Maybes Like Rabies

An interesting effect of putting on a disorg-event with no real registration system, only rumors of attendance, is that you end up with a lot of cryptic messages. It's Friday here at Pantani headquarters, and we've got more maybes than Old Yeller.

or maybe that was something else.

Simply sending me an email that says something like "To the Top!" might mean you're in, but it also might very well just be encouragement from a safe distance. So, in terms of event size, we might have 150 entrants and we might have about a dozen. You just never know.

Well, really that's not true. Sometimes you KNOW. For example:

"I know that wearing a windvest but no jersey is fashionable"

"I know that posing with said windvest and no jersey while looking wistfully across the valley will someday land me on a magazine cover if I can successfully maintain a reasonable diet."

Another thing that is certain: The Rooster is IN.
I like how this dude doesn't clown around with maybes. He puts his foot down, says his piece, and people fall in line. You are a leader of men, Rooster.

But back to the questionable, our good friend over at ByeKyle, Mr. K-ROD himself, is on the fence about showing up on Sunday with his gold-chain hardtail and penchant for pain.

He did, however, send me a Valentines day card with a little girl and a kitty on it.

creepy.

I don't really know where to go from here. Work this week has been the slums, and it's taken an awful lot of effort to slack off, ride, and blog every day. But that's the price one pays for greatness. In any case, the sun is out, the roads are dry, and the weekend looks absurdly nice. Get out and do something fantastic.

A closing note about Pantani. His roommate in Carrera and former TDF stage winner himself, Claudio Chiapucchi, had this to say to the media upon hearing of Marco's death in 2004.

"Now Marco has flown away. I'm sorry to say that his death will probably turn into a spectacle. Until a few hours ago, a lot of people were pointing their fingers at him as a bad person, now they're all saying 'he was a great person'. Pantani could have used more friends when he was alive."
-Claudio Chiapucchi

So yeah. I don't mean to preach too much of a lesson into the anniversary of Pantani's death, but if you've got a moment this weekend to reach out to someone that needs you; do it. And keep climbing.

See you Sunday.

Up, up, up.