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OF SHE-BUBBAS, THE MALE EGO & OTHER MYSTERIES
by Steve Strain, Club President 1996-1999
April 2002
Consider the
more delicate half of the species; the she-bubba. Yes,
I am referring to Team Bubba. At first blush one might conclude that only men would belong
to Team Bubba. The use of the word
"men" is not to confuse any of the male members of Team Bubba with adults. Unlike some other cycling organizations which go by
a given name the bubbas welcomed all sexes so long as they met the criteria for membership
which mainly involve showing up. Some time
back I was riding with one of the beloved she-bubbas up 136 out of Trenton. I was in one of the switchbacks climbing away and
she was somewhere up the road probably already having a cold beer at the top when a real
bubba in a pickup truck slowed down. He leaned
out the window and hollered "hey buddy, the girl's
beating you." Ah
the male ego.
But such slights on the road
are passing. Yet recently while thumbing
through Velo News while doing my winter training which primarily consisted of drinking
beer and watching sports I came across an ad for a local company. The folks at Merlin cycles had placed an ad in Velo
News and used a local cyclist. This particular
cyclist, who shall remain nameless (Joni Sharp) was in the picture with her Merlin and the
caption talked about her being a Cat Three racer, a mom and all that stuff. In a catty moment I thought that they omitted the
fact that she makes her own clothes. While I
was proud to see one of our own in the magazine I wondered where the guys were? What of my
brother bubbas?
If one shows
up at a Team Bubba ride one will see all manner of titanium bicycles. Yes, the bubbas ride Ti. But not all bubbas are on the silver steeds; some
of us ride steel, because as everyone knows, steel is real.
But I digress. The folks at
Merlin did not seek out one of the male bubbas, no, they chose the girl. Just because she can ride circles around us while
being a mom is no reason to omit my brothers. Of
course the caption would read as follows; "Bubba Sandy, race video watcher, spin
class extraordinaire." So not only are
the girls leaving us in the dust on climbs they are the ones selling bikes.
So what
solace is there for me and my brothers? What
of our own fragile egos? How do we cope with
this besides running off to spin class where no one can out ride anyone else? Reminds me of the old song; "how can I go when
my wheels won't roll." Or maybe I just
made that up. I'm not sure but one needs to be
careful about plagiarism. I digress again. But there is an area where we can excel and leave
the she-bubbas in our dust. Downhills. Put that winter training to work; those afternoons
on the couch saying, "honey bring me a beer."
Gravity is our friend. Because
as we all know so well, Bubbas go downhill much faster than those she-bubbas. Keep training boys.
We'll show 'em.
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