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Allergies and cycling are mutally exclusive passtimes.
Spring is the worst. We've now gotten to the stage of spring where no matter where you ride, projectiles come your way. It's like you have to wear sunglasses and a dust mask just to go out these days. If it's not pollen getting up your nose, it's bugs flying into your eyes and your hair, and if you are unlucky, your mouth too. I hear that they even get caught in your leg hairs! Some of us are supremely unlucky. Yesterday, while successfully riding through a round about and up a hill a fly decided to, with some velocity, fly right into my nasal passage and buzz around for a bit. It was awful. How I managed to not fall off my bike is beyond me, as is how I managed to get it out. I can't describe the noises I was making, or the feeling that lingered after, but it was all disturbing. Many of you are laughing now, and that's okay, one day you will be the supremely unlucky one.
It seems, anything that is good for the cyclist is awful for the allergist (yes, having allergies of this magnitude is an art) and vice versa. Daylight saving, great for those who want to ride, not so great for the people who are allergic to pollen and wake at an 'earlier' time to inhale even more pollen than normal. Rain, excellent for keeping the pollen down, not so great for the morning cycle, complete with flicking mud and rain in your eyes. It's a hard life to lead.
And so, as it is raining today, Bianca is at home and we caught the bus in. It wasn't so bad, but I did miss my ride. At the same time, I am still sneezing up a storm. I am not a pretty sight. I looked at myself in the mirror in the bathroom and just wanted to go home. Itchy eyes, red and running nose, feel like I have been hit with a large pole. I just want to go to sleep.
News in the world of cycling tells me that Alberto Contador is a filthy cheat. Well, it doesn't say that specifically, in fact it kinda says it's all a big misunderstanding. See I have never liked to watch cycling, I have never seen the appeal. Living with a cyclist changes things by necessity. For example, if you are the nerd of the house you'd better make sure that since you've moved out together there is a fully functioning television unit which he can watch the Tour de France on in HD. It's your duty, and I take my duty seriously. It also means occassionally you watch what is on, and more often than not you are inflicted with both rules, trivia and other people who come over to inflict you with the same. As this happens you seem to retain things via osmosis and all of a sudden you've developed a habit, a passion that makes little to no sense but that you cannot keep inside. Mine was a deep affection for Andy Schleck and a boundless loathing for Alberto Contador. And for anyone who watched this years tour (I won't bore you others) the events (in my head) proved me right. Anyway, Alberto now has tested positive for steroids and they all think it's a food contamination incident, and they are probably right, but that is not the point. It is my duty to hate him.
http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cycling/alberto-contador-tests-positive-to-steroid-20100930-15y37.html
Also, leading on from yesterday's lycra drive (me basically saying it might not be all that bad), Mark sent me a link to lady cycling ladies... you know, for the world championships.
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2010/09/29/women-of-the-2010-world-road-cycling-championships/
They obviously don't get enough recognition and they should. What they are doing, when you think about it, is pretty amazing.
And again, to move past dwelling on those who choose spandex over the lovelier things, and for their sakes, we come to our Star Lady Pin Up of the day. I think today I will post Gwyneth Paltrow, not because I love her or her work, but because that is one AMAZING dress and indeed, one amazing outfit. I don't know whether it's for a movie or for something else but it's out of control. She seems to embody what I am talking about there.
Blogs are fun, and so, on that note, I will inform this corner of the internet that I will be moving to another. This other corner will back up this blog, removing those names necessary and carry forward the review of all things cycling, and no doubt when I get bored, other things, like what Mark likes, movies, funny things etc. so that after the challenge is over, there will be an external record.
It seems, anything that is good for the cyclist is awful for the allergist (yes, having allergies of this magnitude is an art) and vice versa. Daylight saving, great for those who want to ride, not so great for the people who are allergic to pollen and wake at an 'earlier' time to inhale even more pollen than normal. Rain, excellent for keeping the pollen down, not so great for the morning cycle, complete with flicking mud and rain in your eyes. It's a hard life to lead.
And so, as it is raining today, Bianca is at home and we caught the bus in. It wasn't so bad, but I did miss my ride. At the same time, I am still sneezing up a storm. I am not a pretty sight. I looked at myself in the mirror in the bathroom and just wanted to go home. Itchy eyes, red and running nose, feel like I have been hit with a large pole. I just want to go to sleep.
News in the world of cycling tells me that Alberto Contador is a filthy cheat. Well, it doesn't say that specifically, in fact it kinda says it's all a big misunderstanding. See I have never liked to watch cycling, I have never seen the appeal. Living with a cyclist changes things by necessity. For example, if you are the nerd of the house you'd better make sure that since you've moved out together there is a fully functioning television unit which he can watch the Tour de France on in HD. It's your duty, and I take my duty seriously. It also means occassionally you watch what is on, and more often than not you are inflicted with both rules, trivia and other people who come over to inflict you with the same. As this happens you seem to retain things via osmosis and all of a sudden you've developed a habit, a passion that makes little to no sense but that you cannot keep inside. Mine was a deep affection for Andy Schleck and a boundless loathing for Alberto Contador. And for anyone who watched this years tour (I won't bore you others) the events (in my head) proved me right. Anyway, Alberto now has tested positive for steroids and they all think it's a food contamination incident, and they are probably right, but that is not the point. It is my duty to hate him.
http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cycling/alberto-contador-tests-positive-to-steroid-20100930-15y37.html
Also, leading on from yesterday's lycra drive (me basically saying it might not be all that bad), Mark sent me a link to lady cycling ladies... you know, for the world championships.
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2010/09/29/women-of-the-2010-world-road-cycling-championships/
They obviously don't get enough recognition and they should. What they are doing, when you think about it, is pretty amazing.
And again, to move past dwelling on those who choose spandex over the lovelier things, and for their sakes, we come to our Star Lady Pin Up of the day. I think today I will post Gwyneth Paltrow, not because I love her or her work, but because that is one AMAZING dress and indeed, one amazing outfit. I don't know whether it's for a movie or for something else but it's out of control. She seems to embody what I am talking about there.
Blogs are fun, and so, on that note, I will inform this corner of the internet that I will be moving to another. This other corner will back up this blog, removing those names necessary and carry forward the review of all things cycling, and no doubt when I get bored, other things, like what Mark likes, movies, funny things etc. so that after the challenge is over, there will be an external record.