Here's a dispatch from the Department of the Glaringly Obvious: professional cyclists spend a lot of time on the bike, repetitious training rides that take hours to complete. (The Gran Fondo race up in Santa Rosa in a couple weeks that has all the MAMILs talking power gels and bike shorts and training regimens? Yeah, that's a regular Tuesday training ride for its sponsor, Levi Leipheimer. Try not to get overexcited. )
All that time on the bike lends itself to listening to music, and I've found that over the years some of my best new music tip-offs have come from reading articles about what Lance Armstrong and his cohort are listening to as they train. Then there are the mountain bikers who like the thrashy stuff, and half the reason I follow the Facebook page of our friends at Eden Bicycles is because they post the titles of old school hip hop they're listening to while wrenching. The further you delve into cycling, the more ground you cover - both literally and musically speaking.
Someone once sent me a video of a trick biker on a single-speed frame doing all kinds of fancy stunts on his rig, up and down the hardscapes of the Bay Area, and this song played in the background. Its title - "The Funeral" - is really not at all the mood I'm going for when I'm waiting home on a Saturday morning for the family biker to return. But I love the contrasts in the music and the delicate guitar work. I'll be seeing Band of Horses tonight at the Greek Theater in Berkeley - and as for you guys, please try to see the cyclists on the road this weekend.
I'm glad we can give you the down low on hip hop! Great work Nancy.
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