Who are you when you ride?

Many of us fell in love with cycling becasue it takes us back to our childhood and the freedom we first felt on 2 wheels.  Cycling is so unique in that we can buy and ride the same bikes on the same roads as the Pro's. You can also buy and wear the same kits as the Pro's... we REALLY hope you don't, but you can. 

If you say you have never day dreamed about Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwin voicing over your effort you're either lying or don't have cable.  One's mind also starts to compare/think of who you ride like on different types of terrain.  This happens to me and here is what I come up with:

On a rolling course, I hit it pretty hard and think about crushing it like Stijn at Flanders. I truly enjoy pushing it hard up and over each rise and hitting it hard on the flats!  This is my type of riding, and perhaps this is why I am borderline obsessed with Belgian racing. (Okay, my wife is shaking her head.  She says not borderline, but COMPLETELY obsessed)

When climbing I would say I think about  Levi hangin in there on major climbs (as I am also a bald, small stature, animal rescuing guy, this seems to work for me).  I am never going to be a "true" climber but I can hang within eye site of them.  I keep my rythm and make it to the top in a respectable time in most cases.  I get dropped by some but drop more than my fair share when the road tilts up.

When descdening do I think of riding like Salvodelli or Nabali?  Um...HELL NO! I think about riding like Jan Rasmussen (A combo of these 2 characters. As stiff as Michael Rasmussen and as sketchy as Jan Ullrich) Not sure why, perhaps it was living and riding in an area that was ALL rollers for the last 10 years.  Perhaps it was the wicked crash I had on my Scwhinn Predator going down the hill in my neighborhood at age 7. Not sure why, but all I know is once it's time to go down hill at 35+ I get a bit FREAKED OUT!  I have to work on that part of my game so I don't get passed on the descent by the chubby guy in the lime green jersey with dental mirrors on his lid.  

Great thing about cyling is that there is always something to work on! What are you working on?