Monday, February 16, 2004

A time for mourning

I think it would be appropriate to have some sort of official time of mourning to honour the memory of one of cycling's great legends. Marco Pantani died this past weekend at 34. Pantani was the last winner of the Tour de France (1998) before some guy named Armstrong decided to make it his personal obsession, and was one of the purest climbers ever--kind of like our very own Luke Snider. Sadly, he was perhaps even more troubled and emotionally fragile than he was brilliant as a rider. While the results of an autopsy are not yet in, it's being suggested he either died of an overdose of anti-depressants or of a heart attack (which would suggest doping). See the coverage at Velo News or cyclingnews.com.

I don't exactly know what would be appropriate in terms of mourning. A black armband wouldn't exactly stand out given the colour of our jerseys. Perhaps wearing bandanas for our next few club rides would be a fitting tribute.

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