erik lundegaard

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Thursday April 07, 2011

My Bike Ride: Imitating Big Papi and Nomah

At what age do I stop imitating baseball players?

I'm 48 now and I find I'm still doing it. While biking, no less.

When I'm about to begin a ride I find myself clapping my gloved hands together. Took me a few weeks before I figured out what it reminded me of: David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox, Big Papi, who spits into the palm of both gloved hands and claps them together before each pitch. (Parodied in this SportsCenter ad.) Nomar Garciaparra, between pitches, fiddling.Sometimes I‘ll even mime the spitting before the clapping. One time, I believe, I forgot the mime and brought the spit. Ick. This is a recent innovation, by the way. Not sure why I began doing it. Maybe as a way to kick myself in the ass? A here we go, about to ride! kind of thing.

Then in the middle of the bikeride, particularly at stoplights, particularly in the less harsh months when I’m wearing fingerless gloves, I‘ll often fiddle with the velcro around the wrists, tightening each glove. Yeah, exactly like Nomar Garciaparra used to do between every pitch. That’s two Boston Red Sox. What the hell, right? I'm a Twins/M's fan. But I‘ve been doing this one for a while. I think because both me and Nomar are a little OCD.

Finally, lately, at the end of my ride, I’ll take off my helmet with both hands and bend down to touch my toes in one smooth (or its close proximity) motion. Reminds me of when a player, say, grounds out to end an inning, and takes the helmet off and reaches down to unstrap, say, shin protectors at the same time. 

Now if for the rest of the ride I only imitated Lance Armstrong ...

Posted at 06:25 PM on Thursday April 07, 2011 in category Biking