed to fail.
I know that there's still a lot of racing to be done (a little over 1500 miles left), and that things are far from decided. I just think that maybe calling stage 5 a mistake is a mistake. Regardless, I'm looking forward to seeing what else happens over the next couple weeks.
Till the next one, keep the rubber side down, and your skin off the ground!
Showing posts with label crash. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crash. Show all posts
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Thursday, December 12, 2013
On the topic of helmets
So, I've been thinking about this one for a while. Like, months and months kind of a while. To the point that I actually thought about starting this blog back in August or so, and leading off with this post. Then, yesterday, as I was on my ride, when I saw something that reminded me of my post. But I'll get to that.
See, in June of 2012, I was involved in a pretty gnarly crash, which involved me landing on my helmet. During that crash, I ended up with a cracked helmet, and blood coming out of several new wounds. Thankfully, my bike was fine, and I ended up with only a mild concussion. If I wasn't a believer in the humble helmet before, I sure was now.
Back on track, though. During the summer, people, rather obviously, love being outside. Especially here in SoCal. And why wouldn't they? It's sunny, warm, and gorgeous. SoCal during the summer is picturesque, and practically begs you to set foot outside of your climate controlled shelter and get some wind in your hair. During this time, I always see a huge uptick in the number of people riding their bikes, especially families.
But, here's what gets me. Probably 60% of the parents out with their kids aren't wearing their helmets. Or one parent will be, while the other is rockin' either nothing, or what some friends and I call "the cloth helmet" (see also: hat). This probably bothers me to no end, but I'd like to try and get my thoughts out there, in the hopes that I'll either figure out why people think it's OK to ride without a helmet, or that somebody, preferably a parent, will explain it to me.
Here's my reasoning, though. I think that we can all agree that kids, whether they want to admit it or not, are impressionable, and will take note of decisions and actions that their parents make. While you, as a parent, may tell your child to wear a helmet when going out for a ride, your kid will notice if you choose to wear one or not and may, at a later date, think that they don't need to, simply because you, as their parent, didn't. How many times have you heard a kid swear, because it's something that they heard their parent say? I know, I'm stretching my parallels here, but I really want to drive my point home. My point is, kids are impressionable, and odds are good that they'll mimic the actions of their parents.
Now, you might argue that you're an adult, and that you don't need to wear a helmet because either A) it's not required by law where you are, or B) you almost never ride, so your chances of crashing are greatly reduced, or C) that you're always really, really, really safe. OK. That's all fine and dandy. But the fact of the matter is, accidents do happen. That's why they're called accidents. Everybody plans on being safe. But when you're about to hit the pavement, that plan you had to be safe goes right out the window.
While the numbers may vary, studies say that wearing a helmet can decrease your chances of a serious or fatal head/brain injury by anywhere from 63-88%. If somebody told you that wearing a helmet while you ride your bike would decrease your phone bill by 63-88%, you'd do it, wouldn't you? So why not wear a helmet, and decrease your chances of suffering a major injury?
"But Ray," you might proclaim. "My helmet is so ugly! That's why I don't wear it!" I'm gonna hit ya with two points here. First off, you can buy another one. Second off, if somebody can get a cat to wear a helmet, you can put one on, too!
The fact of the matter is, accidents happen. You can't predict them. But you can do what you can to minimize any potential injury.
Sorry if this post sounds super preachy. This has always been a big issue with me. And with the holidays right around the corner, I just want to remind everyone to stay safe out there. As a reward, here's a funny cat gif that I chose, just for you guys!
See, in June of 2012, I was involved in a pretty gnarly crash, which involved me landing on my helmet. During that crash, I ended up with a cracked helmet, and blood coming out of several new wounds. Thankfully, my bike was fine, and I ended up with only a mild concussion. If I wasn't a believer in the humble helmet before, I sure was now.
This was after I got cleaned up.
A bit of shoulder damage.
Back on track, though. During the summer, people, rather obviously, love being outside. Especially here in SoCal. And why wouldn't they? It's sunny, warm, and gorgeous. SoCal during the summer is picturesque, and practically begs you to set foot outside of your climate controlled shelter and get some wind in your hair. During this time, I always see a huge uptick in the number of people riding their bikes, especially families.
Is this you during the summer?
But, here's what gets me. Probably 60% of the parents out with their kids aren't wearing their helmets. Or one parent will be, while the other is rockin' either nothing, or what some friends and I call "the cloth helmet" (see also: hat). This probably bothers me to no end, but I'd like to try and get my thoughts out there, in the hopes that I'll either figure out why people think it's OK to ride without a helmet, or that somebody, preferably a parent, will explain it to me.
Here's my reasoning, though. I think that we can all agree that kids, whether they want to admit it or not, are impressionable, and will take note of decisions and actions that their parents make. While you, as a parent, may tell your child to wear a helmet when going out for a ride, your kid will notice if you choose to wear one or not and may, at a later date, think that they don't need to, simply because you, as their parent, didn't. How many times have you heard a kid swear, because it's something that they heard their parent say? I know, I'm stretching my parallels here, but I really want to drive my point home. My point is, kids are impressionable, and odds are good that they'll mimic the actions of their parents.
Now, you might argue that you're an adult, and that you don't need to wear a helmet because either A) it's not required by law where you are, or B) you almost never ride, so your chances of crashing are greatly reduced, or C) that you're always really, really, really safe. OK. That's all fine and dandy. But the fact of the matter is, accidents do happen. That's why they're called accidents. Everybody plans on being safe. But when you're about to hit the pavement, that plan you had to be safe goes right out the window.
Do you think that Tory planned on crashing?
While the numbers may vary, studies say that wearing a helmet can decrease your chances of a serious or fatal head/brain injury by anywhere from 63-88%. If somebody told you that wearing a helmet while you ride your bike would decrease your phone bill by 63-88%, you'd do it, wouldn't you? So why not wear a helmet, and decrease your chances of suffering a major injury?
"But Ray," you might proclaim. "My helmet is so ugly! That's why I don't wear it!" I'm gonna hit ya with two points here. First off, you can buy another one. Second off, if somebody can get a cat to wear a helmet, you can put one on, too!
The fact of the matter is, accidents happen. You can't predict them. But you can do what you can to minimize any potential injury.
Sorry if this post sounds super preachy. This has always been a big issue with me. And with the holidays right around the corner, I just want to remind everyone to stay safe out there. As a reward, here's a funny cat gif that I chose, just for you guys!
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