Today as I was at the Southington Y ( The pool at the Waterbury Y is just starting to be refilled after a mandatory yearly draining by the CT health department) debating wether or not I should swim I bumped into an old high school teamate. After shooting the shit I told him about my plan to do an Ironman...after the typical "you're crazy." ( I'm getting sort of emotionally numb to this response) He proceed to tell me the following.
OHST ( old high school swimming team mate): Dude your fucking knees are going to be shot by the time you're thirty.
Me : Not necessarily and besides with all the knee implant technology I'll probably be doing this shit until I'm in my 70's...
OSHT: well it's definately not for me. I want to save my knees
Me: ( in my head) For What praytell?
OHST: I'll stick to my current plan..(slaps beer gut) It's going to be hysterical when you're showing up getting passed by the old foggies.
Me: (hyterical rage to rip guys face off rising...rising....but staying calm cool and collected) Suit your self...
We start a talking about bikes or biking in general.
OHST: You ride the rails to trails in Cheshire?
Me: Yeah I averaged 20mph..
OHST: That's it?! I was hitting at least 30 on my Mountain bike
Me: Hey I said I averaged 20mph, I hit 30-35 on that one little down hill but for the most part it was flat and I was having to slow down to avoid kids, roller bladers, rec riders ( ie. those who ride for strickly for fun and fitness, not necessarily training and not of a hardcore ooooraaa Howard Dean-Lance Armstorngesque nature) old couple's holding hands...
OHST: All I know is I hit 35 and I was holding cornering like a madman...
Me: ( not buying it.) Well I average about 21mph around lake Waramaug and I was hitting 30mph on the flats.
Start talking about cars and how he's beating the Hell out of his civic, which hey he's a semi tuner so he knows his shit plus he drives alot more reckless than I do ( granted my Grandfather drives more reckless than I do.)
OSHT: I lost 6 pounds this week just swimming.
Cute Chick Lifeguard; Wow.
Me: Yeah now if you got on the bike and ran.....
OHST: The bike is a hassle because I got to get to my Grandmother's because she's storing it, and also no way in Hell you're getting me to run..
Me: Well I hear you on the Bike Hassle...I just spent $1600 on my new racing....
OHST&Cute Lifeguard Chick: YOU SPENT $1600 ON A BIKE?!
Me: (now feeling like I'm being stared at like a 6 headed goat in a carnival): Yea It's a racing bike .Aluminum, Carbon fiber, Top end com.....
OHST: You spent $1600 on a bicycle?
Me: Yeah compared to the $5k others spend it was a bargi...
OHST: Ain't noway I would spend $1600 on a bike unless I was paying some other dude to rideme around on it. I'm not going to throw around that kind of money on something I have to power myself.
Me: (in my head) "Well then I'll have the last laugh when all that McDonald's residue catches up with your arteries. And mine's burnt up due to long hours on the bike in, the pool, and on the road." ( out loud) Whatever, It's light it's fast and If I can win one of these things it'll be worth it.
OSHT: Ain't no way you'll win one of those things...some guy who comes in here rides his bike up Southington Mountain everyday..
Me: So I've done that...
OHST: Dude You guys are nuts. It's a quarter mile straight up...
Me: Mile and a quarter...
OHST: It's a quarter isn't it.
Me: When you descend from Waterbury/Wolcott there's a sign by Walsh's market that says steep grade ahead next 1 1/4 miles.
OHST: I never really see it Usually I'm kicking it into neutral and coasting at about 125. ( in his car)
Me: It's a mile and a quarter from the stop light in Marion ( Part of Southington) to the summit. I averaged 6.5 mph up it.
OHST: You're nuts....
Well needless to say the conversation dragged on for another couple of minutes about guys we knew in high school and other shit. But for the most part he's the same kid I knew in high school trying to talk himself up while putting others down. Not really a bad guy he just has a sucky attitude but then again He's got his shit to deal with too.
So the things I got out of my conversation with the guy who used to squeak by me in High School Swim meets:
1. I'm crazy.
2.My knees will probably need replacement in the next 30 years or 300,000 miles which ever comes first. ( if I have them replaced at St. Mary's Hospital I might have the Archbishop bless the implants and use me as a mass intention for an extra $15)
3. Despite my 2 year diet of binge drinking and debouchery at Fordham I have managed to keep myself in fairly descent shape.
4. $1600 for a bike will make any non-roadie, or non-tri geek ( civilian)'s jaw drop.
5. I am not as emotionally weak as I was in high school.
6. He may talk the talk ...but I can still walk the walk.
7. I now remember why we were the most disfunctional swim team in the state...
8. CCSU screws over all transfers... I'm not a special case.
9. He may have his pimped out civic, but I have the Bitch Stomper....(which could probably descend Southington Mountain at 65-70mph but I really don't want to find out right now.)
10. Triathletes ( to paraphrase adidas)...yeah we're different.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
"Ain't noway I would spend $1600 on a bike unless I was paying some other dude to rideme around on it." Spoken like a true non-athlete. Only a person who truly LOVES the sport DESERVES a bike like that. Period (this applies to all those rich "all the gear and no idea" midlife crisis guys out there who try to win an ironman on all the best gear and all the worst training).
I hope you didn't read my blog as calling you arrogant, I certainly wasn't. You are committed in a way that I admire and I know that all that talk comes from an intense desire/will to follow through.
PS I'm working on some blogger love for your ALS fundraiser. I just got back so it may take me a day or two to get on top of it.
PPS Enjoy that bike like it's nobody's business!
Claire ,
I was not quoting you're blog as calling me arrogant. In Fact I have a great admiration for Chris" I can swim and run better than Normann Stadler" Mc Cormack. I was just taking his quote about passion because
1. I thought it was the best part of his NBC interview.
2. I greatly admire his passion to the sport and the fact that like me he has solid swim and run legs.
3. He will at least attempt to finish when crap goes wrong, unlike Stadler.
but no to answer you question I never thought you were calling me arrogant and I'm going to ride my new steed like I stole it.
P.S. thanks for your support on the ALS Fundraising .
Interesting conversation with your OHST. Some people just need to talk others down to make themselves feel better. At least you can walk the walk.
WHAT A DOUCHEBAG!!!!!
Yea, he THINKS he did 30 on a MB. Now I'm angry. I hope I never see this kid...ever.
Stomp bitches with your bitch stomper. It's what stompin is all about.
Running into peeps like that is great for the self-esteem. You realize that you have grown up a little while some folks definitely have not.
And what is it with everyone saying runners are going to blow their knees out?! That drives me nuts. It's thier pathetic excuse for not running. Although I do tire of the "you're crazy" remark. Other people are crazy for sitting on their butts all the time, and if I didn't run then I would definitely go crazy.
I think anyone attempting an ironman is a bad ass, not crazy!
I got the post up today. I'm going to link back to it often. Encourage your other readers to do the same. I had a friend who couldn't do the San Francisco AIDS ride this year because he didn't raise enough money. I don't want this to happen to you. Shamelessly promote yourself for a good cause, even if you do come off as "arrogant".
PS Homeboy at the Y only comes off as a schmuck for sticking to his fastest speed of the day. And may he blow out his rotator cuff to teach him a lesson about his knee schpiel.
what the fuck dude
"i'm going to be laughing when you're getting passed up by the old fogies"
what the fuck is that shit about
i've had stuff like that said to me about weightlifting and it's like, who the fuck are you, you don't even follow the sport, the fuck do you know
Post a Comment