Mask of Daze
An American won the first stage of the Tour today. Not the one everybody thought though (well, K's boyfriend Phil Liggett did, but only because he wasn't allowed to pick Lance in the fantasy draft). Dave Zabriskie won by a couple of seconds over Lance.
Paul Sherwin, the color commentator, caught my ear with a great turn of phrase. The Mask of Daze. When all of a body's energy is going down through the pedals, and nothing is left for inconsequentials like facial control, funny things happen to a cyclist's face. Dave has a bit of it in the above picture. The trick is to get it right near the end of the race (or maybe the end of a climb). Because what follows can be pretty ugly.
Speaking of which, as I suspected, I got chewed up and spit out on the Saturday ride today. I made it (much) further than last week. Got to the turnaround with the fast boys, which was basically my goal, but paid a price to do it. I was gasping for air 10 minutes into the ride, and anerobic shortly there after. Bad.
I remember Sean, the strongest rider out there, congratulating me for my fight to stay on (he was right behind me when I dropped from the line, and watched me battle the bike the last 10 minutes...it was nice to hear him comment on the effort). He must have noticed me choking my guts back down a couple of times. Thought I might have to pull to the side and yack.
After the drop, I caught on with four or five other droppies and got back up to speed (22-23 mph as opposed to the 26-30 of the fastest group). Worked with them for 5 miles, and then one of them attacked. I still didn't have my breath, and went fatty anaerobic.
Then the Mask of Daze came, and the lights in the engine room started going out. I pulled out of line, and started getting a little dizzy. Chills next. Bad news. I just sort of rolled the last 5 miles back to the shop.
K and I were talking Friday night about the ride I had been on that morning. The ride leader had called for a 23 mph max, which is a taper for all of the fast boys, to let them be strong for the free for all on Saturday. We realized that for me, that isn't really a taper, it is still a challenge becuase the whole hour is at that speed.
So, between that ride in the heat, drinking coffee all day without drinking water, and not having a bite before the ride, I doomed myself. Lesson learned.
Paul Sherwin, the color commentator, caught my ear with a great turn of phrase. The Mask of Daze. When all of a body's energy is going down through the pedals, and nothing is left for inconsequentials like facial control, funny things happen to a cyclist's face. Dave has a bit of it in the above picture. The trick is to get it right near the end of the race (or maybe the end of a climb). Because what follows can be pretty ugly.
Speaking of which, as I suspected, I got chewed up and spit out on the Saturday ride today. I made it (much) further than last week. Got to the turnaround with the fast boys, which was basically my goal, but paid a price to do it. I was gasping for air 10 minutes into the ride, and anerobic shortly there after. Bad.
I remember Sean, the strongest rider out there, congratulating me for my fight to stay on (he was right behind me when I dropped from the line, and watched me battle the bike the last 10 minutes...it was nice to hear him comment on the effort). He must have noticed me choking my guts back down a couple of times. Thought I might have to pull to the side and yack.
After the drop, I caught on with four or five other droppies and got back up to speed (22-23 mph as opposed to the 26-30 of the fastest group). Worked with them for 5 miles, and then one of them attacked. I still didn't have my breath, and went fatty anaerobic.
Then the Mask of Daze came, and the lights in the engine room started going out. I pulled out of line, and started getting a little dizzy. Chills next. Bad news. I just sort of rolled the last 5 miles back to the shop.
K and I were talking Friday night about the ride I had been on that morning. The ride leader had called for a 23 mph max, which is a taper for all of the fast boys, to let them be strong for the free for all on Saturday. We realized that for me, that isn't really a taper, it is still a challenge becuase the whole hour is at that speed.
So, between that ride in the heat, drinking coffee all day without drinking water, and not having a bite before the ride, I doomed myself. Lesson learned.
posted by Tom at 4:58 PM
2 Comments:
I thought it was the "Mask of Daze" but I could of misheard it.
Well, to be honest, I couldn't remember the first word for certain. It is the last word that makes the phrase for me So in honor of B-rad, I'll edit things.
For you johny come latelys, the title used to be "Grimace of Daze."
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