A few months ago, I offended a friend when I turned down a glass of wine at his place. That was before the Sundown ultra and I had been staying off alcohol whenever training went high gear.
The verbalized reason is that alcohol has a negative effect on my training. There is another reason why I cut down on my drinking.
Two snapshots. (1) A few weeks ago, a car continued past a yield sign without waiting for the last riders in our group to clear. This was early in the morning, around 5 am. Our friend AY was sufficiently quick and deft to avoid the car. We believed the driver was driving under influence. (2) Last weekend, a car ploughed into a group of cyclists along the West Coast highway and 5 riders were injured. How could a driver miss a group of blinkers unless he/she was drunk?
As a cyclist, I am deeply affected by these incidents. I won't want to be cycling when someone is under the influence of alcohol. Conversely, the mere possibility that I might hit a fellow cyclist is sufficient to deter me from drink driving.
So what is to become of the 200+ bottles of wine in my cellar and 4 cases in the wine locker? Well, I would drink them in 2012 - my sabbatical year from racing. By then, the CDPs, Bordeaux Shirazes and Cab Merlots would be drinking very nicely.
And I'll have my fellow cyclists and ironmen to drink alongside. As long as they take the cab home.
3 comments:
I am neither cyclist nor ironman. Guess i wont be able to join u in 2012:)
WD
I used to drink at least a bottle per night for five years. But now as a cyclist, I have cut down to just a bottle over 2- 3 weeks and stop buying any more wine. I am doing well as my wine cellar is slowly and surely drying up….very soon.
Nicky
Spoke to someone who happened to know the group of cyclists hit along West Coast Highway. They said that the driver was driving at high speed and smelt of alcohol when he got off the car after the incident. Unfortunately, the police took a long time to arrive at the scene and the driver was able to wash down his alcohol level with drinking water and hence no arrest.
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