As you surely know, I participate in and write about two sports/activities/hobbies, bicycling and motorcycling. Often, as I share the roads with the riders, watch the racing and read interviews with the stars of both pursuits, I'm struck by how seriously bicyclists take themselves and their sport.At the right is Valentino Rossi, multiple times world champion of motorcycle road racing at its highest level. In dominance, he's more comparable to Eddy Merckx than to Lance Armstrong, but dominance is not what prompts him to put on bunny ears.
Rossi is having a good time. All is not perfect in his world but it ain't half bad either, and he's typically lighthearted - as you sense from the (Superbikeplanet.com) photo.
Even his nearly as talented teammate and rival, Jorge Lorenzo of Spain, climbed the crowd-control fence at Indy after his victory there, sharing his exultation with the fans. That's Lorenzo visible under Rossi's right arm.
Please feel free to send me photos of Lance (or any pro bike racing star) wearing a silly hat post-race or stopping at a portapotty on a victory lap or carrying an inflatable full-size replica of his rival's supermodel girlfriend on a victory lap....
1 comment:
No doubt guys like Rossi have more fun with winning. One reason could be he won't have to wake up the next day and do it all again, unlike the bicycle racers. With races rarely coming up again sooner than the next weekend, they can get away with more antics--and I'm happy they do! Your comparison of Vale to Eddy is spot-on.
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