Dear Ping,
I wonder if you have an answer to something that's puzzled me for a long time. One thing I really don't understand is when US riders travel to Europe and they're asked what's different/difficult to adapt to and a common answer is the food. Now admittedly there isn't an In N Out burger or a Subway around every corner in Europe but I'm assuming top athletes don't touch that rubbish anyway. So good food is based on good ingredients and there's no shortage of quality pasta, vegetables, eggs, fruit and meat which are surely the fundamentals of any healthy diet. So why do the yanks have such a hard time adapting??
Chur bru
El Capitan
El Capitan,
I can’t speak for every American rider but I will say that I was not a big fan of the food in Europe. Let’s start with breakfast: Is there milk? Sure is… and it’s been sitting out and assumed room temperature about a week ago. You can pour that over Coco Puffs and it still makes you want to vomit. Eggs are hit and miss over there, but when they are bad they are really bad. And most Euro breakfasts include salmon or some other fish that have been sitting out for hours. Fish is not for breakfast unless you are stranded on an island with no options and even then you typically opt for some coconut and a banana. The pasta is good in Italy… I’ll tip my cap to those Ferrari-racing, spaghetti-eating folks because they have nailed that dish. However, France screws it all up with thick, creamy sauce that completely ruins it. On top of that you have the guy at the table next to you smoking like a chimney and customer service so bad it takes every ounce of restraint to keep from choking your waitress out. Dinner usually starts out with a great steak or piece of chicken but it gets jacked up with the heavy sauces and goop they pile on. The water is carbonated and many restaurants are only open between certain times, forcing you to work your schedule around them. I’m not saying all the food sucks but if you’ve spent any time in the States you get spoiled and it’s tough to go over and adapt to that culture.
PING
Ping
After being creeped out by Matthes comments about your guns in his podcast, could you wear a sleeveless jersey on your next photo shoot to help lube his dreams?
Now to my real question. With all the terror going on like the most recent in Paris. Are there any discussions in team meetings regarding what protocol to do if something goes down at the event your racing at or scheduling to race. Are there venues that are requested by the factory not to attend because of the local turmoil? I know it’s all driven by how much money you can make in the off season races but life and limb is worth more.
Old Pro Mike
Mike,
Steve really had me worried last time I was out there. He was staring at my arms like they were turkey legs and I wasn’t sure whether to be flattered or scared for my life. I keep hoping he was just playing around.
I haven’t heard any talk of a contingency plan but I think the time is right to go over some basic concepts at the first riders meeting of the year in the event there is a “scare.” It sucks that we have to consider this but we are better off having a plan in place than trying to sort through it if it were to happen. This would be a promoter issue and having a protocol in place would eliminate some confusion. Most overseas races are put together in relatively safe areas but, as we’ve seen, no big city is safe anymore. Let’s hope it never happens but be ready to respond if it does.
PING
Ping,
I can remember my old English teachers in high school and college saying that the English language was the hardest language to learn to read and write. Partly because there are words in the English language that sound the same, but have different spellings and meanings. Prior to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram I had never really noticed if this was really all that true. But now that you can follow many different people on all these media sites it’s very clear that there may be some truth to this. I can really only comment on motorsports athletes because they are the ones I would follow. And I have to tell you I am embarrassed for them. At first I thought crappy grammar was just from foreign athletes but it’s very clear that many people do not know how to spell and how to correctly write a sentence. Or is it “right” a sentence? The wrong use of to, too, there, their, they’re, were, where and wear is sad. There, or is their, are some Instagram postings that the grammar is so bad I can actually see an old teacher smashing their, or is it they’re, knuckles with a ruler because the spelling is so wrong. You can always tell when a publicist writes the captions on the media sites, or is it sights, because the grammar is correct. Reading your column is proof that a motocrosser can put a complete sentence together, unless that’s your publicist writing this column. Be that as it may, or should I say never the less, the postings of some people bring out a chuckle.
Peace out,
Jeff
Jeff,
I want to find the guy who came up the word “colonel” and kick his ass. And while I’m at it I have a few questions for the folks who named the salty lunchtime deli meat “bologna.” Our language is certainly difficult but likely easier than Russian or Portuguese. Still, you would think that adults could put together a few sentences without butchering it up so badly that it seems like an eight year-old girl wrote it. Many athletes forego education for more track time [or field time or whatever] and it shows when they try to conjugate a verb. My personal pet peeve is when riders say, “I seen him at the track yesterday.” One of our sports beloved television personalities can’t seem to crack the seen/saw code and every time I hear Jeff commit that heinous grammatical crime I want to find a stud in my wall and bash my head into it repeatedly until the ringing in my ears is louder than the sound of his voice.
I have no use for a publicist but it is really obvious when one of the riders has one. RV’s social media posts are short and to-the-point but when his publicist puts something up all of sudden he’s Hemmingway after a bottle of booze writing an introspective soliloquy. Uh, Ryan? Did you write that from your fishing boat with salmon eggs smashed under your fingernails or are you in a tree stand covered in deer urine as you succinctly list out all the industry folks you are thankful for? Hey, as long as these guys are being themselves I don’t really care; I can overlook a few spelling errors. Just don’t mess up the seen/saw thing… that makes my blood boil.
PING
Have a question for Ping? Email him at ping@racerxonline.com.
