Retro Riding and Finding My Place on the Bud's Ride...

You are correct, that is me, sporting an older jersey picked from out of my closet for just this day. I have noticed a couple, sometimes a few, guys on the Wednesday Bud's Ride wearing more recent versions of this jersey (I never realized the team was still around) and decided to bring out this somewhat more vintage one. I would prefer to be noticed for blasting off the front of the peloton and causing all kinds of panic behind, but that doesn't seem likely to happen any time soon. So...


Anyway, about the team (and feel free to correct me if I get some facts wrong). In the early 1990s there was a team, Team Edge, sponsored by among others, a local bikeshop, Competitive Edge in Upland (still around). I knew a bunch of people on the team and went to a couple meetings, but they were unable to convince me to leave the team I was on at the time. Jump forward to 1995, these same friends left Team Edge to found their own team - Squadra Folgore. I probably would have joined them at that time, but had already committed to Team Xtreme. In 1997, though, I did jump over to the Squadra and raced with them for a couple years. In 1999, the Squadra re-merged with Team Edge and became the Carrera Promotions International team (CPI), which was again sponsored by the Competitive Edge, hence I came into possession of the jersey modeled above.


The problem with wearing older jerseys, or anything outside your current kit really, is that people you know may not recognize you; hey M.F., it's me. Competitive cyclists already know the joke, but casual cyclists may not, about how we cannot recognize each other when not wearing cycling clothes. I guess the same can happen if you change your kit too much. Maybe next week I bring out a twenty year old jersey, and really throw people off. But what about the ride? As much as I would like to find myself in a small group off the front on a weekly basis, I realized last night, that my place just might be in a small group off the back. Damn. Dreams, like attention, are sometimes hard to find, and even more difficult to successfully realize. Even though our position in the race was not optimal, I have to admit, working a paceline in a small group is a lot of fun. We did manage to sweep up another group, but then uneven pulls, and some riders not contributing to the effort at all, spelled our doom. Alright then, next week it's off the front.