Just as in triathlon training there are easy days—I rode today for an hour strictly using the handlebar controller, staying at 185 watts and a steady 85-90 rpms—so must there be in triathlon blogging. Thus, just one quick note is offered, related only because it involves an athlete.
Steve Friedman takes on the challenge, in the March 2009 Bicycling, of writing sensitively about Jock Boyer. How do you write about a heroic cyclist now living an interesting life mostly for the betterment of those less fortunate than him, but who, oh, by the way, was not long ago convicted of "lewd and lascivious acts upon a child"? Friedman asks that question himself several times in the course of the long piece, to the point where he seems to be practically begging you to understand his hopeless predicament, or to forgive him his deed. It's pathetic, but weirdly appropriate and I think in the end he pulls off the piece.
This, by the way, was the one article in Bicycling—there's always one, seldom more—that I really go into. Well, I also enjoyed the big four-page foldout guide to the Tour of California. And I may come back to the piece on bike shops. So maybe the magazine isn't as dispensable as I was going to suggest. But I do find myself flipping quickly past the fitness, nutrition and gear stuff, so much of which strikes me as stale or regurgitated. Runner's World, another Rodale publication, is even worse in this regard, and I dropped that subscription many months ago.
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