Thursday, February 28, 2008

amanda seigle: the people's hero

February 19th, 2008....

perhaps going all the way to sacramento on a weeknight to bike a total of 2.5-3 minutes sounds a bit absurd.

but when there are some pimpin' cane creek track wheels on the line, it seemed like a good idea. yeah, yeah. company schmopany. fun schmun. i was on a mission. i think i excel in goldsprints because they require no skill--and i am great at skill-less things.

i had procrastinated writing this post, as i had so many possible things to write about. i could have written a blog post entitled: "mike hernandez: testimonial or tabloid?" as i heard a fraction of his life story in the car ride up, and believe that testimonial or tabloid would be an accurate description. i could have written a blog post titled: "goldsprints: a boring race report", which would have been a play-by-play of the sprints...culminating in the final where i was being screamed at by every tattoo covered bike punk with shirts made out of beer tabs in sacramento - right as i hit that lactic acid wall. or i could have written a blog post entitled: "i'm not in my early twenties anymore" and talk about how i had the worst hangover of my life-- all because of one, yes, I said one, beer.

however, these all pale in comparison to the true story of the evening. that is, "amanda seigle: the people's hero."

now, some might say amanda seigle is their hero cause at that ride the world cups #3 at the track in february she totally kicked major ass, raced the B's race and placed third against all those fast 30yr old men. or some might say amanda seigle is their hero cause she totally stayed in that pro-crit at the tour of california the whole time. i watched that crit and just watching it made me tired. those are both commendable. however, it truly underscores her amazingness, which i feel like i witnessed a bit more the night february 18th.

scene: sprint number 4. amanda vs. me. we had already done 3 sprints that were very hard. we get up on the rollers and murphy informs us we won't be doing 500m sprints, but 750m. oof. then, he informs us we must chug a beer first. and not like some coors light, PBR, carbonated piss in a can beer.... but a microbrew pale ale! of course, who doesn't love pale ale?! but it isn't exactly the beer of choice to chug right before you are going to sprint your brains out til you puke.

i knew i was done for.

amanda is an expert racer pulling the bluff card: "oh i can't chug." but i didn't buy it. i've raced enough years never to believe any f-ing thing anyone tells you while on the line... "oh, i haven't been training." "oh, i was up late last night." "oh, i did hard ride yesterday." all that those things mean is that person next to you has been training their brains out to crush your little poor self for ions... and they are just trying to crush your morale more. so when amanda said: "i can't chug" i knew she was just trying to pull one over my eyes, but how could i buy it? dude--- she's at Davis. chugging is like the mandatory minor for everyone. we won't talk about my poor performance. it was pathetic. i am a shame to the midwest-- a shame to akron, ohio which founded alcoholics anonymous. yet, my poor performance should not overshadow her exceptional ability. if i practiced chugging for years, i wouldn't be able to touch that girl. it was remarkable. and then, after having downed that whole 16oz beer--- then, she pulled off a killer 750m sprint, as if that beer pumped some hydraulic power system into her veins. i had never seen anything like it. amanda seigle, truly a class act and my new hero. (i hope that once i post this, this blog post comes up first when i google her)

well, what are my quads like today. well, let me see--59.75cm. that is growth. and we are all happy about that. so that means i should eat a cookie.

7 comments:

place_holder said...

i hope your coach will incorporate beer chugging into your training schedule.

Itinerant Rick said...

beer chugging, the training regimen of champions. And being from Akron perhaps you should take that to heart ;-) Of course, then you might have to forsake Team UnAttached and join team BEER.

WarrenG said...

I once had a coach who advocated a beer after racing and training. He said it was good for rehydration and contained all kinds of good minerals and stuff. But then, he was Australian and those guys will make anything an excuse to drink beer.

If Beth thinks it's good for her to chug beer right before 6 uphill sprints...

I'd suggest washable bar tape.

amanda said...

Wow i feel like a celebrity!! not only did i get mentioned in a post with beth's infamous quad measurement, but i'm in the title!!! holy shit! and though i may have beat you at the chug you still put out a killer 500m time that got you some kick ass wheels. Those 59.75cm quads are gonna kill me in the sprint races this summer.

i can't wait till track racing starts so we can kick some man booty together. maybe even try this thing called 'the madison'?

WarrenG said...

Men have booty?

First sprint tournament is 3/16. C'mon down and kick some...

Sacwheelgirl said...

Hey beth! Next time your in sactown give me a ring, eh? How's things? Send me an email (I've looked everywhere for yours but haven't been able to find it).


Ciao!!
Scatterbrained K.

sacwheelgirl@sbcglobal.net

Anonymous said...

At least you can drink Beer.....

Thanks go to: Dad's Allergy and Mom's Allergic Reaction.