The Pantani cometh

Waking up Friday morning, I certainly didn't think I would be stealing a 3.5 hour ride from the wrinkled, foul maw of the man on what is widely regarded as a workday. Despite the close proximity to Saturday and the usual temptations of a premature cocktail hour, I'm told Friday is still technically a "weekday,"whatever that is. But work got a little silly a little early, one thing led to another, and when K-rod and Bruce Almighty showed up at my door with misanthropy on their minds, off we went.

A good ride. Limited pictures. The image below, though, is what it looks like when you watch a good friend trying to scale brokenback (the steep side) on a dubiously calculated hodgepodge of 2X5 gearing.

pity, shock, and awe.

Let's dip into the mailbag for a moment though. It would seem that my "hearken" post from last week drew out some more of the same. So a smattering of action is in order:




Yeah. It was a good year. More of that. Keep em coming.

Though not directly from the mailbag, Summer of Toph has made a declaration:
"I'm racing 18 on the farm solo."

and he'll make those shades look good too, son.

So too, has Kev29er:
"Shen 100. sub 9 hours. 38 X 17."
I may or may not be exaggerating a tooth or two there for effect, but you get the idea.
Tis the season for setting goals.

OK, let's get to the meat of this thing. The rumors are true. The Pantani Ride is scheduled for Sunday, February 13th 2011 at 10 AM, leaving from here at the rancho relaxo. Preemptively, I'm going to cut off two of your questions early and just answer them before they slip out of your uninformed, drooly mouth.
1) Yes, I realize that February the 13th is not February the 14th.
2) Yes, I realize that Marco Pantani did, in fact, kill himself with cocaine on February14th 2004, not the 13th. So our memorial ride in his honor is a tad early. But let's face it, the 14th was probably a bit of a blur for Marco anyway. So I don't think he'll have much problem with us moving the schedule up a tad to accomodate valentines, daylight, and the aforementioned mysterious "weekday" concept.


All other details, questions, and misgivings about the Pantani ride will be creatively addressed in a new format - an interview with multisport phenomenon, reigning champion, and all around man of metal, Erico Moortani. Because who better to educate the masses on the shape of the thing than the dude who finished at the front last year. Stay tuned for that.

Up, up, up.