Vaughters, On Climbing
by Jen See on Jun 9, 2008 11:35 AM EDT
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PrintThe NYT blog guy who wants to ride l'étape asked Jonathan Vaughters to write a guest column. Vaughters gets all philosophical-like about the human need to climb very large mountains and offers a few useful tidbits of advice for getting to the top of things.
Vaughters writes, for example:
With this noble and never-ending battle between gravity and the human race permanently underway, it would only be logical that when the greatest invention known to man, the bicycle, came into existence, the first thing we would want to do with this mechanical marvel would be try to climb hills with it.
And, of course, when the greatest sport ever known, bicycle racing, came to be, the most immediate and most illogical thing to do would be to put the largest possible mountains in the race.
... due to our twisted need to watch nature weed out the weak, we gather, in the millions, every year in France to watch men climb really big hills on bicycles.
God help us.
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fun read :)
A fun read from Vaughters. I don’t know if it’s his marketing approach or his general interest in cycling - or both - but it’s great how the Slippy crew connects with fans, making great use of the Internet. Very nice.
Dang, this poor guy from the NYT… I mean, I’m sure he could train to ride the course, but having to accomplish it in the summer within a time limit with relatively few miles of training in his legs, it’s likely to be ugly. I wouldn’t call it impossible, but I’ll wager he gets collected by the sweeper somewhere up the first big climb.
Now, if you gave him a triple chainring and big mountain bike cogs - like a 28/34 low gear - yes, 28 chainring, 34 cog!—and allll day to do it, he could probably finish so long as he remembered to drink and eat.
Regardless, it will make for an interesting read.
-Greg
p.s.: It’s “étape” with one “p”, Gav—that’s the Italian “tappa” trying to work its way in. :) :)
fixed it :-)
Thanks, spelling so totally eludes me on a regular basis. Good thing I still have a few weeks to train for le tour thingy!
Very nice placement by Vaughters, and a fun read.
excelllent...
lol, true confessions? french is actually my first foreign language. doesn’t mean i can spell it, though :-P
Gav has special powers
beyond those of mortal posters. I’m might be wrong but I think she, along with Sui Juris and Tifosa and a few others, are editors and have the access to things most posters do not…
Which Italian Pro Tour Team rides the Cannondale SystemSix?
They are editors
But I think we as post folks, if we created the thread, can edit the contents of the thread.
"The most wasted day is that in which we have not laughed."
not comment posts, no
You can edit a fanpost, however. So if you start a thready, you can edit what you wrote.
And yes, I do have a few extra keys to the castle ;-)
Vaughters...
Could there be a more normal guy in the sport? I mean, he likes to joke around on blogs. Ring any bells?
Great stuff.
"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."
by Chris Fontecchio on Jun 9, 2008 2:33 PM EDT reply actions
Did you just refer to JV as "normal"?
I love JV and I really like what he’s doing with the team but he has to be one of the most excentric people I’ve ever read about. I get some fun inside stories but I’ve never met him so this is a bit unfair but he is far from what I would call “normal” – all in a very loving and supportive way! I find him to be very much like the guys that I love following and I think that has a lot to do with why the team is bonding so well. They have one of themselves leading and they have an enormous amount of respect for him. I like his ideas and hat’s off to him for what he’s doing. I just don’t know I’d ever call him “normal”. Ha hA!!!
Back to his article though – I loved the read. I had it on my blog the other night and I thought it was great for both serious riders and for those of us that just enjoy getting out there. :-)
"The most wasted day is that in which we have not laughed."
heart vaughters :-)
I hope that he never gets too busy to write stuff like this, and to write for the team blog. I could imagine as the team grows, it become hard for him to find time for the writings. But really, I hope he keeps doing it. I love reading him.
Is anyone in this sport – or connected to this sport – truly normal? Me, I think no.
JV and Meatball were hanging out on Sunday...
Must love Meatball! :-)
"The most wasted day is that in which we have not laughed."
Nice manscaping
You’ve got to heart that meatball kid…
Which Italian Pro Tour Team rides the Cannondale SystemSix?
by Jimbo... on Jun 9, 2008 5:54 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
If I had time I'd link to the pics of him and Huff at the track.
They both have shaved stuff on their chests and it’s pretty funny.
I think Meatball is trying to attract Gillette as a sponser – LOL!
How do you not heart that man?
"The most wasted day is that in which we have not laughed."
especially
that part where we try to climb throughout life, had never thought about this
by semprenaroda on Jun 9, 2008 11:15 PM EDT up reply actions
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