At 8:36 AM -0800 1/3/11, classicrendezvous-request@bikelist.org wrote:
>Message: 2
>Date: Mon, 03 Jan 2011 10:10:58 +0100
>From: John <jtperry330@me.com>
>Subject: Re: [CR] Beauty of riding
>To: Ted Ernst <ternst1@cox.net>
>Cc: Charles Nighbor <cnighbor1@comcast.net>,
> classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>Message-ID: <F3923E2B-00E6-4090-AA2E-2BC144F2B28B@me.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed; delsp=yes
>
>> Ted Ernst wrote:
>
>> "People asked Coppi how to train and get good like him.
> > His answer: Ride a bike, ride a bike, ride a bike."
>
>This is recognized as a famous paraphrase of "A rose, is a rose, is
>a rose" by Getrude Stein written in 1913. Wikipedia shed this light:
>
>" probably her most famous quotation, often interpreted as meaning
>"things are what they are," a statement of the law of identity, "A is A"."
>
>A little further digging on Wiki reveled:
>
>"In logic, the law of identity states that an object is the same as
>itself: A ? A. Any reflexive relation upholds the law of identity."
>
>This is pretty deep stuff for a normally shallow guy like me.
>
>have fun,
>
>John Pergolizzi
>Torino, Italy
>already too deep
I must dispute your paraphrase of Coppi's advice. Coppi's "ride a bike, ride a bike, ride a bike" more closely resembles the punchline of the old joke about how to get to Carnegie Hall: "Practice, practice, practice". It emphasizes repetition as the method for perfecting skill.
In Argentina, there is a similar turn of phrase among older tango dancers: A dancer must "caminando los kilometros", or "walk the miles". Perhaps an Italian version of the same phrase would be most appropriate for cycling; "pedale del miglio" or "pedale i chilometri", perhaps. -- Peter Adler Berkeley, California/USA where I spent yesterday riding the waterfront of Oakland, past Jack London and Bret Harte's statues; where Ms. Steins's "there was no THERE there" referred to her childhood house being knocked down, not that the whole city was a nonentity
1962 Follis Champion de France 1971 Raleigh International 1972 Bertin C34 (or C132, I can't decide) 1972? Follis 472 1988 Bianchi Superleggera