Monday, August 17, 2009

A stag - ranch style


Once upon a time an otherwise innocuous post was scribed on this blog which contained a picture of a fellow - riderchiche - that resulted, all kidding aside - in a few of the ladies that follow the ranch and stalk its pages- calling the said writer and asking after the status of the young argentine gentleman. While little was made of these inquiries given the active filtering/standards/of the filteror - it will come with certain disappointment to part of our fan base - that riderchiche for lack of other sensible discriptors has decided to make a solo break of sorts and marry a lovely lady named Sarah. Now its not the purpose of the blog to debate the merit of leaving the peleton so early in the race - nope like any sensible band of brothers - the only cry that rung through the ranch train was STAG STAG STAG.

Now despite the varied nationalities of the ranch - STAGs do have universal appeal. They mean dancing girls, nut ticklers, beer bongs, two foot cigars, and large steaks. Stags by anybodies reference is a call to arms for all red blooded males to abandon morality, dispose of ring finger hardware, and stumble back into post exam college stupors as those golden drops of beer nectar wash away any guilt of the ritual. God - has given man one more chance at a hallway pass - a kind of adult get out of jail free card.

And so it goes for our rider - rider chiche. A stag for a giant lady producer from latin america whom once sported shoulder length hair and Pantera concert T's - while the possibilities were as endless as the investment opportunities for the 250mln of fresh usd in his new fund - there was one catch. Oh the shame of missing the catch.

We were talking about the ranch.

So the build up came to pass in the same way as a 14 year old boy discovering that just because you buy her a movie ticket doesnt mean you she will take her top off in the second row.

We met - some of us from far far away in Zurich - the riderhowe, the ridereasy-e, the riderzinni, the ridercali, the riderpitts, and the birthday boy - riderchiche. And we rode bikes. We went to bed early, we got up early, we climbed 17km alpine passes, we sprinted long flats, we descended at 78kmh and we hurt.

We talked about gear, markets, love, and real estate. We debated logistics and future races. We talked about riderNoShows manscaping and wine picking, we argued about the size of ridercrespo's back door, we toasted riderstemcell's carbo fear with buns from the zueghauskeller, we poked fun at the riderturbo's fondness for 4 quid buffets and we argued about riderlonewolf's holiday allotment. It was all normal - and we won. Convention and adolescent ritual to the side - the ranch again takes its own path and does things in its own way. Normal.

9 comments:

riderzinni said...

Outstanding weekend ...

riderzinni said...

Three years ago I started riding with a bunch of unknown guys.. It was kind of weird, someone was jounger someone else older.. we all had very little in common apart from the passion for the bike and the jobs (we all work in finance)...
so I kept riding, sweating and making no progress and I started thinking, this is not for me... but then you keep working harder, and you start knowing this bunch of guys a little bit better and you start thinking: ... well we are friends not just a bunch of w/end riders... We are a bunch of good friends that enjoy riding together... That's what the ranch is now...

ride said...

hahahahha pitts is a lunatic. hey riderlunatic you are pretty funny and probably the best writer in the ranch.

ride said...

zinni - agreed. we have become a band of brothers.

we few, we happy few, we band of brothers.

riderturbo said...

Ranch PRIDE, Ranch QUALITY, Ranch DISCIPLINE....way to buck the stag RANCH STYLE...and Shotz out from the WEST SIDE...GAUCHO...LOCK n LOAD CHICHE

Anonymous said...

how come I wasn´t invited?

I´m moving to Astana.

rider eazy-e said...

So riderChiche is gone on style and we wished him all the best in this new path which surely will have -as in cycling- a lot of differents moments, the joy of feeling the air in your face going down the alpes at 80km, the effort when pulling on the flat at 45km for 3 minutes each (sharing the workload) and the pain of going uphill on endless mountains like the stelvio... All in all we whish you that at the end of the journey it taste as gratefull as crossing the finish line with your pals around..
As riderlunitic - serial killer discribed, another great wknd for the ranch where cycling and frienship won!!
Thanks a lot- I feel greatfull of sharing this moments- Life taste good.
See you in HK / MEL - Oooh boy...

riderchiche said...

What a great weekend!!! I shall say it again: what a great weekend!!!

I left London thinking I would meet Eazy-e for a quiet ride around Zurich and RiderCali would join as well...but oh boy...that was not it...

...as I landed in Zurich airport I am coming donwn the escalator to take the train to baggage reclaim I notice a fmailiar face; what is this? RiderPitts? Doesn't he live in HK?? Am I delusional? Not. RiderPitts (Rider Lunatic) is there, extending a business trip in Europe to meet up with his fellow ranchers...my heart is filled with joy, the Ranch brings things together...and what better way than to start our Swiss adventure getting into the train to the city without tickets....hoping to not get caught...fantastic!

And it was not going to be just the four of us, RiderHowe and RiderPitts were already waiting to go for dinner...the Swiss traditional place was closing down (11pm) but across the river, Santa Lucia was awaiting...salad starters, bruschettas, and after a short debate we establishe we could indeed afford 4 pizzas (as opposed to 3) though in the end we should not have ordered the anchovie one (thanks RiderZinni)...

Eazy-e organisational skills saw the light of day after 30-something years without use...he takes out a printout and starts reciting the agenda for Saturday: 7am wake up call, 7:30 at the station, 8:08 train and off we went...we got off the train and after 1 hour of rolling hill-riding we meet up with a potential new recruit, 50-year old Ironman-winner Roland who shows us the way to the base of Susten pass...

..what followed in the next 36 hours was a rollercoaster ride of long, hot climbs, beatiful views, fast descents, strong peloton flat rides, lake swim (Pitts is not a water person), lack of Gelato (business opportunity in Zurich) and more importantly, laughter among the band of brothers...the Ranch won...the Ranch always wins...and that makes us happy!

Tea said...

ahhhh pittsy, would you marry me?