FLCC> Pink Slipper

[Glenn Swan]

	Most of you know the story...but for those who are new to Ithaca and the 
Tuesday night experience, here's a little background on the Pink Slipper.
Back in the early 80's there was a young man who was commonly known as 
"Bopper" who regularly did the Tuesday night races. He had a thing about 
pink, with a pink jersey, pink handlebar tape, and often some socks with 
pink. We gave him good-natured grief about his color. Late in the summer he 
arrived at the race with a woman's pink, high heeled sandal hanging from 
his handlebar. He had found it on the roadside on the way to the event. We 
decided that whoever won that night's race would receive the sandal. For 
fun we decided that whoever won the final race of the summer would get to 
keep the sandal over the winter. The winner's name was put on the heel of 
the footwear and the next year we dug it out and put that year's winner's 
name on the heel too. The tradition has continued for over 20 years now 
!  There are some famous names that appear once or many times, including 
riders who have won national and world titles and riders who have gone pro.
	The Tour de France has its yellow jersey. The Giro d'Italia has its Maglia 
Rosa. We have our Pink Slipper. As a measure of its prestige, you may note 
that although such greats as Armstrong and Hinault and Merckx have won 
multiple Tours de France, they have never succeeded at conquering the Pink 
Slipper. I kid you not, the Pink Slipper has appeared on the race resumes 
of riders trying to land positions on notable teams ! Riders will go to 
great lengths to try to win the race. Brian Doyon succeeded one year on the 
B-Dale course by sprinting head-on into oncoming traffic while others dove 
for safety. It is rumored that some riders may have sacrificed years of 
their useful life ingesting performance enhancing drugs just too have a 
chance at acquiring the coveted footwear. In accordance with the current 
UCI stand on keeping the integrity of the sport intact, the winner of this 
year's event will have to pee into a cup after the race. Everyone else will 
act as witnesses. The cup will then be divided into "A" and "B" samples and 
thrown away.
	The spirit of Tuesday Night races is that while we race, we consider it to 
be the most important race in the world, and we race hard and fair. What we 
earn that is of value is our honor and the respect of our peers. As soon as 
the race is complete, the results are irrelevant, and we realize that in 
the view of the rest of the world, the race is truly of no significance. 
The respect we share with our peers is the only outcome of value. The Pink 
Slipper (and Brown Birk) represent this contradiction, as we covet those 
prizes and we race hard and suffer dearly for them, but even as we receive 
them we laugh at the utter worthlessness of the prize and know that without 
what we give to each other, there is no reason to come out and race each 
week and each year.
	Don't think that you can drink beer tonight and ingest huge doses of 
testosterone in order to win the slipper.......I have already cornered the 
market on the testosterone, so you'll have to find another drug.....Rumor 
has it that Steve Edgar has tried to disguise his Suzuki 650 to look like a 
simple road bike.  He has offered a lead-out to the highest bidder. 
..Meanwhile it has leaked out Mark Rishniw's absence from the racing scene 
most of the summer has been the result of a secret training program that 
has been directed by a doctor at the Vet School. Judging by the hair on his 
legs I'm worried that there are "veterinary" treatments involved in this 
program. Ryan Morris was across the border over the weekend putting 
together a select team (Team Canada) but it is expected that the new Bush 
administration border policies will prevent most of them from gaining 
access to the US. Elsewhere the Cornell team is known to be preparing a 
team entry, but few give captain Steve Frattini's squad much of a chance, 
as they are planning to all use single speed track bikes with no 
brakes.  If they show up, the race committee is expected to choose a course 
featuring a descent of Hunt Hill and a finish atop Mt. (un) Pleasant, just 
to reduce the likelihood of Cornell students stealing the locals' 
thunder....The silver fox, Ernie Bayles has been staying out of the 
limelight since his victory at the Thater races in Binghamton, hoping that 
others will be so busy attacking each other that he will quietly be able to 
steal the race. He has been heard quoting Mark Twain, who said something to 
the effect of, "Youth and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery !"

Stay tuned !


Glenn