THATS COOL...

Can he do that..can he say that ? Yeah he can do that.. You might wonder what the hell...where the hell is chris going ? I am referring to the amazing and glorious results of a simple ride. The effects that a simple display of fitness can have, on an otherwise sorta mediocre level of talent, that engenders super arrogance. I have always wondered about what it is that enamours me to this sport ?
I do not think it is the jock mentality or the clean cut personna that many illustrate or the silver spoon class that seems to fill many categories. I think the thing I can relate to is the tuff man wins thing. I was born and raised on this sort of thinking. Not by mom and not by any other adult but by my brothers and our friends and enemys. We got in fights, we all scrapped and we all survived ..for the most part. Most of my friends were scrappers and we all knew each others abilities. So among us we knew who not to tangle with..or who you could test the waters with.
Enough about the fun of high school and onto the current life concerning bicycles and racing with them. The fitness aspect of racing crits is important. The fitness aspect also takes a back seat if you have no nuts, or if your female, than you are a cautious rider. The logic being that if your fast; then what does it matter if your also fast to hit the brakes: and fast to create explanations about other guys that got in the way... See the problem well in advance and dont be part of it. Experience also pays in dividends in that you can see where you best let the knuckleheads spar around you and stay away and ease the throttle. The speed thing gets muted if your on the pavement or relegated to the back because of fear. Fear has a great place though and the term is replaced with common sense and talent...talent to stay upright and get to the last lap. In a fight this applies also because it has similarities. If you hold back and get hit first the catchup game is on...if you go first too early then maybe you could have avoided having to break away too early and the whole thing maybe could have been finessed better...all about reading the game and the other players...
The intended purpose of training is that your supposed to pull your punches yet still get a workout in, and this fine line can be hard to achieve. Sparring with new guys can be frustrating, in that to them they have too much to prove, and thus can be dangerous to be around. Maybe taking it too seriously. Racing is more like a gang fight where training is like a sparring match. In sparring you want to similate the real thing but not to the point of serious injury or jeapordizing ones capability to perform for the real deal.