hype of the week returns: dirty beats on parade

I have an appointment to get fitted on my BStone [geared] mountain bike so I can race the last two races of the PIR short-track series. I emailed my teammates letting them know I'd be coming out next Monday night to cheer them on.

When a teammate offered to loan me his too-small mountain bike so I could race next Monday and get three races in before the end of short-track season, I blinked. And hesitated. I'm out of shape; I haven't been to a gym or done any training, and I confess there have been too many slow-speed cargo-hauling days this year instead of interval and hill work. In short, I haven't done any of the sort of riding one ought to do to prepare for short-track racing.

But here was his offer and, well, in spite of how I knew things would go -- I'd sputter and pull over and reach for my inhaler, fumble shifts (remember I'm shifting gears now) and finish last -- I thanked Fritz profusely and took him up on his offer. So next Monday night I will toe the line with the Cat II Master 45+ ladies, and I will prepare to get schooled. All in the name of good, clean fun.

To honor the position I find myself in as I prepare for my first bicycle race since last November, I'm throwing up a very special Hype video of the 2011 Boston Crusaders. It's a mid-season parade from last year, one in which they're playing a cadence written as part of a contest (write us a new cadence, if we like it we'll work it up for some local parade and you'll win an exact copy of the snare drum make and model we're using on tour). The drum line learned the cadence that morning and rehearsed it for about an hour before stepping off in the parade; the drum would be handed out at a little award ceremony at the end of the parade route.

So watch and listen closely. The drum line sounds dirty as hell. Never mind that a dirty Crusaders drumline is still tons better than most [purportedly] clean high school drumlines, these guys are still dropping dirty beats all over the pavement. And you know what? It doesn't matter. Because they came to play. And next Monday I will go to race. The outcome will not matter. It's showing up and doing it that does.

See ya Monday at PIR!