strange fan mail, a race, and other random things
i got a strange post this week, a heavily postaged and marked up letter with a Victoria, Aus return. it was addressed to ben J-M, USA cyclist and then sent to the fed in CO. someone there forwarded it on to me and it turned out to be this (click on the letter for enlargement):
kinda strange, and i thought it was a hoax until another, identical letter showed up. both hand written, but word for word identical.
on another note, i did a small crit this weekend in Stockton, which turned out to have 5000 in prizes and not many people there, which boded well for my money-making potential. it rained the entire time, and i could see things were going to break up early, so i hit it repeatedly along with Jackson and we both made a group of 8 that went about a half a lap up. Jackson ended up rolling off with one guy and getting the W, while i ended up 4th.
a word to snot-nosed kids: if you ever plan on making it it cycling i suggest changing your attitude and the way you race. if you want to suck wheel and take short pulls cuz you're dying just to make the break that's fine, but you had better not shoot your mouth off like you did some awesome job. your head needs to shrink, and you have a lot to learn.
Finally, i wanted to mention my teammate Dan's recovery seems to be going nicely, here's the happy couple hanging in Canada:
read about his exploits here.
kinda strange, and i thought it was a hoax until another, identical letter showed up. both hand written, but word for word identical.
on another note, i did a small crit this weekend in Stockton, which turned out to have 5000 in prizes and not many people there, which boded well for my money-making potential. it rained the entire time, and i could see things were going to break up early, so i hit it repeatedly along with Jackson and we both made a group of 8 that went about a half a lap up. Jackson ended up rolling off with one guy and getting the W, while i ended up 4th.
a word to snot-nosed kids: if you ever plan on making it it cycling i suggest changing your attitude and the way you race. if you want to suck wheel and take short pulls cuz you're dying just to make the break that's fine, but you had better not shoot your mouth off like you did some awesome job. your head needs to shrink, and you have a lot to learn.
Finally, i wanted to mention my teammate Dan's recovery seems to be going nicely, here's the happy couple hanging in Canada:
read about his exploits here.
21 Comments:
Dont make me come to cali and beat a Junior! jk, I cant make out the letter, maybe you should summarize it for readers.. for example,
Dear Ben,
You are my favorite American cyclist because of your large and veiny calves. I do many calf raises and mine are not even half as large.
Sincerely
skinny calved
Yeah, give an idea of the content! Do you ge tmuch fan mail? Consider this a fan post.
We sporties lucked out at Stockton, E4 & 35+4/5 races were dry! I was gonna ride, eat & watch the Big Races, but then the rain came... sorry I missed you veiny calfed racers.
if you techie cyclists click on the picture of the letter it'll blow up nice and big, my granny could read it (or, at least chase's granny could).
Hey this isn't some Nigerian scam where they have your signature to forge onto something is it?
Yea, i figured it out right after I posted my post, so are you gonna send him a card or what?
snot nosed kids...
man, when did we all get *old*?
(I mean you're right, but still)
snot nosed kid, in a pro1/2 race in cali? can't be many of those around???? if you beat him, well said and point made about him pulling his youthful load. if he beat you, sour grapes and bad on you and your buddies in the break.
Ok, I read the letter from Don Hiatt - I am not sure he's even a fan Ben. He's just an autograph hound - no word of racing, or even beer... maybe he just likes your name, or it's one of the aforementioned scams. Hmmm.
Ben, did your team NOT win the race?
yes, jackson won, and that's kinda the point. the measure of performance is the W, not minor placings. yeah, i'd be pissed at myself if i got beat by someone who sat on and then won, but i can't be too upset about my particular placing. there's no sour grapes here: i got beat in a sprint.
what gets me is attitude. like beating me, in particular, as opposed to all the other pros in the break, is a good measure of success. and that will somehow validate an out-sized ego telling this punk that he's a great racer and can't really learn from washed-out hacks like me. here's the lesson kid: you beat me at the smallest race on my calendar for months, and the races i'm aiming for you can't even get in to.
i also remember distinctly riding you off my wheel at cat's hill and seeing you at the side of the road...nice race there too.
Snot nosed and big headed??????????? Sounds exactly like the author was/is since I first saw you race in the '90's. What are you the patron of the peloton? Don't you need to win big races (a lot of them) to be "the man"? Didn't you try to crash this same youth in another race? Do you know of what he has done at the WORLD level for the last 3 years? I guess not, you are taking too much time making love w/ your own ego to see otherwise. That kid was only responding to your sour unsportsman-like attitude with a little fun. Oh, that's right, you have no humor or know how to have fun. You just know how to "try" to bully other people. Also, as the "big" pro, why didn't you just ride him off your wheel? It's 'cuz you can't!
Get used to this kid whooping your tail for years to come because he's the real deal. In fact, if he was on your team right now, you would be leading him out because you have no sprinters. Ooops! I didn't want to blow your ego pointing out the truth that a "Bad Ass" pro like you would have to be a kid's bitch in every race that came down to a sprint because he can get it done........ and you can't.
Sincerely,
The Truth
wow.
someone doesn't know me that well.
come talk with me, you'll see what i mean.
everyone know what your kid's about.
and post your name, big guy.
Big guy?
At 5'7", I guess that's a compliment! Thanks!
What do you mean my kid? I raced you when we were both 19-20 and on the Mtn Bike and cross. Yes you kicked my ass. But then again, I'm "The Truth" and I see all! I know what fat ass your talking about and I ain't him. But, I won't say who I am because you'll probably come after me and my team mates at the races. I ain't joking either, I think you would.
He's been schooling Nor Cal ass for years. Both young and old. Haven't you seen him coming?
Dear Truth,
whoa there big fella, easy. i sense tension, and i'm not sure where it's coming from. do i know you? did i do something wrong to you? let me explain a few things:
the only one saying i'm a big bad ass pro who's the patron and the man is you. i don't say think or believe such things, i would look at your attitudes on such things as you mean them as insults. your rant smacks of inferiority, and that's all on you, brother. if you have a complex, fine but don't make it my problem by inflicting your damage on me.
i work hard for what i do and i think it shows. i know i am good, but that's it. i know i can get better. i have experience racing hard and that's how i go about it. i have also worked hard to get here, i was racing race to race when i was a kid, i needed to get top three so i could cycle my entry fee into the next race. i was never ferried around, i was never told how good i was, i was not handed cycling on a silver plater. if you knew me from back in the day you'd know this, but i suspect that's not the case.
Now, i say something about someone having a bad attitude, and suddenly i'm the cocky one with a huge ego and how dare I? WTF? everyone needs to take their lumps, myself included. but personal attacks on my character, my lack of soul, my supposed inability to perform, seems a bit off the deep end, n'est pas? i can see where young Danny gets his mouth from. do you really want to compare riders? there's the strong ones, and the wheel suckers. i don't really worry about the latter. and no matter how good a rider you think you are or your friends tell you you are, you're not even going to make it onto pro team radar if you can't pull through.
As for taking shots at my teammates, i guarantee some of them are not as level headed as me, especially my sprinters. please be careful about trying to get to me by talking $hit, it mat get you in bigger trouble then you realize. my boys will ride hard all race and still wax guys at the end, and i have a lot more confidence in them that they'll be able to do their job then any talker.
yeah, i said the letter was weird. i sent him something, but it was chicken scratch and unlike my real sig or anything i've signed in the past.
if my bank goes to zero soon, i'll send them to Victoria.
and i never said the kid wasn't good, which seems to be your whole point.
you just made sure i know you're an asshole as you made it.
sigh
sometimes i just don't like bike racers.
and sometimes they are beautiful humans achieving greatness through suffering and sacrifice.
some have class, and some don't.
i hope we can all choose class.
I'm not taking comments on this anymore. i've said my piece and there's nothing more from my end on it. i've gotten a few spams from people who want to insult me personally, if you have more to say come say it to me, don't hide behind your computer screen.
Yeah? well, I better none of them told you that you had a big butt.
No, but i'm sure you know the feeling.
sour taste in mouth...
ben's gotta totally big butt
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