Reasons to be cheerful, one, two, three

What is this all about? KL took aim at my taste in music, and I think called me old in a roundabout way in her recent post. Ian Dury and the Blockheads New Boots and Panties LP marks the beginning of "new music" to me. Thus, any band debuting in or after the summer of 1979 qualifies as "new" and anything predating this is "old." Why the summer of 1979? I don't know, but this was when I started working, and those of us in the rewinding department at Solar-X spent the day goofing off and listening to WBCN. There was no such thing as "classic rock" in those days. Rock was not old enough to be classic yet. "Oldies" stations played AM hits from the 50's and 60's, and "album oriented" stations played rock, plain rock. Of course, rock faded pretty badly in the mid 70's when everybody good either died or went to rehab, and disco took over the mainstream.

This sad state of affairs allowed punk to score a coup, with the Sex Pistols and The Ramones rising up in New York. "Rock" stations like WBCN weren't quite sure what to do with this new music, but by 1979 they started to work it in to their mix. We listeners weren't quite sure what to do with it either, but since there were about ten of us sharing one radio at Solar-X, we got to argue about music and have fun with it, and for me this is why I remember the times. We learned to love Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Someone clipped a picture of Gruppo Sportivo out of the paper and penned in the names of each of us over the bandmembers, and I don't remember exactly what the joke was, but the picture stayed up on the wall for months, and I remember that too. It would be almost ten years later that I started racing bikes and found out that the "GS" in G.S. Mengoni meant "Grouppo Sportiva." There are so many ways to learn in this world...

Now that we've cleared that up, we have a three day weekend ahead. Tommorow is the Rye Duathlon, which will be the first one I ever do to include road cycling. My running seems to have suffered quite a bit since cycling season has ramped up, so I do not have high hopes for a great placing. It is supposed to be raining too. I feel like if this were a standalone 5K, I could probably suck it up and break 21 minutes tommorow, especially since the last time I ran a 5K was in February and it was 18 degrees (F) outside and I was totally hung over and I managed a 20:30 or something. With two 5K's to run though, with 28K of bike time-trialing in between, this is new ground for me. It is hard to judge from the past results, because at this race I don't think the distances are certified, and the run is mostly on dirt, and besides, they don't break the transition times out. So we'll just have to have fun and see how it goes. No Cervelo P3 for me either. I am going to ride my 20 year old Specialized, resplendent with its friction downtube shifters and quill stem. I will have an old disc wheel and some Scott clipons, as well as a modern front wheel, but it should still be fun to go flying by people decked out with the latest aero speed weaponry. I'll report tommorow.

You might also wonder if this marks the beginning of a multi-sport career? With the one, two, three title, am I hinting at a possible triathlon? Uhhh, no. The ocean and me don't get along too well. In fact, the last time I swam in one, all members of the Ramones, the Clash, and Sex Pistols were still alive. I got washed out by the undertow and nearly preceded Joey and company to the grave, which pretty much sums up why it was the last time I swam in the ocean. A few days before that, I got stung by a jellyfish, so that didn't help either, and that makes two good reasons to stay on dry land.

Not that I am not just a little bit tri-curious. We have one in the lake over in Sharon, and nearly all of my training rides pass by there, so I would have a home town advantage. I would still need to start swimming though, and I don't see that ever happening. There is also an interesting looking triathlon in Kennebunkport, Maine. I know the bike course and it is pretty cool. Swimming in Maine though? Not me. The water temps here in the Northeast are a strong third reason why you won't find me frolicking in the waves. If you should ever find me in the water off the coast of Maine, you can safely assume that the boat I was on has just sunk, or possibly I pulled an Uncle Ted and drove off a bridge.

Bike racing is not going to get rid of me just yet. This weekend will be fun and a nice way to end my winter running program. After that bike racing will be all business. Hope you all have a great weekend, alchohol free or otherwise. Maybe a big long ride on Monday, we shall see. Thanks for reading.