(I originally wrote this in March, but never found the appropriate moment to send it. This still isn't the appropriate moment...but I do hate to waste a good effort.)
Through New Eyes
It's been a long, lonely winter in the rolling valleys of Panther Run. The weekend weather was rarely warm enough,. or dry enough, for road riding, and I've been more prone lately to sinus problems, so I avoided cold damp night rides through the week. Thus, my bike and I spent most of our Saturdays, Sundays, and weeknights mounted on the trainer, repeating the same stage over and over and over again in the now-infamous "Tour de Livingroom".
SPECIAL NOTE: there are exactly 2,147,178 tufts in my livingroom carpet, not counting the 32 missing tufts my cat Trixie ate over the holidays.
I spent some of my trainer time woking on long neglected operas, most of which are based on cycling terms. "Mercian, King of Mercia" is one. "Il Gios Di Torino" is another. My favorite this season was "La Bottecchia", the story of Ottavia, a beautiful young school girl, who steals a bite from a witch's magic apple, and is magically transformed into a skinny, mud-covered Tour de France champion... in baggy black britches.
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(love song from act 1, scene 347... Count Cinelli sings of his love for the beautiful Ottavia)
o-TA-via o-TAAAAAAa-via Sono swello con tut amore Et mono-glicerides a per favore
o-TA-via o-TAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAA - via Mon escadero ha tut capelli Ma cinque solo Cino Cinelli
(The "Freni Balillas" enter from stage right, resuming their battle with the army of the French King "Mafac")
"Side-pull" "Center-pull" "Side-pull" "Center-pull"
(back and fourth the battle flows, the soldiers lashing-out with their sharpened brake levers)
"Side-pull" "Center-pull" "Side-pull" "Center-pull"
(Suddenly Counte Balilla's brake hood tears, leaving him virtually unarmed, since we know how hard it is to find replacement Balilla gum hoods. In a final act of defiance, Balilla grudgingly produces a mediocre copy of Mafac's centerpull brakeset... but the tide has turned. Soon the Girardengos would be thrown in prison, and Duke Ambrosio would declare himself the new TTT of all Italy.)
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...and that's what too much indoor training can do for you,
Especially in a room full of old bikes and parts.
Aldo Ross