Cycling Faux Pas and Other Shit I Miss.

Over the last two years a growing family and business has supplanted my time on the bike. I ride less.

I also drink more. There could be a correlation but who can say with any certainty? Really?

Anyway, a Canuk winning the Giro and other recent interwebs events finds me thinking about being in the thick of a racing season and how far away I am from that now. The good news is it finally makes me want to ride.

I think that's the hardest thing about being an older racer (or just Olde) is that it's just so bloody time consuming and it impinges on everything else you do that it's impossible to sustain that into middle age.

That's a long, hard stare.

So here, in no particular order, are some of the Faux Pas I may have experience with. This list will certainly continue to grow.

Glasses inside helmet straps. I done it. Sometimes on purpose. There has been considerable sleep lost over this one.

Equal tire pressures in both front and back tires. Well, there's a red line on the gauge so I pump to there. If I needed two different pressures pumps would come with two adjustable red lines. Think about it.

A saddle bag. I hate packing my jersey pockets full of tubes, levers, patches, tire boot, spoke key and mini allen tools every time I ride to the 7-11for beer - I mean train. I lash that junk on my bike because if I put it in my jersey it's easier to see my spare tire. No-one wants that.

Recording my AVE SPD. I download a bunch of stuff from my PM but I have never made a special spread sheet to record my AVE SPD. Perhaps this is why I never went pro.

Aero bars. I wish I'd left them on my road bike. I only used them for a short while on my road bike until our TT bikes were ready but, since I am older and much slower now, I could be seeing time savings like nothing I've seen before. That stuff could be really paying off now!

Waving. I always wave. I don't care who you are. You're out for a ride and having a good time. I can muster a nod, wave or finger flick in your direction - accept for the tri-geeks. In all the years I've been riding not one has waved back. ****'em. I've had lots of folks who do tri's smile, wave, nod or flick back but not a single tri-geek has deigned to do so.

Carbon. I use it for everything. Frames, forks, bars, stems, rims, seats, posts, cranks and a bunch of component parts. I know it is a ticking time bomb and I must be delusional because I have yet to buy a CAAD 10 to use in the crits I don't do but this **** just keeps showing up at my door so I use it. This must be some sick kind of voodoo risk taking, gambling thing. I don't know. It's just not right because I know this stuff is just a bunch of plastic waiting to asplode and who knows how many I'll take with me.

I suppose it's my cross to bear.

Bents. I should really just own up right here. I'd love to try one but, to me they are like mopeds; They're both fun to ride until your friends find out. For the bents, I am ruined.

Mirrors-helmet or otherwise. I'm just to busy jammin' to my tunes on my iphone to bother with mirrors. They're too much of a distraction.

Bells. I had a metal bell with a solid spring and knocker on my FG/SS yellow Merckx with white full fenders that let out a single, crystal clear sound, that cut through traffic noise and carried for a block. I sold it with the bike. I loved the bike. I miss the bell.

I need a moment.

Why am I a Crazy Foreigner?

I started racing bikes in 1982. I was 3^rd in my first race because I helped a team mate win. I won my next two races. The rest is a blurr.

But, before I could race I had to go to a “Learn to Race Clinic” where they taught me basic rules about riding in a group, how to corner in a group and a lot of other things that ALL riders in MANY countries learn before they are allowed to race.

I continued racing and became an Elite level racer. Then a crash broke my arm in 30 places and I spent a week in the hospital. I missed the rest of the season and lost my spot on the Elite Team I raced for.

The good thing was that I took that time to become a Certified Cycling Coach. This required going to school, tests, and coaching for a few years at each level until I was final given accreditation by the Canadian Cycling Association and the UCI. I did this while I was still racing so the knowledge was very helpful to me.

A few years after my crash (and while studying to be a coach) I had a good team, good sponsorship and was ready to have a great season. Then a crappy old Toyota ran me over and I was done for 18 months. This time it was VERY serious.

I came back to racing, got very fit and won a National Championship in 1998 but, by this time, I knew I was too old. I had been training with guys who would later become World Champions, win Olympic medals and be good professional riders so I understood what real talent was and that that would never be me.

The next year I moved to Taiwan.

When I first came to Taiwan all teams were given money by the government. They were city or county teams. I wanted to make a new team but, as a foreigner, I had to do it a different way. I had to do it the same way it is done in almost EVERY other country. I had to find sponsors and build a team. I was the FIRST person in Taiwan to do this. This was 1998.

Since that time I have made many teams, worked with many riders and sponsors. I have taught MANY riders how to train and race and I have taught many other people how to find sponsors, make a team and run a team. I did it because it is what I love to do.

Many of these people have now gone on to make their own teams and develop their own riders. Even though I now compete with them it makes me very happy to see how cycling in Taiwan has evolved to be like the rest of the world. Even though my role in this was very small I do feel like I had something to do with it and it makes me feel proud.

One of the things I have always tried to make my riders understand is that cycling in the rest of the world has been around for a while and that there are rules, or customs that ALL riders in ALL countries know. I have always hoped that any of our riders could go to any country in the world and ride with any group because they understand THE UNWRITTEN RULES OF CYCLING.

This has proven to be much harder than it seems.

As a foreigner, very often, people will listen to what I am saying and then ignore me because I am just some crazy foreigner who doesn’t understand how we do things in Taiwan. This is very frustrating for me. I may be crazy but I do know what I am talking about.

Something that is missing in Taiwan is MENTORS. These are older riders with many, many years of experience. In most countries these riders will ride with younger riders to teach them all the ‘unwritten rules’ of cycling as well as the basic ideas about riding, training and racing. Because racing in Taiwan is new (in many ways) there really aren’t a lot of MENTORS and new riders aren’t used to listening to the MENTORS that are here.

This is a problem.

Here is the point of my post.

Recently, I have had a few bad experiences where I have tried to help people and it has gone badly. This isn’t just about riding but other things as well. It has really bothered me.

Tonight I watched a friend crash his bike during a training race. It happens but it is never good to see.

Later, a rider made a slightly dangerous mistake. It was a mistake I have been trying to tell people about for a while but, as a crazy foreigner, no-one wants to listen. It wasn’t that big a problem (I was expecting it) but it meant I had to use my brakes through a corner when I really wanted to attack instead. It just pissed me off.

I got a little angrier with the rider than I should have (and I feel sorry) but I have been trying to teach people about this corner for more than a year and NO-ONE will listen to me. The thing is I am right.

The UNWRITTEN RULES of CYCLING tell me that I am right.

All of my coaches and PROFESSIONAL RIDERS I have known in my life tell me I am right.

The years I spent learning how to be a COACH and the years I spent coaching other riders tells me I am right.

But I am just some loud, crazy foreigner that doesn’t understand how we do things in Taiwan.

So I got angry. Really angry.

Then, some of the riders on teams I have helped, some of the riders on teams I have sponsored, coached and taught how to make and run their team laughed at me. They made fun of me. They mocked me and talked to me like I was an idiot. They made me even angrier.

And sad.

All the years and all the things I have done for so many riders were pissed on in that moment.

And then they kept laughing at me and mocking me.

And I got even angrier and more upset. I was told I was being rude, that I should calm down.

I know I was rude to the first rider I yelled at (and do feel sorry) but now it was far too late for me to calm down. All of the things like this that had happened in the last few weeks came together and I was far too angry, far too frustrated to calm down.

But now I am calm. Now I can look back and see my mistakes. I can also see the mistakes of others. I can also see the lack of respect for a MENTOR.

Right now I find it hard to imagine that I will ever coach, train or sponsor another team or rider in Taiwan. I have worked hard for 13 years and tonight I was rewarded with laughter and mocking.

Maybe I am a crazy foreigner after all.