Oh say can you see ...

My eyes - if you can then my hair's too short.

I used to love that line from that song.  I was a little kid and there was this crazy "rock" song from a musical called "Hair".  It was about "hair" I'm guessing.  I never actually saw the musical.  I don't think I ever heard any songs from it other than "Hair."  Maybe I did.  As far as I know there are like 4 or 5 big hits from "Hair." If somebody told me, I'd be like, wow, I never knew that song was from "Hair"

All Vietnam era counter culture posters were required by law to
have some sort of mirror imaging or reflection going on

I don't know what the musical is about other than what I can gather from what I remember of that one song. I'm assuming that there were all of these peace loving rebellious hippie types that just wanted to grow out their hair.  They were thinking that it didn't matter to anyone else how they wore their hair.

Then I figure they ran into all sorts of trouble for refusing to wear their hair like "the good little boys and girls."  There were probably a couple of emotional pleas at job interviews or something.  I imagine that a song about qualifications should matter more than crew cuts or something.  Maybe that "sign, sign everywhere a sign" song is in it because there's that one line in the song where they say, "Long haired freaky people need not apply"

Then the guy goes in and pulls a fast one at the interview by tucking his hair under hat.  I've always wondered why the interviewer was so impressed with a guy who wears a hat to the interview, but I guess it was either the 60s or 70s.

Either way hair was really popular back then. That's one of the reasons that Jesus had a bit of a comeback at that time.  The hippies saw a guy who was going up against the establishment, wearing his hair long, and feeding people for free.  So what did the Vietnam era artists do about it?  Why they made another rock opera, of course.

Rebellious sideways mirror image compliance art

Unlike "Hair" I did see "Jesus Christ SuperStar".  My buddy Greg and I used to go see it at midnight movies from time to time when we didn't want to go to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."  The funny thing is we learned it as well as we knew RHPS.  The other funny thing is that when you went to see JCSS, you had to endure the googlephonic 'S' sound from the audience.

I had the soundtrack from the movie.  There was something wrong with the master.  It didn't matter what record player I listened to it on, every time there was an "S" in the song, it came out kind of distorted.  More like an "sh."

So when Jesus is getting his foot massage on (a foot massage is nothing, by the way.  I'd give my mother a foot massage) and Judas is all "Hey that oil is expensive.  Howz about we sell it and feed the poor instead of having that whore rub your feet."  Jesus thinks fast because he's enjoying the massage.  But on the soundtrack, it sounds like he's saying "Surely your not shaying we we have the reshourshesh to shave the poor from their lot ..."

At least I always thought it was a problem with the recording.  After we went to the midnight movie, I began to wonder.  Who goes to the midnight showing of JCSS on a weekend night besides bored teenagers.  Uber fans who can't sing.  They know all the songs.  They know they can't sing.  So every single (and they're all single) person in the theater whispers along to the song quietly.  So the only thing you can hear is hundreds of people saying "s" at all the right times in the song.  The end result sounds amazingly similar to the fucked up soundtrack record.  It made me wonder if it was an accident.  Or maybe the sound on the soundtrack is from extras who loved the Broadway musical so much, they couldn't help but whisper along while it was being recorded.  Surely, the movie was way over budget (School buses and wooden beams don't grow on trees) as it was, so they were forced to go with it.

I never saw "Tommy" either.

But for all the pinball rebellion going on, There was no
getting around the Mirror image law.

Anyway, what the hell was I talking about?  Oh yeah. Hair.

So I went on the GSV ride Tuesday night.  Jack and Abe are once again on swim team.  The meets are every Wednesday night.  I don’t necessarily have to go to these, but I’d like to.  Unfortunately, that means I have to miss my beloved Wednesday Night Trek Store ride.  Sniff.

The reasons I love the Wednesday night Trek Store Ride

As far as I know, this is the hardest group ride in town.  I have never done the ride without getting dropped at some point.  Each week, I try to take something away from the humiliation to help next week.  I’ve learned more this year than in all of the years (about 12, minus 4 golfing years) of riding previously.  For the first time, I feel relatively comfortable in close quarters with other cyclists.  I am getting a feel for the flow of the paceline. 

I will typically do a few pulls and then I’m cooked, so I have to sit in for a while and catch my breath.  I assume there are attacks from time to time on this ride, but I’m generally unaware of them, due to being so far behind them.  Sometimes I’m close enough to be aware of the 78^th street sprint on the way to Ft. Calhoun.

So for me, the Trek store ride is a matter of trying to survive for a couple of hours, pulling when I can and getting dropped when I can’t.  Someday, I may get to a place where I can hang with those guys on a good day.  Or maybe I won’t.

After fitness level, there are 4 things I’ve learned can have a serious impact on performance.  All of these, I've learned this year.  I’ve  pretended to pay attention to them for years but I haven’t taken any of them to heart until now.

With the same level of fitness but better preparation for a hard ride, things can go much better.  Hydration, rest and food (in that order) are the first three.  

The last one is to relax.  This one is a little harder to control than the others.  Being aware of it helps.  I recently realized that I’ve been waiting at the start line of races before and a wave of anxiety would sweep over me.  I could feel my heart race and my legs burn while just standing there. 

Now, the GSV ride.  I figured going in that it would not be as hard as the Wednesday ride.  While I was riding down to the ride, One of the GSV guys (John) caught up with me.  At my pace, which was leisurely, I was destined to get there about 15 minutes early.  I've met John before.  He's been on a couple of Trek store rides.  We were discussing what was the best strategy to get to the BK bridge with all the CWS traffic going on.  I asked John if he'd been to any of the games and his answer surprised me.  I'm used to cyclists having no interest in other sports, but John's legs are hairy, so I thought maybe.

Anyway, John said to me, "If I want to watch a bunch of guys run around with their underwear on the outside, I've got internet sites for that."

That's cool, I thought.  But I didn't really know what to say.  Also, I didn't know what it meant.  Baseball players don't wear their underwear outside the rest of their clothes, do they?  I don't really watch baseball, but I'm not getting that picture from what I have seen. 

Next down the road, Jonathan Neve went by me at great speed.  No way I felt like catching up to him.  I was enjoying cruising along and already going to be way early.  I did have the slightest twinge of concern that his effortless speed past me might be a sign that the ride would be harder than I anticipated.  Also, his legs were shorn.  

But when I got to the bridge, there were a bunch of people with hairy legs.  This is a good sign.  There were also several people there who could stand to lose a few pounds.  Not necessarily a good sign, but at least I knew there would be people behind me.  I would have someone to ride with.  Also Joe Savoie was there,  Noah was late, but he caught up to us because of all the "flats".

Seriously,  this was a dry night.  Even on rainy group rides, I've never seen so many flats.  And oh my god, they took forever to fix.  But I'm really not judging.  I was then.  But not now after having a couple of days to think about it.

I was able to cover every single "Attack." I did at least my share of the pulling.  I did not win any "Sprints" because I did not know where they were.  Plus, I didn't really know where we were going.  But I think I could have won all of them.  I had a lot more explosive power in reserve when most of these guys were spinning it up.  I was just hanging back, watching what they'd do.  Any attack on a climb, and I was there.  So it was always me and one other person at the top first.  Usually, it was this guy, Travis.

What I realized, but don't want to admit is these guys I look down on because they're not as good as the Trek Crew - they're about the same level as me.  That's how good I am.  This is actually who I should be riding with.  I have no intention of racing and it was a great, fun ride.  I had a better time on this ride than any in a long, long time.  Not that weekly humiliation of the Trek store ride isn't an absolute fucking joy.  Oh Wait - that's precisely what it isn't an absolute fucking of.

Authority figure stands, waving you away from that last train-wreck of a sentence, "Nothing to see here folks.  Move along .."

But I will go back to the Wednesday ride when swimming is over.  I will go through the weekly humiliation and try to learn to hang.  It's nowhere near as fun, but I'm not here to have fun.  Well, maybe once in a while.  

After the 6 weeks of swimming is over, maybe I will feel differently.  Maybe I'll stay with the GSV ride.  GSV is my middle name, by the way.

But most likely, I'll regularly do the asshole ride where everybody hate me (especially Shim) and occasionally go on the GSV ride for a good time. Hell, I might even shave my legs.