The Ringer

It’s not often that I am writing about The Blue Sapphire in a Thursday and a Sunday edition. It’s usually one or the other. This week however, had me lucky to catch the blazing blue star twice and she was three times as good. I had decided on her early ride subbing for Young Atlas, Damian and it made my Sunday decidedly different.  

In the front row, I spotted one rider that stuck out like a sore thumb.  He was what looked to be 6’7”, and with that strapping physiology he seemed almost to dwarf his bike. I knew he was an outdoor rider not merely by his size and presence but because when we were way up the resistance dial in position #3, he was sitting in the saddle.  Commanding an even pedal stroke with the resistance dial at 9 out of 10 while being in the saddle is a strenuous posture indeed. It just was my intuition that outside was his real home, not the safe confines of the CS.  I’m not saying the outside rider is better than we stationary aficionados, but the contrast of one to the other is decidedly a world apart. 

Carolyn is not merely a charismatic talent, but she is also a highly skilled technician. Always doling out precious information about breathing, posture and cadence, she gets under our ‘engine’ to make sure we are pedaling efficiently and not out of control. When we are gunning our motors, she can be found checking our flywheel and pedal stroke and when she signals okay with that smile and those striking sapphire eyes we are good to go.  

The next time I spot “The Ringer” I will look for clues and model his spinning choreography.