Sunday, July 15, 2007

King Kelly, another one of my Heroes


After reading so many magazines and following the sport for so long I have ammassed a bunch of riders that I really like and to some extent have had huge impact on my personal life. In this case I am talking about Sean Kelly. He rode as a neo-pro for Freddy Maertens Flandria team and then went on to become one of the most talented and Respected rider in the peleton. The son of Potatoe farmers in Ireland perhaps the bike was a good way to get away from the fields. To some extent I think Sean did not like nice weather. It was in the foulest, coldest and wettest that he excelled. He mostly liked to ride the Vitus 979 with a full Mavic SSC grouppo. Rims were SSC and he also rode the Mavic quill pedals. Most people critized his cramped up position which in his long career never changed. To those critics I say to go get a bike and ride like he did.
To this day I cannot help to think about Kelly specially when I am having a hard ride on the bike. On my Heron I am still turning that ssc derailleur that was fabricated back in the late 70's. I sometimes have a hard time moving foward and finding new heroes in the cycling world.
Tommorow is Monday and yet another week is flying by.
Get out and ride if you can,
Ari
Beth thanks a million for such an awesome photograph. The pain in the face is evident, but you know King Kelly is not about to give up..
time to go to bed

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