Sunday, January 24, 2010

Motivational videos.

I was browsing around bikeforums.net, somewhat unmotivated and feeling, I don't know, "drained", that's a good description. This was pretty much how I felt after watching the NFC Championship game tonight with my buddy Dennis. I was torn during the game; I mean, it was a good, hard fought physical battle, with a tight score. But, Minnesota gave the game away on their five turnovers, which was a bit sickening. Clearly, Minnesota had a good game plan, had strong offensive numbers and possibly outplayed New Orleans in every aspect of this game, except for the special teams (even so, Reggie Bush fumbling a punt return did not do much for NO's argument). But in the end, Minnesota fumbled numerous times, even getting some of the fumbles back, which could have made the game even more of a mess for them. And Farve did throw two picks, which was almost surreal. And the biggest blunder? The 12 men in the huddle penalty, which cost them a long 51 (ish) yard field goal attempt just prior to the last Farve pick near the end of regulation. I've already seen grumbling and bitching online, on FaceBook and on websites about how the refs blew the game for Minnesota with poor or missed calls. People going back and forth, arguing and yelling at each other.Will Farve retire again? Oh, Farve blew the game in the NFC Championship again, what a hack, yadda yadda, bitching and moaning...

Well, here's a news flash to all those complaining-the refs are only human, and cannot call a perfect game, ever. Minnesota might have brought a superior effort tonight, but they did not execute, did not protect Farve well enough and did not minimize their mistakes. They should have beaten NO by at least two touchdowns, but they didn't. So Minnesota goes home, NO goes on to FLA and the Super Bowl. That's life, that's the reality of it. Enough said, move on, don't complain about something like a ref's call you felt might have changed the outcome of the game. Minnesota could have not fumbled even once during one of those long drives, and there would have been no OT, no coin toss, no questionable calls about pass interference or whether or not the receiver had possession on that catch, putting NO in chip shot range of a hat trick score for the win in OT. I did like one post I saw on FB, someone said something to the effect of, "Well, now there is absolutely NO reason to watch the Super Bowl". I concur, time to move on and look forward to the Spring Classics like Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix, San Remo and Leige Bastogne Leige. After all, the Tour Down Under has already wrapped up, so the bike racing season is really here! Time to toss football by the side of the road. Time to forget about it!

Well, on to getting motivated. I came across these two videos posted on the forums by "LesMcLuffAlot", not sure who that is but pretty cool videos, nonetheless. Especially the first, of Levi Leipheimer (Pro bike racer extraordinaire, TdFrance podium finisher and now racing for Team Radioshack) descending a mountain or, at least, some very hilly terrain called "Pine Flat Road". I'm assuming it's in CA, and it's not flat! Oh yeah, someone on the forums site pointed out, check out about 7:40 on the descent, Levi does this big bunny hop, both wheels way off the ground at some crazy speeds! Also watch as they go around fallen rocks and trees in the road, WOW! That's why he's the Pro racer-me, I'm not crazy about getting much over 35 mph on my skinny 23c tires. Yeah, call me chicken, call me old-I don't know how people can live in the mountains and ride 50+ mph down mountains all the time. I hit 45+ mph last Spring in North Carolina, and man, that was too FAST for me while on a bicycle. Sheesh, scary stuff!

I used to browse and chat on the forums a lot more, but, like the NFC game tonight, there was always a bunch of bitching and wisecracking going on, people insulting others about something that really did not make sense. You know, you've seen those message boards, where everyone has an opinion and likes to tell everyone else they're wrong? But, I also found many good posts on the forums, and some cool links, even some really good info or something cool to watch, like these here videos. I might make it a habit of stopping back and browsing more often, who knows? I said this just earlier today, some people like to talk their game up when on FB or online at a message board or other forums site; hell, it's easy to shoot your mouth off on the internet, right? I guess sometimes I forget about that.

Well, enjoy!

Levi Leipheimer Descending Pine Flat Road from Roger Bartels on Vimeo.



Levi Leipheimer Time Trial Training from Roger Bartels on Vimeo.

1 comment:

  1. yea i couldn't believe the vikings blew that one. officials, meh, i can understand it now. still sucks for farve.

    fast descents are awesome if you get used to them. i've hit 50 mph before and it rocked.

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