Aside from being Valentine's day, today also marks the 3rd anniversary of Marco Pantani's death. For those not familiar with Pantani, he was one of the great Italian road racers of the early 90's, a real animal of a climber, undeniably aggresive, an undersized hothead sort of guy. He had one speed - attack. Responsible for what Lance Armstrong calls "my worst day on a bike, ever" Pantani was always one of my favorites.
Often plagued by depression, Pantani ultimately succombed to his depression in a hotel room in Nice 3 years ago today. His death was labelled an accidental overdose by authorities, but really most people understood it to be suicide, Pantani becoming one of many former Tour De France Champions to eventually take his own life.
Every year on Feb 14th, I like to get out and climb something tall, go needlessly hard, and take a lot of risks on the downhill. This year, despite the 2 inches of ice that fell in Virginia last night, was no exception. A few pictures of Simmons Gap are attached, plus one of Pantani himself. I ran up the 1300 feet of ice while my brother rode. Marco, I hope, would have been pleased.
Ride on, Il Piratae.
8 comments:
word. Huge fan of Pantani. Its a shame his demons got to him. I would have loved to see a couple more years battling lance or Floyd on Alp D'uez.
True, as with every other cyclist in the pro pelly in some form or fashion.
Dopers do suck I agree. But the day when Lance let Pantani have the stage, two dopers made it a great race to watch.
I'm still trying to get over Anna Nicoles death. I need a hug.
She was a doper, too.
I'm just wondering how many refills she had left on that percocet?
Hey, good write up, Dave. Looks like a cool road, too.
good to hear from you man, are you based out of MARS these days? I have a book about Marco the boulder library just got, have the finish the Alchemist & then Marco gets the nod. Dopers...first I've heard of it???
pantani, for all his faults, loved and was consumed by cycling. the peleton turned their backs on a brother that was clearly haunted by demons he could not reign in.
and he was and always will be one of my heroes... whatever that means.
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